"Just Come in and Look yourself"

[Cole]

Sorry, but i need to vent....

i hate when customers will call into my store and except me to be their personal shopper. They will call in and get me to run around the store picking up everything on their list, asking me a million questions about it, and tell me to hold it for them since "there're just SO busy that they can't come in and look for themselves". I'm fed up with lazy customers, it's not like they are calling to see if an item is in stock, they want me to do all of their shopping.

Here's a story from a lady i had i phone today, this was just part of her conversation:

Sc: I'm looking for a tablecloth, go over there and bring them all to the phone and describe them to me.
Me: We carry a lot of different kinds, it might me useful to come in and look at the selection, however i can give some of the prices. What size is your table?
SC: Oh, i don't have time to actually come in there and look, i'll wait here while you get them for, but hurry…. I am in a rush you know..
Me: What size are you looking for?
SC: Oh, you know, normal size....5 tiles long
Me: ummm 5 tiles?
SC: Yes, are you stupid? I'm looking at my table now and it's 5 floor tiles long, now go over and bring over ALL the table clothes for 5 floor tiles.

( i guess she never herd of using a tape measure, it didn't go over to well when i don't i could get her any tablecloths measured by her floor tiles)

So, Let share our Lazy Customer Stories, i bet there is a lot of Lazy customers out there....unless they all just come to my store to annoy me

[Crafty1289]

We save daily papers for about 6 customers at our shop. Occasionally we forget.

Customer: Do you have my express behind there?
Me: no, im afraid not, the opening staff must have forgot today
Customer: <Just stands there, glaring at me>

I walk around the checkouts, to the front, walk over to the papers, grab her an express, walk all the way back around behind the checkouts and scan the express. All for what? 40 measly pence. I wouldn't mind but all the while, she's stood there about 4 feet from the newspaper rack! She could just grab one herself and save a lot of time!! Some people are just too principled.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I also had a customer phone up once, this is how the conversation went:

c: hello there, i need to ask a favour. dont worry, your money will be there.
me: <wtf?> im sorry?
c: yeah, i need you to grab some things for me, ring them up, and have them ready for when I come up to your store.
me: <again, wtf?> errr thats not a service we offer i'm afraid!
c: oh yes it is, they've done it before.
me: <more wtf???> in the 3 years this store has been run by <our company> we have never offered this service!
c: they did it before! I'm getting a taxi up to your store, I need the items ready for when I come to pick them up and pay, then i'll jump back in the taxi and go home!
me: well i'm afraid whenever they did it before, we dont do it any more.
c: well i will be phoning customer services about you
me: ok then. have a nice day
c: <click>

My manager was looking on at this point, and asked what that was all about. I told her, and she agreed what what I said fully.

She did phone CS too, and they told us we have to do as she said. WTF???? No way. We're only a small convenience store!

I lost about half my brain cells having that conversation.

[Tito]

Yep, I got a couple from my retail hell days:

Lazy customer story #1:

One time, I was cashiering during a BIG rush, & this lady wanted me to ring up a pack of cigarettes for her (they're kept in the courtesy booth, but cashiers would still ring them up if asked to). She then wanted me to go get them for her while she waited! Thinking to myself: Hello! We're kinda busy right now! You're asking me to make everyone else wait because you're too damn lazy to get your own cigarettes!

The end result was her going & getting them herself. I don't know if she complained or not. If she did, I never heard a word of it.

Lazy customer story #2:

One night when I was stocking shelves, this lady accidently knocked over a display in the aisle. Instead of picking it up herself (it was only a few items) she then yelled over to me like I'm her servant 'I got a cleanup for you!'

I'm sure I got more, but that's all I can think of for now.

[Mad-Bassist]

Ugh. Cole, that phone call is just *shakes head* amazing. Same for the others.

Back in my convenience store days, there were a couple times I resisted the urge to tell someone, "Would you like me to chew that for you too, sir?"

[Becks]

One night when I was stocking shelves, this lady accidently knocked over a display in the aisle. Instead of picking it up herself (it was only a few items) she then yelled over to me like I'm her servant 'I got a cleanup for you!'

I'm surprised she didn't take off to another aisle and act like she didn't knock it over.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

A few weeks ago, we had a lady who called from her car, parked outside the Kitty and actually had the gall to ask if there was someone who could come out to get her list, do her shopping for her, ring up the groceries at the register, then come out to her car to get the money.

She was simply told by the employee answering the phone that we didn't have the manpower to accomodate her request. How the employee didn't break into laughter over the phone is beyond me.

She left one unhappy customer. Boohoo

[Department stores *sigh*]

a lady once dragged my away from when i was on break (i made the mistake of grabbin my food in my work uniform) she then made me show her and open every slow cooker we had as she made her decision. then once she finally MADE her decision i said 'well glad i could help' (in that retail kinda way) and she just stares at me. takes a few moments fot it to click...... she also wants me to carry the slow cooker to the checkout for her >.< i left it thre and ran off for the rest of my break.

[EmiOfBrie]

She did phone CS too, and they told us we have to do as she said. WTF????

maybe that's why "they've done it before"....every time, she gets told no, then calls the CSRs who cowtow to every little customer whim, and tells you to do as she says.

[Amalthea]

Ugh. I'll tell you about my most frustrating phone call from someone who can't be bothered to do their own shopping. And I know everyone will wonder why I let this guy bother me for an hour and half before getting rid of him. I'm one of those people who isn't good in the middle of a confrontation because I like to step back and go over my options before I take action, and it's hard to do that in the middle of a frustrating situation. ::sigh::

Anyway, this guy calls with a couple ISBNs for me to look up. (International Standard Book Number. Like a UPC number. Helps me find the exact book you're looking for) So, I figure he's looked up these books on our website, wants to see if we have them in stock before he comes down. First he gives me some ISBNs for some really old (1970s) New Age books. I apologize that we don't have them and can't even order them, but that we might have similar, more up-to-date books on the same topics. He wants to know WHY we don't have them. (They're old and out-of-print. What do you want me to do?) So then he gives me about 5 ISBNs for some Home Plan books. I go get them off the shelf, then ask for his last name so I can hold them for him. Wait, he wants me to look in them and tell him how many colored pictures of houses they have in them. For the most part, they only have about 20 colored pictures in the front. The rest of each book (about 150 pages) is dedicated to simple line drawings of the front of the home, and a drawing of the blueprint. They're for people to pick a house style they want, not for people to set on their coffee table and look at pretty photos of houses. So, then he wants me to find him some books with more photos. I find a few, and he makes me describe them, give him the ISBN so he can look at them online, read the back of the book to him, etc. Not only that, but he asks about each book MULTIPLE times. ("Now what was in the <Book Title> one?" "I already told you about that one, sir" "Was that one with a lot of pictures?") He wants me to go look again, this time in our Architecture section rather than the Home Plan section. I found a book on American House Styles and read him the blurb that said something about it having photos on styles "from Colonial to modern". Then he wants me to explain what Colonial is. Then he has an ISBN for a book we have called "Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland". So I go grab that off the shelf, and let him know we have another book made by the same people, called "Haunted Britain and Ireland". The one book is all castles, the other is all other sorts of random "haunted" buildings. So he wants me to flip through it and tell him what type of buildings are in it. Several times I tell him I'm just gonna hold these books for him so he can come look at them himself, and he won't let me. "Let me just have you look this up real quick..." he keeps saying. He asks me again about the contents of the 5 original books he had me look up. And again about the other ones I found for him. Two are by the same guy, and he asks me about this at least 5 times. ("So <Book A> and <Book B> are by the same guy?") Finally it's been about an hour, and I've tried multiple ways to get him off the phone. Finally I tell him (a lie, but I already tried being nice!) that I am late for lunch and need to go. He wants just a couple more ISBNs looked up. I sigh. They are the same ISBNs I've already looked up. "Sir, I already looked these books up for you." "Oh. What's in them again?" I forgot to mention, this whole time he keeps yelling at his cats to leave each other alone, and asks me at least 20 times if I can hear them fighting, each time I tell him I can't, and he goes "Wow, cuz they're really loud". So I go over one more time what is in each book, then go over which ones he'd expressed interest in and which ones he said he wasn't interested in. He wants the ISBNs for the first group, and I give them to him. Finally I tell him "Sir, I have GOT to get off the phone. Let me get your last name so I can hold these for you."

.....

Can you guess the punchline of this whole horrible episode?

"Oh, don't hold them for me. I can't afford them for at least a month."

[Mad-Bassist]

Can you guess the punchline of this whole horrible episode?

"Oh, don't hold them for me. I can't afford them for at least a month."

Gaaah! That's just unreal.

I posted this a few years ago about a man in a three-piece suit that came into my store, yakking constantly on his cell phone. When it came time to sign his credit card receipt, he tried to sign it with one hand and had no luck. He then asked me to hold the paper for him.

Okay. Normally I'm willing to go the extra mile to spoil a customer, but this guy didn't acknowledge me up until this point. I said, "Put them on hold for a couple seconds."

He grumbled a bit and propped the paper with his elbow as he signed it, still talking constantly. He proceeded to walk out, never letting up on his conversation for a moment. I had to laugh. It's people like that who make me resist the idea of buying a cell phone, and very cautious driving down the road.

[Knightmare]

I actually was a personal shopper for a customer ONCE. Only once.

Back in my Shack days (I seem to have lots of SC stories about that place; Probably because they have the worst SC's I have ever seen), when I was young and naive, I would go out of my way to help every customer I could.

One day I was working with 3 co-workers and no customers. It was a very slow day. Probably a Sunday. A car pulls up to the curb (strip mall store) and an extremely old man gets out of the car, and shuffles over to his trunk. He slowly pulls out a wheelchair for this enormous old woman sitting in the front seat. How this little old man was going to push this HUGE (and I mean HUGE) old lady in this little wheelchair, I'll never know, nor never did find out. After he messed with it for what seemed like ten minutes, turns out it was busted and unusable.

So he shuffles in and comes to me, the first person he sees, and asks for help. "Great," I think. "I get to help make the wheelchair work and push in this lady." Nope. He asks if I would go outside and help his lady friend with a purchase. "No problem."

I go out, and she apologizes for not being able to make it inside. She's old, has diabetes, can't walk, and now her chair is broken. I empathize and ask what I can do to help. She needs a new telephone, and asks very politely if I can take some out of the store and show them to her. Normally, we are not allowed to take unpaid merch. out of the store, but I ask her to hold on, I will go see what the AM says. I return inside, explain, and he says no problem, but be careful. They may be trying to steal. *Huh?*

I go back outside, tell her it's ok, and ask her what kind of phone she needs. Turns out she wants a simple, easy to use, corded phone that will work when the power goes out. After a few more questions, I go back inside and bring 3 models to show her. I explain features, benefits, prices, colors, etc. and she decides on the middle-expensive one. She gives me her credit card and FL ID and asks me to ring it up. I go inside, ring up the phone, and even plug in the cords for her so things would be easier for her. I go back outside, have her sign the receipt and all is good.

The man gets back in the driver seat, and he leans over to the lady. She then digs into her purse, pulls out $10 and hands it to me.
"Thank you for being so accomodating. It was very nice and generous of you, and I will be sure to let your manager know what a nice young man you are."

I refused the tip, but she grabbed my hand, pushed it in there, and told me to buy my girlfriend lunch. So, yes, I took it.

And she even did as she said; she not only called my manager, but also corporate to tell them how wonderful I was to her.

And that, my friends, is probably the last time I went above and beyond for a customer. I am now a cynical, brooding retail slave, and I only do what is needed for customers. Ok, for most customers. There are a few that I will go to great lengths for, but not many.

But many is the time where a customer would call, want me to tell them everything about a dozen different products, and I would tell them to just come in, there is way too much to explain in a phone conversation.

[Jester]

Knightmare, you are a saint. You truly did go above and beyond on that one, and I can tell you frankly, there are many retail clerks who would not have bothered. Heck, there are not many PEOPLE that would have bothered, let alone just retail folk. If ever you are in my bar, your first drink is on me.

[ebonyknight]

SC: Yes, are you stupid? I'm looking at my table now and it's 5 floor tiles long, now go over and bring over ALL the table clothes for 5 floor tiles.

( i guess she never herd of using a tape measure, it didn't go over to well when i don't i could get her any tablecloths measured by her floor tiles)

So, Let share our Lazy Customer Stories, i bet there is a lot of Lazy customers out there....unless they all just come to my store to annoy me

I don't know how you guys continutally put up with that crap.

Personally, as soon as I was insulted, I would have hung up. But oddly enough, I never really had any rude customers in retail, except for McDonalds. But I don't ever remember being insulted like that.

[chainedbarista]

knight, i think that's great, and one of very few situations where going out of one's way is worth the effort (not for a tip, but due to circumstance and the customer being so good).

i wish more people were like that; grateful when you do help them, but we all know how that goes.