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Okay, well anybody who's been out shopping in the last 10 years will pretty much agree that services (regarless of store, city, or industry) sucks! So why is that trying to call Rogers or shop in a department store can become a melting pot of human aggression? Here's why;

Well, this is where I introduce the "Wal-Mart" theory here. All companies now have adopted hte wal-mart method of doing business in order to remain competitive. That is, pay people crap money at all levels and buy shit from the cheapest third or fourth world country. Retail is especially guilty in this respect, as they are the only industry which has their front line sales people at the bottom of the pay scale! I mean, how much courtesy and product knowledge can you expect from high school kids selling cloths at the GAP for $7.00 an hour? Department stores are especially guilty of this as they are leading the way in erroding customer service standards, as shopping at The Bay has now turned into a game of Where's Waldo everytime you need a sales associate. But complain all you want, most of the managers of those high end boutiques are no more then college kids themselves, making little money and frankly couldn't care less. The fear of being fired over a customer complaint holds almost no water as kids retail jobs are now a dime a dozen in most major cities. You can literally walk across the mall to another store for practically the same money. There are actually websites all over the net now where teenagers go to vent about us annoying customers and even share ways to get back at us. Ah, the intellectual power of the internet finally reaches its peak! Yes, these problems probably started way back with the demise of Mom & Pop stores (places where you could actually speak with the owner and get respect for your repeat business). Those days are gone, now replaced with a blurry line of same-name big box stores owned by conglomerate umbrealla corporations with almost all identical templates for b.s mission statements. In fact, if you swear off a particular store to do business at another, your more than likely shopping in a sister store, such as Best Buy to Future Shop, etc. This will certainly become more prevelent in the future with additional corporate buyouts and mergers.

We must all share the blame here, though. Everybody decided a long time ago that we wanted everything at dirt cheap prices, so what can we expect? Can anybody here honestly complain about service in Costco or Wal-Mart when we're getting a pair of jeans for $20? C'mon!

So yea, that's why service sucks!

   

it took you this long to figure this out?

   

Hey, I am pretty nice to customers I help.

And some customers are real assholes to us csa's. I do not appreciate having credit cards thrown in my face, people telling me that I am stupid, or when they let their children make a mess of the store I am trying to keep clean.

I usually give free stuff to the nice customers and forget to tell the annoying ones that stuff is on sale. Karma imo.

Its a two way street. Both sides suck.

   

Luckily not but I know some people that do

the stories are pretty funny.

I do find though that some teenaged employees are pretty nasty

   

I can give you some insight on this topic. I worked as a full time employee for the Mighty(or not so) Hudsons Bay Company. from 1998 to 2001. Lets just say that lack of ethics are not just in politics. From upper to middle management the programs in place are rotting from the inside out.

CUSTOMER SERVICE is the battle cry but they have been cutting staff on the sales floors for over a decade. This way even if sales drop the company can show a profit. A profit off the backs of its staff.

First cut most of the full time staff. This way less benifits. Less benifits saves money. The problem is your part time staff have no interest in working for the benifit of the company. The remaining staff are students working to pay for an eduacaton and their primary consern is their studies or second income housewives who's concern is family. This becomes a revolving door of staff. Under trained, uncareing and unwilling to work over and above the need to build a future.

The few remaining full time staff find themseves over worked and burned out. Managements attitude is that if the sales drop it is the fault of these people not working hard enough. Eventualy they quit for various reasons. This is fine for the company, again less benifits & more profits.

When you can not cut anymore full time staff start in on supervisors and managers. Where there was a supervisor in each deptment now they cover two or three. Sometimes in some stores this level of staff is gone compleatly. A floor manager on each floor now they cover two. Again the burn out factor is back. Now you know why it takes an hour to speek to a manager when you ask for one.

The store manager is kept insulated from the problems on the sales floors his\her job is to either crack the whip or stroke the numbers to keep the ship from capsising. Under no cercomestance is the Store manger to have direct contact with a customer.

This is just an example of the disfunction I have witnessed. I am sure it is similar in all major retail companys. I have enough stories to fill a book. Some of my friend say I should write one. The tales I could tell you would both enrage and make you laugh to the point of passing out.

   

my job is customer service... and i am not exactly sure where it comes from but i seem to have a way of diffusing a situation and leaving the client with a feeling of satisfaction. the most important thing i learned about customer service is to listen. most times clients just want to vent. once all points have been made its my job to either go all the way to help them or no way at all. if you only meet a client half way, they still leave with a feeling that that they have been screwed, so its important to know when to stand firm. even then, i explain my position to my clients and i make the effort to keep everyone calm.
i have been told i give good phone.

   

I learned from my uncle that customer service is the most important part of a business. Make a good impression, they will be back.

   

So true. I love it when customers would come into the store I worked at and ask specifically for me

   

I always won awards for my customer service and gained many regular customers. I often was asked by my customers why service has suffered in that store and others. I told them that that level of service is a lost art and only practiced by a few. It is sad but due to the lack of staffing no one has time anymore.

I have been back to the store I worked at since I left. I can walk the full sales floor and see only one or two service staff. They are stocking or straitening shelves and tables or at the cash. No eye contact is made and no aproch to give service is there. If I did not seek them out I would not find a single one to give help.

   

And now they where bought out. Guess it wasn't the best buisiness stratagy.

I like that Canadian Tire has those buttons which which play a recorded message over the PA system, so you don't have to look for a salesperson.

   

Yeah but sales people never come.

   

You know, I hate where I work. I'm a general sales assistant at Matalan in Clydebank. Believe me when I say it is a shit job, cause it is. The reasons why is the managers have a habit of asking me if I can do extra hours for a certain day, then when I say I can't do it for whatever reason, they put me down for those hours anyway. Another is the customers that we get there are bastards. They could not be more rude. One time there was this guy who bought about £125 worth of clothes, he was going to pay it with a cheque right, the only problem was the cheque guarentee limit on his card was £100. This means he can only pay £100 with the cheque and he will have to use another method of payment to pay the other £25. this system has been like this for I don't know how long and do you know what he does, he snatches the cheque and the credit card out my hand while saying "Give me my cheque and card back. I've never heard so much shit my whole life" I was thinking " Well fuck you then asshole".I mean, what a dickhead.
The final reason for hating working there is customers kids have a habit of shitting on the floor when they really need to go. I mean, how discusting is that. The only funny thing about that last one is watching the manager clean it up.

   

I think one of the things I hated most was sales. You have your usual customers who understand how stores function, and then you have the bargain shoppers. They dont understand that you cannot negotiate prices, that you may only have a few sizes left, that you dont want to clean up a mountain of clothes in the fitting room, and that there are 20 other people in the store and you cannot spend all your time with them. They are so annoying!!!!

   

I find the good 'ol "I'm not authorized to make those decisions" solves a lot of problems.

   

Had a funny experience in a Business Despot.

Went in for a laser printer toner cartridge, but forgot to write the cartridge identifier number down. Whilst I was looking a sales assistant asked could he help,
me... "yes, I need a cartridge for a HP Laser 5SI". So he picked one off the shelf,
"thats the one you need sir"

me...."no, thats for a HP 4450 because thats the one I have at home and I remember the number".

him..."no sir that is definitely the one you need"

me...."do you have a list of HP models and cartridge numbers"

him...."yes, but I don't need the list, I know all the correct numbers"

me...."Please would you get the list"

him..."I don't need to look at a list, I'm a computer expert"

me..."if you're a computer expert then why are you working here?"

Then his boss walks up and asks if there's a problem.

I tell the boss guy to get the list of HP models and cartridge numbers.

He comes back with list...we check...the number is found... it's not the one the sales assistant tried to give me.

At the checkout the boss guy asks me if I need a job.

   

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