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I work at a home improvement store. More than half the time they put me down in the lumber section, also called "Commercial Sales". This is 1 of 3 exits that a customer can use to leave our store, and that's the reason why they have to have a cashier down there, to basically make sure no one sneaks out the door with unpaid merchandise.
Working down here has its ups and downs. The ups.... You don't have to deal with hardly any customers since your little section is hidden on 1 back end of the store, and its very nice and quiet. After about 6 PM, hardly anyone comes down to check out, maybe 4 or 5 customers an hour, practically none between 8 and 10 PM.
The downs.... Most customers come up and expect you to know everything because you work down in Commercial Sales. Me and all the other cashiers have politely informed these customers that we are just cashiers, not Commercial Sales employees, and that we are just down here to make sure no one leaves through these doors without paying. So when they come up and tell us things like, "I'm here to pick this up which I orderded yesterday", or "I have an invoice in the system", we have no idea how to handle these transactions.
The simplest solution would be to get someone in Commercial Sales who knows how to do it, right? Wrong! I have not seen a single 1 of them work past 6 PM, which basically means I have to either send them down to Customer Service, because they know a lot more about this kind of stuff than I do, or call someone over to help me, which takes a little time.
Either way, these customers get all cranky and irritable, just because I don't know the answer. I have even shown them my name tag, and point out in a nice way that it says "Cashier" below it, not "Commercial Sales" and therefore I don't know how to do this stuff. You think these customers care? No, of course not!
Alright, I'm ranting
so I'll get to the point. Last night I actually had not 1, but 2 customers who actually did not get mad or irritated when I sent them over to Customer Service. Finally, I get a few customers who actually get it!
I salute these people!
Ok, I know you guys are gonna say, "Why haven't they trained you in Commercial Sales better?". The answer is simple.... First, I was hired with only cashier experience, so that's what they prefer to keep me as. Second, they got all the Commercial Sales employees they need. So why don't they keep any of these people past 6? I guess they feel that the store can handle it, especially since we don't get too many of these tricky customers after 5 or 6. Overall, I'd much rather be working down here because its still so nice and quiet.
Working down here has its ups and downs. The ups.... You don't have to deal with hardly any customers since your little section is hidden on 1 back end of the store, and its very nice and quiet. After about 6 PM, hardly anyone comes down to check out, maybe 4 or 5 customers an hour, practically none between 8 and 10 PM.
The downs.... Most customers come up and expect you to know everything because you work down in Commercial Sales. Me and all the other cashiers have politely informed these customers that we are just cashiers, not Commercial Sales employees, and that we are just down here to make sure no one leaves through these doors without paying. So when they come up and tell us things like, "I'm here to pick this up which I orderded yesterday", or "I have an invoice in the system", we have no idea how to handle these transactions.
The simplest solution would be to get someone in Commercial Sales who knows how to do it, right? Wrong! I have not seen a single 1 of them work past 6 PM, which basically means I have to either send them down to Customer Service, because they know a lot more about this kind of stuff than I do, or call someone over to help me, which takes a little time.
Either way, these customers get all cranky and irritable, just because I don't know the answer. I have even shown them my name tag, and point out in a nice way that it says "Cashier" below it, not "Commercial Sales" and therefore I don't know how to do this stuff. You think these customers care? No, of course not!
Alright, I'm ranting
so I'll get to the point. Last night I actually had not 1, but 2 customers who actually did not get mad or irritated when I sent them over to Customer Service. Finally, I get a few customers who actually get it! I salute these people! Ok, I know you guys are gonna say, "Why haven't they trained you in Commercial Sales better?". The answer is simple.... First, I was hired with only cashier experience, so that's what they prefer to keep me as. Second, they got all the Commercial Sales employees they need. So why don't they keep any of these people past 6? I guess they feel that the store can handle it, especially since we don't get too many of these tricky customers after 5 or 6. Overall, I'd much rather be working down here because its still so nice and quiet.