Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Customers

Since I have written several posts on types people in adoption, and I might do more, really I will but right now I just want to get out the types of customers that I encounter as a cashier/retail worker. I have worked in retail/public service for over a decade now and after a while, patterns emerge and certain events happen again and again and I can't believe that it's random. Here's my list of the types of customers I have dealt with not in any order of importance, just as they occur to me, OK? 1)Trouble maker A customer who thinks that they can argue a deal out of you, or that you have some special magic powers that you could just produce the item that they want or the price that they want at will. It is not so, and often, managers will side with their workers unless it seems that the amount of loss the store will suffer as a result of giving into demands is worth it to make them go away and hopefully they will never come back. If they do, and try the same thing, they will be denied and often banned from the store entirely. It is because of people like this that an ordinary person who needs leniency will often be denied because policy changes that took affect because of the 'customer' who is really just trying to steal from the store with bad attitude. 2)Oblivious Sorry souls who are completely overwhelmed by the store itself and are completely confused by the most basic things. They take up much of the time and effort of the workers, but most often the workers hope that they will have learned from them about things like signs that say the exact brands that are on sale, and the same sign that also states the exclusions, that is the things that are most definitely NOT on sale because that's exactly what the sign says. Workers advise is often disregarded by these folks as they cannot seem to learn the basics of shopping. For example, where the shopping carts are located (to the right of the main door, and there are hundreds of them all lined up and painted brightly) to the idea that you should not randomly deposit unwanted items in random places as this causes much product loss and extra unnecessary work for workers. 3)Space hogs Everyday there will be this thing that happens, whole families will shop together and this is a problem, because often, only one or two of the individuals in the group are actually buying anything. As well, people with small children fail to control them and they end up causing destruction and havoc in their wake. I know this sometimes cannot be avoided, or sometimes it is planned, but it is always stressful for the staff of the store because the children cry. Sometimes the group splits up and shops separately, which often leads to the problem of meeting up again and the lack of organization of the members of the groups often make workers go in search for lost, or misplaced children and/or elderly individuals 4)Rude Customers that assume that you as a worker are unimportant and spend all their time on there phone or talking with whomever with with them, completely ignoring important instructions and repeated causing delays for other customers which is very stressful for a cashier who gets the anger that should have been directed at them, but they have left and you are there. 5)Wonderful The kind of customers that every worker wants is the kind that is respectful. What that means is a customer that engages eye contact with workers. Asks good questions in polite ways, is understanding and respectful of other customers, the merchandise, and the store space. A person who has a plan for what they need in the store and exercises common sense. (ie: reads everything, manages themselves in a orderly manner, etc) That's all I can think of for now. This is a draft, so I might come back to it later and revise.

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