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196 Comments
- JAVandiver, on 04/09/2009, -7/+53You have to pay for service! The author of this article is purchasing products at drive-thrus and big box stores; for those types of retailers it is all about convenience and price, not service. If you want good service at a grocery, you do not go to a chain supermarket; you shop at a local farmers market, baker, and butcher. If you want full service gasoline you have to go to a full service station(they still exist) and pay between $0.75 & $1.00 more per gallon. If you want good service on household goods and clothing, shop at local boutiques, they will bend over backwards for your business. The only people who ever care about split checks or automatic gratuity are cheap bastards who either do not realize, or do not care that most wait staff makes $2.13 an hour, and still think that a 15% tip is a generous one, and most of the time leave less than 10%. If you cannot afford to tip properly, stay at home and cook for yourself! In a day when customers are demanding low prices and shopping at big box stores, as well as bargain shopping on gas, you get what you pay for. In order to provide a product from the same price, either product quality or service must be sacrificed. Remember, you have to pay for good service, it does not come for free.
- elfuego, on 04/09/2009, -0/+25FTA: "We stop at Kroger's on the way home. The checkout person is engaged in conversation with the person on the next register and barely makes eye contact with us. I once wrote to the company suggesting that an attentive clerk at the cash register is crucial to cultivating customer loyalty. You won't believe what happened next."
You're right, I can't believe you would bitch out a company for weak service but continue to patronize them. Clearly an attentive clerk is NOT crucial to cultivating loyalty because even without one, you're still shopping there. Oh, but you can still bitch on the internet. - DesScorp, on 04/09/2009, -1/+24We sacrificed customer service in America when we decided we liked low prices more. There's nothing wrong with that choice, but we can't whine about it. We can't have our cake and eat it too. Low prices mean less service. You take your pick and your make your choices.
Go to expensive stores and shops and you'll find that *gasp* they have better customer service. What a surprise. - CrankMyBlueSax, on 04/09/2009, -0/+22Tom Barlow makes some points. The one that sticks out for me though is that it sounds as if he is a mere handful of birthdays away from driving his Crown Vic through a crowded farmers market on his way to the early bird special at Old Country Buffet.
- theberlindoctor, on 04/09/2009, -3/+24Perhaps you've never worked as a clerk?
- TheNyquilKid, on 04/09/2009, -1/+21What a whiny bitch.
- samard2002, on 04/09/2009, -0/+19Try hiring a construction contractor some time. I have hired more than a dozen and they all follow the same workflow:
1. Underbid to get the job
2. Start job late
3. Complain the job is out of scope
4. Ask for more money
5. Don't finish the last 10% - foxensly, on 04/09/2009, -0/+19Maybe if the American consumer wasn't so demanding...
Believe me. I work retail. Some people are ridiculous, and that puts us "clerks" in a bad mood. You try it with today's corporate demands and write a little bitch-blog about how that worked out for you. - jm5chn, on 04/09/2009, -0/+17http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp
- BohicaTwentyTwo, on 04/09/2009, -0/+16If you are on the phone with your bank and you cannot say REPRESENATIVE at any time to talk to a human being, then you are doing business with the wrong bank.
- nomadxx7, on 04/09/2009, -2/+18I agree JAVandiver.
I work in retail and for all the consumers here who think us retail workers are the devil well it's a two-way street. A lot of people want me to match Wal-Mart prices for goods and give them exceptional customer service. They would like me to explain the pros and cons of the products I'm selling so they can go over to Wal-Mart to buy it cheaper. I'm sorry but if you want me to be good to you, then you need to be good to me.
If you want my service, knowledge and help then please buy my products. Yes they may cost a little more but I'm trying to survive, educate myself on the latest and greatest and give you honest feedback on products that I carry. If you truly are only shopping for price then big-box is the way to go. Otherwise if you'd like a good experience please visit my store. However I've typed to sites before about people trying to nickel and dime me and then saying since I couldn't match internet pricing that I was giving them horrible customer service.
I literally had a guy once come into my shop and my owner said he'd give this guy a deal on a piece of glass for his stove. The guy said my boss told him he would give him for "practically nothing." Well I looked up my cost and was going to sell a $175 piece of glass to him for $60 dollars. He called me everything in the book and flipped me off as he was leaving. He wanted me to EAT the cost of the product so he could get it cheap.
Sorry to sound like a pessimist but if you want a retailers two cents there is a new saying going around that is replacing "The customer is always right." It's "Buyers are Liars" since most don't give two ***** if you company sinks or swims (regardless of your customer service) it's truly if you can give them the deal of a lifetime before you have to declare bankruptcy and shut your doors. - lnxfi, on 04/09/2009, -0/+15The quality in service has declined. Like tips are no longer tips, they are expected and it's gone from 15 to 20% as the 'norm'.
The worse is when you have to call tech support... and you get India. The worse time ever was when I had to call Microsoft when I got the RRoD. I was on the phone for easily 2 hours and most of that was me trying to give the guy my work address... and he still sent the white box to my home anyway.
Although... the writer sounds a little whiny about a few of the things:
gas pumping
he didn't receive a response from a suggestion letter (so what... he didn't ask a question) - DivisibleByZero, on 04/09/2009, -1/+14I wanted to agree with this guy until I read his second bullet point:
"Stop for gas. 10 customers are pumping their own, while the single employee is inside selling lottery tickets and smokes. Never even glances at me as I spend $40."
What kind of assclown can't or doesn't want to pump his own gas? It's easy work and you save money by not having to pay some high school dropout minimum wage to sit there all day. - Lonewolfx77, on 04/09/2009, -0/+13I totally agree with you. I rarely never tip, unless to service is just abysmal. It really pisses me off when they automatically add that.
- theberlindoctor, on 04/09/2009, -0/+12Having just had to go through the idiotic automated customer service "agent" on AT&T's 800 number today had me so furious when it continuously misinterpreted what I was saying that by the time I actually got to a real customer service agent, I was noticeably furious despite not being angry about the subject I called about.
- BoxAdorable, on 04/09/2009, -0/+12My favorite is when people get angry when my store doesn't have a book at the exact moment when they want it yet complain that the prices in the store are more expensive than online. A bricks and mortar bookstore is paying out of pocket to house all these books for people to browse through. Unfortunately, people seem to see a discount as a right instead of a privilege.
- Thekirby45, on 04/09/2009, -0/+10"After work, settle in to watch the local "news." I wrote the station a month ago suggesting they quit using the phrase "You won't believe what happened next.," because the story is never unbelievable. Did I receive a reply? You won't believe what happened next- they ignored me."
Wow this guy sounds like a douche - leif77, on 04/09/2009, -1/+11Wow... this guy is pretty surly... I don't understand the gas station comment... Get your gas and go. If you don't like the fact that the cashier didn't kiss your feet for going there instead of the Mobil across the street then you have entitlement issues.
On another note, I have a Dell. They tell you if they are going to charge you for something. If you don't want to be charged then hang up.
As far as K-Mart and Walmart go. If you're too lazy to pick up your own bags then have a kid to do all that for you. If you want help out to your car, just ask. I work at Walmart as a customer service manager. Don't think my cashiers don't hear a ***** every time I find out they forgot to give a customer a bag, but, mistakes happen.
UPS has a lot of packages to deliver. If you want them to make sure you're there to sign for it, specify that in your order.
Don't know what's so wrong with "How are you guys tonight?"... The manliest wives are reserved for pricks like this...
And who writes letters to companies anymore. - bobbarkerbilly, on 04/09/2009, -0/+10Seriously? You're mad that people say "no problem" instead of "you're welcome"?
Most people use "no problem" in the same vain as "you're welcome". You're assigning way too much meaning to the phrase. - mateo60, on 04/09/2009, -0/+10Thank You for beating me to that. For some reason that urban myth really annoys me. I think because it often is repeated by cheap bastards.
(I'm not trying to imply that the commenter is cheap.) - Urrelles, on 04/09/2009, -2/+12That's because they do hate it. You stand there for an 8 hour shift ringing up people's purchases non stop all day. You get 1 hour max of accumilated breaks. You mind is not engaged in anything except typing in numbers. You have to quote the same stupid lines to each customer over and over again.
It sucks. After the first week, no one gives a damn about that job. - MaxxusFlamus, on 04/09/2009, -2/+11maybe if the customers weren't self absorbed ***** then clerks wouldn't hate their life so much.
The customer is not always right. More often than not the customer has an inflated ego and thinks they are god over the sales person. - elfuego, on 04/09/2009, -3/+12The fundamental problem with customer service is that there's two different definitions for it.
Seller's definition: to do everything you can to help the customer get what they're looking for within the constraints of reality.
Buyer's definition: Give me whatever I want, and do whatever I say. - BoxAdorable, on 04/09/2009, -0/+9Get over yourself. They're not doing it "to you." It's like complaining that someone didn't smile at you enough.
- pak314, on 04/09/2009, -0/+8I'd still prefer the way it is done is most other countries... a 10% service charge, employees with living wages and treat me in a decent manner.
- lucy22, on 04/09/2009, -6/+14Here, I find just a general rudeness in clerks. It is like they resent their jobs. Maybe companies should teach Manners 101.
- Urrelles, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7That is just common talk amongst americans. People rarely say "Your Welcome" for any occassion in this day and age. "No problem" is the new Your Welcome of America.
- giveer, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7I submit that (excluding big box stores - where it's a people-are-numbers "size" issue), a lot of this nasty customer service is a reaction to decades of serving utter ***** who have grown up grinding the completely false cliche that the "customer is always right" into their heads. That one sentence spawned an entire generation of delusional consumers who do nothing but demand companies stare up their puckered ***** to see how awesome it is up there.
I'd either be the best/worst manager ever if I ran my own business. "Okay, you're probably wrong and I couldn't care less.. what's your problem?" - Urrelles, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7Or customers have abused such systems to their fullest. I see it all the time. A customer whines and bitches abotu some minor mistake and they keep bitchign till the management finally gives them some sort of freebee. Most of the time customers aren't even honest about their distaste or problems with the company. They just find whatever they can and ride on it as a problem till they get freebees or get kicked out.
- lnxfi, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7I always tip based on how I feel I was treated. Usually 20%. But one time I refused to pay the 15% that was added on my our "convenience" once. The waitress was plain mean to us and acted as if we we're ruining her day by being there.
You don't have to pay it. - vagarach, on 04/09/2009, -1/+8There's a word for this writer. Curmudgeon.
- foxensly, on 04/09/2009, -2/+9Understaffed? Cut hours from corporate? Maybe they had other reasons than to piss you off.
- anteup, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7I admittedly shop at an overpriced grocery store. Why? The employees are extremely nice. Why are they nice? They make a damn decent wage. They also take my bags to my car with me.
- RumpleForeskin3, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7As for the gas station comment I don't think this geezer realizes that he is spending $40 on gas outside while the gas station makes 40 cents off him, 25 cents if they use a credit card. The money is made inside selling those lottery tickets and candy bars.
- Ajajadude, on 04/09/2009, -0/+7Until you've been on the otherside of the counter in today's society, you have no idea what those people have gone through. Sure, some people just genuinely suck at giving good customer service. But, when you've been yelled at day after day for things well beyond your control as if the 16 year old cashier is really the CEO, had people literally throws things at you, had people call you obscene names just because, get pissed at you because your on a state-mandated lunch period, you tend to stop caring.
Retail stores is where humanity goes to die. - yerdaddy, on 04/09/2009, -1/+7at a store that wants something for nothing from customers that want something for nothing.
- buckrogers1965, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6I worked as a sales person at Sears over the holidays in the early 90's. I was ringing some people up and turned and there were 2 people standing there, I asked one guy if he just needed the batteries rang up and got him on his way in a few seconds.
The woman that was with a couple just went off on me. She screeched at me like a banshee for 15 minutes about how I was holding her up. I just laughed at her the entire time. I'd had drill sergeants scream at me before, so she wasn't at all intimidating. As she was leaving I called out, "Have a merry Christmas" to her and she came back and screamed at me for another 5 minutes about how rude I was.
If she was in such a hurry why did she have 20 minutes to waste attempting and failing to abuse a store clerk?
I think a huge part of the problem are rude consumers that expect to be treated like royalty. That is never going to happen. - Urrelles, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6Good ol' corporate hour cuts. All retail stores suffer fromt he employee shortage as companies push the limits more and more as to the amount of people they want working a shift.
- anteup, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6Indeed. As an ex-waitress I see no problem with check splitting. Though, I can see the problem if the table is way too large to split it for each. individual. person. 12 different checks? Holy cow!
So, all things within reason. - BoxAdorable, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6It could be. There are people who still genuinely tip well. Unfortunately, it's more likely to be 2 people stiffing.
- BoxAdorable, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6Automatic gratuity on large parties is pretty darn standard practice. I don't really understand why anyone has a problem with this.
- JAVandiver, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5Actually I work in Industrial Supply, and have never, nor will ever, professionally wait tables. I sell goods to the people who sell the goods to the end users. That is another whole barrel of monkeys!
- tecratour, on 04/09/2009, -4/+9so wait, are there gonna be 25 parts?
i thought forbes.com was bad. - sgvprelude, on 04/09/2009, -2/+7I went to Home Depot, there must have been 20 people waiting to check out, not ONE checker working, all they had was self checkouts.
- BoxAdorable, on 04/09/2009, -2/+7Maybe you should put your cell phone away.
- BoxAdorable, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5Constructive feedback (positive and negative) is very necessary. If only more people would actually complain (to the company, *not* the employee) about what policies they don't like the business would eventually have to listen.
- theberlindoctor, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5It doesnt. I called about u-verse which is not handled by the other parts of AT&T so if you dont go through the process properly it dumps you to some random person who either a) doesnt know what the ***** uverse is or b) doesnt know how to connect you to them. Or something, ***** I dunno, its all just a *****.
- edstate, on 04/09/2009, -1/+6This is why "Consumer 2.0" is so important... everything from sites like yelp!, to Amazon etc reviews, to good old fashioned letter writing or even BBB reports when it gets bad... these are the things that will hold businesses accountable, and force them to behave the way we want them to. And you know what? It works. There have been several businesses that have UN-outsourced their tech support due to consumer backlash against it, or otherwise changed their customer service behavior simply due to customer involvement.
- zerohelix, on 04/09/2009, -2/+7This is because ***** American customer service is connected by how much you pay. If I spend $10 at a restaurant of COURSE the customer service will be worse than if I spent $100 at the same place - because the waiters and staff know that my tip would be less. Unfortunately this is the case everywhere in America - If I shop at Old Navy or GAP, I would receive nearly zero customer service compared to if I shop at Nordstroms or Macy's.
A majority of American companies have been designed at pushing low-quality products to the masses for a cheaper price. Yes they may sell more products but they have reason to provide a lower-value customer service in the process. If you shop in other places of the world, like Japan or China you could expect the same level of customer service from a Walmart employee that you would also receive from an employee at a high-end department store. To these countries it's cultural to treat everyone with the utmost courtesy. Not the case in the case in the U.S. - yerdaddy, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5Professional services and customer service are not the same thing. Although to an extent some things that used to be covered by customer service are generating business for service professionals they're really different animals.
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