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Today was another Saturday at Target, where I work on the sales floor. I was called over to the patio furniture area to assist some people. This is slightly less about the customer than it is about the nature of staffing at Megacorp©, but since the latter was precipitated by the former I'm putting it in the 'Sucky Customers' forum.
A couple was interested in a lounge chair. Their first question, perfectly reasonable, was whether or not the lounge chair comes with a cushion, because there was none on the floor model but one of the pictures showed it with a cushion. Being fairly new, I wasn't sure. I said something like: "I don't think so, but I'm not sure," and reassured them I would figure it out. It took me about 35 seconds to figure that the best thing to do would be to retrieve the item from the back room (since they wanted to buy it anyway) and open it to see if a cushion is included -- but that was 10 seconds after the man lost patience and asked: "Can you call someone who knows what they're doing?"
Being human, I took umbrage to the question and for the sake of dignity elected to explain the way our staffing works. The following is slightly more detailed than my explanation, but they got the gist of it: Despite the fact the store has 34 defined sections (e.g. furniture, cosmetics, automotive, jewelry, sporting goods, babies, cleaning supplies, etc...), sales floor employees only work in one of two regions: "soft lines" (clothing & jewelry) or "hard lines" (almost everything else). I work in hard lines, and they do not assign us to any one area on a permanent basis. In other words, at any given time I may be called upon to help people with questions about bikes, insecticide, barbecues, humidifiers, vacuums, mirrors, chairs, microwaves, bedspreads, fabric patches, water coolers, sleeping bags, napkin holders, paper shredders, car batteries, face paint, remote-controlled helicopters, rechargeable electric inflatable mattress pumps.. ad infinitum.
In addition, we're supposed to ask every customer if they need help--though after being told by people two or three times directly or in the second-person (to their companion) that I don't know what I'm talking about I've learned to try to avoid asking that question when I happen to be working in an area I know absolutely nothing about; because they're right.
So, back to today. In all fairness it's not unreasonable for someone looking at outdoor furniture to want to speak to someone who knows about outdoor furniture; except there are no people who specialize in anything other than electronics or gardening, which are separate positions. Furthermore, busy days do not afford us the luxury of calling any of the other staff members for help unless it is really necessary.
I gave the guy my shpeel but cut it short in the interest of resolving the inquiry. I retrieved the lounge, it comes with a cushion, and this man showed he wasn't a total ass by thanking me for my help.
A couple was interested in a lounge chair. Their first question, perfectly reasonable, was whether or not the lounge chair comes with a cushion, because there was none on the floor model but one of the pictures showed it with a cushion. Being fairly new, I wasn't sure. I said something like: "I don't think so, but I'm not sure," and reassured them I would figure it out. It took me about 35 seconds to figure that the best thing to do would be to retrieve the item from the back room (since they wanted to buy it anyway) and open it to see if a cushion is included -- but that was 10 seconds after the man lost patience and asked: "Can you call someone who knows what they're doing?"
Being human, I took umbrage to the question and for the sake of dignity elected to explain the way our staffing works. The following is slightly more detailed than my explanation, but they got the gist of it: Despite the fact the store has 34 defined sections (e.g. furniture, cosmetics, automotive, jewelry, sporting goods, babies, cleaning supplies, etc...), sales floor employees only work in one of two regions: "soft lines" (clothing & jewelry) or "hard lines" (almost everything else). I work in hard lines, and they do not assign us to any one area on a permanent basis. In other words, at any given time I may be called upon to help people with questions about bikes, insecticide, barbecues, humidifiers, vacuums, mirrors, chairs, microwaves, bedspreads, fabric patches, water coolers, sleeping bags, napkin holders, paper shredders, car batteries, face paint, remote-controlled helicopters, rechargeable electric inflatable mattress pumps.. ad infinitum.
In addition, we're supposed to ask every customer if they need help--though after being told by people two or three times directly or in the second-person (to their companion) that I don't know what I'm talking about I've learned to try to avoid asking that question when I happen to be working in an area I know absolutely nothing about; because they're right.
So, back to today. In all fairness it's not unreasonable for someone looking at outdoor furniture to want to speak to someone who knows about outdoor furniture; except there are no people who specialize in anything other than electronics or gardening, which are separate positions. Furthermore, busy days do not afford us the luxury of calling any of the other staff members for help unless it is really necessary.
I gave the guy my shpeel but cut it short in the interest of resolving the inquiry. I retrieved the lounge, it comes with a cushion, and this man showed he wasn't a total ass by thanking me for my help.
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