Overzealous shop assistants

Gavin "shels"

Used to work in one of the major shops in town, sales assistants are told they have to approach customers, thing is most of the employees wouldn't be watching to see who was asked and would ask again, gets very annoying I know, but people are just doing there job.

stupidusername

I've been at both sides of this.used to work in a shop where I had to approach people. hated doing it because I knew it made absolutely everyone uncomfortable. most people would end up leaving soon after I approached them. I hate it myself.

Don't mind so much if it's just one person, but in a local tech store there's a woman that constantly does it. Last time I was in there she asked me twice within three minutes. Obviously she didn't realise she'd already asked me, but it is SO annoying. And then one time I was in there waiting to buy something and the girl at the counter was looking for someone to go upstairs and get my product, and she took about five minutes to find someone to do it! They've no idea how to work these places.

rebel10

Max Power1 wrote: »

claire's is terrible for this IMO. Anytime im dragged in there by the oh, I dont think its been longer than a minute or two before the staff are over. Sometimes you just want to browse for a minute or two FFS!

Think Claire's do it because of all the shoplifting that goes on, thats why you will always see them running over with a basket so they can really keep an eye on you!

Corruptedmorals

I love the fact where I work there's way too many customers and way too little staff for that ****. I love the fact that people think that sales assistants are DYING to go over and wreck people's heads..there's no managers watching them or anything. Nobody wants to leave themselves open to be snarled at and would prefer to remain working and answer questions if asked.

I will say, Lush is the one shop where I find it difficult to excuse the overly-perky staff for the store policy they have to follow.

jill_valentine

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Lush is the one shop where I find it difficult to excuse the overly-perky staff for the store policy they have to follow.

I have to agree to this. Because I'm in retail myself, I try to be patient with approaching sales assistants, but the folks in Lush are nothing short of creepy. Like really overenthusiastic cultists or something. *shudder*

Freiheit

I worked in Dunnes, Tk Maxx and Next myself so am not unsympathetic to Sales Assistants. I used to hate the fitting room policy in Tk Maxx where the pockets of every garment going in and out of the fitting room had to be checked and I stress -the pockets!- most customers hated it and it drove my conscience mad.... there was never time to give customers the attention that I wrote of in my original post...but I was always on tap....not on top

Faith

I've worked in retail where we *had* to approach every customer that came in. We were bollocked out of it if we didn't. We were also given out to if you didn't try to get the customer to buy at least two products. If you approached someone, and they wanted help with X, you'd have to say "Y goes fantastically with X. In fact, we recommend you use X, Y and Z together for best results. Shall I bring them up to the till for you?". It was horrible. I quit very quickly.

That being said, I had a similar job in the States and customers loved it.

Spanish Eyes

I don't have a problem with staff approaching me in a shop. I usually say " I'm just having a look" or something like that. These folk are just doing their job, and doing what they are told to do at end of the day.

I smile though, because often I would need to find out something like if they have the dress in a different size, and can never find anyone to ask! Anyway, even if I did find someone, the usual answer is " if it's not on the rack, sorry, we don't have it" they do offer to order it in though, not great if you need it tomorrow! So what is the point of all this customer service stuff??

I think if assistants must approach you, they should use something different than " can I help you with anything there etc." and say something non threatening (cos that's how most of us feel when someone asks the above), and say something like " hi, if you need any help, I am just over there, bye" !!

They are always there when you don't need em, and never there when you do!

Notorious

I'm gonna step up here (like some others have), to just say that if I don't approach you within 2 minutes of you walking into the store - I get a bollocking. I hate doing it, especially since I can generally tell who wants/needs help and I know who I should approach.

Try to remember that we all don't want to approach you or piss you off. If I didn't have to do it, I definitely wouldn't.

astrofool

I don't mind these, but for some reason, I don't like being the only one in a shop with more than a couple of assistants around (this is pretty universal in retail, busier shops get busier).

I don't really *get* the welcome person, i.e. they say hello, goodbye, stand there creepily, and that's it.

pearljamfan

Notorious wrote: »

I'm gonna step up here (like some others have), to just say that if I don't approach you within 2 minutes of you walking into the store - I get a bollocking. I hate doing it, especially since I can generally tell who wants/needs help and I know who I should approach.

Try to remember that we all don't want to approach you or piss you off. If I didn't have to do it, I definitely wouldn't.

completely agree! anyone who's is good at their job will know who needs help and who is just having a wander, im sure the managers know this, but we still get given out to if we dont do it.its their job to hand out the bollocking and our job to put up with it all!

eth0_

Irish people hate this Americanised in-your-face, over-friendly style of customer service/sales. I think we'd all prefer to be left alone to browse so long as there are staff members available to assist when we need help.

At the other end of the scale is the "my job would be much nicer if there were no customers" store, e.g. Halfords. I've shopped in a couple of Irish Halfords and the staff are so disinterested in making sales it's amazing. I was in their Drogheda shop a few weeks ago and there was literally not one member of staff in the shop, neither upstairs nor downstairs. A queue of people stood at the checkout for at least 5 minutes and no one came to serve them. One guy had the bright idea of walking through the exit door to set off the theft alarm which soon had the staff scurrying out of their hiding places.

ocokev

Freiheit wrote: »

Frequently all I want to do is look and if I want help I'll ask for it in my own time.

Anyone relate?.

Shop assistants are not mind readers, they are there to assist potential customers.
What if you were in the same shop and couldn't find what you were looking and nobody batted an eyelid.
Sound like a customer was having a bad day?

eth0_

ocokev wrote: »

Shop assistants are not mind readers, they are there to assist potential customers.
What if you were in the same shop and couldn't find what you were looking and nobody batted an eyelid.
Sound like a customer was having a bad day?

In general, if I can't find what i'm looking for in a shop, i'll find a shop assistant and ask them for help.

ocokev

eth0_ wrote: »

In general, if I can't find what i'm looking for in a shop, i'll find a shop assistant and ask them for help.

Its a chemists. Some people, and chemists are well aware are shy when comes to buying the more embassasing items.

Freiheit

All the more reason why immediate apprehension could be startling...But I wouldn't limit my feelings to 'Chemists' (which as I said earlier as far more than the technical defintion of chemists nowdays)...I general I like assitants to be on tap,not on top.

rubadub

noodler wrote: »

The amount of people who complain they were in a store for 5 whole minutes and weren't asked do they need help is quite staggering by the same token - sometimes they can't win.

jayj224 wrote: »

Working as a part time manager in retail its hard to strike the balance on this

I think it is easy enough to get a balance, they should look to see if the person is actively looking for a salesperson, trying to make, AND maintain eyecontact. If somebody strolls in and is actively and obviously not making eyecontact you can be sure they are browsing. If you ask and they say they do not need help -leave them be, if they DO want you after a few minutes they will look for you and make eyecontact. Then make a move again. It is all quite simple and most do this.

colly10 wrote: »

I hate this sort of crap, especially in small clothes shops.

+1 that is the only shops I ever had annoyance in, there were a string of shops near liffey street going up towards the ilac centre. They would not leave you alone, asking you to try on stuff etc, its a fecking t-shirt I am looking at, not a wedding dress! I used to walk out and saw plenty others leaving, you would think the manager would cop on and tell them to stop overdoing it.

ocokev wrote: »

Its a chemists. Some people, and chemists are well aware are shy when comes to buying the more embassasing items.

Pretty off topic but the last 2 times I was asked if I needed help in a chemist I asked what medicines contained particular drugs I wanted, after a blank look from them they walked off as they were clueless. Happened to another mate of mine, they even went out back to get what he presumed would be an actual pharmacist, and that person had no idea what he was talking about either.

jill_valentine

I think it is easy enough to get a balance, they should look to see if the person is actively looking for a salesperson, trying to make, AND maintain eyecontact. If somebody strolls in and is actively and obviously not making eyecontact you can be sure they are browsing. If you ask and they say they do not need help -leave them be, if they DO want you after a few minutes they will look for you and make eyecontact. Then make a move again. It is all quite simple and most do this.

This is the theory, yeah, but in practice, shops operate with the bare minimum number of staff they can to keep running. So if it's at all busy - and it might not look busy to the customer, but merchandising etc needs to be done every day whether anybody is there or not - it's not so easy to keep track of who looks like they need help and when, and whether they look like they need help now, and check again in a few minutes.

Again, we hate doing cold approaches on customers - we do it because we are required to do so by either company policy or managerial instruction.

eth0_

rubadub wrote: »

Happened to another mate of mine, they even went out back to get what he presumed would be an actual pharmacist, and that person had no idea what he was talking about either.

What exactly were you looking for? Sounds as though the pharmacist may have thought you were up to something dodgy.

complicit

If you want to browse , go to a Library .

samhail

complicit wrote: »

If you want to browse , go to a Library .

what kind of business would you suggest that advice for ? to stop passer-by traffic into the store ?

Shelli2

I would have no problem being approached by sales assistants, be it one or more times....

What really gets me going is security guards that follow you around the shop, and I have to say, this only happens to me now I'm pushing a pram around. Makes me feel very uncomfortable. I don't think I look like a shoplifter!! And I don't look or act any differently to when they didn't follow me...only difference is a pram......are all mothers on the rob??

Our man in Havana

The pram is a shoplifters tool of the trade, sad to say.

complicit

Unfortunately , shoplifters come in all guises , and a pram makes a very
good prop for pilfering items .
To avoid suspicion falling upon you , engage with the staff when you enter
the store , even if just to ask them if you can browse .
Staff are trained to target those who mooch around , avoiding eye contact
and not asking for help , as potential thieves .

Greyfox

complicit wrote: »

If you want to browse , go to a Library .

This is the dumbest post I've ever seen on boards! It's a recession so companies want as many browsers as possible in the hope they buy something!

complicit

Are you calling me dumb ? Yikes you hurt my feelings !

OK it depends on the type of business yeah ?

Browsing is accepted more by large clothing stores for example .
But a chemist may not be so open to it .
Small boutique stores selling high end goods , may also not be
too accepting of browsing .

But its hard to win with consumers . They complain of no one approaches
them and complain when they are approached .

But if someone just wants to browse around with no real intention of making
a purchase , well what do they expect .

Greyfox

Freiheit wrote: »

Anyone relate?.

I can relate to you big time, theirs loads of overzealous shop assistants out their, particularly in town and it pisses me off! I now avoid the likes of Liffey street and many other places because of this. I believe it definitely puts a lot of people off going into the shops.

The shop assistants should ALWAYS wait for the customer to at least touch an item of clothes or look like they might need help befor they offer to help, they should be able to tell the difference between general browsing and someone looking for their size etc

jpb1974

What about magazine/newspaper browsers in Easons on O'Connell Street.

People go in there, pick up a magazine/newspaper and stand there for anything between 1 and 15 minutes having a read.

And then there's me who has to disturb the poor readers in the public library as I squeeze in to try and pick up the magazine I want to purchase.

I'd love to be an overzealous shop assistant for a day in Arnotts... peek in over their shoulder... "having a good read sir?"... "any plans on buying that magazine madame?"

Greyfox

complicit wrote: »

OK it depends on the type of business yeah ?

Browsing is accepted more by large clothing stores for example .
But a chemist may not be so open to it .
Small boutique stores selling high end goods , may also not be
too accepting of browsing .

But its hard to win with consumers . They complain of no one approaches
them and complain when they are approached .

But if someone just wants to browse around with no real intention of making
a purchase , well what do they expect .

Actually the vast majority of browsers in small stores will have at least a small interest in buying but only if something stands out. The browser who usually buys nothing and occasionally buys something it still a much needed customer for almost every store these days.

Perhaps I was a it harsh but I personally like to browse and don't see why I should feel under pressure to buy (I always have money with me just in case I see something I fancy)

I don't mind when a shop assistant approaches me...just as long as I'm actually showing an interest in a particular item!

Greyfox

jpb1974 wrote: »

I'd love to be an overzealous shop assistant for a day in Arnotts... peek in over their shoulder... "having a good read sir?"... "any plans on buying that magazine madame?"

No, I've finished reading it now so theirs no point