thekidsgirl said:

bottom line really.
most people live in a self absorbed bubble so i'm not shocked how rude they are. but it's not acceptable and i call them on it.

ehuffnsd said:

THANK YOU!!! #1 pet peeve right there.

i will usually end any business ties or transactions when the person i have to deal with, from customer service, needs basic translation of a language they should be able to comprehend in order to do business in the 1st place.

annoying as fuck.

DevotedPuppy said:

i wish i had read this a week ago. i used Amazon for the 1st time last week and i really wish i hadn't. talk about frustration.

Can I get a proper greeting when I go into a business? The employees need to put the dayum phone down, stop texting their buddies.....and then behaving as if I interrupted something important. WTF! And can you check around if you dont have something in stock? Quit being so dang lazy! And please...folks really do need to hand back change properly, then they dont like that you stand there to count it before you step aside for the customer behind you.

As far as that whole handing change back properly thing, I can explain that pretty easily. Basically, businesses assume that if the 15 year old high school student who's behind the cash counter can asses change just by looking at it, then the grown adult customer should be able to as well. Really, are people that bad at math that they need someone else to count their change for them, or are they just that lazy? It's a matter of businesses assuming their customers are smart enough to count all by themselves. :shrug"

I can't think of a lot of customer service aspects I wish would return. I can think of a few I think should be done away with completely though. Upselling is a big one -if I wanted gum I'd already have it in my hand, thanks, but so is employees being required to verbally engage customers. I understand the latter is really more about store security than it is customer service, but it's obnoxious as crap to, say, walk into a store with headphones on and have an employee keep trying to get your attention until you take them off, only for them just to say "hi" because they have to.

eaglebear4839 said:

Actually, doing this saved my job; I was terrible at counting correct change, so I actually started counting twice; once to myself handing out change, then again infront of the customer, as a little double check. At the same time, the customer know they are receiving their correct change.

Genesia said:

I do this; after thinking "These guys could go to any starbucks, or any place where they serve coffee, so thanking them is saying" thanks for coming to OUR store, show that we appreciate them"

CarrieMpls said:

Agreed, I had this one out of country customer, who loves starbucks, and she said when she came around NYC a few years back, the service wasn't great at all, but when she came to my store today, she was so glad people paid attention to her and I was glad to perform that service. It did help that our store is hella slow, but a lot of my working partners would provide "legendary customer service" even if there was a busy line.

CoolTarik1 said:

there ya go! And I'll bet in the process you had some of your older customers smile at you for doing it.

meow85 said:[quote]As far as that whole handing change back properly thing, I can explain that pretty easily. Basically, businesses assume that if the 15 year old high school student who's behind the cash counter can asses change just by looking at it, then the grown adult customer should be able to as well. Really, are people that bad at math that they need someone else to count their change for them, or are they just that lazy? It's a matter of businesses assuming their customers are smart enough to count all by themselves. :shrug"

You're missing the point - it's not about the customer's lazyness, it's about the personal touch. This is the reason why self-service for gas was so popular.

eaglebear4839 said:

Do older customers expect to not have to count for themselves?

I'm not trying to be facetious. I'm honestly curious why anyone thinks they're entitled to have someone else count for them, cashier or no. And if the cashier is expected to know correct change at a glance, why shouldn't the customer also be able to? It's not as if it's difficult to tell one type of coin from another.

Here's another one - a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BIG pet peeve I have about going to record stores happens when the clerk who is pricing CD's places the price tag right over the names of some of the songs. When it comes to music, for me it's about the song titles. Seeing a price tag where, in my mind, it shouldn't be, alters the experience of buying music. Does the person buying the CD buy it because the price tag was stuck in an obtrusive place? NO.

Another one - when there's no price tag on several of an item - to me, this signifies that the store wants it more than I do, so they can keep it.

meow85 said:

Wait we're expected to count change at a glance. I guess my math skills are lacking
Not that it takes very long to count smaller change, like transactions from twenty dollar bills, but change from fifty dollar bills and larger, I definitely like to double check

eaglebear4839 said:

Don't forget putting the price tag right over the artist's face. HMV is guilty of doing that quite a lot.

eaglebear4839 said:[quote]

meow85 said:

But why should someone expect to have coins counted for them? It's not like it's an inconvenience to do it yourself -many customers will count the change again anyways even after having it counted back for them.

CoolTarik1 said:

If you know what coins look like, it's not hard. Your teenage cashier -who very well may be failing math in school, for all you know -is expected to know how to do it.

I'm not sure what to call it, but one thing I really would like to see is computer and tv techs, and others involved in technology related service jobs, not treat you like an idiot for not understanding the minutae of the machines you've called them to repair or install. I'm really getting fed up with being talked down to by people in those lines of work.

I'm a total fan of automated checkouts personally. I don't really see any point in having a person do that. I'm not there to chat it up with the cashier, I've already made up my mind on what I want and just need to pay for it.

The only downside is when you're standing in line at an automated checkout, and the people in front of you act like cavemen just discovering the wheel - how did these people make it through grade school if they can't follow simple instructions on a screen?

meow85 said:

It's about respect and transparency. Cashiers are not always good at counting changing, and even if they are, everyone can make mistakes. Counting it out for the customer helps ensure accuracy (it's good for the cashier and business in that way too: some people can mistakenly give out too much change). When the cashier counts it out as it's handed back, it's a sign of respect to the customer and an appeal to them as consumers; the business is showing that it has nothing to hide and is honest. Counting the change back saves the customer the time of doing it too, and avoids putting them in an uncomfortable position (a point of etiquette that is lost now). If the customer stays at the counter to count the change, they might feel bad for holding up the line. Also, they may feel awkward doing it, like they are showing they don't trust the cashier. The point of good customer service is to make sure customers don't ever feel uncomfortable. So for all those reasons, counting the change back to you is a good thing.

CoolTarik1 said:

It has been my experience that the people at Starbucks (actually, all of my coffee places, now that I think about it) are the nicest, most polite service workers I encounter. They're always cheerful...and always thank me for my purchase.

The folks at my local Nine West are also great.

The pushy sales help at the Aveda store, I can do without (even though I love the product).

Efan said:

Efan said:

Exactly!!

24 hour phone service at the bank.

Here's another one. When you have a legitimate grievance with a company and you talk to a manager or a sr rep, all they want to offer with a straight look on their face is a sorry. I WANT FREE SHIT GODDAMNIT!

One time I had the biggest hassle with a bus driver and had to go to the district office personally to resolve the issue and the lady wanted to say sorry and that was that. Um, hello you should offer me a fucking day pass or something.

When I was a customer service rep for a furniture company I worked on this bid and the client did not order pedestal storage for the cubes and then turned around and tried to blame the company. I had everything documented, all phone calls, all faxes and one where I showed that I provided to him in writing that there was no storage on the bid and when the bid became an actual contract reminded him again in writing that still no storage was ordered. He obviously was in the wrong even though he was baldfaced lying about what happened.

The company ended up giving in to his ridiculous insanity and approved free storage for the project in the amount of over Forty thousand dollars. Those were the lengths our service went and when I have to waste my time and money to lodge a complaint about a ridiculous bus driver they don't want to step up off of $3.00 for a day pass.

I'd simply like to be treated as if I was not a waste of the employees time and/or a general burden (if not complete loser).

DevotedPuppy said:

Actually the fewer humans I have to deal with the happier I am.....usually with a properly set up web site I can solve my problems much faster than someone who's been doing it for years. I do hate the form email though

NDRU said:

where do you shop? I have to make sure I won't accidentally go there!!!

Tom said:

Ooh, I hate that shit. I was just at the grocery in the self-check out line and the people in front of me were so slow. They were putting their groceries directly on the scale after scanning them so then they had to take additional time after they had paid to put them in the bag. Come on people! Open the bag first and put the groceries directly in it as you scan them! It's really not that complicated.

for what...??? ...

Efan said:

If customers think they have reason not to trust the cashier or the business, believe me, they make a point of showing it.

Every job I've had just asks us to verbalize the amount we're giving in change, with the assumption that it's easy enough for both parties to see if it's correct or not.