I really wish...

[mseguin]

I was going to stay out of this, but now I can't. No way am I going to allow her to be bashed. She worked her ass off on Saturday. THe place was swamped, and she was stuck alone at cash for most of the day. She had to deal with several difficult custoemrs, as well as several major sales (large tanks and stands, etc) that take a lot of time and effort. Maybe she had a good reason to be on a personal call. I don't know what the nature of the call was, and neither d o you.

[repeej]

Maybe she had a good reason to be on a personal call.

Not in front of the customer she didn't.

[Dory]

It doesn't matter that she worked her butt off on Saturday.  Customer service is the name of the game.  The customers waiting that night had no clue how hard she worked that day and it is not their problem.  Sure, she may have had a good reason to be on a personal call.  If that was the case, someone else should have taken the cash.  You don't serve customers while you are on the phone.  You put the caller on hold and serve the customer in front of you or you ask someone else to take the cash.  The business world revolves around good customer service.  You piss off one customer and lose his or her business...and they tell two friends and so on and so on....you may as well lose 100.

[aidensmomma2000]

It sound like she was overworked- I once made a formal complaint at another retail store, because the staff were stressed and over worked. If there arent enough staff to help out or there isnt time to put down the phone- you need more staff.

I've worked places where this was the case, and of course the answer has to do with the sales/staff ratio theyre allowed.  :roll:

[mseguin]

mseguin wrote:
Maybe she had a good reason to be on a personal call.  


Not in front of the customer she didn't.

How do you know? Do you know what the call was about? Maybe it was about a sick family member? That would be a csae where the customer can kiss my butt, even iuf it's the Queen of England.
I'm honestly sick to death of custoemr service. People these days are so impatient. I recently saw the resutls of a survey of "Most annoying customer service platittudes" or something like that.  Some of their were semi-legitamite, but near the top was "You'll have to wait your turn." I was like, Huh??! Waiting your turn is now something that is not to be expected, but rahter very annoying? When did this happen, and why didn't anyone notify me?
I go to Future Shop now and then, and I don't mind waiting 15 mniutes for a service attendant if it means I get good service and technical support when I do get help. The longest wait I've seen to get help with fish lately at BA I've seen  is about 5-10 minutes, and its actually in large part thanks to customers. #1 Not filling out an order form before comiung to the counter. We then have to go oa grand tour of the store while they point out all the fish they want. #2 Asking for help before they're done choosing fish.
That's it, I'm done venting, for now, before I say something I'll regret.

[aidensmomma2000]

It seems though, that if the management understands that customers are morons and are inefficient that they need to compensate for this with adequate availability of staff.

People are idiots sometimes, no matter where you go or what you do (myself included!). You can't throw customer service out the window because of this, you need to plan for it.

[mseguin]

Well the reason we were swamped at cash this weekend was because the manger (not gonna name names but most of us know who I'm talking about) had to run some important errands for the store.
As for the back room, you occasionally see waits of up to 10 mniutes, but rarely, and somehow that hardly seems unreasonable to me. Trust me, don't come into my other job in January in fenruary if yuo don't like waiting, on Saturdays you're in for a 30 min to 1 hour (with all of the staff working, it's unreal how packed the store gets).

[sarahbella]

 We then have to go oa grand tour of the store while they point out all the fish they want.

Matt, with all due respect,

If im going into a store and i know im gonna spend a lot of money there I would like to think that the staff would be very patient  in doing business with me, even if it meant having to take a tour of the store and cater to my impulsive whims, after all they are there to serve me and to take my $$$$$.

[repeej]

mseguin wrote:
Maybe she had a good reason to be on a personal call.  


Not in front of the customer she didn't.

How do you know? Do you know what the call was about? Maybe it was about a sick family member? That would be a csae where the customer can kiss my butt, even iuf it's the Queen of England.
I'm honestly sick to death of custoemr service. People these days are so impatient. I recently saw the resutls of a survey of "Most annoying customer service platittudes" or something like that.  Some of their were semi-legitamite, but near the top was "You'll have to wait your turn." I was like, Huh??! Waiting your turn is now something that is not to be expected, but rahter very annoying? When did this happen, and why didn't anyone notify me?
I go to Future Shop now and then, and I don't mind waiting 15 mniutes for a service attendant if it means I get good service and technical support when I do get help. The longest wait I've seen to get help with fish lately at BA I've seen  is about 5-10 minutes, and its actually in large part thanks to customers. #1 Not filling out an order form before comiung to the counter. We then have to go oa grand tour of the store while they point out all the fish they want. #2 Asking for help before they're done choosing fish.
That's it, I'm done venting, for now, before I say something I'll regret.

Get a grip man...if this is your attitude with regards to customer service then you are in the wrong profession.

Stop making excuses for why you're SOOOO busy and why the staff is yapping on the phone in front of the customer.  If you have that many customers then you're galavanting manager needs to hire MORE staff.

Customer service isn't about excuses it's about solutions....so stop blaming the customer for wanting to go to your store to spend his/her hard earned dollars.

AMEN!

[Julie]

I think a good case of flatulence might work in this case, because then they'd be in a hurry to get you out of the store, or maybe some screaming kids.    

[mseguin]

I have no problem spending time with the customer, and discussing options for the tank. I enjoy helping the customer pick out fish that are suitable for their tank, etc. What I am talking about is the customer where the search goes like this. "CAn yuo get me some fish please" "Ok there was a red fish down here I wanted, hmmm..it's not here, must be in the next aisle" "Oh here it is, I'll take 2" (Employee) "What can I get for you next" "I'm not sure, I'm gonna have to take a look around"
Don't get me wrong, I know all about good customer service. My point is these are issues that are easily addressed by the customer, so how it our fault?

[aidensmomma2000]

I think a good case of flatulence might work in this case, because then they'd be in a hurry to get you out of the store, or maybe some screaming kids.    

Aiden does a good job- you can borrow him  :lol:

[mseguin]

You're right, I am in the wrong profession, but unfortunately, there aren't many offers for jobs that pay top dollar for a 4th year bio student. But until then, I do my absolute best to give great customer service, and I would challenge anybody to argue that I (or my coworkers).
My point is that complaining about waiting 5 minutes is just pointless. If I worried about every time I've had to wait 5 minutes or more, I'd have high blood pressure by now. And like I said, much of the time issue could be partially resolved with help from the customers.
And yes, if you're spending lots of money, then good custoemr service is to be expected, but the flip side of that coin is, when I am spending lots of money, I am far more willing to wait to get that good customer service. But maybe that's just me.

[aidensmomma2000]

Matt- it's not your fault! You guys sound like you work hard and do your best, there just need to be more of you  :wink:

[Julie]

Yep, let's not get our bp up over this - patience is a virtue.

Julie

[garnpet]

Getting nasty here.   :cry:

My personal opinion is that both the customer and the employees are to blame for the current state of rude behaviour in pretty well every type of store.  

I know that my patience is not that great when I end up waiting at a cash for what at most times seems uninterested service, or I end up searching for someone to lend me a hand.

However, having worked the other side (many years ago) I can understand the pressure that the workers feel as well.  Most of the time they have no say in how many people on working at a given time, nor how long they are stuck doing the same boring job.

My solution.. I usually only shop during bizarre hours when I know that the stores aren't busy.  Not the best solution for everyone, but it works for me.

My 2 cents worth......  :!:

[Julie]

So you're the one at Loeb at 3:ooam

Julie

[mseguin]

As long as the bizarre hours aren't 5 minutes before closing, sounds good tome :-)

[repeej]

As long as the bizarre hours aren't 5 minutes before closing, sounds good tome :-)

If I can pick my fish in 2 minutes then that leaves you 3 minutes to catch em and bag em cowboy.   :lol:

[mseguin]

If you can do it that fast, no problem. :-)
Actually its more of a reference to my other job, where customers sometimes come in at 10 minutes to close for a fit that will take at least 30 minutes.