I Have GOT to Share This
July 6th, 2010 . by CaryI am new to the world of retail – I am learning more and more things every day. New things. Exciting things. Interesting things.
Scary things.
One day last week (I’ve got to keep this general, you never know who might be reading, and I wouldn’t want the customer to not return to the store…) there was a lady who came in and I greeted her in the hellzone. (relax, it’s a sales term, meaning that area just inside the door where the customer is afraid they won’t be noticed and the associates are afraid the customer will notice that they aren’t being noticed…) Anywho, I greeted her, and engaged, with the simple question “Who are we shopping for today?” Turns out she has a grandson that is going to be turning oh look, this is an interesting game. How do you play this is a nice travel activity. I quickly figured out that she has the adult version of ADD – or, as Dug would say, “Squirrel!”
I was needed at another point in the store for a bit, and ended up going to lunch with a certain young lady and her mommy when they stopped by to visit. When I got back, ADD lady had left. She had made a nice purchase, and left happy with her gifts. Of course, what she didn’t leave was anything in the same place she found it.
Two days later, and I am still finding stuff where it really doesn’t belong. It would appear she touched at least one of everything in about 80% of the store, and carried it with her until she found something else to pick up and/or examine.
After she had left, I noticed that one of our demo items was missing. It’s called Ball of Whacks and sometimes people get carried away with playing with it; I’ve spent a lot of mornings putting it back together so it would be in one piece for the next customer to take apart.
This time, it was simply not there. I looked all over the area, but just could not find it.
Today, while checking the display for 8-10 year old girls creative jewelry, I found the BoW. It was sitting behind a magnetic display board. How did it get there? I’m pretty sure ADD lady had it in her hands when the shiny bits caught her attention…
Chat ya later…
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Interesting.
And it’s why the old saying about dealing with the public is true…
One of the hardest jobs in the world.
Thanks for sharing Cary.
I’m tickled at some of the things I run into. For the most part, the customers are really wonderful, polite, understanding, and have been coming to this store for years. Once in a while, you get one cut from different cloth…
“Walk a mile in my shoes.”
I worked as a waiter/busboy/short order cook during my H.S. years. Sold insurance for three years until I realized I was dyin’.
But having worked at those jobs will sure make you more tolerant of those doing them today, agreed?
Oh, absolutely! My patience level for the trainee, for the kid working his/her first job, for the retail person anywhere is so much higher than a lot of other people I observe every day!
People like this are the reason that infectious diseases don’t stay in one spot. Bless your patience; it’s clearly top-shelf.
Didn’t mean to ignore you, John – just realized you had commented, and I didn’t get the usual e-mail notification.
Yes indeed, if people would just leave stuff where they found it, or wouldn’t handle what they don’t want, then a lot of things would not get spread around nearly as much!