Did I Cause These People to Get Fired? - Poor Customer Service

[Alagirl]

I suppose so. Not many people are going to put up with the hassle of being overcharged 10 cents (25% over display price) on cup of soup, but the store knows you would notice a 25% markup on a $500 TV scanning in at $625. To them, it's a 25% increase in profits either way. But keeping it on the lower priced items is easier for them to get away with it.

You know darn well that if they found an item scanning in a lower price than the display price, they would have that corrected immediately!

they probably won't.
Many years ago the big store in town would offer gas at a rather low price and have the penny fraction (I am sure there is a name for it) at 0.5 cents (it was pfennig at the time, in Germany) per liter.
Easy enough to absorb it by adding a penny to the high volume items.
I noticed that as of late the customer display at Walmart does not work.
So you are practically guessing if the stuff rang up right.
A lesson from my dad, over 40 years ago: check the receipt before you leave.


Alas, as to the service issue.
I am glad I have not run into any of those folks.
I tend to be the sympathetic ear, learning as I listen, (now I think I need to find a new GP, as they don't pay staff and have nobody working there anymore)
I have gotten a steep discount on my son's haircut because I patiently waited for the lady to have a smoke after the shop schedule had blown up in her face (the beauty shops at Walmart have crazy rules, y'all!)

The paint mixer in every store I have ever been to was splattered with paint.
I think it's a given. eventually, a can will blow up.

I am generally in the (lucky) position to brag on the folks I came across.
phew.

I think we are experiencing a historical moment though.
Corporations are (slowly) learning that they have to pay to retain good staff.

 

[Smokerbill]

I think we are experiencing a historical moment though.
Corporations are (slowly) learning that they have to pay to retain good staff.

And the more they have to pay, the higher the prices we pay will go. Just can't win.

 

[Alagirl]

And the more they have to pay, the higher the prices we pay will go. Just can't win.

If they don't, they close and lose anyhow.

Alas, it's not the staff wages that drive prices up.
It's corporate greed and insanely ballooned CEO wages.
blaming it on the workers is just so convenient and simple. but oh so false.

 

[BDutch]

The worst I have ever experienced was to be ignored when I stood at the counter to pay for a few things I wanted to buy. Two employees were chatting with each other, I’m 100% sure they saw me waiting (gestured) but wouldn’t come to the counter.
Finally after 10 or 15 minutes I put the two items in a bag and walked out the door without paying.

A lesson from my dad, over 40 years ago: check the receipt before you leave.

Good advice, I usually do this. And certainly when I doubt the price I have to pay. A few years ago they often made mistakes in the grocery store nearby. The most common mistake was that the computer entries / barcode scanning system didn’t give the discount price on the shelves. Employees forgot to remove the discount tag after the discount period. But it seems to have improved after they installed some self-scan cash registers.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Corporations are (slowly) learning that they have to pay to retain good staff.

Especially if management is publicly humiliating or yelling at them. Both places I've left before were because I wasn't being paid enough to be yelled at just because the owner was having a bad day.

It is not worth the absolute dread getting ready before work just to go somewhere that doesn't pay enough to even move out. I'd have to get at least as much pay and hours from a second job if I wanted to be able to find a roommate and get an apartment.

 

[Alagirl]

Especially if management is publicly humiliating or yelling at them. Both places I've left before were because I wasn't being paid enough to be yelled at just because the owner was having a bad day.

It is not worth the absolute dread getting ready before work just to go somewhere that doesn't pay enough to even move out. I'd have to get at least as much pay and hours from a second job if I wanted to be able to find a roommate and get an apartment.

On the flipside, people put up with lousy pay if they are treated right.
or all the money can't keep staff if the boss is unfair and crazy.

 

[gtaus]

Alas, it's not the staff wages that drive prices up.

Way back when I was in college, we studied the economics of agricultural workers pay and how much affects the price of food. I don't remember the exact amounts at that time, but it was something like if you paid the workers $5.00 more per hour for their labor, it would increase the cost of the food by about 5 cents. Labor was a very small component of the cost of food.

I suspect that ratio has not changed much.

Employees forgot to remove the discount tag after the discount period.

I see that happening all the time these days. Seems like nobody takes responsibility for the task of putting up and taking down the special sales signs.

Speaking of which, the last 2 or 3 times I went shopping at Menards, the items I purchased were on sale (online and in the newspaper ads) but they were still displayed at the higher regular price on the shelf. That would seem really bad for the store because they pay to advertise their sales and then fail to put up the signs in the store. Anyone browsing in the store would pass by those items and never know they were on sale. I checked the price with an employee before I made my purchases, but they scanned in at the lower sale price.

Case in point, I was so impressed with the Kreg Crosscut Station sale that I ordered online, that I wanted to purchase another one as a gift maybe for my brother-in-law when I saw they were in stock at my local Menards. The store display had them priced at $49.00, the regular price. Here is the sale price, which the item also scans in at...

Anyways, that's a heck of a good deal if you are looking for something like that.

More to the point, when our local Menards first moved into town, they were always on top of having the correct prices displayed to match their latest sales. But over time, the original team of employees left and soon the store was replacing employees every few months. The newer people don't seem to have any incentive to put up the correct prices on the shelves. Somebody else's job, I guess.

Even though I took that Kreg Crosscut Station to the hardware department service desk and had them scan the price for me, nobody went back and put up the correct sale sign on those items. Anyone passing by would assume that it cost $49.00 for the kit, not that it was on sale for only $11.22.

In the last two weeks at Menards, I had the same thing happen with work gloves that were on sale at about 50% off and some plastic totes that were on sale for about 33% off regular price. None of those sale signs went up in the store.

Maybe it's all just a symptom of not having steady employees working at the store. It seems like I see a new fresh set of faces every other week working in the store. Not just at Menards, but most of the other retail stores as well. Lots of people come and go before they even know what they are doing. At least, that's my impression.

Frankly, for as little service you get at the store, I can foresee a time in the future where you order your items online and just stop by the store to pick up your order. Or, maybe everyone will be selling their goods through Amazon and the items will all be delivered to your address, and you won't even have to go to the stores anymore - if any brick-and-mortar stores are still standing.

 

[gtaus]

or all the money can't keep staff if the boss is unfair and crazy.

I guess it would be hard to expect to receive good customer support if the store employee is not treated right by the employer. I wonder if sometimes an upset employee is more prone to give bad service to customers on their way out the door just to stick it to the employer who treated them bad.

 

[Kay-T-Hammer]

I don't how good he was in the warehouse, but management was ready to take the hits when they needed him to cover the sales floor. I don't envy having to make those management choices and getting negative feedback from your customers.

Personally, I think employee X was a problem for the store no matter where he was working, but they could not replace him with nobody. And that was the situation at hand for the manager.

BTW, I knew that floor manager at Fleet that I talked to because he had been out on the sales floor for a number of years and he and I had lots of pleasant interactions over those years. I also congratulated him on his promotion to management when he got the opportunity. So, we knew each other and that is why I think he was so honest with me on my concerns. He knew I would not complain about trivial matters because of our years long relationship.

But most of the time, I have no idea who that manager is in most stores. Some of the big retailers, like Menards and Home Depot, seem to have managers that last less than 6 months and then they are gone. It must be a tough job or one that wears you down fast.

Managers in big chains are (usually) rotational. They can choose to keep the department they work in, but most rotate so that they work every department. It helps them get to know the employees, their duties and tasks, and can make suggestions for employees to be rotated if, say, someone out back would be better suited on the front, and a front-end employee would be better suited stocking shelves in another department.

 

[Kay-T-Hammer]

Buy multiple 6 packs and wine and smokes. Pay separately with checks.

If I worked the self-checkout corral and had a customer like that, I would be glued to them. I would probably be very annoying too, because I would want to talk their ear off.