I've always been told having a job in retail gives the the best experience in learning how to deal with people. For me, the “experience” of retail began in the spring of my senior year of high school, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
After over a year of working in retail, I believe I've dealt with almost every category of customers you could imagine: rude, complicated, polite, helpful etc. I’ve encountered a myriad of situations; I've helped a colorblind man searching for matching outfits for vacation, a mother picking out a suit and tie for her son’s graduation, a husband selecting a birthday present for his wife, a girl contemplating the perfect dress for her date....the list goes on. I have a love-hate relationship with the retail world, but through my time in retail I have discovered one thing: most customers have no idea that what they are doing is something that we complain about after they leave the store and our happy, have-a-wonderful-day smiles fade.
So, I've decided to create a tell-all, just-so-you-know for all of the customers out there that may be just as clueless about retail etiquette as I was before I ended up on the other side of the hanger.
The Hurricane Sandy
Messy dressing rooms. Although it is technically in our job description to return the clothes that customers try on back to the shelves, one of our biggest pet peeves in retail is walking into a catastrophic dressing room. I'm talking hangers on the floor, shirts inside out, bundled into balls and strewn all around the room-- it's all happened. At times when the store is empty and looking nice, putting clothing away is a nice, busying task. However, when there is a store full of customers and employees are scrambling around to accommodate everybody, cleaning customer's messes is stressful and very time-consuming. So, next time you go to a store and try on clothes, keep in mind that putting away the clothes, or even hanging them back on the hangers, goes a long way.
The Pretty Penny
People will always need clothing. Even when money is tight and prices are high, sometimes the temptation of shopping is too hard to resist (if anybody understands this dilemma, it is me considering almost my whole paycheck goes to clothes). However, one of the most frustrating conversations that a retail employee can engage in is with a customer arguing about prices. Customers face a common misconception that “buy one get one half off” means “buy one for half off, and get one free”. This one actually gave me quite the laugh the first time I heard it, because I thought that the BOGO concept was pretty straightforward and well-known. However, I stopped laughing after about the fifth time. While clearly the buy-one-get-one idea can create a misunderstanding, it becomes less tolerable when a crazy mother threatens to “go to social media” because she does not agree with our prices. Moral of the story for cus
The Know-It-All
We, as retail workers, work hard to make sure that our customers are as satisfied as possible. We greet people with questions like, “Hi how are you?” or “What are you out shopping for?” and the ever-classic “If you need help with anything just let us know”. While we are trained to say these greetings, we truly want to help as much as we can to make certain that the customer leaves with what they want. Unfortunately, at times there is simply no solution for certain problems that customers may encounter. In these circumstances, employees truly try everything imaginable before we apologize to the customer and give them a few options of action. After all of the effort that we put into helping, and knowing for a fact that policy, or the computer system will not allow any further action, the last words we want to hear are "I'm sure there's something you can do". Personally, I've only heard that phrase a couple of times in my experience. However, each time I was thankful to have a manager to call over who could deal with the customer before I politely suggested through gritted teeth that they come behind the counter and find the magic solution. So customers, please believe that with all of our hearts we really want to help you, but sometimes there is simply nothing we can do.
The Casanova *based on true events*
Finally, an occurrence much more frequent than one would ever expect, is the Casanova Customers. All I have to say for this one is: Dear Casanovas, No, I don’t go to the club; No, I am not married, and No, you cannot have my phone number.
Make your next shopping experience even better with these tricks of the trade; lets keep both the customer and employees happy!
