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Post by Robert69 on May 4, 2016 23:59:44 GMT -5
Employees are almost always just doing what they are told to do. If management says "Tell anyone asking for specific items that everything is already on the shelves.", then most will do just that. They are paid to do a job, what their managers / supervisors tell them to do, not cater to the individual whims of every customer that comes in.This is entirely contradictory to what makes a retail store have any sort of success. I don't mean this on a personal level, but on a professional level I truly hope you don't work management in retail, if you believe that. I'm not saying you're wrong, either. I'm certain there are managers that do this sort of thing -- and they're awful at their jobs for it. Every single bit of product that walks out that door is money that the store makes. The store makes more money, we can afford to pay or hire more/keep the store open. Everyone wins. Capitalism rocks. If my employee has to help someone get it off the top shelf, out of the back, or put in an order through the online service, they had better damn well do it. With a smile on their face. This Kalisto was what? $9.99? That's $9.99 this customer spent at our store, and had he gotten the help he asked for, with courteous service, he may well be on here talking about how he had an excellent experience, not how he had to file a complaint. I'm absolutely shocked nobody has gotten on here and said "Well, she's barely making minimum wage, bro. What do you expect?" -- it boils down to pride in your work. Whether you make $8/hr, or $100k/yr, take pride in the job you do, and help the customer get their purchases, as pleasantly as you can. I ABHORRED working retail and watching co-workers refuse to go look. It's such a simple thing to do. It gives you something to do, and takes a whole five minutes, at most. At the VERY least, the customer knows you tried. Irks the absolute hell out of me. If you work retail, whether owner, management, or employee, your job is to sell. So long as your employee isn't being abused, the customer should be obliged, and sent away happy.
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mrbiggs
Superstar
Joined on: Aug 5, 2014 13:21:40 GMT -5
Posts: 990
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Post by mrbiggs on May 5, 2016 1:21:33 GMT -5
Employees are almost always just doing what they are told to do. If management says "Tell anyone asking for specific items that everything is already on the shelves.", then most will do just that. They are paid to do a job, what their managers / supervisors tell them to do, not cater to the individual whims of every customer that comes in.This is entirely contradictory to what makes a retail store have any sort of success. I don't mean this on a personal level, but on a professional level I truly hope you don't work management in retail, if you believe that. I'm not saying you're wrong, either. I'm certain there are managers that do this sort of thing -- and they're awful at their jobs for it. Every single bit of product that walks out that door is money that the store makes. The store makes more money, we can afford to pay or hire more/keep the store open. Everyone wins. Capitalism rocks. If my employee has to help someone get it off the top shelf, out of the back, or put in an order through the online service, they had better damn well do it. With a smile on their face. This Kalisto was what? $9.99? That's $9.99 this customer spent at our store, and had he gotten the help he asked for, with courteous service, he may well be on here talking about how he had an excellent experience, not how he had to file a complaint. I'm absolutely shocked nobody has gotten on here and said "Well, she's barely making minimum wage, bro. What do you expect?" -- it boils down to pride in your work. Whether you make $8/hr, or $100k/yr, take pride in the job you do, and help the customer get their purchases, as pleasantly as you can. I ABHORRED working retail and watching co-workers refuse to go look. It's such a simple thing to do. It gives you something to do, and takes a whole five minutes, at most. At the VERY least, the customer knows you tried. Irks the absolute hell out of me. If you work retail, whether owner, management, or employee, your job is to sell. So long as your employee isn't being abused, the customer should be obliged, and sent away happy. I do not work in retail any longer, but I was in retail management for over 12 years, and yes, sometimes you have to do what you are told whether you want to or not. I had to tell my employees not to get things out of the back or overstock because I was told by the store owner or district supervisor the exact same thing. Let's look at this particular poster's story... he happened to see stock sitting in the back of the store, sure, but what if that stock was there as a store to store transfer or as part of a sale or promotion that wasn't starting for, let's say, a week. Perhaps the district supervisor had told the manager to tell employees to pull these items for this event and if they didn't do so, they would be fired. I know that sounds harsh, but I have seen it done. When I worked in retail management at Walmart, as well as TRU for a while, we would get inventory faxes or emails that would come from corporate of toys that were going on sale or as a promotion and needed to be pulled. We would get an inventory sheet showing how many we had in stock, how many should be on the shelves, and how many should be set aside for an upcoming promotion. Once those items were taken from the floor, or held in the back, they were to remain there and that inventory was to be counted and checked against the sheet, then notification sent to the main office. We were to have exactly that much stock to be put out the day of, or the day before, that promo was to start. If we didn't. someone was getting reamed for it from the district guys who came every week to check things out. Nothing that was then in that stock for the promo could be taken out and sold in any way. Also, look at special stock set aside for things like Black Friday sales and such. Also, think about product that is held in the back for special movie tie ins and what not. Certain stock is set aside for events like that, and even if someone did happen to sneak a peek through the stockroom door and see one of those, they cannot be brought to the sales floor or sold until it is time. A buddy of mine working at Walmart last year when the Star Wars Episode VII figures came in was told they would be fired if they were caught selling that merchandise before the midnight release date event. Hell, I was even in a Walmart in Asheville, NC and found an Episode VII t-shirt with Kylo Ren on it hanging on a rack. When I went to pay for it, the girl checking me out told me they "Could not sell that shirt until next week" and quickly handed it to her manager who was standing right there beside her. Then he went to the rack and got every shirt off and took them to the back with the rest of the event merchandise. Sales mean a lot to retail stores, but there are indeed certain guidelines that need to be upheld. Certain timelines that have to be followed. Whether customers get pissed or not. I would have loved to have had the Star Wars Episode VII 6" Black figures before their release date, but I was standing in line at midnight just like everyone else. Also, stock rooms are for employees only and shouldn't be entered by customers. Stores that leave their stockroom doors wide open really shouldn't do so, but that doesn't mean the merchandise back there is ready to be sold. Just because the doors to your neighbor's house doesn't give you the right to go in and check out their stuff... doesn't really give you the right to peek in and check out all of his belongings... in my opinion anyway. You mentioned that an employee "had better damn well do it"... well, I managed a store where I was told by my boss that I had to schedule the minimum amount of employees I could get away with (which is something more and more stores are doing these days with today's economy) to cut down on payroll. If I have 5 employees working the register and 5 stocking shelves, and all of them are busy, I wouldn't expect them to drop what they are doing just to run in the back and see if we had a particular action figure. At only $9.99 a pop, I would simply tell them to check back tomorrow because if that truck didn't get unloaded or that stock put up by the time my boss, and their boss above them said it should be... then the proverbial sh-t would roll downhill until it hit somebody. That $9.99 sale wouldn't mean diddly compared to the possible thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of stock being brought in and put on the shelves. I think the general public takes "the customer is always right" motto a little too literally. If a customer came into a store, bought an item, then proceeded to smash it with a hammer on the sidewalk, then wanted to return that item for a full refund, would they be right in asking that? Nope. Customers are important, and making them happy is high on the list of things retailers want to do, but they are definitely not always right.
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Post by Robert69 on May 5, 2016 1:28:39 GMT -5
This is entirely contradictory to what makes a retail store have any sort of success. I don't mean this on a personal level, but on a professional level I truly hope you don't work management in retail, if you believe that. I'm not saying you're wrong, either. I'm certain there are managers that do this sort of thing -- and they're awful at their jobs for it. Every single bit of product that walks out that door is money that the store makes. The store makes more money, we can afford to pay or hire more/keep the store open. Everyone wins. Capitalism rocks. If my employee has to help someone get it off the top shelf, out of the back, or put in an order through the online service, they had better damn well do it. With a smile on their face. This Kalisto was what? $9.99? That's $9.99 this customer spent at our store, and had he gotten the help he asked for, with courteous service, he may well be on here talking about how he had an excellent experience, not how he had to file a complaint. I'm absolutely shocked nobody has gotten on here and said "Well, she's barely making minimum wage, bro. What do you expect?" -- it boils down to pride in your work. Whether you make $8/hr, or $100k/yr, take pride in the job you do, and help the customer get their purchases, as pleasantly as you can. I ABHORRED working retail and watching co-workers refuse to go look. It's such a simple thing to do. It gives you something to do, and takes a whole five minutes, at most. At the VERY least, the customer knows you tried. Irks the absolute hell out of me. If you work retail, whether owner, management, or employee, your job is to sell. So long as your employee isn't being abused, the customer should be obliged, and sent away happy. I do not work in retail any longer, but I was in retail management for over 12 years, and yes, sometimes you have to do what you are told whether you want to or not. I had to tell my employees not to get things out of the back or overstock because I was told by the store owner or district supervisor the exact same thing. Let's look at this particular poster's story... he happened to see stock sitting in the back of the store, sure, but what if that stock was there as a store to store transfer or as part of a sale or promotion that wasn't starting for, let's say, a week. Perhaps the district supervisor had told the manager to tell employees to pull these items for this event and if they didn't do so, they would be fired. I know that sounds harsh, but I have seen it done. When I worked in retail management at Walmart, as well as TRU for a while, we would get inventory faxes or emails that would come from corporate of toys that were going on sale or as a promotion and needed to be pulled. We would get an inventory sheet showing how many we had in stock, how many should be on the shelves, and how many should be set aside for an upcoming promotion. Once those items were taken from the floor, or held in the back, they were to remain there and that inventory was to be counted and checked against the sheet, then notification sent to the main office. We were to have exactly that much stock to be put out the day of, or the day before, that promo was to start. If we didn't. someone was getting reamed for it from the district guys who came every week to check things out. Nothing that was then in that stock for the promo could be taken out and sold in any way. Also, look at special stock set aside for things like Black Friday sales and such. Also, think about product that is held in the back for special movie tie ins and what not. Certain stock is set aside for events like that, and even if someone did happen to sneak a peek through the stockroom door and see one of those, they cannot be brought to the sales floor or sold until it is time. A buddy of mine working at Walmart last year when the Star Wars Episode VII figures came in was told they would be fired if they were caught selling that merchandise before the midnight release date event. Hell, I was even in a Walmart in Asheville, NC and found an Episode VII t-shirt with Kylo Ren on it hanging on a rack. When I went to pay for it, the girl checking me out told me they "Could not sell that shirt until next week" and quickly handed it to her manager who was standing right there beside her. Then he went to the rack and got every shirt off and took them to the back with the rest of the event merchandise. Sales mean a lot to retail stores, but there are indeed certain guidelines that need to be upheld. Certain timelines that have to be followed. Whether customers get pissed or not. I would have loved to have had the Star Wars Episode VII 6" Black figures before their release date, but I was standing in line at midnight just like everyone else. Also, stock rooms are for employees only and shouldn't be entered by customers. Stores that leave their stockroom doors wide open really shouldn't do so, but that doesn't mean the merchandise back there is ready to be sold. Just because the doors to your neighbor's house doesn't give you the right to go in and check out their stuff... doesn't really give you the right to peek in and check out all of his belongings... in my opinion anyway. You mentioned that an employee "had better damn well do it"... well, I managed a store where I was told by my boss that I had to schedule the minimum amount of employees I could get away with (which is something more and more stores are doing these days with today's economy) to cut down on payroll. If I have 5 employees working the register and 5 stocking shelves, and all of them are busy, I wouldn't expect them to drop what they are doing just to run in the back and see if we had a particular action figure. At only $9.99 a pop, I would simply tell them to check back tomorrow because if that truck didn't get unloaded or that stock put up by the time my boss, and their boss above them said it should be... then the proverbial sh-t would roll downhill until it hit somebody. That $9.99 sale wouldn't mean diddly compared to the possible thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of stock being brought in and put on the shelves. I think the general public takes "the customer is always right" motto a little too literally. If a customer came into a store, bought an item, then proceeded to smash it with a hammer on the sidewalk, then wanted to return that item for a full refund, would they be right in asking that? Nope. Customers are important, and making them happy is high on the list of things retailers want to do, but they are definitely not always right. Most certainly there are technicalities, but that's what all of these you named are. Technicalities. When we had special events/sales/tie-ins, etc -- the employees were generally informed "Hey, this is what we don't have to put out", etc. They do it for Black Friday sales, too. Just last year, I worked black friday at Meijer, and our manager pulled a box of those damn Pie Face games (seriously, f*** that game for how many I had to hunt down through back stock) -- but she pulled the box to the back, and "hid" it, because they were going on sale the next day. Nobody said anything, nobody told me. So I went through that box of games, because customer after customer came in wanting the game. It was back there, so I sold it. I didn't know it had been pulled for the black friday sale, until someone asked "Where are all the Pie Face games?" -- sold. That's my job. "They were pulled for the sale!" -- Alright? Your employees can only work within the parameters you set for them. Managerial oversight, and flat out laziness, are two VERY different things. Never once can I imagine, on a given "average" day, would a manager with any sense tell employees "Just tell them it's on the floor, if customers ask". THAT is a terrible manager.
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Deleted
Joined on: Apr 26, 2024 16:56:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 5:53:59 GMT -5
This is entirely contradictory to what makes a retail store have any sort of success. I don't mean this on a personal level, but on a professional level I truly hope you don't work management in retail, if you believe that. I'm not saying you're wrong, either. I'm certain there are managers that do this sort of thing -- and they're awful at their jobs for it. Every single bit of product that walks out that door is money that the store makes. The store makes more money, we can afford to pay or hire more/keep the store open. Everyone wins. Capitalism rocks. If my employee has to help someone get it off the top shelf, out of the back, or put in an order through the online service, they had better damn well do it. With a smile on their face. This Kalisto was what? $9.99? That's $9.99 this customer spent at our store, and had he gotten the help he asked for, with courteous service, he may well be on here talking about how he had an excellent experience, not how he had to file a complaint. I'm absolutely shocked nobody has gotten on here and said "Well, she's barely making minimum wage, bro. What do you expect?" -- it boils down to pride in your work. Whether you make $8/hr, or $100k/yr, take pride in the job you do, and help the customer get their purchases, as pleasantly as you can. I ABHORRED working retail and watching co-workers refuse to go look. It's such a simple thing to do. It gives you something to do, and takes a whole five minutes, at most. At the VERY least, the customer knows you tried. Irks the absolute hell out of me. If you work retail, whether owner, management, or employee, your job is to sell. So long as your employee isn't being abused, the customer should be obliged, and sent away happy. I do not work in retail any longer, but I was in retail management for over 12 years, and yes, sometimes you have to do what you are told whether you want to or not. I had to tell my employees not to get things out of the back or overstock because I was told by the store owner or district supervisor the exact same thing. Let's look at this particular poster's story... he happened to see stock sitting in the back of the store, sure, but what if that stock was there as a store to store transfer or as part of a sale or promotion that wasn't starting for, let's say, a week. Perhaps the district supervisor had told the manager to tell employees to pull these items for this event and if they didn't do so, they would be fired. I know that sounds harsh, but I have seen it done. When I worked in retail management at Walmart, as well as TRU for a while, we would get inventory faxes or emails that would come from corporate of toys that were going on sale or as a promotion and needed to be pulled. We would get an inventory sheet showing how many we had in stock, how many should be on the shelves, and how many should be set aside for an upcoming promotion. Once those items were taken from the floor, or held in the back, they were to remain there and that inventory was to be counted and checked against the sheet, then notification sent to the main office. We were to have exactly that much stock to be put out the day of, or the day before, that promo was to start. If we didn't. someone was getting reamed for it from the district guys who came every week to check things out. Nothing that was then in that stock for the promo could be taken out and sold in any way. Also, look at special stock set aside for things like Black Friday sales and such. Also, think about product that is held in the back for special movie tie ins and what not. Certain stock is set aside for events like that, and even if someone did happen to sneak a peek through the stockroom door and see one of those, they cannot be brought to the sales floor or sold until it is time. A buddy of mine working at Walmart last year when the Star Wars Episode VII figures came in was told they would be fired if they were caught selling that merchandise before the midnight release date event. Hell, I was even in a Walmart in Asheville, NC and found an Episode VII t-shirt with Kylo Ren on it hanging on a rack. When I went to pay for it, the girl checking me out told me they "Could not sell that shirt until next week" and quickly handed it to her manager who was standing right there beside her. Then he went to the rack and got every shirt off and took them to the back with the rest of the event merchandise. Sales mean a lot to retail stores, but there are indeed certain guidelines that need to be upheld. Certain timelines that have to be followed. Whether customers get pissed or not. I would have loved to have had the Star Wars Episode VII 6" Black figures before their release date, but I was standing in line at midnight just like everyone else. Also, stock rooms are for employees only and shouldn't be entered by customers. Stores that leave their stockroom doors wide open really shouldn't do so, but that doesn't mean the merchandise back there is ready to be sold. Just because the doors to your neighbor's house doesn't give you the right to go in and check out their stuff... doesn't really give you the right to peek in and check out all of his belongings... in my opinion anyway. You mentioned that an employee "had better damn well do it"... well, I managed a store where I was told by my boss that I had to schedule the minimum amount of employees I could get away with (which is something more and more stores are doing these days with today's economy) to cut down on payroll. If I have 5 employees working the register and 5 stocking shelves, and all of them are busy, I wouldn't expect them to drop what they are doing just to run in the back and see if we had a particular action figure. At only $9.99 a pop, I would simply tell them to check back tomorrow because if that truck didn't get unloaded or that stock put up by the time my boss, and their boss above them said it should be... then the proverbial sh-t would roll downhill until it hit somebody. That $9.99 sale wouldn't mean diddly compared to the possible thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of stock being brought in and put on the shelves. I think the general public takes "the customer is always right" motto a little too literally. If a customer came into a store, bought an item, then proceeded to smash it with a hammer on the sidewalk, then wanted to return that item for a full refund, would they be right in asking that? Nope. Customers are important, and making them happy is high on the list of things retailers want to do, but they are definitely not always right. I would have assumed they were off limits if the other half of the series wasn't sitting on the pegs. It was a simple request honored by one of the stock room employees and not the rude woman up front. I wouldn't of minded if she said no just don't be rude.
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Post by hellojoeivers on May 5, 2016 6:19:11 GMT -5
I don't expect a store employee to jump through hoops for me, but I feel like 'looking in the back' is a pretty small request
Last Summer the Smyths site said the first Sting Defining Moments figure was in stock (I'd been checking on the hourly as that was the estimated in-stock day). So I go straight from work, nothing on the shelves. I say to the member of staff who happened to be on the aisle that I was after something that came in today's delivery. Her response was "Yeah, it'll probably be on the shelves before closing time (7 o'clock) if you could come back?" and I was thinking, HEY, let's assume I don't live walking distance from here, what's more convenient, you taking your ass into the back and getting me something, or me driving home and coming back?
Anyway, I think my body language said everything and she went to the back and got it for me, not before asking "How do you know it came in today?"
That was the only time I saw that particular employee, I take it she didn't last long
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Deleted
Joined on: Apr 26, 2024 16:56:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 7:22:11 GMT -5
Last week, Argos.
Walked in to see the basic selection and the system said they had 8 basics in stock.
Usually when you place an order you can choose just to view the item before buying which is what I did.
The guy at the counter took well over 20 minutes to sort my request despite the place was absolutely deserted. He came back with two. Two. He then gave me some BS saying that was all they had...Big Show & Cena.
On a lighter note, over 2 years ago I was looking for Basic 35 Daniel Bryan because I knew we weren't getting the Wrestlemania 29 BAF Elite set. It was the closest thing we could get to a long haired and bearded Bryan in the UK. I went down to TRU Luton roughly about 7:00pm and couldn't find anything on the pegs apart from Triple H, Jinder Mahal & Sandow. I asked a few staff members if they had any more in the stock room. They all said no. I thought I'd look for something else on the pegs to compensate my trip. The manager of the store came to me and asked me if there was anything he could help me with. I told him I was looking for the Daniel Bryan basic but the staff told me they didn't have any. He then said "I'll see what I can do". He was gone for literally a couple of minuted and came back with D-Bry in hand. I thanked him and told him it was very nice of him to do that for me.
I still remember that because it was the only time any member of staff made an effort for me as a customer.
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Post by JC Motors on May 5, 2016 11:51:33 GMT -5
Perhaps Toys R Us employees are just angry because of the unrealistic amount of pressure put on them to sell credit cards when people really just want toys? No, really. People who are actually knowledgeable about the products they sell there are ushered out by those who can actually sell the credit cards to people (which doesn't happen a lot, hence why TRU has a terrible turnover rate) when in reality they should hire people who know about the different products they sell and not worry about the credit card scams as much. When I worked at KB Toys, man, I could tell you if I had a Matt Hardy figure without even looking. They just don't make toy stores like they used to... Yes. I remember the K-B Toy Works here in town fondly. They always stocked new stuff on Thursdays ( many a Thursday payday was spent there buying Jakks figures!) , could tell you if they actually had something in stock, and would go to the back to bring out a new case if you were looking for something not on the pegs, no questions asked. I miss that place SO damn much! When did that one close? I want to say 2002?
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Post by JCF on May 5, 2016 11:53:05 GMT -5
The most ridiculous story I ever heard from an employee was how he heard about WWE figures not being sent out any more due to some issues in California. I know the job doesn't pay much but damn at least have your facts straight before you go assuming crap LOL
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