What Do You Class As Good Customer Care
As we are spread all over the globe, I know we will all have totally different experiences when we go shopping.
If there is one thing I do not like though is that when you go to a shop and when I get to the checkout having that feeling that I am being rushed to pack my shopping and then everything is piling up and there is no room to finish packing.
What I dislike more is when you are still trying to pack your bags and the cashier has already started serving the person behind you, so you have your own things at the bottom and then the person behind you is trying to get their things at the same time. I do understand that a lot of these shops work on getting their customers through the tills quickly but if you have someone who is maybe older or disabled and they are unable to pack as fast they then get all flustered and feel terrible that they are keeping people back.
I will only start if I am helping them to pack or they have someone else who is helping them to pack as there is nothing worse than to still be putting your shopping on the belt at one side and then by the time you are finished, it is all piled up at the bottom of the till and you have no room to put your bags up.
I always say to people to not rush and just take their time, I have also had people say to me not to go too fast which is something that I never do and I do always try and pack for older people but a lot of them want to do it themselves so they don't need to have their things thrown down the belt at them, making them flustered. I go at their pace so they do not feel rushed and then they do not feel that they are keeping people back.I get so annoyed at people who are behind people in the queue and you hear them huffing and puffing and tutting because they are having to wait and they are in a rush. I always ignore them while thinking to myself that they could go elsewhere (i.e. another till) or if it is an older person that I am serving and they are behind them then I want to say to them that we all one day will be at the same stage and how would they like to hear people behind them tutting or huffing and puffing.
As you can probably tell from this, I do care for my customers when I am serving them and I would love to hear if you have had good or bad customer care while you have been out shopping.
Have a good Friday everyone and
Recent Comments
15
Yeah, that's never fun.
I haven't worked on cash much over the past few years, but I do on occasion. I always finish with one customer before starting the next. Often, all it takes is a simple acknowledgement of the next person in line, such as saying hello, and they will wait for the person ahead of them to finish, but that's not always the case.
As you mentioned, sometimes people will huff and puff, complaining about the wait. You as another customer can easily ignore them and finish your turn at the cash, but that customer usually will have no qualms about unloading on the cashier once you have moved on. Someone with experience can deal with it, but sometimes it is a younger person who can be quite shaken by the surprising amount of vitriol some customers are capable of.
And of course, some customer like to exaggerate.
I remember one time I was putting our some stock, or perhaps cleaning, and I was within site of the cash. I watched a man walk up and get in line. There was one person being served, and one other person ahead of him. I heard his sigh from about 25 feet away. He looked around, noticed me, and said "can't you open another cash? I have been waiting here for 10 minutes." As I said, I saw him walk up. His "ten minutes" had been literally about 5 seconds.
I do try to treat customers with respect, and treat them as I would want to be treated. That includes all customers. I will not abandon one customer to serve another.
Thank you Craig and it is so true, some of them can be unreal. As always though like you said it is the cashier that gets the grief and some of the younger one's or even just newer members of staff get upset.
As for the queue thing, I personally thing that shops are to blame for people being impatient by promising that if you are in a queue and there is more than one person in front we will open another till. It means that customers come in and think they only have to complain and they will get what they want. What happened years ago when it was just the corner stores with one person serving, they would have to queue till it was their turn to be served. xxx
Yes. Most places these days try to follow a limit of 3 customers in line before another cash must be opened. And yet, stores are working with fewer employees, so that is often rather difficult. That's why you may see clerks or even managers jumping on cash to pick up the overflow, but that doesn't always help when the person "helping" with the line-up is not terribly familiar with the cash. Ha ha
I remember many years ago at my first job (a bookstore), we would occasionally get crazy lines, especially at Christmas.
To visualise the store, there were two (!) cash registers at the fron of the store, right by the entrance to the mall, at ground level. There was an upper floor (about 4 or 5 steps up) that had all the adult books and the help desk, and a lower floor (down about 14 steps) that held all the kid's books, toys and stationery.
I clearly remember occasions where the line would go from the cash, down the stairs to the back of the store, along the back wall, then start curling back toward the front. So customers would come up to the cash, see the line, go down to the lower floor and get in line at the back off the store. They would stand patiently in line, reading their books. When they arrived at the cash, they almost never complained.
Unfortunately, a couple of years into that job, I was watching something on TV, with a reporter talking about the rights of a customer and "how to get what you want". She spent several minutes talking about how businesses needed to realise that the customer is king and that if they didn't start exceeding customer expectations, they would go out of business.
She detailed several strategies on how to get what you want ("don't waste your time with cashiers and clerks. They can't help you. Complain directly to the manager, loudly. If he doesn't give you what you want, ask for the head office phone number, Complain your way up the ladder until someone gives you what you want. It's your right!")
I remember, even as relatively young and inexperienced as I was , thinking "Oh, s... this could be trouble...) And boy, was it ever. I don't know how much we can blame that one particular show, but that is now the standard way of operating.
I know exactly what you mean Craig as we have the same problem, not enough staff and then having to put out calls for members of staff from other departments having to come and jump on to help. Depending what Team Leader is on depends on whether people come or not which is not fair to the Team Leader.
Do you think it's the customer's right to get what they want, I most certainly don't. There are circumstances where it is their right but not every time.
I can just imagine all those people in the queue in the bookstore waiting patiently and reading what they have picked up till they get to the till. I hope nobody managed to actually get to the checkout and hand you the book back saying they had read it all lol. xxx
Well, I do believe that the customer comes first, but the ruder they get, the less inclined I feel to help. I know that is a failing on my part, but I also feel that providing service does not include being a punching bag.
I remember going into a Canadian Tire store and seeing a rather large, highly-visible sign at the customer service desk that said, in essence "we value you as customers and will do everything we can to see to your needs, but we are also human beings deserving of respect. Consequently, if you become rude or aggressive, we reserve the right to not serve you."
All I could think-- even as a customer myself at that moment-- was "bravo".
I totally agree with you Craig, sometimes I feel that these people look on you like you are something they have trodden on. We are certainly no ones punch bag.
Good on that tyre store for looking after their staff by putting up that sign and I would have felt the same way as yourself if I had witnessed that. xx
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Very nice post and graphics to support your point Cheryl. You certainly do take good customer care to heart And I really commend you for this. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
Jerome
Thank you so much Jerome and you are right I do take my customer care seriously. I treat and serve people how I like to be served and treated myself. It doesn't cost nothing to have good manners and courtesy towards other people. xxx