Summertime means taking a break from school assignments but picking up extra hours at work. With more work, I’m reminded that though they may be entry level jobs, customer service positions are stressful.
Everyone should experience these positions to understand factors we deal with on a regular basis.
1. We're required to up sell products - and sometimes they're actually awesome!
When associates ask customers if they would like to add sale items to their purchases or sign up for emails, coupons, credit cards, or rewards programs, we're often shot down before we finish the offers. Customers even tell us how much they "hate being bothered". If everyone worked in public service, they would know to at least let us finish. It takes a lot of courage to ask because we know it's not what customers want to hear, but we are required to do it. Plus, our offers aren't always a "money making racket" sometimes they're great deals!
2. It’s not our fault that your card got declined.
We feel bad enough baring the bad news, please don’t blame us or our store for it. We’re only the messengers and if we had enough money to pick up the tab for you, we wouldn’t be working in customer service.
3. We don’t decide our stores' coupon policies or prices.
Trust me, we would love it if our store took coupons too but unfortunately, we have no say. We also can't decide the price, if we could give items to you cheaper, we would.
4. We can’t sell it without a tag.
When customers come to us without tags, they automatically get irritated with the time it takes for us to get a new tag or item number. A common response is, “it was like $9.98. Can't you just put in the price?" We usually believe you, but we can’t just enter prices into the register, we need the actual item for inventory. Worse yet, we would get in big trouble if there was a mystery item on a receipt. We could have given you any product at any price. Please remember, we don't want to waste your time, we're just doing our jobs.
5. We can't help that a product is out of sock.
I can't count how many times customers tell me "I can't believe you are out of...". You is not the right word. We have no say in the products our store brings in; we only ring them up. We also usually have no idea when we'll be getting more in. We're not being lazy by not checking for you, we really have no way to do so!
6. If you know you have a complicated order, please try to figure it out before you get to the register.
"I'm doing five separate orders. I left some of it in the cart. I'll tell you when each one starts and stops".
"Shoot I messed up, put the cereal on but take the hair dye off and leave the juice in the cart because I want to check my total first. Second thought, put the hair dye back on but remove everything else".
People get frustrated with us when we're confused about which items to take off and leave on a bill but when we're given a million directions at once, it's hard to keep track of. Working with money is a huge responsibility, if we miss or overscan items we could lose our jobs!
7. If you know you can't buy it, don't put it in the cart.
It's hard enough keeping lines down and aisles organized as it is. When customers come to us with a cart of 100 items and only buy two, it adds to our stress because we're stuck putting it away. It's absolutely baffling when customers tell us they "went over their limit" after just a few items. What was running through their heads while picking out everything else?
8. We hate being understaffed just as much as you do.
When customers finally get to us after waiting for what seems like an eternity, they often make comments like "this is ridiculous you should have more registers running". Of course we would love to open another register but if we don't have the staff available, we can't!
9. Technical difficulties are inevitable. Please don't blame us.
After we've tried every trick in the book to unfreeze our registers, jumpstart tricky card readers, or reconnect dysfunctional scanners, customers love to tell our managers, "my order won't go through because the cashier ...". In reality, we take hundreds of customers per shift. Sometimes our machines get overloaded and stop working. If everyone worked in customer service they'd know, we're just as frustrated and confused as they are. Blaming us only adds to the frustration and takes away from the focus on fixing the problem.
10. We're trying to "smile more".
After hours of snarky remarks, complicated orders, and technical difficulties the last thing we want to hear is "come on smile". The truth is we usually start our shifts smiling but get overwhelmed as the day goes on. This is partially because, we really do want what’s best for the customer.
Though they may just be side jobs or stepping stones on the way to our careers, we actually do care about our jobs and customers. We shouldn’t take comments personally but we do because our work performance is a reflection of us.
If everyone were to put themselves in our shoes at least once, they may think twice before judging or criticizing us in the workplace. Understanding customer service policies and struggles would make the checkout process quicker and more pleasant for everyone involved.
