To be so tired of 'upselling'

[scaryclown]

It's just bloody relentless! I took a bike into a nice independent bike shop today. It's a £45 fix, yet all the conversation was about 'time to buy a new bike', every day I say 'single espresso' to be met with 'double?'
I swear I'm going to punch someone!.

Throwing away a perfectly good bike to meet some oily dickhead sales target!?

Jesus

And I bet my bottom dollar that if people got a medium meal when they meant large they'd be the first to go in to kick off!

Yup, they do kick off. On the few occasions I haven't asked for a size and just assumed for whatever reason, they are not happy. Also people are not happy if they ask for a nugget meal and you assume medium, but they wanted a happy meal.

Well fucking say what you want then and we won't have these problems! So yeah, no more assumptions.

Never mind the poor staff having to upsell and ask about loyalty cards, I find the flipping self checkout in m&s annoying! You start and scan your first item and yer woman says "have you scanned your Sparks card?" in an overly perky way.

NO I haven't scanned the bloody thing... You'd know if I had because you say "Sparks card accepted"!! Drives me nuts!!! And don't even get me started on the Sparks "loyalty" card again.

[goes to lie in a darkened room ]

You start and scan your first item and yer woman says "have you scanned your Sparks card?" in an overly perky way.

She is such a condescending bitch isn't she

I can't remember which supermarket it is but one now says "Surprising item in baggage area". WTF is so surprising about paying for something in a supermarket.

freckle

I actually yell that

You know I bloody havent!!!!!!

I think i might get banned

Went to sainsburys

Put my bag on the scales which already had something else in from m&s in them

Till threw a right paddy and refused to do anything else

So helpful sainsburys lady said 'its cos youre bag is too heavy'

So i said ' let me get this straight..your scale wants me to take the stuff out that i have already bought, put the sainsburys stuff in, pay for it, take it off the scale and put the m&s stuff back in...and then repeat for the next store or bring a bag for every store'

So helpful sainsburys lady said ' yes...stupid isnt it'

How we laughed

But in that said 'god i hate modern life way'

beerwench there is a small bonus for a good sales average, no pulling up for an average one. It's a small business. I did manage a shop that was part of a large chain, that was a whole different ball game and definitely about the hard sell. Disciplinaries for sales averages below a certain percent. I've been in retail pretty much my working life, I think yodelling upselling is fine if a sales assistant knows how to go about it rather than a robotic pitch.

whattodo

I know exactly where you're coming from -

Customer - "Vodka and coke please"
Me - "Is that the house or (insert brand here)?"
Customer - "House please"
Me - "Would you like ice & lemon?"
ignored as customer chatting to friends
Me - repeat question
ignored again
Me - pours drink anyway, without ice and lemon, wait for conversation to finish, announce price due.
Customer - "Haven't you got ice and lemon?!" (With hilarious eye roll to friends)
Me - adds ice and lemon, waits again while conversation about my shit service finishes, repeat price 3 times, field irritated huffs from other customers waiting while that customer roots around in pocket, bag or purse for money, then is again ignored when attempting to give change. Halfway through serving next customer -
Original customer "Em, excuse me! Where's my change?!"
On the fucking bar in front of you!

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, some people make it impossible to actually give decent service!
Slightly off topic I guess but that kind of thing does happen say once or twice a shift, which IMO shows that in general society has a pretty shit attitude towards anyone 'serving' them.

It also backs up what whattodo said about having to tease out of customers what they want a lot of the time. If the questions/upselling bothers you then say exactly what you want at the point of ordering, instead of waiting to be asked, knowing you will be, knowing the server has to do it, and then giving them a smart arse response.

freckle I had that exact conversation with the machine yesterday!

Yes I hear you! A few months ago I bought a new car. I found 3 identical models, same list prices, same mileage, specs etc, all provided similar warranties.

I walked into each show room and said I don't want to buy anything else just the car, it's cash purchase, no part ex, so give me your best price.

2 out of 3 tried to sell me finance, wouldn't budge on price and asked me to buy additional warranty, interior protection etc etc.

1/3 after hearing me say this realised I just wanted to buy a car and not here a fucking sale pitch lowered the price by £300, extended the warranty for 3 months, passed me the keys and said take it out for a spin, nip out for the afternoon, if you have errands etc use the car like you would if you owned it.

So I did. And bought the car 3 hours later.

The 2 chancers where part of a group of car sales, the 3rd was an independent.

I think large sales companies are so far behind with the times, people don't want to be sold things, we all have computers in our pockets (phones) and no exactly what we want, unfortunately, for the sales reps, we don't need a person telling us what we should and shouldn't buy, the internet allows us to connect with thousands of consumers before we step foot into a shop.

Beerwench Yup, that sounds (unfortunately) so familiar!

I completely agree with your last paragraph.

I admire you for working in a bar/pub/restaurant! That's a job I don't think I could do.

The thing that retail management don't understand is that it might result in slightly increased sales, but it pisses customers off. We were told to push loyalty cards in conversation with customers, despite there being a booth that did exactly this by the entrance. There was therefore a probability that someone could be asked if the wanted a bloody loyalty card four or five times during a visit to the shop. We're also told to try and sell addons to help 'their project'; people aren't stupid though. They know when they're being sold to.
As a customer, I know that I prefer to be left alone or just greeted with a 'hello'. If I want help, I'll ask for it. I can spot someone trying to flog me something unnecessary rather easily. It is annoying. Too much of it puts me off from returning.
Yet in my life as a retail employee, managers seem happy to gamble the goodwill of customers for the chance of a couple of extra quid. Annoyed customers don't return. We can see from this thread that this approach irritates customers, yet management persist. It appears to be endemic across the industry too.

without standing up for myself

You're being asked a question, not threatened or having a fight.

Yes. I'm over it.

I stopped going to one beautician because each time I would visit her I would be asked if I wanted some dermalogica, some new towel she was selling, Jane iredale make up (no thanks), OPI...it was exhausting and made me feel so uncomfortable.

I stopped going to a really good hairdresser at Rush when they kept trying to get me to buy some of their product. In fact after my hair wash I sat back down at my chair and she had created a lovely display of everything she had used in my hair. Just no. I am not made of money.

@redcrayons @cherry @rufus I swear to do this machine drives me mental. Why... Why... Why would you design it like this????!!!!
Only the Sainsbury permanent "unexpected fucking item in the bagging area" is more annoying.
Like seriously. One day they will find me screaming and thrashing a trolley at the machine that asks me in the channel 4 Humans series machine will kill me family in our sleep way "have you scanned your sparks card"... There's a chance that's the phrase that makes me a homicidal maniac

I once got asked: "do you want to personalise your coffee?"

WTF DOES THAT EVEN MEAN???

Maybe the paper cup needs some Vajazzle stones glued on to it?