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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that a customer physically waiting in a shop

49 replies

HappenstanceMarmite · 08/12/2014 15:49

...should take priority over a customer calling on the phone?

Always amazes me when a customer who has made the effort to actually trudge to the store is overlooked whilst the assistant answers a ringing phone. Sometimes with a "just wait there" finger gesture, which does not engender either patience or tolerance from the standing-in-line customer.

Happened to me today. During a conversation with the manager about ordering a photograph caricature thing (quite expensive as it turned out), an assistant yelled across the store that "you have a call from a customer whose wedding photos came out wrong". So off he trots - with the "just give me two minutes" finger gesture - leaving me to await his return to take my order. I didn't give it to him.

But just as bad - and the point of this thread - is the situation of waiting in line at a till and being superseded by a phone on the desk.

What say you all? Who should take priority? AIBU in thinking the customer in the shop deserves priority over phone customer?

OP posts:

Nomama · 08/12/2014 16:54

You are right, 26Point2miles.

But as a customer should I be aware and accommodating of the rules you work to or should I flounce off and get your stupid bosses to realise how daft those rules are?

I am a customer not a co worker! A bird in the hand, too!

Yes, I did write an email to Head Office , not about the manager, but about the stupidity of expecting shop floor workers to do 2 things at once, both of which require 100% attention!

I am not that unreasonable!

Crinkle77 · 08/12/2014 16:55

The person on the phone not may call back if the phone isn't answered the first time but equally the customer left waiting in the shop might walk out or not go back for a repeat visit.

YourMaNoBraBackOfMyCar · 08/12/2014 16:58

I noticed that my local takeaway answered the phone and took orders even in very busy periods. People queue out the door on a Friday. So that's what I do now. Ring it through and go and collect 15 mins later. Why wait when you don't have to?

Cracking · 08/12/2014 16:58

YANBU! This drives me mad... I was once in a very long, slow moving, queue in a chinese takeaway. I'd left O/H in the pub and the plan was to order and go and join him whilst we waited for our food. There were about 10 people in front of me, some were ordering, some were collecting....the phone kept ringing and the lady was taking phone orders which then 'queue jumped' the customers in the shop...we were all being told that there would be an hour wait for our food so people were getting tetchy. I left the shop, joined my OH in the pub and rang from there! Madness....

skittycat · 08/12/2014 17:06

We are meant to answer the phone in so many rings, but never if there is a customer in store that we are dealing with/about to serve.

Cutbacks in store have led to several phone calls being unanswered but there's only so much that can be done with very few staff.

BawbagBiggins · 08/12/2014 17:18

Our local florist lost out on my whole wedding flower order as she picked up the phone to deal with a call instead of dealing with me..I was the only customer in the shop and there was an assistant out the back that answered the phone in the first place and could have taken a message for her...just plain rude. I'd already been waiting to speak to her for 10 mins while she wrapped up a phone call when I first walked in. The worst bit was she didn't even acknowledge me!!

nohysteriahere · 08/12/2014 17:36

Working customer services in a supermarket I often pick up the phone.
If a customer needs an answer from another colleague I will tannoy them to call me and deal with the next customer while we wait. This means I may need to take a call while serving other customers. Of course I could just make them wait and talk to the original customer instead.

vanillabird · 08/12/2014 17:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsKoala · 08/12/2014 17:53

I have actually asked for cashiers to answer the phone before they serve me, as the sound of a ringing phone drives me mad.

VivaLeBeaver · 08/12/2014 17:58

It doesn't bother me to be honest. I recognise that sometimes things can be a bit shit for anyone at work, inc shop workers. Maybe they're told to prioritise the phone. Maybe the rational is that a physical shopper is less likely to leave but there's a good chance someone won't ring back?

I can hang on while the phone is answered.

nancy75 · 08/12/2014 18:01

If you work in a shop you can't win, if you answer the phone you are wrong, if you don't answer people moan the sound of the phone is driving them mad.

LurkingHusband · 08/12/2014 18:07

The only vaguely amusing part of "The Wright Way" I saw, was the lead character was being ignored in a shop in favour of phone-ins, so he actually called the shop from his mobile when he was in there.

Been tempted to do the same one day ....

KingJoffreysHasABigWhiteBeard · 08/12/2014 18:10

I'd have walked out as well.

No reason why he couldn't have taken a number and called back. None at all.

Besides, if they have calls from a "customer whose wedding photos came out wrong" then they'll probably cock up your order too.

Lucky escape!

starfishmummy · 08/12/2014 18:13

Yanbu. I work in a customer facing role and we are supposed to answer the phone - not just ours but pick up any ringing phone - within 30 seconds. We are supposed to excuse ourself to the customer in front of us and then tell the ohone caller that we will call them back when we are free. But even doing that seems wrong to me - especially ad the caller usually wants to tell you their life storym

hmc · 08/12/2014 18:21

I think in this instance you are right - the caller could have been told the manager would ring back...but you are not right in every instance. I have to ring the leisure centre if I want to book a badminton court. The leisure centre is 10 miles away and no I am not going to drive a 20 mile round trip to enquire whether I can book a court later that day. I don't mind waiting a short while for my call to be answered - but sometimes they have queues of 20 or more waiting admission to the pool (the 'family swim' is popular) - I really don't think it is reasonable for my call to go completely unanswered whilst all 20 customers standing in line are dealt with first

hmc · 08/12/2014 18:24

Nor would I think it sensible in that scenario for the staff member to take call after call to the detriment of the queue. It's a balance - a bit if alternate waiting for both the in house queue and the phone queue

askyfullofstars · 08/12/2014 18:30

I was always told that "a customer in the shop can see (and hear), the phone ringing, but a customer on the phone cant see someone in the shop". So, if someone calls, they dont know youre serving someone and not just ignoring them, so they should take priority.

Dunkling · 08/12/2014 18:36

I am a shop assistant. We never answer the phone while serving. If only one person is on the shop floor even if not serving a customer, a ringing phone is also ignored as a customer could need assistance at any moment and those physically there are our priority. yanbu.

kali110 · 08/12/2014 18:44

Shop workers can't win.
When i worked in retail you had to pick up the phone even if you had a queue. If you didn't you were in trouble or worse caught out on the mystery shop, but then you would have customers in the queue complaining!
Either way bosses told you off.
So thankful i'm no longer in retail.

Original poster

HappenstanceMarmite · 08/12/2014 19:45

I appreciate it is a difficult juggling act for the shop assistants. However, I do feel that attitude helps diffuse many a tense situation. If I feel that the shop assistant is genuinely just doing their best to keep all the balls in the air and that they acknowledge the 'inconvenience' to me, then I am on their side. It is when I am ignored whilst the phone is picked up or, infuriatingly, waved away with the "hang on 2secs" finger, that my dander creeps up.

To add fuel to the fire, I experience this scenario quite regularly at the GP surgery...

OP posts:

IceCreamAngel · 08/12/2014 22:39

I used to work in an estate agency and we were always told that a ringing phone must take priority over a customer actually in the office, because the customer on the phone can't see that your busy, and may hang up and take their business elsewhere. It is rude, but I can see why it's done.

Original poster

HappenstanceMarmite · 09/12/2014 12:17

Just had the joy of the reverse happening. Just got to till and phone started ringing. Assistant greeted me with a smile and said "don't worry about the phone Madam. You were here first". Aaghhh .

OP posts:

popcornpaws · 09/12/2014 12:43

I work in customer service and the phone waits, the customer in the queue always comes first!

Lioninthesun · 09/12/2014 12:56

It's ironic really as if they don't treat customers in the actual shop with respect they may as well do business online. It's the way their companies will go if people think they get better service from home!

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