Now, as many of the people in the retail business will know, customers can be the make or break of a company, they can give you a bad review and it will spread like wild fire, they can give you a good review and it will sink like a fat cat in a swimming pool.
Anyway many people have had the one or two irritating customers, well somehow, today, the day after the election day, we managed to get all the loonies in! Not only in the store but over the phone as well, and so I was inspired to write this list of things customers should and should not do.
1) Do not expect the member of staff to be psychic. If you ask them a question as to what something looks like or how much it is, do not expect them to magic it out of thin air, it requires going to the item and looking or looking on the computer system none of which is possible when they are at the other end of the car park.
2) Do go to another till if a staff member says "Can I help?", you are not jumping the queue, feel free to offer the person in front of you the place, but do not stand in the same queue for one person which proceeds to get longer and filter down the aisles.
3) Try to know what you want BEFORE you come to the tills, although very creative people, most staff members cannot create something from "It is round"/ "Its got a nozzle" as we usually have a massive variety of things that could match that description. If you are not sure what it is you want then please try to give a broader description or even better bring a picture of it which you found online or something.
4) Most of the time staff members are telling the truth so if they say "I'm sorry we don't have that in stock at the moment but we can order it for you" they are not telling you that your not allowed to buy said item or we are hiding it from you!
5) Don't wait until you get to the counter to remember that you needed to get something else and then expect the member of staff to wait for you while you wander around the shop in search of something that you then remember you didn't need anyway because you husband/ wife/ brother/ friend got it last week.
6) Don't come flying at the doors at 1 minute to closing time and say with bated breath "Can I just grab some dog food?" which we allow you in to grab that one thing you asked to get and then proceed to wander around the store and come to the counter with an armful of clothes which require the security tags taking off and also ask if we can check if we have something in stock which requires going into the stock room/ outside to check. We do go home at the end of the day when the shop shuts, we don't camp out and wait for the next customers to arrive in the morning.
Fewf...... Now I realize that this may have sounded a bit rantish but quite a few of these things, I personally think, are part of simple manners and etiquette so why does it seem so hard to do.
I'm sure there are many other things that you, or your friends, or family think annoy you when your serving customers or even on the flipside when staff do something that annoys you, which usually ends up plastered all over facebook, but please do share, I am intrigued by these things so do join my cause and share your experiences.
End of cuppa
Toodles :)
