11–20 of 89 posts
It was great. From a business point of view, I didn't spend any more than I'd intended, but I finished quicker and left with a positive impression.
A good steward wants to serve the customer, either by engaging them or not, as the customer prefers. A bad steward wants to engage the customer whether they want to or not. A really bad steward thinks the customer is too stupid to notice their coercive attempts at the latter.
(Of course, an old grocery retail tradition is to "reset" the store -- moving sections around and moving products around within sections, to increase the time customers spend in their local store. I wonder when this practice will become common for website portals like Yahoo, to increase the time spent on the page with ads?)
But now, assume I'm shopping for clothes. This 19-year-old girl doesn't know me, she doesn't know what kind of clothes I wear beyond what I currently have on. She doesn't know what kind of price range I'm looking at, or even what particular clothes I'm currently looking for. I could stand there and relate all these things, at which point she can point at shirts ("how about this one?") until we find one I like... or maybe I can just go look at the shirts myself?
If I'm in Radio Shack trying to pick up a transistor, there's almost no chance the kid behind the counter can help me. He just wants to sell me a cellphone. He might not even be aware that the store stocks electronics components, much less what a transistor looks like. Any real help will have to come from the Internet; I surely can't ask if these two diodes are equivalent, or if this coax cable is suitable for VHF operation, because he'll just say "yeah, I think so" and try to sell me a phone.
If I go to a car dealership, the last thing I want is to see someone walking toward me, but we all can relate to that.
About the only time I really want someone to come ask if they can help me is at a gun shop, because the things I want to see are usually locked in a glass case or hung up on the wall.
"People wouldn’t (especially men) enter a store just for the sake of it, they want help." I prefer to engage with others as little when I enter a store. I want to find the stuff I want, pay for it, and get out. I'm even willing to spend twice as much time (or more) looking for what I want than I would have if I have go engage with a store assistant. I'm not exactly socially awkward, either. I just hate shopping. I fi…
"People wouldn’t (especially men) enter a store just for the sake of it, they want help." I prefer to engage with others as little when I enter a store. I want to find the stuff I want, pay for it, and get out. I'm even willing to spend twice as much time (or more) looking for what I want than I would have if I have go engage with a store assistant. I'm not exactly socially awkward, either. I just hate shopping. I fi…
"People wouldn’t (especially men) enter a store just for the sake of it, they want help." I prefer to engage with others as little when I enter a store. I want to find the stuff I want, pay for it, and get out. I'm even willing to spend twice as much time (or more) looking for what I want than I would have if I have go engage with a store assistant. I'm not exactly socially awkward, either. I just hate shopping. I fi…
I don't begrudge retail workers, really - I suppose they have a job to do. But geeze I wish they'd be more intelligent about whom they bother, and when. If I have not made eye contact beyond the initial "hello", then I probably do not need or want to be "helped" and following me around proffering same just makes me feel uncomfortable.
"People wouldn’t (especially men) enter a store just for the sake of it, they want help." I prefer to engage with others as little when I enter a store. I want to find the stuff I want, pay for it, and get out. I'm even willing to spend twice as much time (or more) looking for what I want than I would have if I have go engage with a store assistant. I'm not exactly socially awkward, either. I just hate shopping. I fi…
I would, of course, reply to "Are you after pants or tops today" with, "I'm a man, you idiot, I don't wear 'tops', I wear shirts"