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One of the reasons why I love reading the stories on these boards is reading about staff who really care about their customers, their products and the service they provide.
Unfortunately where I live- mainland Europe- this is very often not the case. Outside of the UK/Ireland, there is very little concept of customer service. Sure, a lot of the customers suck as well but I don't have many stories to tell about customers given that they don't have the same entitlement and 'customer is ALWAYS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES right' attitude that some of them display in your stories from the US and UK.
So I hope I don't cheese people off by telling a couple of stories about service over here.
(1) Once, when I lived in Germany, I was in a store that sold toiletries, cosmetics and household cleaning products etc. I didn't like this particular store for many reasons but one day I was in an area of town where I needed some things and this was the only option available to me. I didn't have much cash on me - still the preferred payment, though most do take debit cards these days- so I checked on the door before I walked in that they would take my debit card and the sign told me they did. I picked up about 20 euros/dollars worth of stuff and took it over to the cashier. She rang it all up and I gave her my card and she sighed and rolled her eyes at me, slumped in her chair and in a really sulky voice basically said "Urgh/Tut. Why don't you people ask if you can pay by card? The machine is broken." I hope it wasn't too sucky of me to reply "Why should I ask? Your sign says I can pay by card and it's your responsibility to tell me before if I cannot. And you shouldn't speak to customers like that". She was a little dumbfounded that I had dared to speak back to her and had no response. After being spoken to like that, I felt my only option was to just walk out.
(2) I'm currently living in Belgium where there are so many foreigners and native English speakers, that you hear a lot of English spoken in shops and it's often a second or even third language for the workers. I was browsing around the electrical section of a big supermarket one Friday night about an hour before closing and overheard one of the customer service guys talking to a customer. Unfortunately I have no idea what the patron said to provoke this response "Well, what I can do for you is to come in early tomorrow morning. It's a Saturday and normally like you I want to be sleeping in my bed. It's a big incovenience for me. But don't worry, for you I will do this." I can't convey just how pissed off this guy and the tone of disgust in his voice.
I can never imagine any of you lovely CS posters on here ever talking to anyone in the way that we get treated over here!
Unfortunately where I live- mainland Europe- this is very often not the case. Outside of the UK/Ireland, there is very little concept of customer service. Sure, a lot of the customers suck as well but I don't have many stories to tell about customers given that they don't have the same entitlement and 'customer is ALWAYS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES right' attitude that some of them display in your stories from the US and UK.
So I hope I don't cheese people off by telling a couple of stories about service over here.
(1) Once, when I lived in Germany, I was in a store that sold toiletries, cosmetics and household cleaning products etc. I didn't like this particular store for many reasons but one day I was in an area of town where I needed some things and this was the only option available to me. I didn't have much cash on me - still the preferred payment, though most do take debit cards these days- so I checked on the door before I walked in that they would take my debit card and the sign told me they did. I picked up about 20 euros/dollars worth of stuff and took it over to the cashier. She rang it all up and I gave her my card and she sighed and rolled her eyes at me, slumped in her chair and in a really sulky voice basically said "Urgh/Tut. Why don't you people ask if you can pay by card? The machine is broken." I hope it wasn't too sucky of me to reply "Why should I ask? Your sign says I can pay by card and it's your responsibility to tell me before if I cannot. And you shouldn't speak to customers like that". She was a little dumbfounded that I had dared to speak back to her and had no response. After being spoken to like that, I felt my only option was to just walk out.
(2) I'm currently living in Belgium where there are so many foreigners and native English speakers, that you hear a lot of English spoken in shops and it's often a second or even third language for the workers. I was browsing around the electrical section of a big supermarket one Friday night about an hour before closing and overheard one of the customer service guys talking to a customer. Unfortunately I have no idea what the patron said to provoke this response "Well, what I can do for you is to come in early tomorrow morning. It's a Saturday and normally like you I want to be sleeping in my bed. It's a big incovenience for me. But don't worry, for you I will do this." I can't convey just how pissed off this guy and the tone of disgust in his voice.
I can never imagine any of you lovely CS posters on here ever talking to anyone in the way that we get treated over here!
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