Are you trained to be rude and compassionless?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

There's an article out on the web written by someone at the Wall Street Journal talking about the service economy.

Her basic argument is that most employees in the service industry are trained to be rude and have no compassion for others and instead made to annoy people by talking to them and/or getting their face on the sales floor or by pushing umpteen number of upsells at the register.

As a result, the customers get rude and have no compassion for the employees and thus we have a perfect breeding ground for SCs and a vicious cycle of rudeness.

I'm not trained to be rude, but I am trained to pressure. My regional manager loves that word, he always reminds us to "pressure the customers as much as possible". Not annoy, not badger, not hound...but "pressure", I guess because the only non negative word he could come up with. We are also told to be "Aggressive without being rude or pushy." So apparently they want us to bother people as much as we can without totally pissing them off?

What concerns me (and this is also pointed out in the article) is that as customers we are becoming more accepting of in-your-face employees and aggressive upsell tactics so rather than complain to corporate via phone calls/letters/emails/whatever, we just say "no thanks" and move on with it, which leads companies to believe the behavior of their employees is acceptable to customers.

[Whiskey]

What does compassion have to do with retail? Seriously though, I WISH someone would complain about our script. We're told not to ask too many questions, but in the same breath, UPSELL! UPSELL! UPSELL!!

So ordering a #8 with fries and coke turns into

C: Can I get a #8 with fries and a coke
Me: Medium or large?
C: Small?
Me: would you like curly fries
C: No.. just regular fries
Me: Would you like a milkshake or a refreshing smoothie?
C: no.. a coke is fine..also can I get cheddar wedges?
Me: With sour cream???
C: No!
Me: Can I get you anything else? Perhaps <special of the day>??
C: NO!!!

I dont say all that because I'm grave and we don't get audited but thats how they want the "dont ask too many questions" ordering process to go.

[jedikuonji]

What concerns me (and this is also pointed out in the article) is that as customers we are becoming more accepting of in-your-face employees and aggressive upsell tactics so rather than complain to corporate via phone calls/letters/emails/whatever, we just say "no thanks" and move on with it, which leads companies to believe the behavior of their employees is acceptable to customers.

I'm also not trained to be as annoying as possible to the guests/customers.

The worst part about what I quoted isn't that companies believe it to be acceptable behavior, it's that employees suffer because they are caught between the customer, who isn't interested in the upsell, and the company, who is.

The employee has to hear about the annoying practices from both sides. The employee cannot do anything about the company "pressure" tactics nor can they do anything about the customer being uninterested/annoyed. Then, because so many customers turn down whatever offer is being pushed at them, corporate gets upset and starts placing quotas on the employee. And when the employee fails to fill their quotas, the employee begins the journey to becoming unemployed.

Then, as you start to lose your veteran employees, customer service goes downhill. But, corporate likely doesn't care, at first, because it's cheaper to pay the new guy than the 5 year veteran. Then customer satisfaction starts to slide, profit goes down, and new incentive (pressure) systems are rolled out aimed at customer retention. Your new employees are now the veterans and the cycle repeats, with a little more customer service/satisfaction lost every time.

Then you get where we are today, with upset employees serving upset customers in an upset economy. Everyone is miserable but at least you can buy a protection plan for your $4 alarm clock (doesn't cover batteries!).

[KellyHabersham]

Not sure if this is on topic or no, but I've definitely been noticing lately that more and more stores seem to be requiring cashiers to ask about loyalty cards. (these being mall-based retailers) Funny thing was, though, that when Hot Topic switched over to that, I had one of the sales clerks ask me if I wanted to sign up for his "Friends with Benefits" card. (Which is what their loyalty cards are called, and he WAS really cute, just that I'm not into 16 year-olds_

[Whiskey]

I would sign up for a "friend with benefits" card just because its funny. well, probably not, but still +2 to corporate for having a sense of humor

[SourRobot]

I'm not trained to be rude, but I am trained to pressure. My regional manager loves that word, he always reminds us to "pressure the customers as much as possible". Not annoy, not badger, not hound...but "pressure", I guess because the only non negative word he could come up with. We are also told to be "Aggressive without being rude or pushy." So apparently they want us to bother people as much as we can without totally pissing them off?

What concerns me (and this is also pointed out in the article) is that as customers we are becoming more accepting of in-your-face employees and aggressive upsell tactics so rather than complain to corporate via phone calls/letters/emails/whatever, we just say "no thanks" and move on with it, which leads companies to believe the behavior of their employees is acceptable to customers.

It happens at my store too. All management cares about is us opening loyalty cards. If the customer says no the first time we have to explain the benefits. If they say no again we have to tell them about more benefits. It's annoying to have to explain everything and ask everyone, so I'll ask once and try to get all the info out at once. If they say no, I leave it at that. Every morning we have a meeting and all the managers tell us is to open more cards. Managers walk around during the day and what do they ask? "Have you opened any cards?" If you say no then you're dead to them.

Not sure if this is on topic or no, but I've definitely been noticing lately that more and more stores seem to be requiring cashiers to ask about loyalty cards. (these being mall-based retailers)

I was just going to say that. Just now one of the convenience stores I usually frequent has started the stupid loyalty card thing, and they'll ask you if you have one. If you say no they'll automatically pick up one from their desk and put it in your bag and tell you to activate it right away. Geez. I didn't even want one.
The only cards I don't mind having are ones from the book stores and ones from the supermarket (now that one really works!), but all the other ones are useless and unnecessary filler for my wallet.

[KellyHabersham]

I would sign up for a "friend with benefits" card just because its funny. well, probably not, but still +2 to corporate for having a sense of humor

Oh, it was really hard not to laugh, because I'm pretty sure the guy wasn't supposed to word his "sales pitch" quite like that. But I did end up signing up for one, because Hot Topic IS one of my favourite stores.

[Misanthropical]

I think my husband and I would both lose it laughing if someone asked us if we wanted the "Friends With Benefits" cards! That is funny stuff right there!

As for the up sell things, I find it very annoying, but I don't take it out on the poor clerk who has no choice in the matter. I do try to write an email to their corporate offices to tell them it's very annoying and does not make me want to open any sort of account with their stores.

I pay for my loyalty card at Barnes and Nobel but only because I buy so many books it is well worth the cost. Plus, it can be used in their coffee shops for their yummy beverages and desserts.

[fireheart]

Not sure if this is on topic or no, but I've definitely been noticing lately that more and more stores seem to be requiring cashiers to ask about loyalty cards. (these being mall-based retailers)

The company I work for does this. However, the rule that we've all put across the board and I put on myself when we first started this stupid scheme was "Just ask, don't push." If they're curious, then they'll go for it.

Oh, it was really hard not to laugh, because I'm pretty sure the guy wasn't supposed to word his "sales pitch" quite like that. But I did end up signing up for one, because Hot Topic IS one of my favourite stores.

You gotta give corporate (and the guy) some points for humour.

[joe hx]

where I work (pizza place) we don't upsell. we make our money by volume. upselling = more time per call, which means less calls. i'd rather take 100 orders with no upselling than with 75 and upselling.

of course, this is basic economics that corporate doesn't understand. i guess it's a good thing there is no corporate where i work.

[SuperRTL]

We had to ask every customer if they had everything they needed and to ask if they were on the mailing list. The mailing list gets you coupons sent to your house along with our ad every 2 weeks, usually about a week before the ad starts so you can plan your shopping for the next 2 weeks. The people who are on it seem to like it. Most of the really annoying people who come in looking for an ad (seriously, we get 10 store copies and those go in 2 minutes Sunday morning) and then keep asking if everything is on sale. The mailer has it all in it, please, for the love of Pete, get the mailer!

Asking if they have everything, though, I consider a courtesy. Like, you bought fabric, did you remember your thread? Zippers? Now, if I was trying to push seasonal stuff on somebody who was obviously just there for quilting supplies, I'd get annoyed.

So, no, I don't think people are trained to be rude, but the constant push to upsell by people who are only reading charts and numbers to people who don't really understand their customers wants and needs leads them to be rude.

As for loyalty cards, I have a Diva Style card that I love. I shop at that store often enough that I pretty much have a 15% discount across the board from it and I occasionally get a few extra perks. That works for me. I like my grocery rewards card and my bookstore card but otherwise, meh, I might get one but I probably won't use it.

[Racket_Man]

What does compassion have to do with retail? Seriously though, I WISH someone would complain about our script. We're told not to ask too many questions, but in the same breath, UPSELL! UPSELL! UPSELL!!

So ordering a #8 with fries and coke turns into

C: Can I get a #8 with fries and a coke
Me: Medium or large?
C: Small?
Me: would you like curly fries
C: No.. just regular fries
Me: Would you like a milkshake or a refreshing smoothie?
C: no.. a coke is fine..also can I get cheddar wedges?
Me: With sour cream???
C: No!
Me: Can I get you anything else? Perhaps <special of the day>??
C: NO!!!

I dont say all that because I'm grave and we don't get audited but thats how they want the "dont ask too many questions" ordering process to go.

AND what the article does NOT state is that if we do NOT follow the script/upsell like hell we can and WILL get written up or fired. HOW IS this OUR (meaning the peons) fault. Yes in a way we are "trained" this way --- by OUR FRANKIN employer ie. their rules, procedures, and policies.

WHY is this guy beating up on the peons???? why not go after the real culprits here the GREEDY money hungry newly minted MBA's that come up with these insane stupid plans and policies.

compassion????? WTF????? the fanchise/company ONLY cares about its profit and NOT how annoying we the peons are forced to be to the customers under threat of action.

[infinitemonkies]

(Reposted from another thread)

When I worked at blockbuster, we were required to ask every single person who entered the store if they were interested in signing up for a rewards membership, even though over 70% of our customers were already members.

Example: Regular customer comes in, he's been in 4 times already this same week, I know he has a membership, he's been a member for over 6 years, management informs me I will ask him every time he walks through the door or I will get fired.

Corporate policy: Spend tens of millions of dollars annually on market research to treat your customers and your staff like they're completely incompetent morons. Lose money anyway, wonder why, blame front-line grunts.

[bainsidhe]

Her basic argument is that most employees in the service industry are trained to be rude and have no compassion for others.

WTF does this have to do with loyalty programs? I'll admit the push push push for add-ons and programs start to piss me off. Yet that strangely has little bearing on how I think the employees take care of me. After all, it's the company pushing the damn programs, not the employees.

So if I go to Barnes N Noble (as someone here mentioned) and they help me find my book, not to mention patiently answer questions about related titles/authors, then this translates to being rude and without compassion because they also ask me about the loyalty card? Someone needs to get off their high horse and focus on the problem where it really belongs, with corporate.

[Magpie]

Hold on a sec. I thought that by saying that the employees are trained to be rude to the customers (i.e. harass them about loyalty cards) it was placing the blame on corporate. Look how many people complain that they'd much rather be nice to the customers than to do what corporate wants them to do.