With my customer service expectations?

[Winterjoy]

Another day of being completely blanked by a shop assistant and I'm starting to wonder if I'm out of touch and this is just the norm now in customer service?

I'm not expecting every member of staff in the shop to acknowledge me and have a conversation but I've just had an encounter at the checkout where the person serving said not one word to me (no response even to my 'hello' - it was honestly like I'd spoken to a brick wall!).

I know in the grand scheme of things it does't really matter but for some reason this time it's put a bit of a downer on my evening.

If you work for one of the big retailers do they train you at all? I know when I was in retail (a few years ago now) basic service skills were drilled into us as standard.

People always say this as a first defence but the minimum wage has increased 150% over the last 20 years, which is far more than any "professional" salaries- a junior doctor's starting pay, for example, has only increased 38% in the same time.

Is it a fortune, obviously not, but it doesn't make any sense to claim that people working minimum wage get less now so can't be expected to give the same level of service as they used to, when proportionately its far more - if anything minimum wage roles are some of the only ones where wages have exceeded inflation.

If youre conparing like for like it would make more sense for your argument to be that service should be better in lower paid roles than twenty years ago and worse in better paid ones.

I think it's less about money but working conditions - yes there were always students etc doing retail work but it was also seen as a proper, full time job -staff did their best which involved actually giving a good service, and employers did theirs by offering full time contracts, incentives like extra pay on Sundays etc. Often on here you see things like employers used to offer taxis home for bar staff working late - can't imagine that happens much now.

Plus the attitude from the public- when only a small percentage went to uni and had expectations of graduate level roles then a lower paid job was the norm. Now people working the jobs feel like they're settling and (some) of those who think they have "better" jobs consider minimum pay jobs as less worthy - quickly forgetting everything we learned during the pandemic.

Also 20 years ago you could dream of getting a glamorous job like model/footballer/actor etc but realistically knew the chances of doing that without the skills were very low. Now literally anyone CAN have a job like influencer or YouTube with just their own passion and effort.

We're turning into a purely transactional society where the attutude is that everything is measured in terms of money, as evidenced the post from @InWalksBarberalla "The role is to enable the exchange of goods for money. If the business decides its important for their staff to also take pride in customer service and fake smiles and conversations and the like then they'll invest in recruiting and training. However if the business decides that investment isn't worth the return they won't."

The idea that humans might want some social interaction, some communication, some acknowlegment seems to have been removed from the equation.

If the "experience" is purely transactional, people will move towards systems that are cheaper or more convenient - e.g. internet shopping replaces face-to-face shopping, and the traditional retail companies find themselves without a reason to exist, and without a reason to employ anyone.

It's my local Tesco I'm talking about and it's definitely friends they're talking to.
It's a town where everyone knows each other so it would bd impossible to not allow them to serve people they know.

There is a lady in a shop near us who manages to do the whole transaction without saying anything. I thought maybe she couldn't speak, but I heard her chatting to her colleague last week. She doesn't even tell you how much it has come to, just stands there. It's so odd!

You would not be able to tell by the conversation its absolutely unbelievable what customers tell you or show you for that point iv had customers show me their surgery scars, tattoos allsorts. Iv had them cry about their life to me, their money issues, their medical issues, show me photos of their kids, grandkids etc etc. Iv had customers tell me things in more detail then friends would. Especially if its a regular who only comes to you weekly or even daily for years.

It because shops are understaffed and staff have so much more to do. They don’t have time to stand and chat with customers. It’s get them in and get them out as quick as possible. Also customers are so rude and entitled now that staff don’t want to be friendly.

This is the biggest issue. You are literally doing the job of 3 people and thats not an exaggeration. Years ago they would be hiring new staff all the time plus their would also be overtime, now when people leave, retire etc they don't get replaced. They also don't cover illness. They know longer had students earning extra in the holidays. Very rarely have Christmas temps and if they do they aren't kept on as they always use to be. When your working on self scan customers call out to you as they think your ignoring them but the reality is you have seen them its just their about 5th in the queue in your brain of people your helping

People dont like it, but you're right. This is what the wages buy.

Well yes this sounds perfect. I don't expect a conversation - retail is ultimately transactional at the end of the day. I understand completely that staff are there to sell the goods not be everyone's friend.

The people in my local Co-Op are like this. All ages, men and women. Don’t respond to greetings, sometimes don’t even tell you your total just point at the machine. Often they’re on their headsets chatting with each other. I do find it rude but equally retail is a very hard job and it’s not paid well enough. There is one lad who is always cheerful and I’m pleased when I see him on the till.

I actually think customer service does sometimes need to be taught. Some people (myself included) weren't taught, or shown by example, basic socialisation when we were growing up. It sounds ridiculous but if something wasn't part of your formative experience you sometimes do need it spelled out: 'when you engage with a person look at them and say hello'.

What an attitude!

What an awful snobby statement. Not everyone working in a shop wants to be on benefits. Maybe the hours are better for them, maybe they are at uni and working in the holidays. Maybe they didn’t have the education or opportunity to get a ‘better job’. What a nasty person you are.

They shouldn't apply for the job if they dont want to do it competently. The wages are clear from the application process. Don't take a job if you're going to do it badly because you can't live on the money.

Yes, it's a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy - I certainly considered last night whether to swap to online orders going forward as I'm just so sick of staff acting like I'm a nuisance for simply shopping. Whereas if I'd had a good experience that wouldn't have crossed my mind.

Yes I agree they are, and also in Booths.

i occasionally slip with customers, mostly because it’s hard to be smiley voice on the phone for a hundred calls a day, especially when a customer has just told me to fuck off. But customers will comment oh you aren’t very chirpy today so I’m constantly aware of trying to sound upbeat!

My local Aldi is great, helpful staff and they whizz through and manage to chat if you want to and initiate it

Ive worked in customer service all my life and I think the service you receive is a reflection of how the staff are treated. When I’ve worked somewhere where everyone gets along and is a nice environment to be in, then this shines through the staff. I also think there is an age element to it too. Going from my own person experience, I’ve always found older members of staff to be much friendlier than younger. It may be to do with lockdown and the increased popularity of apps that reduce face to face interactions, if I’m really honest, sometimes they act as if they’re “too cool” to speak to customers. I don’t know the answer. But a “hello/good evening” costs nothing.

Really pisses me off. Retail has never been a particularly high earning profession but people at least used to have some self respect and want to do a good job for themselves. I’ve been to loads of countries in the last couple of years and the customer service is always better than here and that’s in high COL counties like Denmark and Norway as well as more tourist based economies like the Portuguese coast.

Meh

I think you'll get over it.

All the professional whingers on here 🙄🙄🙄

Poor product availability - obvious stuff like semi skimmed milk not on shelf when available in Local 10 mins away. The cows clearly aren’t the problem.
Rotten veg.

General incompetence - e.g. they changed the store layout around Easter and as of last week had not changed the signs above the aisles to match the new layout

I could probably go on. But they are well located and so suspect will always trade well … I guess they think why bother.

The supermarkets where I live are not like that at all. I can't recall even one staff member who behaved like that. They all greet you, smile, and certainly would never just point at the machine - that is terrible! They all respond if you speak to them and I've never seen one using a headset.

Surely you learn to do that from the moment you start school? Customer service skills are no different to any other type of socialisation, so unless you were a hermit I don't buy that as an excuse.

Same the staff are lovely where I live i wonder if its an area thing or a north/south thing