Exposing Bad Customer Service - General

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45622444]See, you're not even reading what I'm saying. I'm not defending that behaviour.[/QUOTE] I read that you said "Asking people to go above and beyond for a 1.70 isn't really a great incentive" I'm not sure you read that I said "doing your job right isn't going above and beyond" If you really had a job with [i]literally impossible[/i] specs then it's understandable, because as you said it's impossible. but that doesn't happen that often and when it does people quit. and most of the argument in this thread isn't about [b]literally impossible tasks[/b]. It's about taking the time to fucking do the shit you [i]can[/i] do, right!

Lets say you called the stores I've worked at and asked for an item. We had a pretty great system for tracking shit down, but if it hadn't been logged in the system, it was in one of over 400 boxes that were going to be opened and stocked anyways. You call, a retail sales associate answers, you ask your question, he searches for it, he can tell you if it's in our store, or any other store in our chain in the region. It'll tell you everything on the floor, and everything in stock that has been logged. Lets say you want something that hasn't been logged, but is probably in the backroom. The associate will tell you "Sorry, we don't seem to have that in the system, you can try asking again in a few hours when the stock is reloaded, thank you for your time". What you're saying is that what they should do is, check the system, see it's not there, call the backroom, and ask us to find it to see if we have it. Restocking on the best days took us 4 hours. 3 people, literally 400 boxes or more on any stocking day. Very little organization in place about what box contains what. We only sort them into 4 different categories, there's never the same amount of boxes of any type. They call, we pick up the phone in the stock room, and proceed to stop restocking, stop unpacking boxes and sorting stock(which we do alone mind you) and find that specific item in a more or less unmarked box. You know, if I did that, what you're suggesting, I'd have lost my job for wasting time. [editline]7th August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=endorphinsam;45622472]I read that you said "Asking people to go above and beyond for a 1.70 isn't really a great incentive" I'm not sure you read that I said "doing your job right isn't going above and beyond" If you really had a job with [i]literally impossible[/i] specs then it's understandable, because as you said it's impossible. but that doesn't happen that often and when it does people quit. and most of the argument in this thread isn't about [b]literally impossible tasks[/b]. It's about taking the time to fucking do the shit you [i]can[/i] do, right![/QUOTE] the people in the video, I'm not defending. The thread quickly turned to how shitty anyone working in retail is like the job is the easiest thing in the world. It isn't hard, my current jobs are all much harder. But it isn't the easiest thing in the world either.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45622514]Lets say you called the stores I've worked at and asked for an item. We had a pretty great system for tracking shit down, but if it hadn't been logged in the system, it was in one of over 400 boxes that were going to be opened and stocked anyways. You call, a retail sales associate answers, you ask your question, he searches for it, he can tell you if it's in our store, or any other store in our chain in the region. It'll tell you everything on the floor, and everything in stock that has been logged. Lets say you want something that hasn't been logged, but is probably in the backroom. The associate will tell you "Sorry, we don't seem to have that in the system, you can try asking again in a few hours when the stock is reloaded, thank you for your time". What you're saying is that what they should do is, check the system, see it's not there, call the backroom, and ask us to find it to see if we have it. Restocking on the best days took us 4 hours. 3 people, literally 400 boxes or more on any stocking day. Very little organization in place about what box contains what. We only sort them into 4 different categories, there's never the same amount of boxes of any type. They call, we pick up the phone in the stock room, and proceed to stop restocking, stop unpacking boxes and sorting stock(which we do alone mind you) and find that specific item in a more or less unmarked box. You know, if I did that, what you're suggesting, I'd have lost my job for wasting time.[/QUOTE] [s]i'm not. did you even watch the video in the OP? thats what the argument is about, why are you making it not about the OP which, as abbreviated, it is the original post.[/s] [editline]sd[/editline] No one is arguing what you're saying is wrong. People are arguing other people like milkandcookie that think they are entitled to do their job poorly because it's minimum wage. and we're not talking about literally impossible things, we are talking about checking if an item is on a shelf 10 feet away from you.

[QUOTE=endorphinsam;45622531]lol no i'm not. did you even watch the video in the OP? thats what the argument is about, why are you making it not about the OP which, as abbreviated, it is the original post.[/QUOTE] yes I did. I just gave you an example of how it would work in my store. The people in the video only had to do that much. I'm telling you how it works in some other stores. [editline]7th August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=endorphinsam;45622531] No one is arguing what you're saying is wrong. People are arguing other people like milkandcookie that think they are entitled to do their job poorly because it's minimum wage. and we're not talking about literally impossible things, we are talking about checking if an item is on a shelf 10 feet away from you.[/QUOTE] It seems like people are. yeah, in those situations where it is 10 feet away from you, that's ridiculous, but there's many cases where it's much more than that involved in finding an item.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45622396]Asking people to go above and beyond for a 1.70 isn't really a great incentive. I worked my ass off as a stockworker, and never saw a raise. People who had been there for 3 years and worked hard hadn't seen a raise. The people on the floor selling got commissions on big items and had plenty of incentive to work harder, which makes sense, but no one in the backroom in my experiences has ever been given a reason to work harder or go above and beyond. [/QUOTE] There's a difference between asking people to go above and beyond and expecting them to make a reasonable attempt at doing their job. I know concessions have to be made when you work, and people will do anything to try to take shortcuts just to make their life and their work easier. But getting paid minimum wage isn't an excuse to not do your job (which I know is not your argument, but it pertains to the original argument.) That said, videos like in the OP are stupid because he could have called during peak shopping hours, or called a lot of stores and cherrypicked the ones that didn't check stock. I know at least Target is better about having accurate inventory, and Target was one of the stores featured.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;45622589]There's a difference between asking people to go above and beyond and expecting them to make a reasonable attempt at doing their job. I know concessions have to be made when you work, and people will do anything to try to take shortcuts just to make their life and their work easier. But getting paid minimum wage isn't an excuse to not do your job (which I know is not your argument, but it pertains to the original argument.)[/QUOTE] Well what a "reasonable" attempt to do someones job varies vastly from person to person, and from job description to job description. I haven't worked in walmart or target, but where I have worked the job description was quite varied and wide and you were always tasked with multiple things simultaneously. If the definition of reasonable attempt at doing my job is dropping all these things because someones on the phone, then you're right, I wouldn't do my job to that definition. The people in the video look like they're not working or doing their jobs so i'm not defending them per say but I am defending a lot of these employees.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45622640]Well what a "reasonable" attempt to do someones job varies vastly from person to person, and from job description to job description. I haven't worked in walmart or target, but where I have worked the job description was quite varied and wide and you were always tasked with multiple things simultaneously. If the definition of reasonable attempt at doing my job is dropping all these things because someones on the phone, then you're right, I wouldn't do my job to that definition.[/QUOTE] That's definitely fair. [QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45622640]The people in the video look like they're not working or doing their jobs so i'm not defending them per say but I am defending a lot of these employees.[/QUOTE] Yeah, hence why I feel like the video is very cherrypicked. Also, it's just way easier as a customer to check inventory online. The only reason I called Target that one time is because they had this camera I wanted on clearance for like $100 (normally $250 or something) and the website reported they had one stock, so I called to make sure, and they did, and I wanted them to hold it for me since it was the last one. But importantly, the website matched what the employee said.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;45622680]That's definitely fair. Yeah, hence why I feel like the video is very cherrypicked. Also, it's just way easier as a customer to check inventory online. The only reason I called Target that one time is because they had this camera I wanted on clearance for like $100 (normally $250 or something) and the website reported they had one stock, so I called to make sure, and they did, and I wanted them to hold it for me since it was the last one. But importantly, the website matched what the employee said.[/QUOTE] Videos like these are always cherry picked, honestly. Clicking on a video titled "exposing bad customer service", I don't think anyone wants to see people doing their jobs correctly.

It's probably a lot like how you don't see stories of cops doing their job correctly. Because it's just not worth pointing out, and there'd be hundreds thousands of articles on it.

There seems to be 2 sides here, those who work in retail who understand how terrible costumers can be, and those who clearly never worked in retail who think they're being lazy, which most of them are. However, you don't know the full story, those employees could be in the middle of completing a task that was assigned to them and they feel pressured to finish that as opposed to seeing if they have a popular TV series in stock. Some of them were flat out lazy, but I feel the pain, costumers can be the absolute WORST and "the costumer is always right" is a saying that needs to die immediately because 75% of the time (if not more) the costumer is indeed wrong. There's nothing more frustrating then getting bitched at and talked down to for something you have no control over (I.E - Something not being in stock or you following a policy).

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45622316]And they'll get fired for it too. Retail chains ask more than the employee can handle because that's just how it works for them to save money. I've worked in a few, I've quit from all of them because they're unreasonable jobs. I've worked retail on the floor selling shit, and you depending on the section you're in, you have a quota of items to sell. During sales or clearance events, that quota can go up higher, but they staff the floor with even more people so no one actually makes that quota. I've worked backroom in the stock rooms, and there is little to no organization, and the amount of work tasked to a few individuals in a time frame that is almost impossible is a regular thing. You're always tasked with three jobs at once. Unload the trucks, unpack the stock, and do literally whatever anyone asks you to do because there's just never enough hands. They work you like this UNTIL you quit. People don't stay in these jobs unless it's literally the only job you can get. It's unskilled labour and because it's so, no one gives a rats ass about you. You work harder, you don't get anything for it. Why is that a good business model? They're thankless jobs and no one cares. There's no protection and no help for these people. Your attitude is bullshit.[/QUOTE] They are jobs nonetheless.

[QUOTE=Furnost;45614763]why waste gas going to a place if theyre not going to have what you want[/QUOTE] I have been under the impression that many Europeans don't drive so much anyways, because Europe is very dense and urban and high gas prices. People don't realize how spread out America is. I am lucky to be within 5 minutes of an operating store. Some people deal with a 3 hour commute [I]to go to the store.[/I] The trade off is that we have much cheaper gas.

I work customer service and I'm not allowed to leave the front end. So if someone calls about a certain item and that department is out to lunch or no one is working it then, they're pretty much out of luck. Sometimes I can check items close by or get a manager to if it's not busy, but that's about it.

On one hand, retail sucks. On the other, it's kinda shit that people get away with lying to a customer because they can't handle walking down to a section and checking for an item. Bam, lost a customer because you said something in stock wasn't actually in stock. The alternative, me driving there to find if something's actually in store, is a deterrent for me to actually take the risk and go in case I waste time + gas money, and the store attempts to be as convenient for the customer as possible anyways so I figure an employee check would be a simple thing to do. Stores attempt to be convenient to increase sales, and item checking is a convenient service for a customer. Hell, if you're busy with a customer just be honest about it. "I'm busy with a customer right now, could you please wait a minute or so and I'll be right back" or "I'm sorry I cannot help you right now but I'll grab an associate who can" is better than "nope not in stock". And with the amount of people who call weekly asking for items those lost sales are going to add up, and if upper management heard that someone was going to purchase something expensive and you told them it wasn't in stock that wouldn't look too good. Jobs suck, it doesn't mean you should be slack off at them, you're being paid to provide a service so put your best effort into it, and if it sucks too much, try to find another job on your off hours.

This video is only 2:20 long and only contains 4 examples. Its fairly obvious that they had trouble finding examples of laziness. [editline]7th August 2014[/editline] But at least I got to see a close up shot of the dude's perfect hair.

[QUOTE=loopoo;45614401]It's normal in most places? I've called in the UK a few times. If you're searching for an item that can be hard to get your hands on, it saves you pointless effort going all the way to the shop, only to find out they don't stock it. I was looking for a allen key this one time, and all the hardware stores near me were closed, so I had to call up supermarkets just so I didn't walk 30 minutes only to find out they don't stock it.[/QUOTE] Calling a store to check if they have things: because you really need a power supply but cant remember finding any last time. If I really need it I say "help me [bestbuyemployee], you're my only hope"

[QUOTE=c:;45614273]Nah. My brother worked at Target for almost 3 years. They'd have him close the store (I think 11 p.m.) and be back in at 5 a.m. to open. A lot of the time he'd have trouble sleeping and only get 2-3 hours of sleep before doing another 8 hour shift.[/QUOTE] Uhm, I'm pretty sure that's illegal. There has to be a minimum period of time between two shifts so you can actually get some sleep. [editline]8th August 2014[/editline] Oh shit, didn't look at your flag. Don't know if the US has laws that protect you from abusive jobs like that.

[QUOTE=Lord Fear;45615083]Why waste a call when you can go to the stores site to check if they have what you want?[/QUOTE] Website doesn't equal physical store, unless they have a system for checking what's in stock in the different stores. (most stores don't have that in my experience) [editline]8th August 2014[/editline] Where I live, the cashier would just type the name of the item into the computer and it'd tell him/her whether or not they have it in stock.

[QUOTE=endorphinsam;45622028]taking a wild guess that you assume that because you work "a harrdd jobb >:(" you think it's okay to not do it correctly. bing bong correct you don't like your job? quit. you can't find another one? sucks, but at least you're not talking to people every 30 seconds golly that is such a pain. four of my brothers work in the union, and they're making $30-50 an hour. when they started out they were making 9. not even a dollar over the minimum wage of 8.25 in my state. when they started out, get this: they were still doing the same amount of work. yes, all of that physical labour and construction they were doing was for nine dollars an hour. they didn't jackoff the whole time they were there, they knew that they would only get promoted to higher pay if they actually did the shit they were supposed to do. so they did. stop being such an entitled manchild.[/QUOTE] Are you really implying there's that much of an ladder for minwage employees in the food/retail/service industry? Are you blind as fuck or what, the highest you could possibly go with retail and such is manager maybe district manager if you kiss enough ass to get there with a college degree. I busted my ass for a year overnight for minimum wage and got only three fucking days off (didnt have any before that) and a 5 cent raise as an award. There's people there working hard as fuck, staying over for hours, and covering other people's shifts for just $8 an hour with the same benefits. Retail is scummy as shit and there's rarely ever a ladder to the top like you're insinuating.

I work customer service at a Kroger. (huge grocery chain on the east coast of the US) Most of the time, it's alright. I get some shit every now and again. The big thing with us is that we have a bunch of financial services at the desk as well, which means I'm responsible for: Returns and Exchanges Selling Lotto tickets Selling propane Maintaining the lotto vending machine Sending/Receiving Western Union money transfers Bill payments Check cashing Answering the phones Answering customer questions Fielding complaints Processing custom item requests Managing customer accounts and more. Kroger is interminably cheap, so all of our technology is way out of date. I cannot look up an item in any "computer", the best I can do is call a manager and they'll go "Uh, I dunno." Kroger likes to flush their stock out more often than most people flush their toilets, so items come and go and nobody tells me when they do. If a customer is looking for something, I try to go with them if I can, but if there is another customer at the desk waiting, they'll get pissed if I leave, so sometimes I just can't. And all of this comes at the price of $7.35 an hour. A dime over minimum.

[QUOTE=Lord Fear;45615083]Why waste a call when you can go to the stores site to check if they have what you want?[/QUOTE] Because more often than not, a store's site is more of a catalog than an actual inventory of what the store nearest to you has in stock.

[QUOTE=Pandamox;45622258] retail is probably the only job you've ever had and you're acting like it's the most difficult and demanding job on the planet, and that gives you a right to just not do it properly? i'm not even sure what to say to something that hilarious[/QUOTE] From what I can gather (again, haven't worked a job like what the folks in OP's video have) the problem isn't the sheer physical labor but more the fact of simply not having the time or people to satisfy every customer at the same time with the same quality of service. Yeah, being a firefighter is a mill operator is way more labor intensive but it's physically impossible to manage the front end of a store while also at the same time going to the back and trying to find a printer cartridge from some dude on the phone. Humans can carry hoses up hills; they can't be in two places at once. This seems to be what HumanAbyss is saying by companies not hiring enough people, which is definitely something I know about. [QUOTE=sebbers;45623073] Some of them were flat out lazy, but I feel the pain, costumers can be the absolute WORST and "the costumer is always right" is a saying that needs to die immediately because 75% of the time (if not more) the costumer is indeed wrong. There's nothing more frustrating then getting bitched at and talked down to for something you have no control over (I.E - Something not being in stock or you following a policy).[/QUOTE] The "customer is always right" policy dies every 16 seconds when someone goes through a grocery line who totes knows that thing that rang up for $5 is on sale then gets mad when the bagger comes back without a sales tag.

When I was working in retail I didn't know a single person I worked with outside of management that wasn't guilty of walking into the warehouse, goofing around for 15 seconds and coming back out to tell a customer that we didn't have a certain product in stock. I think that would happen less if they would've stopped scheduling people 8 days in a row then proceeding to give them absolutely 0 hours for weeks on end and expect them never to make plans just so they can come into work should someone call in sick.

[QUOTE=Ldesu;45614360]I've never even heard of anyone calling a store asking them to check if something is in stock. Is this normal in America or something?[/QUOTE] Well when your item isn't always in stock, and the store is far away, it only makes sense to give a quick call and find out. Why waste time and money to drive or take public transportation to find out that your item wasn't in stock?

I dont know if id call it lazy I mean, I work in retail and no matter your job if you're up front you can put down almost any task if you're with a customer, and you might even get some basic human contact out of it.