Jerry Lane
You never know what is going to ring a bell in someone else's mind. A few
weeks ago I wrote a column about the little annoyances I've experienced
in dealing with personnel in retail stores. I was wondering out loud what
ever happened to "the customer is always right."
Well, when I turned on my computer to check my mail, I had so many
letters waiting that I had to reload the printer twice to make hard
copies of all of them. The telephone rang for two days -- calls from
people who wanted to share their horror stories with me. When the "snail
mail" arrived on Monday, there was another inundation of "me too"
letters.
The biggest criticisms I heard were aimed at the supermarkets. Aisles
were plugged with boxes that made pushing shopping carts through almost
impossible. Stock Clerks who were asked to move aside by customers who
wanted to lift items from the shelves to their shopping carts were
greeted with retorts like, "Hey, I'm working here. Move around me." And
clerks who were asked where they might find specific items responded with
ignorance or vague instructions.
Surprisingly, the most accommodating personnel were encountered in the
"big box" stores, where clerks usually volunteered to help look for the
item or to accompany the customer to the area where he would find it.
Another persistent complaint involves placing calls to stores for
information regarding prices or availability of specific items and having
their calls answered by people who can neither understand nor make
themselves understood in English. I realize that English is a confusing
language. Maybe it would be a wise move to use people with limited
English ability on the floor where they could face customers and hear
their questions more clearly and have the telephones covered by someone
who speaks English well.
I received several complaints about clerks in the Glendale Galleria
stores who told customers "that's not my department" when they were
questioned about merchandise. The second most popular Galleria complaint
was about the difficulty in finding where to pay for the item that had
taken too much time to find without help.
Whatever is wrong is not just something that has hit the Crescenta
Valley or the state of California. It seems to have attacked the entire
world.
Is the tail wagging the dog these days? Do too many people act like
the business exists to give them a job rather than to fulfill a specific
need for the customer and to make a profit for the investor?
