Shop assistant training

Bogof_Babe

PP_Ayla wrote:

When I went for trainning with Sainburys we were told to 'talk' to the customer as well as pack, scan, keep an eye out for fake cards etc. We were meant to look for clues in the trolly as to what to talk about.

Oh so that's why I get such interest shown in my cat's eating preferences! I like to be friendly with the checkout assistant as it is mutually more rewarding than standing there in miserable silence, but I must admit sometimes it slows down the packing/paying process and gets me all confused with my Nectar card, change etc.

On balance, please keep it up, checkout people - shopping is a chore, and anything that raises a laugh or even a smile is worth the effort!

(I'm that annoying person who strikes up conversations with the person in front or behind in the queue too ).

Edit: As regards stock problems, I feel sorry for the shelf-fillers who have to traipse half way round the store to show people where what they are looking for is, rather than just tell them. They can't have an easy time of it, and I think we owe them!

IvanOpinion

As others have pointed out many shops work on a 'just in time' ordering system. When I used to work for a large supermarket they tried to carry about 1 weeks worth of stock in the storeroom but now I believe it is down to a few days - and most of the stockroom has now become customer space.

If I was asked nicely to check 'out the back' I would usually have a quick rummage knowing that it was not there - but just in case I missed it I would look (when suitable I could, at times point the customer to the supermarkets 'own brand' that came from the same supplier at half the price). If I was 'ordered' to check out the back, I used to go out the back and have a cigarette with the fork-lift driver and then come dandering in 10 minutes later and tell the person that there were none.

If a shop can carry less stock then it can greatly help their cashflow. We demand lower prices and this is just one way that shops compete.

Ivan

Edinburghlass_2

Bogof_Babe wrote:

(I'm that annoying person who strikes up conversations with the person in front or behind in the queue too ).

Edit: As regards stock problems, I feel sorry for the shelf-fillers who have to traipse half way round the store to show people where what they are looking for is, rather than just tell them. They can't have an easy time of it, and I think we owe them!

I am that person who talks back to you too :rotfl:

It embarasses the hell out of my 14 year old too when I start chatting to people. She used to ask me who they are but now knows better that I will have never seen them before in my life!

If I see a trolley beside me full of bottles of wine and crisps I ask if I can go to the party and have had a few invites I once spoke to a guy in a florist queue who was buying some lovely flowers, I remarked "lucky lady, I am here buying my own". When he got his wrapped he picked up a lovely single flower, presented it to me and asked the assistant to charge him.
I went home with a skip in my step that day.

I have often pointed out to people that they might be cheaper buying a product at x shop rather than the shop they are in and off they go happy.

Best of all is explaining in Tesco to buy a certain product as when they check the price of it at the till they will find it is much cheaper than presently marked on the shelf and then tell them about MSE where I found out the information

So welcome to MSE any of those people that I have chatted to in a shop and recommended they have a look in here.

Chat and a smile cost nothing but gains you so much!

theotortoise

I work in a shop that sells CDs, DVDs etc. and we have some regular arsey customers who insist that even though whatever they want isn't on the shop floor, I should go upstairs and check, despite the fact that a simple search on the computer will tell me how many we have in stock. We only carry minimal quantities of back catalogue stuff, and get deliveries every day but Sunday. Incidentally, I got just 5 minutes training on my first day, but everything I've learned I've picked up as I go along. I'm now the longest standing member of staff in the store. Another thing, our refund and exchange policy is printed on the back of every receipt, yet every day customers still believe that they have the right to a refund on non-faulty goods. I don't like having to point out what was right in front of them all the time but if they will give me hassle!

It's a common misconception that just because we work in retail we have bad attitudes, are lazy etc. When I started working there I enjoyed my job - it's only the way we are treated by customers that has made me jaded :-(

Jem8472

working with the public does make you cynical very quickly. You soon learn that most os the public are stupid. One thing i used to hate so so so so so so so so much was first customer to the till in the morning being a refund. Or being asked about 10 billion times a day "if I buy this and it does not look right/fit in with or I am just buying it to cart round the city all day then I will bring it back tomorrow can I get a refund.
Cant people actually make a choice and stick to it???

end of rant (for the moment)

stripeyfox

I worked for many years for a Halfords and it used to really annoy me when people would plonk say, a can of paint on the counter and say "thats a bit bloody expensive isn't it?", to which I'd reply "well don't buy it then! I'm not forcing you".
Another time, I was asked by a customer how much a number plate for his car would cost. I told him the price (which was pretty reasonable and in line with competitors), he astonished me by replying "bloody hell, they can't cost that much to make, you must be making a profit on them". I then suprised him by ranting "of course we're making a profit on it - that's the idea. We're not a flipplin' charity you know!"

Customers: You have the right to walk away!

trace-j

Jem8472 wrote:

working with the public does make you cynical very quickly. You soon learn that most os the public are stupid.

:rotfl: Hence we need business/traders to do the stuff us stupid people can't do. The world needs stupid people, if there weren't we'd be out of a job!:rotfl:

gemma1585

I used to work in debenhams.

Between the hours of 12 and 2 Sunday - Friday, and all day Saturday all staff (in lingerie and most clothes depts) were to be mainly involved in customer service. We were not allowed to leave the floor (i.e. go to the stockroom) at that time so if your size wasn't out then tuff! Great "customer service" eh???

sleepy

I loved working in Evans. You got the occassional annoying customers, but most people were really nice. We had a real friendly/family atmosphere with many regular customers. I worked there for 2 1/2 years and never considered leaving. I then went to university,so moved away and had to leave Evans. I got a job in an off liscence and hated it. Customers would complain about how much things cost (there were price labels on the shelf, it's not my fault they didn't consider the price before comming to the till) and the shop although being in quite an affluent town seemed to attract the lowest of the low lifes. There were pregnant women buying cigarettes, beggars spending all the money they got on extra strong lager, and my favourite - the woman that refused to get her small child a bottle of water when it said it was thirsty (yes water, not fizzy drinks, just a small cheap bottle of water) because she couldn't afford it, but then came to the counter and bought 40 Lambert and Butler cigarettes. Oh,and there was the drunks that would try it on with you constantly (I'm not that pretty,they were just drunk and horrid), including the one that thought it was okay to grope me while my co-worker was on his break. Un-surprisingly I quit. The mirraculous thing is that I lasted a year.

One thing I have found from all my experiance working in shops, is that any good sales assistant will be nice to you if you are nice to them. When working in Evans,if we didn't have something in and a customer wanted it,so long as they were nice (or just not rude), I would move heaven and earth to get it for them. The same with refunds, the sales advisor often has more leeway than they let on. Customers get a much better response if they are friendly or polite, otherwise it is very easy to stick to every letter of the refund policy.

Remember, sales assistants are at heart mostly nice people. But we're normally paid minimum wage, which really doesn't give us much enthusiasm when dealing with nightmare customers.

zodiac

sleepy wrote:

When working in Evans,if we didn't have something in and a customer wanted it,so long as they were nice (or just not rude), I would move heaven and earth to get it for them.

My mum shops in Evans in Enfield (London) and even on a buzy Saturday they are always nice and poilte and would phone round other shops to see if they can find the size she wants else where.
I really notice the different when I go into Topshop just two shops away (and they are owned by the same people) and the staff are rude and keep talking to their friends. You should have seen the look when I asked if they had a top in a size 14.
Again totaly different attuitde when in Dorithy Perkins, nice, always willing to help, will phone round etc.
Its strange how the 'trendy' shops treat customers worse (well most of the time).