Observations these days...

[Ceir]

Not a specific Sighting, but more hoping to discuss a general retail phenomenon.

When - in general - did Modern Customer Service start including heaps of apologies and blatant kissing up? Was there a tipping point in response to sucky patrons, or is it sort of a chicken-egg loop?

Cases in point, only the first of which did not happen this week:
- Gaming group goes for food after an evening of rolling dice. It's late, six or seven of us, the only ones inside %burgershack%, and (I thought) fairly obviously together. I was fourth in line, and received three apologies for the wait. I couldn't think fast enough to do more than nod and mutter a 'no problem'.

- Similarly, any time I have to wait on a fresh batch of anything at a fast-food joint. Apologies ahoy. That one I at least can formulate a reply to - 'hey, I'll never complain about a fresh batch of X!'

- Dropping something off at the bank is an experience these days, even just at the drivethrough. "Hello sir, how are you sir, is this all for you sir, we're working on that right now sir, don't worry I'll have that right out for you sir, you have a wonderful day sir!" You work there, I presume you know what you're doing; no need to reassure me every thirty seconds. And it's the delivery on this one that kills me, the forced chirpiness.

It may be a rhetorical question, but what happened to make major employers mandate these kinds of things? It wasn't like this when I was working retail *mumble* years ago.

I dunno. I have way too many 'back in my day' moments these days...

[Catwoman2965]

I hate it too. I only require an apology if someone really screws up, or I have to wait a very long time for something. But just normally, no.

In my store, we are supposed to greet the customer within 30 seconds of them entering, and then tell them the promos, ask if they need help, blah, blah, blah. Ok fine, no problem there. My problem is with one manager in particular. Two things she does which irks the daylights out of me.

First one: If she comes from another part of the store, and sees me or anyone else in on area, and a customer *gasp" by themselves with no one hovering over them, she will immediately ask if we have "acknowledged" the customer. And yes, we always have.

Second one: we are supposed to ask, when ringing up, who helped them since while we aren't on commission, we do have sales goals. Many times they will say no one, and then said manager will fall over apologizing for our "transgressions"

When in reality, many people simply like to be LEFT ALONE to browse. so while we ahve greeted them etc., they've said they are just looking, will let us know if they need anything etc. same with at the register - just beacuse NO ONE helped them doens't mean its a bad thing. I personally like to be left alone to shop. greet me, ask i i need any help, but then back off and if i do need you, I will find you.

[EricKei]

It's basically companies (especially big ones) trying to put on a front of "superior customer service", as if that were the only reason customers kept coming back to certain stores. In a sense, I can't really blame them -- business seems to be down for many places, so they are afraid of running people off who may never be replaced by fresh blood.

[Draco]

I only want a true apology from fast food places when I'm standing in line fifteen minutes to a half hour when there are only two or three people in line. The Wendy's near me is famous for that. I get much faster service when I go to the drive-thru.

Though I'll never turn down a brief apology for additional waits when they put fresh things on, mainly because I do like to know what the holdup is. :P

[raudf]

At a local roast beef place, they gave us a free chocolate turnover because we had to wait for our orders of potato cakes. And it wasn't that long a wait, more like 5 minutes for a fresh batch! And apologies every time we went near the counter for anything!

Seriously, I felt bad for the employees, because we didn't complain.. but one other group did. I don't think they got a turnover however. Guess they were trying reverse training?

[Pagan]

- Dropping something off at the bank is an experience these days, even just at the drivethrough. "Hello sir, how are you sir, is this all for you sir, we're working on that right now sir, don't worry I'll have that right out for you sir, you have a wonderful day sir!" You work there, I presume you know what you're doing; no need to reassure me every thirty seconds. And it's the delivery on this one that kills me, the forced chirpiness.

One call center that I worked at, even if you were trying to fix something for the caller that did require some concentration (we did cell phone troubleshooting), you were not allowed to have any silence on the line. You had to keep up a running conversation. I kept thinking, "We're not a radio station. Dead air ain't gonna kill no one!"

First one: If she comes from another part of the store, and sees me or anyone else in on area, and a customer *gasp" by themselves with no one hovering over them, she will immediately ask if we have "acknowledged" the customer. And yes, we always have.

I personally like to be left alone to shop. greet me, ask i i need any help, but then back off and if i do need you, I will find you.

That, right there, will make people walk out. I know I've done it.

I'm the same as you. Greet me, then leave me the hell alone.

[gerund]

"Hello sir, how are you sir, is this all for you sir, we're working on that right now sir, don't worry I'll have that right out for you sir, you have a wonderful day sir!"

My reply to that sort of nonsense:

"Is that spelt C-U-R SIR?"

They either stop it or look amused for a short while.

[RealUnimportant]

Suits seem to have an ass-backwards idea of how customer loyalty works.

People bitch about nothing, get discounts/freebies, then tell their friends who come in to bitch & get discounts/freebies, and soon the margins have collapsed and the staff find their hours cut and sales goals tripled... Meanwhile, companies that take no crap but still do the right thing when it's appropriate retain good customers and remain profitable, and this confuses the hell out of the suits because surely they should be raking in the money now they have such excellent "customer service"?

It's funny but a lot of my best customers now were once utter twats; I didn't take their shit or cave to their demands, and they learned that being nice gets them what they want much more easily

Last weekend I had someone flipping his nut over a single coin lost in our automated ticket machine. Now policy is to serve everyone waiting before leaving the office to attend a machine fault, so that we inconvenience as few people as possible. Once I finally got him to "understand" this, he let me serve one of the 4 people who'd built up in the meantime then demanded that I come out nownowNOW - and then said he was going to "press charges". I'm sorry, you mention anything about legal wrangling and I'm just shutting down - and I literally did just that, I closed the office, and that too was within policy so I'll not be getting any problems from management.

Later I had someone who had a large note get jammed up, and they were annoyed but not with me, and fully understanding of what I had to do & how. When I got it back for them I also recovered Mr Impatient's lost fortune & filed it in case he comes back... Incredible how people get worked up so much more over small amounts!

[Rock Lobster]

I walk out of stores where they 'hover' over me. Leave me alone!

I also get security called on me a lot because apparently I look like a shoplifter. If you think I am shoplifting then call the state police to send a female officer and pat me down. I am not going to jail and lose my job and my house and my family over stealing a $1 item. Calm down people!

[Mr Hero]

I'm the type of person that, if I frequent a store, I don't NEED help because I already know the basic layout. There's general exceptions, but I know there are people I can go up to and ask for help. This is how I prefer it, thank you very much!

[Kaylyn]

As an extreme introvert I hate being hovered over, or dealing with high pressure salespeople. I used to love going to Best Buy and wandering around, but I had to limit my visits recently to only go when I needed something that was easiest to get there rather than hunting all over the city. This was not due to anyone at Best Buy, but to their DirecTV salespeople. I'm often over in the PC games, immersed in the merchandise, when I am interrupted by someone assaulting me with questions about my TV service.

Dude, there is a GIGANTIC DirecTV display five feet from where I am standing. If I WANTED it, I know where to get it. But I don't watch TV on any actual TV service, I get it all off Netflix/Hulu/other online outlets. And as an introvert who doesn't like dealing with strangers for the most part, I stammer out some sort of reply along those lines and hope to God I didn't sound terribly rude in the process. I know they're doing their jobs (I used to work for RadioShack about ten years ago, oh GOD do I know they're just doing their jobs), but I've half a mind to call both Best Buy and DirecTV corporate to complain about their techniques because, seriously, unless I'm looking for an associate, I generally want to be left alone in stores. I'm not prone to expensive impulse buys like cell phones or satellite service without loads of research ahead of time, so I feel like I'm being preyed upon (as is everyone they approach who don't have impulse control and are too easily swayed by high-pressure sales).

[Shalom]

Dude, there is a GIGANTIC DirecTV display five feet from where I am standing. If I WANTED it, I know where to get it. But I don't watch TV on any actual TV service, I get it all off Netflix/Hulu/other online outlets.

Well that right there gives you an "out".

Just tell them what I do: "Thanks, but I don't have a TV."

Makes their brains explode. I truly do not have a working TV in my house, but when people (salesmen, survey-takers or just plain people) hear this it's as if I had said I don't have a toilet or something. They just can't comprehend how someone can live without a TV in this day and age.

(OK, you have a computer that can be used as a TV, granted. They don't have to know that.)

[Kaylyn]

Heh. I do have a TV but it's strictly for gaming. It's just, every time they come around and I have to turn them down (I see their DirecTV shirts and try to head them off before they start in on their sales pitch), the carefully-crafted words I had planned for my next encounter with them come out all jumbled up and like... "NO NOT INTERESTED I DON'T TV NETFLIX INTERNET...aw crap."

[wagegoth]

Last Black Friday, I did most of my shopping at Macy's and Joann's. (Most of my gift shopping was elsewhere, especially online, so I was taking advantage of sales for household items.) I received such friendly, helpful service, especially during such a miserable time for most salespeople, that I emailed both companies to tell them how happy I was.

I never received an answer back. I even emailed both companies again to ask if they had received my emails, and they never replied. That is bad customer service. If I had complained, I'm sure they would have fallen all over themselves to make me happy, but they couldn't even say, "Hey, we got your message and we're happy you shop with us."