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Don't ask me if I need help, if you don't want to actually help me

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  • Don't ask me if I need help, if you don't want to actually help me

    I had to go to a hardware store today and wondered around for a big trying to find something. I couldn't so having abandoned the item I had come fore I went in search of a laundry clothes hanger because I broke mine.

    I am standing in the asile looking them over when an employee comes up to me and askes if she can help me find something.

    I ask her if they still stock the original item I was looking for and she shrugs her sholders and says "I don't know" then stares at me. So I said "um okay then" and went back to looking over the racks.

    It was so awkward, in my store we would offer to look the product up but she didn't so I stood there, and she stood there. After maybe 30 seconds she was like "I guess I could find out if you really wanted it?"

    Yes I really want it, that's why I came into your store to buy it! So I said "yes thanks if you could" and she takes me over to a station to look it up. They don't stock it anymore so I say "ok thanks anyway" and she just turns on her heel and walks off.

    I haven't been into that store for a while because last time I was there the cashier acted like it was the end of the world that the item I was buying (ironically enough the clothes drying rack) was broken in the packaging and I needed another one from top stock. She actually asked why I couldn't just take the broken one. I guess this has just cemented that helping customers are too much trouble for these people.

    I don't get it, I am polite, I smile, I have worked in retail so I get that people can have bad days but I was asking a pretty common question, I didn't even approach you, you came and ask me if I needed help so I don't know what their deal is. Maybe it's because my store makes a big deal about being really friendly to customers I have come to except too much when I thought a "no problem/ your welcome/ something" reply would have been good customer service?

    eta - Just last week I went into one of the main competition and got some of the best and most friendly service. The complete opposite of how company X works. That's maybe the 10th time I went to the competition and got great service with helpful staff who don't make me feel like an interruption to their day.I will be sticking with their main competition from now on. Same products, same price range, totally different ends of the customer service scale.
    Last edited by Kiwi; 04-24-2012, 05:08 AM.
    I wasnt put on this earth to make you feel like a man ~ Mary Bertone

  • #2
    You're definitely not expecting too much.

    She obviously didn't care and just wanted to act like she was working and move on.

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    • #3
      Quoth Kiwi View Post
      I had to go to a hardware store today and wondered around for a big trying to find something. I couldn't so having abandoned the item I had come fore I went in search of a laundry clothes hanger because I broke mine.

      I am standing in the asile looking them over when an employee comes up to me and askes if she can help me find something.

      I ask her if they still stock the original item I was looking for and she shrugs her sholders and says "I don't know" then stares at me. So I said "um okay then" and went back to looking over the racks.

      It was so awkward, in my store we would offer to look the product up but she didn't so I stood there, and she stood there. After maybe 30 seconds she was like "I guess I could find out if you really wanted it?"
      I'm guessing you went to a hardware chain store whose name sounds remarkably like BLOWS.

      I don't know if it's like this all over, but in my area, the hardware stores by that name have dismal customer service anymore. If half the stories I've heard about this company are true, I'm not surprised the employees don't care.

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      • #4
        It wasn't Blows it was a Canadian store that has it's own currency, the competition is a really orange store...

        I'm moving right now and went to both stores for moving and cleaning supplies. I spent $80 at the orange place, I spent ZERO at the crappy place. Ironically I went to the crappy place first, they lost that money. Considering we are renovating the apartment from top to bottom over the next year with a $6000 budget they won't see a penny of that money.
        I wasnt put on this earth to make you feel like a man ~ Mary Bertone

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        • #5
          For actual hardware, I usually go to a local [playing card] hardware. They are very friendly and helpful, and know their stuff.

          If it's something they don't carry, then I go to [fruit tree field (FTF)] or the orange apron. The local FTF and orange apron are iffy. FTF is either really helpful or they've got crazy guy working. The orange apron people are mostly just cashiers who happen to sell hardware and appliances, and you have to know pretty much exactly what you need before you go in.
          Labor boards have info on local laws for free
          HR believes the first person in the door
          Learn how to go over whackamole bosses' heads safely
          Document everything
          CS proves Dunning-Kruger effect

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          • #6
            Ugh... Crappy Round Thing (that sounds like fire) is the WORST for customer service....

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            • #7
              Canadian currency store is so horrible with customer service that I go there only 1-2 times a year.

              And that's when they have the scratch card that guarantees $5.

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              • #8
                Im so glad it isn't just me that things the first store is bad. I was beginning to think I was just expecting too much.
                I wasnt put on this earth to make you feel like a man ~ Mary Bertone

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                • #9
                  Wow I've never had problems with Canadian Currency Store. I once bought a storage cabinet there that was on sale, this was before I had a car and was mentioning that I'd need to call a cab to get it home. The fellow who was helping me offered to bring it over in his truck when he got off work in a short bit. Sure he could have just made off with it but I trusted him and he brought it over for me. I loved shopping there as everyone was so nice and helpful. The one where we live now is quite nice as well.

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                  • #10
                    You're so lucky, PastryGal. I have access to three of them that are relatively close and hate them all.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth ADeMartino View Post
                      I'm guessing you went to a hardware chain store whose name sounds remarkably like BLOWS.

                      I don't know if it's like this all over, but in my area, the hardware stores by that name have dismal customer service anymore. If half the stories I've heard about this company are true, I'm not surprised the employees don't care.
                      Are you referring to the big box store, that's a combination building supply/hardware/appliance/etc. store? I've always had excellent service at my local one. I guess they vary by location.
                      Women can do anything men can.
                      But we don't because lots of it's disgusting.
                      Maxine

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                      • #12
                        The Crappy Car Part store is notorious for bad service (almost as bad as the Department Store soon to become a Big Red Bullseye); but you do sometimes find a few gems in there. Personally, considering they were a car parts store first that's expanded to housewares and sporting goods, I'd hit the actual hardware and/or building supplies stores first before going to them unless I knew exactly what I needed.

                        Of course my family has a history with Crappy Currency store, since my dad was an automotive manager at one for years long ago; and my sister is now a manager at another one. (The stories she tells sometimes, about both her customers and her employees; generally she is one of the Good Ones though).

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Sparky View Post
                          Are you referring to the big box store, that's a combination building supply/hardware/appliance/etc. store? I've always had excellent service at my local one. I guess they vary by location.
                          That's the one. Maybe it's just the ones near me, I don't know, but I avoid them now like the plague. The last few times I was in there, you couldn't find an employee ANYWHERE. It was like they'd all gone to break at the same time.

                          My very last visit was a 20-minute waiting game. I had questions and looked high and low for someone, ANYONE, to ask. Finally had to go to the service desk, who paged someone from the department I was in. No response. I asked them to page again. Nothing. A third page eventually produced quite possibly the least-helpful person in existence. This fellow clearly didn't want to be there at all.


                          I later found out from somebody who had recently worked for them that the company is pursuing a 'absolute rock-bottom staffing' policy, requiring that some employees are covering two or even three departments ALONE. I'm told the pay stinks and the turnover rate rivals that of fast-food joints. There are other stories and so forth I've heard.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth ADeMartino View Post
                            ...the company is pursuing a 'absolute rock-bottom staffing' policy, requiring that some employees are covering two or even three departments ALONE. I'm told the pay stinks and the turnover rate rivals that of fast-food joints.
                            Wow, kind of sounds like where I work

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                            • #15
                              Quoth ADeMartino View Post
                              I later found out from somebody who had recently worked for them that the company is pursuing a 'absolute rock-bottom staffing' policy, requiring that some employees are covering two or even three departments ALONE. I'm told the pay stinks and the turnover rate rivals that of fast-food joints. There are other stories and so forth I've heard.
                              It didn't seem to be the case at my store, there were four employees at the front when I walked in and in my walk around trying to find my item I saw another 5 or so people. My old store is about the same size and we only had 5 people working that day total.

                              It seems to be a much more hands off style of customers service, more of a "I wait until you ask me for help" rather than a "can I help you with anything?" style.
                              I wasnt put on this earth to make you feel like a man ~ Mary Bertone

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