Customers are getting fed up over wait times at retail outlets

[flip]

Well after the other thread I'm almost afraid to type this but here goes.

Anyone live in Tuscany?

Anyone notice that there is an unusually high number of foreign workers at the Rexall in the last couple months considering they used to hire a lot of local high school kids?

I have a friend who works there who said the manager at that store doesn't like to hire teenagers because they are lazy and instead likes to hire foreigners because she, the manager, says they'll work for less and work harder. Only problem is many of these people have English as a distant second when it comes to languages and I've left that store numerous times while waiting to pay for items because the cashier can't figure out how to swipe a debit card. All the while there is no manager or supervisor around to help or another cashier just this one girl, who doesn't know english that well working alone while 6 angry people stare at here, groaning that the service is slow.

So not only understaffed but they are leaving people who obviously need some intensive training out to the wolves, as trust me a lot of the people here in Tuscany can get pretty crabby if the service isn't up to par, I've seen it first hand.

Let me make it quite clear that foreign people need jobs too but to use them like this because the manager know people are going to shop there regardless sickens me. The manager is just taking advantage of these innocent foreign workers who need the money.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Yeah I try to avoid Walmart now because it typically takes longer to stand in line and pay for my crap than to actually go through the store to pick things up. It's like why build a Walmart with 20-30 cash registers when I have only seen maybe 8 in use at a time?

[millhouse11]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

I went to buy a bike at Bow Cycle, which is on the other end of the city for me. The model I wanted was not on the floor, it was in the basement. No offer of going to get it for me. I bought my bike elsewhere.

Bow Cycle and the Bike shop tend to hire young twits who really don't know anything about bikes. They just like to ride them. You need to seek out the people who are vested in the company, like Kurt, fransky, Doug, etc. You'll get excellent service. Problem is, people know this. I've sat and waited to talk to Kurt, while 3 of the twits came up to see if I needed help.
Having said that, the shop is excellent. quite often you can just take the bike in and have it back within 15 minutes if it's something minor.

The Bike shop on the other hand, is a joke. Brutal service, and really don't have any knowledge of the product.

Calgary Cycle is, imo the best bike shop in Calgary, hands down. The staff has been the same for years, and Derrick takes alot of pride in his store. It's all higher end bikes, but they also give lifetime service if you buy there...which adds up, if you take your bike in a couple of times a year.

[Buff]

My buddy and I used to meet up every Tuesday at a local restaurant/pub here in Lethbridge for their steak sandwich specials. We went so often that we were even invited to their staff parties. When we first started doing it, the entire process would take 20 minutes, from being seated to paying the bill. Two years later we stopped going because it then took an hour and half. About a half a year after that I ran into the owner of said establishment and he asked why we doesn't see us anymore. When I told him about how the service became too slow he just shrugged his shoulders. I found out a few months ago that he no longer owns that place.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Titan

Perhaps not a good week to be pimping the deli counters?

Can you say Maple Leafsteria?

I knew that the Leafs sucked, but I draw the line when they start to kill you.

As for customers getting fed up, I dont doubt it. I hate going to malls for any reason on a good day, lately though I wont go unless I'm dragged by a pack of wild horses.

I think most people just dont have the patience for it anymore. Its been like this for way, way too long.

When I went down to the states and received good service I'd forgotten what it was like and thought that the waitress was one of those one-off miracles of the profession.

Nope, fairly standard, but its gotten so bad here that good service is almost a myth.

On that note, I've found that if I go to a pub and get great service, its someplace I will make an effort to go back to.

Do you REALLY need an excuse to go for drinks?

[chid]

I hate Wal Mart but when I have to go, I make sure to go at 2 am or around midnight when I'm off work, then there's no lines, no idiots around to irk me and I can take my time and actually have a nice quick chat with the cashier without feeling like a jerk for 'holding up the line'
I really wish we would have some 24 hour grocery stores here like they do out in Ontario. I used to really really enjoy doing my grocery shopping at 1am as well.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by chid

I hate Wal Mart but when I have to go, I make sure to go at 2 am or around midnight when I'm off work, then there's no lines, no idiots around to irk me and I can take my time and actually have a nice quick chat with the cashier without feeling like a jerk for 'holding up the line'
I really wish we would have some 24 hour grocery stores here like they do out in Ontario. I used to really really enjoy doing my grocery shopping at 1am as well.

When i worked for Safeway the American side wanted stores here open 24 hours. The idea got nixed as there wasn't enought factory/shift work to make it a go. If it went 24 hours, service during the day and evening hours would have suffered. Opening a store 24 hours doesn't generate any extra revenue. The other problem is the grocery side and others are stocked during the midnight hours. It would make it extremley hard for customers to navigate the isles when stock is all over the place.

[Kjesse]

"I think Wal-Mart is a place everyone goes to eventually... you know, if they die without Christ!"

-Emo Philips

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Dion

When i worked for Safeway the American side wanted stores here open 24 hours. The idea got nixed as there wasn't enought factory/shift work to make it a go. If it went 24 hours, service during the day and evening hours would have suffered. Opening a store 24 hours doesn't generate any extra revenue. The other problem is the grocery side and others are stocked during the midnight hours. It would make it extremley hard for customers to navigate the isles when stock is all over the place.

try working the graveyard shift at a 7-11 when the grocery and non-food item deliveries decide to drop off at the same time of the night. then it becomes a game of telling people to wait at the door while i climb over boxes to get what they want

god i don't miss customer service in the slightest

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by fotze

Topping the frustration list were department stores, with 78 per cent of those surveyed saying they have walked out of them. Tim Hortons restaurants were also notorious: 58 per cent of respondents said they had left in frustration.

corrected.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Dion

When i worked for Safeway the American side wanted stores here open 24 hours. The idea got nixed as there wasn't enought factory/shift work to make it a go. If it went 24 hours, service during the day and evening hours would have suffered. Opening a store 24 hours doesn't generate any extra revenue. The other problem is the grocery side and others are stocked during the midnight hours. It would make it extremley hard for customers to navigate the isles when stock is all over the place.

When I lived in Grade Prairie the IGAs were open 24 hours. It just was a fact of life for the customers that there were boxes and palates in the way. I was chatting with the night manager one time and he said it was working great for them; the only extra cost was one cashier so the extra sales that would have gone to people shopping elsewhere paid her salary; and if it ever got really busy he would jump on a till himself.

[North East Goon]

Your problem Flip is your shopping at Rexall, don't support them!

[CaptainCrunch]

My first job out of college was in software development, but I really grew to hate it in a hurry, so I decided to go work at Future Shop and spent three years with them. I worked in both Calgary stores, the new stores in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, I worked in Winnipeg and then opened the store in Regina. I went from a guy who really liked personal interaction and helping people out, to someone who outright grew to hate people in a short period of time.

And when I say hate, its not an exageration.

People who are out retail shopping have this unbelievable sense of entitlement, that I should kiss their feet to make a sale, that the customer is always right, that I should be desparate to reduce my prices just for them.

From the customer service side, you'd do your best to help them out, while living by the policies of the store and the manufacturer and it wasn't good enough. I had customers that would try to pull fast ones. I had customers that would outright lie to get a discounted price. I even had a customer that returned a computer box with a old computer in it and try to get a refund on his new computer. And we kept bending over backwards. We'd have customers that would come in on boxing day when the customer to employee ratio was a 100 to 1, and then whine and huff when we told them that we would be with them in a minute.

We had customers that would expect or demand that I go out to their house for free to help them out in setting up their purchase or they wouldn't but. I had screaming kids, I had idiots that would apply for financing, then blow a gasket when they were declined for it like it was my fault that they're credit is slightly worse then a wino on the street.

There was little courtesy, we were surfs. When I was managing the medicine hat store, we were getting ready to close for the night on x-mas eve, and this guy who had been approached repeatedly to see if he needed help, but was insisting that he was just looking blew a nut when I told him that my people wanted to go home for christmas and if he wasn't buying the store was closing, he screamed that he was going to tell his friends how mean we are.

Look, we know that in terms of getting these employees its tough for the employers, and these people are busy, underpaid, and deal with many people a day of which a good portion are whiners, idiots, or morons with a god complex. But give them a break. Yes there are bad employees out there, and if someone acts in a unprofessional manner, you have a right to take your business elsewhere, but have some common courtesy, most of these people are doing the best they can.

[Swarly]

Originally Posted by Dion

When i worked for Safeway the American side wanted stores here open 24 hours. The idea got nixed as there wasn't enought factory/shift work to make it a go. If it went 24 hours, service during the day and evening hours would have suffered. Opening a store 24 hours doesn't generate any extra revenue. The other problem is the grocery side and others are stocked during the midnight hours. It would make it extremley hard for customers to navigate the isles when stock is all over the place.

I worked at co-op for years and all the locations I worked at never had a night stocking, just constant stocking all day. So no need to have stock laying all over the place.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by chid

I hate Wal Mart but when I have to go, I make sure to go at 2 am or around midnight when I'm off work, then there's no lines, no idiots around to irk me and I can take my time and actually have a nice quick chat with the cashier without feeling like a jerk for 'holding up the line'
I really wish we would have some 24 hour grocery stores here like they do out in Ontario. I used to really really enjoy doing my grocery shopping at 1am as well.

The sobeys in Lakeview is iirc, at least it used to be when it was an IGA

[CaptainCrunch]

There were some days when I wanted to beat every customer that came through the door to death with a roll of fax paper. When they promoted me to manage one of the stores, I was willing to quit within two days of taking the job because the customers favorite line, no matter the issue is "I wanna talk to the manager"

Its hard to give two craps when they want to return a computer monitor that is three years old and has a spider web break on the screen

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Because if they paid the wait staff $15/hour, they have no incentive to care. You'd get crappier service that way. This way, you as the customer decide what value their work was to you. Not a lot of industries have the ability to do that.

Does that really make sense? Let me give you an example- and let's use you for this example. In your life you have worked in customer service. Would you say that you gave good customer service or just mediocre service? Well, I know the one time you helped me out in your professional capacity your level of service was higher than what my expectations were. I have also gone into other places where employees are not on comission or receive tips and received good service.

And perhaps it would change the kinds of people who apply for serving jobs if tipping was eliminated and the establishment paid them a normal wage; with menu prices to reflect that. What I mean is let's say I wanted to get a second job. One of the jobs I liked doing in the past was bartending. But bars and pubs tend to hire young attractive women, and those women tend to apply because its easy money when you get all those tips. And as much as I like to have an attractive waitress, most of the time I just want my stuff in a reasonable time, and the order to be correct. So once you get rid of the people who are there for the money, maybe more people who want to do that job will apply. And if it's a person who wants that job working as opposed to somebody who just wants cash, maybe the service level would reflect the fact that the person cares.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

My first job out of college was in software development, but I really grew to hate it in a hurry, so I decided to go work at Future Shop and spent three years with them. I worked in both Calgary stores, the new stores in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, I worked in Winnipeg and then opened the store in Regina. I went from a guy who really liked personal interaction and helping people out, to someone who outright grew to hate people in a short period of time.

And when I say hate, its not an exageration.

People who are out retail shopping have this unbelievable sense of entitlement, that I should kiss their feet to make a sale, that the customer is always right, that I should be desparate to reduce my prices just for them.

From the customer service side, you'd do your best to help them out, while living by the policies of the store and the manufacturer and it wasn't good enough. I had customers that would try to pull fast ones. I had customers that would outright lie to get a discounted price. I even had a customer that returned a computer box with a old computer in it and try to get a refund on his new computer. And we kept bending over backwards. We'd have customers that would come in on boxing day when the customer to employee ratio was a 100 to 1, and then whine and huff when we told them that we would be with them in a minute.

We had customers that would expect or demand that I go out to their house for free to help them out in setting up their purchase or they wouldn't but. I had screaming kids, I had idiots that would apply for financing, then blow a gasket when they were declined for it like it was my fault that they're credit is slightly worse then a wino on the street.

There was little courtesy, we were surfs. When I was managing the medicine hat store, we were getting ready to close for the night on x-mas eve, and this guy who had been approached repeatedly to see if he needed help, but was insisting that he was just looking blew a nut when I told him that my people wanted to go home for christmas and if he wasn't buying the store was closing, he screamed that he was going to tell his friends how mean we are.

Look, we know that in terms of getting these employees its tough for the employers, and these people are busy, underpaid, and deal with many people a day of which a good portion are whiners, idiots, or morons with a god complex. But give them a break. Yes there are bad employees out there, and if someone acts in a unprofessional manner, you have a right to take your business elsewhere, but have some common courtesy, most of these people are doing the best they can.

Thank you. After working 2 years in retail and 2 years in hospitality, I'll never work in an industry that requires interaction with customers ever again. I hate this self sense of entitlement that most customers have these days. Its like their business is everything. Well, news to you pal. The average guy getting paid minimum wage at Walmart doesn't care if you take your business elsewhere. In fact, they welcome it.

Speaking of which. The funniest thing that ever happened when I worked at Walmart was when some guy blew a gasket after finding out we were out of a produce he was looking for. In his self sense of importance, he stuck up his nose and angrily replied "well, I'm never shopping HERE again!". My co-worker then calmy replied "and miss out on our Everyday Low Prices? Yah, sure buddy". The guy turned a few shades of red after that. I couldn't stop laughing after ha ha.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Swarly

I worked at co-op for years and all the locations I worked at never had a night stocking, just constant stocking all day. So no need to have stock laying all over the place.

From what i've heard it isn't the most cost effective way of stocking shelves.