Unbelievable Sucky Worker

[marcus]

Furniture store, about 25 minutes before closing. We already spent 30 minutes cruising the shop and actually decided on the table/chair combo we wanted, it was a case of handing the money over and arranging delivery. We approach the closest assistant who was actually talking to another customer about a couch or something, we had little choice, they were all busy with customers. It became clear to us that the other customer was just shooting the crap and not going to buy it but that's ok, we can wait a few minutes. Unfortunately this dragged on for a good 20 minutes taking us up to closing time. Now, I would never have walked up to an assistant with 5 minutes to go but we had been clearly waiting on this guy for ages (No other assistant available) and he was well aware of this.
Finally the time wasting customer slipped away (without buying anything) and we moved forward to essentially hand our $1500 over but what's this? The assistant turned on his heels and began to walk away.

Me - Excuse me
Gimp - Yes?
Me - We'd like to buy that table/chair set there
Gimp - We are closing in 5 minutes, no time
Me - But we have cash, it won't take a minute
Gimp - You should have come in earlier
Me - [getting twitchy] But we've been waiting for you here patiently for 20 minutes
Gimp - Well I've been here all day

Assistant walks away

Well, I'd already tagged his name from his badge and the next day I gave his head office both barrels down the phone. They were most apologetic and gave us a 10% discount and some vouchers for use in the soft furnishing department as well as assuring me that the assistant would be hauled in for some realignment

What a loser

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

You probably should've asked for help right away instead of just standing there. He might have gotten the hint and cut his conversation short.

I'm not saying this employee wasn't sucky, he very obviously was, but you can't just stand around and say nothing and expect the clerk to read your mind and realize you need help.

[Becks]

IP, how many times have we defined a sucky customer as someone who interrupts?

I think the employee was sucky.

[One-Fang]

I think it's fine to interrupt shooting the bull type talk at least to ask "Excuse me, I want to buy this, can someone help me with this now?" Phrasing it like that also allows the possibility for some other person to be pointed at, so that if they are having a serious discussion, they are only interrupted briefly.

Five minutes to close is time enough to handle a cash deal.

[Canarr]

I'm gonna go with the "sucky employee" side here... If there are two people standing next to you for 20 minutes, shouldn't that be a strong hint that they might want to talk to you about something? Potentially even buy something?

[Barefootgirl]

If you are polite and apologetic, its not completely out of order to say something along the lines of, "Excuse me, I can see you're busy but is there someone around who can help me with this purchase? We're ready to buy". That gives the salesman the chance to either dump his timewaster or to call one of his colleagues over to help you out. Obviously it would be rude to say, "Hey you, its time to serve ME now!"or something like that, but sometimes, there is no alternative to interrupting politely.

I also think it was a bit rubbish of the salesman not to keep half an eye open for customers who look as if they need help. If you'd been loitering by his desk for 20 minutes, it should have been fairly obvious to him that you wanted to speak to him. It would have been acceptable for him to say "I'm busy with this gentleman right now, but I'll be with you shortly".

[Enjis]

I agree with Barefootgirl. I always have more than one guest at a time. When dealing with one, while another is waiting, I often turn to the waiting one and say "I'll be right with you..unless you have a question...?"
That leaves them open to say 'I was just looking for the bathroom' or 'I'm just waiting to buy this' or something.
If it's a question I can answer while helping the first guest, I will do so. If they want to buy (and the first guest is NOT buying) the first guest will often say 'Oh, go right ahead of me. I'm just deciding' or something like that.

Makes everything much easier. The salesperson should have excused himself from the first guest for a moment to find out what you were waiting for. And since they work on commission, (I assume!) it amazes me that he wouldn't take your money.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

IP, how many times have we defined a sucky customer as someone who interrupts?

I think the employee was sucky.

Why is it sucky to interrupt somebody who is not doing his/her job and is just gabbing with friends?

I hate it when I see coworkers doing this. If I were to interrupt a coworker doing this to ask them for help, I guess that would make me sucky, huh?

I'm not excusing the worker for his obviously sucky behavior. It's aggravating to me as a retail employee when somebody stands around and doesn't ask for help and then gets pissy at me because I didn't help them.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Exactly that. We're not mind readers and a lot of time if someone's just hanging around they're not waiting for help, but instead either waiting for an other half or friend, or just standing there for no reason. You ask them if they want help, and they look at you blankly.

[varmintjane]

I would have been hesitant to interrupt as well, especially if I wasn't sure whether or not the conversation was "official" or personal. Definately a sucky employee because even if he had been discussing business with the other person, there was still someone else waiting to be helped. No matter what the case, he had no business talking to you like that.

[trunks2k]

I would have been a bit hesitant as well, but after waiting for a couple minutes I would have politely interrupted with an "Excuse me, I know you're dealing with someone right now, but I'm ready to buy and don't want to end up keeping you past closing time, do you know if there is anyone available to help me?"

[Mixed Bag]

Even more frustrating is when the employee can't even interrupt a task rather than a conversation to see about helping; once after a long wait at K Mart, the customer in front of me was finally finished but I had to wait several extra minutes for the drawer to be changed. I don't see why the cashier couldn't have asked if I was paying by credit card (which I was), in which case the drawer move could have just as well been done afterward and those in my position would be finished sooner. (If the problem was that the computer prompted the cashier to tend to the drawer first and service later, I declare this a bug.)