The Pickle Book!

[Knifeman]

I want to hear more about the Pickle book!

[Sphinx]

Ok I know this is a stupid question but what is the pickle book

[Ljt09863]

Sphinx, im not sure thats a stupid question, as i don't know what it is either.


lol...by the way. don't google it. i did. the results i got are, "tickle his pickle" by Sadie Allison, a book you can by on amazon. it comes with flavored lube.

[Ryu]

its a book about, if i recall correctly, how to cheat retail stores out of stuff by doing certain things
something along that line, its been a LONG time
search amazon, it should be on there, although i think all our old reviews are gone

[XCashier]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188...423814?ie=UTF8

Give'em the Pickle! (Hardcover)
by Bob Farrell, Bill Perkins

This was one we ranted about on a previous board incarnation. It's a book that basically advocates bending over backwards for SCs to get their repeat business. Sorry, but customers like that, we can all do without.

[Sphinx]

Ahhhh makes much more sense now. Cause I was going The Pickle Book??? What in the world is that Thanks

[Banrion]

It's not just a book, my company made me go through "Pickle" training... It was a 3 day course involving videos & teambuilders. GAH!! Don't remind me.

P.S. I have also been through "Fish"

[Becks]

I looked up the book, AND read the reviews. Sounds like the book would angry up the blood. (Although, I need a good laugh, maybe I should try to get a cheap, used copy...) There were 42 reviews listed, and one made mention of "reviews made by people from a certain website who like to bash customers"...or something along those lines. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Antisocial_Worker]

P.S. I have also been through "Fish"

"Fish"? What is this "Fish"? We soda crackers know nothing of "Fish."

[Banrion]

"Fish"? What is this "Fish"? We soda crackers know nothing of "Fish."

Fish is all about having FUN at work. It is all based around a seattle Fish Market, that I guess is a big tourist stop as well. You better have a giant smile on your face while you are kissing every SC's bum! And when the SC's start yelling you just go and then and most importantly never let them see you

[Brighid45]

Oh lord . . . FISH training. I went through that at the security call center. As I remember it we all sat through the videos and pep talks and worksheets with clenched jaws to keep the bad words inside. It was just another indignity corporate had decided to inflict on us--not quite as bad as the 'ethics' seminars where we were all figuratively smacked with rolled up newspapers and told repeatedly that STEALING IS WRONG, but close.

Okay, thread unhijacked

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

"When we treat customers like objects, like they don't know anything, and that they are solely at our business to "try and get one over on us", then they won't get the "pickle" and they "won't be back". And we'll be there scratching our heads trying to figure out what went wrong."

(part of a review from the amazon.com pickle book page)


What about the customers that ARE trying to get one over on the employee/business? They do exist. Everywhere. And once a business caves, they'll return alright. Because they know they can get away with it.

[Ree]

The program is called, "Give 'Em The Pickle".

The whole thing is based on a letter he got from an irate customer at one of his restaurants. The customer always asked for an extra slice of pickle on his burger and never had a problem getting it.
One day, he was told he couldn't have an extra slice, but the clerk would sell him a side dish of whole pickles for $1.25.
The customer asked for the manager, who backed up his clerk and said he would sell the customer one whole pickle for 5 cents.
The customer left, cancelling an order that would have brought in several dollars for the restaurant, all for the sake of one pickle slice that probably cost a couple of cents.

Bob Farrell saw that as a loss of more than just one order, though. He saw the loss of a customer whose "several dollar" orders probably added up to quite a bit over the course of a year, not to mention the loss of business resulting from all the people that customer would tell.

He came up with a business plan that means finding out what the customer wants and giving it to them. The pickle is used as an analogy for any little perk that businesses provide for their customers.

From our angle, based on the fact that this is a site dedicated to venting about (and for some people, hating) customers, it may seem like a bunch of hooey, but apparently, it worked for the guy, since he ended up founding a chain of over 150 very successful ice cream parlours, as well as several other successful businesses in the restaurant field.

The man is very rich, so his program must work. He mustn't have given too much away to the customers, or let them run roughshod over him, or he would have folded a long time ago.

So, yeah, there is probably a tendency for people to laugh it off or poke fun, especially with such a ridiculous title, but I would like to have even half of that guy's money.

[Rubystars]

Well as another reviewer said, if that guy was making such a big fuss over five cents, what a loser!

[Ree]

...if that guy was making such a big fuss over five cents, what a loser!

WHOOSH!!! That was the sound of the point going right over the head.

The reverse can be said of the restaurant. Making such a fuss over a 5 cent slice of pickle.