Cotomer sevis rant

"fhrblig" (fhrblig) 02/10/2016 at 14:50 • Filed to: TONE IT DOWN HAPPYPANTS

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Being polite and greeting a customer when they come into your store is a great idea. However... as a customer I absolutely hate it when the second I walk in the store you blast me with “HI! HOW YA DOING? ISN’T IT A GREAT DAY!?”. I went into a convenience store this morning, and it was like being set upon by a pack of barking, deliriously happy golden retrievers who think you have raw meat. Every employee at this place is like that, pretty much every time I’ve been there. I just wish they’d crank down the enthusiasm (and volume) a couple hundred notches.

Stapleface > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 14:54

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I get the saying hello part. It’s in a lot of stores handbooks to greet every customer. But to say that second part is a little much.

HammerheadFistpunch > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 14:57

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which is worse, overly cheery or nowhere to be seen?

Azrek > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 14:58

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Go get a burrito at Moe’s during lunch...

My immediate response to stuff like that is, “I am just thrilled to be alive.”

It usually catches them offguard.

Ash78, voting early and often > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 14:59

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It’s all relative. Every time I leave AL to visit my family in Baltimore, I’m like “Why is everyone here mad at me?” every time I walk into a store.

Conversely, my parents come here and say “Everyone here makes eye contact, it’s crazy!”

But store employees that are obviously faking it are really annoying. Just walking into a Moe’s Southwest Grill during dinner rush, as every sweaty, exhausted minimum wage employee is forced to look up from their stations and muster a “Welcome to Moe’s!” with feigned enthusiasm.

pauljones > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:02

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Yeah, I know the feeling. A new BBQ place opened up near my office, and the food there is pretty damn good. But everytime you walk in, the entire staff stops and says “HI THERE!!!!” and it drives me insanse. I’m a quiet guy by nature, I prefer to go relatively unannounced until I’m ready, and I prefer subtle courtesy over loud impression-making attempts.

Leadbull > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2016 at 15:10

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Both are worse than the healthy balance that most places of business seem to understand.

SVTyler > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:16

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The service standard of ‘inhumanly cheery android’ here in the US is absolutely infuriating from both sides of the exchange*. The worst place is restaurants: I know you’re not that happy to be working here, you know I know you’re not that happy to be working here, why can’t we just be real and stop pretending like you’re so stoked to be waiting tables at IHOP in northern Indiana and get this exchange over with with as little effort as possible.

Course they do that because our fucked up tipping culture rewards people for acting like they just inhaled the world’s supply of Prozac. By contrast I went to Spain a few years ago and it was the greatest thing ever because the wait staff didn’t give two fucks about you, they just threw your food at the table and fucked off until you were ready to pay. Anything retail or food-service is a shit job, why pretend like it’s anything different.

*I deliver pizzas and have had more than one person call to complain that the delivery boy “didn’t smile once” during the exchange. Really.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Leadbull 02/10/2016 at 15:28

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Wise response.

BrtStlnd > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:28

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Yeah yeah yeah, congrats on being a Broncos fan.

66Spaz > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:30

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Do you really think that the employees have a say in what they are supposed to say when a customer walks in?

fhrblig > HammerheadFistpunch 02/10/2016 at 15:30

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I think you just described Best Buy.

fhrblig > Leadbull 02/10/2016 at 15:31

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THIS.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:32

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I work in retail and when someone walks in I usually just smile and say hi. Overly fake nice workers bother the hell out of me so I'm not becoming one of them.

450X_FTW > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:43

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I go Ron Swanson when I’m shopping

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 15:51

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The girl doing the pledge at my school this week is one of the overly happy people to the point of where her happiness makes me upset. Just tone it down a little please, it’s 7:30AM, no one is that happy at 7:30...

fhrblig > pauljones 02/10/2016 at 16:06

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I’ve always had an aversion to small talk, but I can put up with it when I have to. It’s the volume, really. These people are so loud it’s unreal.

Rico > SVTyler 02/10/2016 at 16:06

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Conversely a well traveled history professor of mine in college told me that because the wait staff in those countries get paid anyway and there is no tip incentive the service was always terrible. There would be times him and his guests would be sitting at the table for upto 30 minutes before someone could be bothered to come over and ask what they wanted to eat. They also never came around to fill up water or take any more drink orders. Instead the staff was at the back of the restaurant having a grand old time talking and lounging about.

SVTyler > Rico 02/10/2016 at 16:38

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I’ve been to nine different countries myself and I’ve come to the conclusion those kind of workers would give terrible service in one way or another regardless of how much they’re paid. If you take pride in your work and yourself it shouldn’t matter how much you money you make, you should want to do a good job regardless. Case in point the best waiter I’ve ever had by the American standard (politeness, attentiveness, fast service) was in Italy where tipping is completely optional, and the worst by far was in the States where gratuities make up 90% of a server’s income.

Your professor isn’t entirely wrong, though; in Morocco it regularly took us over two hours to eat dinner because the waiter would drop off the face of the earth after bringing out our entrees. We found out from the tour company that’s not anything out of the ordinary, just how the Moroccans do things. You just kind of have to be aware of the cultural differences and not get too annoyed with not getting what you’re used to in the US when you’re traveling abroad.

fhrblig > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 02/10/2016 at 16:39

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That is an exact description of these people. It’s a level of happiness that makes me worry about my personal safety.

CaptDale - is secretly British > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 16:42

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Yeah, I prefer to be greeted quietly if anything at all. Personally I would rather go about my business without being bothered or yelled at. I have a hard time saying hi to people when they come up to the Parts counter, but I have to so i do it quietly and calmly. As it should be

fhrblig > BrtStlnd 02/10/2016 at 16:47

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What can I say? I didn’t choose the thug life, it choose me.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > fhrblig 02/10/2016 at 16:51

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I’ve worked in customer service, my approach was a neutral tone and being polite, gauging the customer’s reaction and acting accordingly. I didn’t mind being cheery especially if the other person was very cheery - cheery customers are usually the best to deal with because they can’t possibly get upset unless you fuck up in some incredible manner.

At least this way, the asshole customers didn’t have the pleasure of bringing me down from cheer to despair because they’re too idiotic to understand their own problems and the solutions I’ve presented.

I don't mind if someone serving me is cheerful as long as they aren't being overly aggressive, like the types that basically follow you around the store when you're just there to browse (although not a convenience store, obviously).