RAVENLOONATIK.COM

Hi all!!
Yesterday was a typical day in the retail biz.
Keep in mind I will mainly focus on the daily operations of Automotive and Customer
Service departments since I am a Manager and have to deal with both of these
departments.

Let me paint the overall picture here… we have an Auto Parts department, Auto Service Department, Housewares,
Household, Sports, Tools, Promo and Customer Service departments.
Now, the Automotive parts and Service department takes up roughly one third of the store, with a third of 110,000 sku’s that our store carries.

On a DAILY basis, we at the AUTO PARTS counter have customers who love to “window shop” then we have the serious customers and then we have the “totally CLUELESS” customers who shouldn’t even be in the gene pool let alone being allowed to shop unsupervised in retail stores.
There’s no point in slamming the “Serious” customers, because they are there or calling us for a legitimate reason or price and availability.

The window shoppers:
They are the people who take the time to call us, wait on hold for up to ten minutes then when we come online want to know if we carry a tail LIGHT BULB for their car.
FUCK people!! Get your head out of your ass! NOOOO we only carry half a million different light bulbs for ALL different vehicles… BUUUT, we probably wouldn’t have a tail light bulb for your 2000 Chevy Cavalier.

Thats like calling a store, waiting on hold for 10 minutes (Ya think we might be busy?) then asking, “Do you carry a 60 watt incandescent light
bulb for basement light fixture.”

We then tell them “Yes, I’m SURE we do, and I’m sure we have them in stock.”
Wait for it….. Wait for it….
“Hmmmm, can you check please, I don’t want to waste my time coming down there to find out you’re out of stock”

How fucking stupid is that?? You don’t want to waste YOUR time over a $1.99 light bulb you can pick up at ANY GAS STATION on the way to our store (and they WILL have them in stock)…. no… let’s waste the workers time (now 15 minutes…) who could have helped 2-4 LEGITIMATE customers by now.

The TOTALLY CLUELESS Shoppers:
They are the people who walk into the store, take 15 steps thru the front entrance, see the AUTO PARTS COUNTER, walk straight there and stand in a line up of 2-3 serious and Window shoppers… wait up to 5-10 minutes while 4 Parts Counter people are trying their best to serve their customers.
When they FINALLY come up to us, they bitch and complain they’ve been waiting a HALF HOUR (their perception) for service and how UNACCEPTABLE it is. We smile, we apologize, then inquire as to what we can help them find or get for them.

They tell us at that point they REALLY need a furnace filter, Vacuum cleaner bag (household), a fireplace, that really cool wrench they saw on the TV or internet, ice skates, latex paint, Christmas trees,
and FUCKING SCHOOL SUPPLIES.

Do you really KNOW how hard it is to keep a straight face? Do you realize how difficult it is NOT to tell them they are fucking stupid?

It’s one thing to be in a Internet support centre and get a complete dolt on the other end of the telephone. You can at least politely put them on hold and then proceed to swear at the air or bitch about them to your nearby unsympathetic coworker.
It’s an entirely different matter when you have a complete and utter idiot standing in front of you, who can read your face, body expressions and can tell quite quickly you think they are a complete idiot.

So… I TRY to politely tell them “No… I’m sorry. The product you are looking for is not located in AUTO PARTS, but rather in Aisle (insert #).” then look to the next customer to help them.

FUCK… Are you starting to see WHY retail business’s are hurting so bad for competent people to help YOU customer out?
Are you starting to see WHY people in the retail business should be APPRECIATED more often?

More to come (I’m sure!)