rudeness of toys 'r' us staff

grex9101

Coupon-mad wrote:

If you had any common sense you would realise that not everyone is able-bodied (sometimes only temporarily due to pregnancy or broken leg, or whatever). Also, people are not stupid/lazy if they don't bring a friend with them, they are (quite rightly) expecting good customer service!

this is an easy one to answer:

GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT ABOUT DOING EVERYTHING THE CUSTOMER WANTS WITH SCANT REGARD FOR THE CONSEQUENCES/PERSONAL SAFETY.

Coupon-mad wrote:

so why is it not in the guidelines of TRU (or Babies R Us) staff?

Cost cutting for sure, there's definitely an insurance issue here.

Coupon-mad wrote:

Finally, not everyone can go online - wake up to the real world! My Mum is in a wheelchair and does not have a computer. Does that mean she cannot go out and buy anything larger than she could carry on her lap (and no she does not always have someone pushing the wheelchair to help, she lives alone. My Dad died years ago and my brother and I work, so do you feel such people should be housebound unless they only want to buy the local paper?

Did I mention housebound?
So, if your mum went to Tescos or whatever and it was 2 miles away, you'd think it was perfectly reasonable for the checkout girl to walk home with her with all the shopping? Get real!


My point is this - DO NOT EXPECT SHOP ASSISTANTS TO GO BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY - IT IS UNFAIR ON THEM, AND COULD PUT THEM IN POTENTIAL DANGER. IF YOU CANNOT MANAGE AN ITEM ON YOUR OWN, BRING HELP, OR MAKE OTHER ARRANGEMENTS.

People who work in retail get poor enough wages without having to be slaves.

zappomatic

I've spent nearly 6 years in retail, thank you very much. You seem like some charicature of a union rep from the 1970s - the film Carry On At Your Convenience springs to mind!

UncleJoe_2

Ha Ha Ha.This is great!
I have always detested TRU (yet I still end up there - why?)
The staff are all rude, inexperienced teenagers who don't know their job/products.
I went at xmas to buy a Thomas Readybed, which was in the sale £10 cheaper than anywhere else. I couldn't see it anywhere so I asked a member of staff who was standing around chatting to his spotty friends.
"Excuse me, do you have any Thomas Readybeds?" "No, we've sold out"
""Oh dear. Do you have any other Readybeds?" "Dunno, ask at Customer services"
Customer Services: "We don't sell Readybeds."
"Are you sure? They're in your brochure"
CS: "That's just internet orders"
"Even the ones that say available in store ?
CS: "Er..we've sold out"
"Oh really? You can work that stock control device/PC in front of you by thought waves alone can you?
(I didn't say that last bit because I was too busy walking off in a huff)

We had exactly the same exchange a couple of weeks later, substituting Readybed for PSP.
But why do I still go back?

ts_aly2000

I too have experienced the laxity of TRU. It was the first time I've been in the mesmerising wonderous place, and it was the bloody last!!

As for helping pregnant women, that's called plain courteous and decent behaviour. Mind you, next time I'm in TRU carpark and one of their staff is wretching in agony on the floor I think I'll just keep on going.

What we suffer from in this country (thanks to the USA) is a complete lack of responsibility for our own actions (and thoughts) such that the majority of people are totally unable to function in a modern society. HA, modern!! ROFL.

Anyone who fails to help a pregnant woman is a very shut-out and lonely individual. Anyone who supports said lonely individual is opening their mouth with words coming out just for the sake of being involved in a conversation.

Grrrrrrrr!!!

mspig

I really don't understand your thread ts_aly2000.

Trus was only taken over by the Americans about a year ago. Also we have a policy at Trus to help people with their goods to their car if the item is too heavy for them to carry, what you must remember that the thread regarding the car seat incident was as she said 12 years ago.

I think people need to understand that trus staff are just like you normal people doing a job for a wage, we are all individuals and like i said once before we all have individual personalities.

Sometime though shoppers make things turn bad for themselves the minute they approach a member of staff - some people think that we are solely there to help them with their every need, and they are very rude to us staff.

Ive had people clicking their fingers at me and whistling at me to go over to them rather than a simple excuse me can you help me. Ive had oy you come here, ive had people throwing things on the floor when they decide they no longer need the items and when asked not to as other customers might want to buy the items been told where to get off.

One women even wanted an item reduced as it was in the wrong box, just the one item in the box with atleast 30 other items which were the right items and because she was told no she would have to pay the normal price of the other item she said we should follow all customers round to make sure that they don't put items in the wrong places.

Do i take any of these problems out on the customers, No i get on with my job and don't complain about the lack of courtesy shown to me by customers.

ts_aly2000

That's all part of the job, and I do have some support for you. When I worked in retail with the public I simply switched off to the public. Some of the people, well, talk about kicking up a fuss over nothing.

Thinking back there was one rather fat women who barged me out of the way with her trolley so I told her off. Another woman, talk about miserable, so I just remained cheerful which wound her up even more. Other things I admit to having done is once I was on a 5 items only checkout, and occasionally you'd get some right awkward people unloading trolley loads on, if they were little old ladies or were polite I'd put the whole lot through, if they were miserable so-en-so's, I'd put the stuff through 5 items at a time

But the one thing I always did was to give people benefit of the doubt, which mostly paid off.

As for TRU, my experience was about 6 months ago when buying a toy car for a friends birthday. I was looking for a specific one and asked, no one knew, no one cared, apparently they didn't even have the ability to see what they did have on a computer. The solution was simple, I just left. In a purely matter of fact manner TRU failed my requirements point blank, such that I have left with an impression of them.

This is the thing about retail today, far too many people in it can't detach themselves personally from what they're doing. In some respects the customer isn't expected to shop in a professional manner seeing as they're not being paid to be there.

The high street complains about difficult trading conditions when the truth is that the average shopper just can't be bothered any more. True professional diligence in shops is something recognised when you see it, and we see so much less of it today. In summary, the HR departments are hiring people just like them, difficult, with meaningless qualifications, and who can play silly games like doing IQ tests. Like the average shopper, the people who can truly do these jobs just can't be bothered any more.

When shopping though I still give the staff the benefit of the doubt, which again, usually pays off, and only because I've been in the exact position they are day in day out, dealing with one customer after the next. It's tiring. But if I do get a really awkward member of staff I also know just what buttons to press to truly !!!!!! up their day and have them moaning like hell in the staff room over a fag.

Swings and roundabouts. TRU hasn't impressed me too much but equally so I don't rate PC World or Currys too highly either. It's roughly the same right across the board. The smaller retailers tend to be better at the things that the customer wants, apart from pricing. I'm happy to pay a little more for less fuss.

naughty_10382

ts_aly2000 wrote:

5 items only checkout, and occasionally you'd get some right awkward people unloading trolley loads on

Completely off the TRU topic - but I know what you mean. I had a woman come up to a basket till once in the shop i worked in, with a trolley. I politely told her it was a basket only till, and she then got really sarky with me, and made a big show of putting everything in a basket so I could put it through. The thing was, the till opposite me - maybe all of 2ft - was a trolley till... :rolleyes:

Sorry to hear about all of the TRU woes that people have had, will keep it in mind for when I may need to use them!!

grex9101

zappomatic wrote:

I've spent nearly 6 years in retail, thank you very much. You seem like some charicature of a union rep from the 1970s - the film Carry On At Your Convenience springs to mind!

I'm glad you dont like unions - you're very welcome to your minimum wage - Keep voting tory.

I apologise, you may even get 20-30p above min wage! WELL DONE!!!

ts_aly2000

grex9101 wrote:

I'm glad you dont like unions - you're very welcome to your minimum wage - Keep voting tory, moron.

I apologise, you may even get 20-30p above min wage! WELL DONE!!!

You sir, are unnecessarily rude. Regardless of what truth you do or do not speak.

zappomatic

grex9101 wrote:

I'm glad you dont like unions - you're very welcome to your minimum wage - Keep voting tory, moron.

I apologise, you may even get 20-30p above min wage! WELL DONE!!!

I shan't rise to the bait any more after this post, but when I left the shop floor (now at head office) I was on £9.70 an hour, double on Sundays and of course this was always boosted by the annual bonus plus subsidised meals, decent staff discount, generous holiday entitlement and a fair bit more. A good employee with a good employer can do well in retail.

I don't vote Tory or have anything against unions when their leaders keep their feet on the ground.