Exceptional Customers

A woman called and asked for the store manager (SM). SM wasn't in, so I TRIED to help the woman. In a nutshell, the woman forgot her coupon when she was in last week and wanted to use it after the expiration date. (It was a little more complicated than that, but I don't want to go into detail about our store and its programs/policies.)

The customer INSISTED that she had talked with the SM and the SM was making an exception for her. Yeah. I explained how our system worked and how the SM couldn't make an exception for her. I tried THREE TIMES, but the woman did not understand. "The SM said that she was making an exception just for me." Uh huh. I'm so sure.

I called the SM, at HOME, on her DAY OFF, to check. She remembered talking with the lady, but DID NOT say that she'd make an exception. The lady is crazy.

I called the lady back and explained the situation for the FOURTH time. The lady still didn't sound very satisfied, so I told her when the SM would be in. The SM called me shortly after to get an update. I said I'd tried my best, but she might still have to deal with the customer herself. Lucky for her, she has a little more patience with stupid people than I do.

Not Good Business

This morning I was going about my normal pre-opening duties and another key-holder (who was scheduled to start work at the same time we opened) let herself into the store a few minutes early. An elderly man was waiting by the door, and was angry that she wouldn't let him in (several minutes early).

When our clock struck opening hour, I unlocked the doors. The man came in and immediately asked for a manager. "I'm the manager," I answered, knowing what he would say.

"You are?" he asked in a shocked tone of voice. "Well, it's not good business to leave customers waiting outside for 30 minutes."

"Sir, we opened on time."

"Not by my watch."

"I'm sorry, but that's what time our computers say. We have morning chores to get done before we open." {Our computers tend to run a little slow. We're constantly fixing the time to the correct time. It might have been a minute off of regular time.}

"Why couldn't she {pointing at the key-holder} let me in?"

"We were still getting ready to open."

"It's still not good business." He said this as if he, with his many years of experience, knew all about how to run a business and we young folk needed to be taught a thing or two.

I half expected him to ask for the main office phone number to complain about me not letting him in. I would have been glad to give it to him--I did nothing wrong. But he smugly got what he needed, paid, and left.

The other key-holder and I looked at each other in disbelief at the man's comments. We watched him drive off and then burst out laughing. He was the first conversation topic of the day. Or, rather, the first customer we made fun of for the day.

We're open quite a long time each day, and our hours are clearly posted. Certain tasks CAN NOT be done when customers are in the store. Among them are mopping the floors (liability), and messy tasks that require hand washing before handling anything else (like money or helping customers with products). In the morning we've got to get the computers ready to open, count the cash, go to the bank, take down old sale flyers/coupons and put up new ones, ETCETERA!!

Not good business? Please! He has no idea what's involved with running a business like mine.

Managing Conflict

Today this guy was three steps through the door and asked for help with a problem he was having. My boss politely yet somewhat bluntly told him that what he planned on doing wouldn't work. Out of the blue he started yelling at her that she couldn't tell him what he could and couldn't do, that this was ridiculous, we were supposed to help him, blah, blah, blah. He made quite a scene.

I tried to help by phrasing it a little differently, basically saying that we were trying to save him time and money because in our experience, what he wanted to try wouldn't work. That helped only slightly. By that point it was clear that while he didn't appear to be drunk, there was definitely some type of drug involved.

Another employee came up and asked if she could help him. He said, "I'm about ready to walk out because of HER" (as he pointed to my boss). Both she and I were about ready to say, "Go ahead," but we restrained ourselves. The employee helped him, showing him one thing that MIGHT help him do what he wanted to do. Then again, it might not. I give it a 5-10% chance of working.

Since he was so upset with the boss, she went off the sales floor until he was gone. It was totally for her safety! I stayed in the front out of his sight yet where I could see the register so that if there were any further problems I could intervene. He hassled the cashier a little, but nothing bad. He paid and left.

Afterwards the boss, always more uptight that she needs to be, was worried that he might report her to the corporate office. I reassured her that the guy was so out of it he probably wouldn't remember what happened. In addition, TWO of her employees saw the whole thing and agreed that she did nothing wrong. Other customers in the store were sympathizing with us about how unreasonable the man was, and that we were correct that what he wants to do WON'T WORK.

Rude and Demanding Customers

The customers were SO DEMANDING today! I thought I'd lose my mind. We were also about twice as busy as normal, which meant we had nowhere near the number of staff that we should have had if I had my mind-reading skills practiced up on how many customers to expect.

It's amazing how impatient and un-understanding people are. It was obvious there were a hundred customers in the store. It was obvious EVERY SINGLE employee was helping someone. Yet people still acted all put-out that they have to wait. For even one minute.

One older woman, AS I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF EXPLAINING SOMETHING TO ANOTHER CUSTOMER, came up and asked if we had a certain item. "I'll be with you as soon as I'm through with this lady." "But I just want to know if you have more of these." DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE MY BRAIN LINKED TO OUR COMPUTER INVENTORY SYSTEM?? "No, what we have are out." (We might have had more somewhere else, but if I had told her that, then she probably would have insisted that I "just check real quick" even though I was helping someone else FIRST.

Several times people interrupted with "quick questions," etc. My rule is, "First come, first served." If you have a problem with that, then you're an idiot and don't deserve my help. Great customer service, yeah, I know. But why should I stop helping a customer who's being reasonable, polite, and learning valuable info from me just before spending a couple of hundred dollars to help a rude, demanding, idiot who may or may not buy anything at all??

Regional Manager Visits

My crew is good most of the time. However, when the regional manager is coming, they are GREAT. Each time we prepare for a visit, I am impressed with my staff. They do the extra work and stay late with no complaints. They know how important the visits are--too many bad ones and my job is at risk; a really good one means a better paycheck for me.

We keep the store looking pretty good all the time, but the company has some procedures that are unrealistic. Since we know ahead of time when the regional manager is coming, we do those unrealistic things just before she comes and while she's here. When she's gone, back to the normal way of doing things. She doesn't have to know everything!