Don't call us after 5, k?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

This happened a week ago. I debated if this was sucky enough to warrant a post and have decided it is.

I was working on the salesfloor. I took an outside call for small appliances. The caller asked me if we carried breadmakers and I told her we did. She asked for brand names and prices and I gave her that information too.

Then she said "I am going to offer an observation. Customer service diminishes after 5 pm."

I asked why she felt that way and she told me the night before she called the store and asked somebody the same question about breadmakers she asked me. The person who took the call told her we didn't carry breadmakers.

1.) The person who took the call that night is a high-schooler who's seldom there. She works maybe one four-hour shift a week.
2.) We only carry one kind of breadmaker
3.) It is very well hidden in its planogrammed spot--on a bottom shelf among electric skillets and George Foreman grills. We don't even have an open-box display for it.
4.) Because the person taking the call was the only one on the floor on the GM side, there was really nobody she could ask to double-check, except for whichever manager was on duty, or maybe the person in electronics, but they might not have known either.

The bloody death of customer service this ain't. It was just getting somebody whose product knowledge wasn't as good as she hoped for. You can't expect every employee to know where every product in the store is located.

[Food Lady]

We run into this. See my post about the customer I wasn't even helping. He's mad because I don't have time to chat. Not my fault we're chronically, purposely short-handed.

[simplyanother]

At our store, it does seem like after about 4 pm almost everyone with a clue is gone for the day.

[Dark Psion]

We had a similar problem at the Hardware store I used to work at. Once upon a time, we closed at 5:30, but because of one customer, they changed the close time to 6.

The one customer would come in at 5:25 and order a truck load of horse feed. Of course everyone was trying to get all the closing work done so they could get out of there and that included moving around palates of feed. After she complained to management, they decided to change the close time, but due to employees with kids and other events, only a skeleton staff would remain for that last 30 minutes.

This of course meant that there were there were now even fewer people to do the closing duties and try to wait on customers at the same time. Oh and that customer that caused all this, she started coming in at 5:55 and kept complaining.

[MoonCat]

You can't expect every employee to know where every product in the store is located.

But they do.

Oh and that customer that caused all this, she started coming in at 5:55 and kept complaining.

Of course. This is why I tell people that our deadlines are a half-hour earlier than they actually are.

[b2addm]

The bloody death of customer service this ain't. It was just getting somebody whose product knowledge wasn't as good as she hoped for. You can't expect every employee to know where every product in the store is located.

Yeah I run into this a lot. People will ask to speak to me to complain that they weren't helped by my cashiers because they didn't know if we carried a certain item. They often expect each of us to know if we carry the widget, where it is located, how many brands we carry, the price of each brand, specifics of each brand (such as sizes, colors, etc.), and to top it off, whether or not it will work for their particuliar situation.

[PepperElf]

You can't expect every employee to know where every product in the store is located.

But they do.

And they expect you to know everything about said item and why one is better than the other