I know they don’t get paid much, and that they don’t really want to be there, but just once in a while i’d like to get through a purchase without feeling that i’m interrupting the busy life of a member of shop staff.
How many times have you been in a shop, and completed a purchase without actually being spoken to or even making eye contact with the person behind the counter, more often than not your items are scanned and then dumped on the counter in a heap leaving you to sort them out yourself, carrier bag dumped on top (if you are lucky enough to get one, heaven forbid I should damage the ‘environment’ with it, there will be another post on this subject later).
I’m sure that most management don’t know this poor customer service is happening in their shops or i’m sure they would do something about it, maybe they do know and don’t care.
I’m fed up with being treated like an inconvenience, the nerve, interrupting their precious conversation with their colleague about who was evicted from Big Brother last night or whatever, when it is I that is keeping them in a job, by purchasing their goods.
How many times have you been into a store to find three people behind the counter, one serving, two shelf stacking/chatting, a large queue forming and the two stacking do nothing to help, deliberately not looking in the direction of the queue, as if they’ve not noticed.
I spend a couple of weeks in the US late last year, and I can honestly say that in all of the stores I went in, the staff were courteous, helpful and there to make the shopping experience a pleasant one. I suspect that if they weren’t the customers wouldn’t come back and they’d lose their jobs, funnily enough, one of the first shops I went in on my return to the UK was Woolworths, I wanted to punch the guy behind the counter just to wake him up, it came as no surprise to me when they went under.
#1 by Dom on December 7, 2009 - 11:12 pm
I’m afraid I have to disagree, the pay is appalling, the work I tedious and boring, the management are more incompetent than the staff because the staff tend to be well educated college or uni students whilst the management are “last resort for a career” candidates. This leads to a resentment of the job and therefore anything that makes it less pleasant, i.e. you. To work in a shop for several years really does numb the conscientiousness of the assistants and I can truly forgive them being rude as a lot of customers are making their rubbish day worse. With their irrelevant questions and demeaning statements, expecting them to be experts of their department, when in reality their placement was down to chance and knows no more about the “for example: beers, wines and spirits” then anyone else. Fortunately for myself I have always managed to stay polite even to rude customers, this is only because however, I always knew soon I will be out of here, as soon as I finish uni, for others, the outlook is not so good, and I for one sympathise. After all, its a few hours a week max for yourself, but 37.5 hours a week for the staff. Give them some slack and get a thicker skin my friend.
#2 by Ian on December 16, 2009 - 4:33 pm
I think you have missed the point my friend, please reread the first few lines.
I know they don’t get paid much, and that they don’t really want to be there, but just once in a while i’d like to get through a purchase without feeling that i’m interrupting the busy life of a member of shop staff.
I bet you are a single male, with no children running around your feet? If I am right you will have a very big shock if one day you too have a family. To think that it is ok to wait around and be treated like a second class citizen, when all you want to do is get in and get out ASAP before one of the kids kick off.
I will also point out that it is the customer paying your wages, and with attitudes like yours god help us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And your employer.