Pet Peeve of the Day

[adrian]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

there should be a knob or switch on the bottom of the rear view mirror that will let you toggle between day vision and night vision.

ooh. I was wondering what was that for.

[DannyWilliams]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

hearing ppl sqauk with no merit lyke......

Riding on the bus the other day to work.
The gal infront of me was rolling her eyes and complaining that the driver kept stopping for each ppl running towards the bus during morning rush hour.
Thinking to myself, GEE would YOU have been grateful if the driver stopped for YOU or would you rather get all T.O. and get left behind and have to wait for the next one? Was this person tryin to make it on time for work?
Sounds like it.

I myself plan ahead when I need to get my okoloe to the bus stop and the approximate time arrival to where i am goin. I may be 1/2 or up to an hour early at work but at least I am there. I do not like being late and getting flustered etc. Sooooooooooo not me!

[adrian]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

hearing ppl sqauk with no merit lyke......

A pet peeve is reading txt wrds lyk teh 1 ^ mi

(I know, I suck at that, but I'm not a teen.)

[adrian]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

this morning's pet peeve is...

.. when someone asks me "what's the fastest computer?"

It was hard for me to keep a straight face.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

this morning's pet peeve is...

.. when someone asks me "what's the fastest computer?"

It was hard for me to keep a straight face.

The most expensive ones and they settle for something cheaper.

Okay here's my pet peeve of the day. Home Depot is pretty much self serve. Meaning you bring in a cart, you fill your cart, you pay for it and we help load it in your car.

So this guy comes into our store and tells me, "I like buy dat circular saw". The boxes of saws are right in front of him mind you. So I reach in the shelf and put a box in his waiting cart. "Anything else I can help you with sir?" I ask. "Yeah, wea da paint stay". I look squarely into his eyes and tell him, "In the Paint department sir".

He gets all mad thinking I'm being smart. "What you tink me stupid?" I pause for a short while and tell him, "you asked where the paint is, it's in the paint department. You're in the hardware department. If you want lumber you go to the Lumber department. Paint is in the Paint department, would you like me to take you there?"

"I know where da Paint department is!" He yells at me. Sooooooo I'm thinking to myself, "So why the F*ck did you ask you moron!" But instead I smile and tell him, "Have a nice evening sir" and I walk away.

There are good shoppers, there are bad shoppers, then there are F*ckin Idiots who shouldn't be allowed to breed.

[Pomai]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Re: Home Depot...

"Anything else I can help you with sir?" I ask. "Yeah, wea da paint stay". I look squarely into his eyes and tell him, "In the Paint department sir".

That guy is too much! Perhaps he knew WHERE and THAT the paint was in the paint department, but he didn't know WHAT a can of paint itself actually looked like?

I can relate with this non-peeve, yet hilariously-true story...

I worked in a paint store myself long ago. Once we (3 workers) were standing around chatting during a slow period (no customers), when in walks this really elderly local man. We all silence, ready to greet him, when he quickly asks us all, "You guys get Black Caulk?"

Really, there is such a product. We sold that stuff in various colors, but most paint contractors buy white.

You should have seen our jaws drop. When he left the store, we laughed until we cried! The way he said it was priceless.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

There's a product called Caulk Saver which is a thick foam rope that you wedge into spaces that you'd normally fill with entire tubes of caulking. This foam fills in much of that space then you top off with caulk.

Another product is a Butt Marker using black ink. This device marks the location where you'd mortise the hinge for a door.

So at Home Depot we sell Black Butt Markers and stuff to save your caulk.

Interesting conversations we have in our break rooms.

[DannyWilliams]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Working at Targay

Anyone who has shopped with us before we have a self serve credit card machine that guests can go ahead and insert their card providing that the first item shows up on my screen. I hate when they go ahead before I scan item #1 cause it slows my reg down or often Credit card machine is not goin to capture the card even if the guest claims that it took their card.
Working outside in Lawn & Garden guests gets clueless and the machine has arrows pointing with the card icon suggesting that you're card goes THIS WAY.
Guests say OH THIS LOOKS NEW! I am thinking TARGET has had this for quite some time. Are you shopping with us for the FIRST TIME I quietly think to myself. And Hello? Pay attention to the screen prompt. I always have to direct their eyes cause If my screen is not moving its because the CC Machine is asking for their signature, cash back or pin identification, etc, etc, etc
Now and then whatever card they inserted gets declined and they can't understand why our register is doin that. I think well maybe cause your over the limit? Or maybe ya need to touch base with YOUR BANK? If we don't get approval from your bank means theres something WRONG with the card eh?

[scrivener]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Whatever, Danny. Just do me a favor, and if I'm ever in the store, LET ME FIGURE IT OUT FOR MYSELF. I hate going to the self-checkout line and as soon as something doesn't go as smoothly as it normally does, the attendant swoops in and helps me. I don't want help. That's why I'm in the self-serve line.

[DannyWilliams]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

uh no
I don't like to make guests feel like idiots but a lot of them look at me gettin flustered and a lot of em are seniors btw.
I don't wanna be hatin on the older guests but its simple simon figuring out the CC Machine.
Like I said I ask them to COMPLETE any information that says on the screen.
If guests requests that I hold their hand then I will do within reason.

[scrivener]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

What does "uh no" mean? That you disregard my annoyance and will swoop in anyway?

If I look helplessly in your direction, that means please come help me. If I'm standing there and problem-solving, that means leave me alone. I think it's pretty simple.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Sometimes self service can be intimidating for those who've never used them.

Then there are those who never read instructions and totally confuse a very step by step process. Then the cashier standing by the self checkout podium needs to step in. In Home Depot's case our self checkout stands will tell a customer, "Please stand by for customer assistance".

And there's the frustrated cashier that needs to stand at their self checkout podium all day to help confused shoppers. Their interaction is either one of total boredom (because the shoppers figure the machine out) or total frustration because what should be a simple process turns tedious (over and over again for that cashier).

Cashiers have sales metrics they are judged by and self-checkout slows them down so there's a reason why they get upset when a customer slows the process down.

Then there are the customers that use the self checkout for self price checks when there's a sign right next to the scanners that tell customers otherwise. If a customer scans for a price this way, the machine registers it as a transaction. If you're not planning on purchasing it, that transaction needs to be cancelled, "Please stand by for customer assistance".

Also the verbal prompts are very important to follow. "Please put item in loading area" What is really happening is that the machine is weighing the item after it's been scanned. An empty tool box weighs in at a certain predetermined weight. A tool box with a set of concealed ratchets weighs a lot more. Sometimes customers lean against the loading platform (really a scale) and then you get the, "Please stand by for customer assistance".

A first time customer trying to shoplift an item thru the self checkout while leaning on the loading platform will set off the alarms at the self checkout podium at three times on that one transaction! I can see how a cashier will get frustrated. Now multiply that during an 8-hour shift.

Then there's the customers that refuse help no matter how hopeless their situation is. A true diehard but obviously in the wrong department or holding the wrong item for their project, I ask, "what kind of project you got going there?" When they tell me, I immediately suggest the department or the proper item to complete it. If it's a project they're unsure of I walk with them throughout the entire store and assist them one on one sometimes spending an hour with one customer.

So what pisses me off? When after an hour of excellent customer service and a cart full of everything they truly need to complete the project they came in get material for, they change their mind and leave the cart in an aisle and walk out with a soda they purchased thru self checkout, frustrating the self checkout cashier in the process. Now I gotta put all this stuff back on the shelves.

And this scenerio happenes many times, every day of the week. Sales associates have to deal with this and rude customers every day and return that rudeness with a smile. Typically one can see a rude shopper a mile away and will tend to distance themselves from them. I on the other hand love the challenge and will go outta my way to assist or take over a customer from a frustrated sales associate.

My mission, to get the customer what they want and get them out with a smile on THEIR face. I try to make their shopping experience at Home Depot a good one. Then I go home and kick the dog

It's tough in retail, and it's not for everyone. But for those who are employed in retail yet don't follow good salesmanship etiquette, they have no place being there. As that old retailing saying goes: The Customer is Always Right.

And at Home Depot, that is a corporate policy that mandates that all employees working there must adhere to. When the situation is wrong for a customer, we call a manager that makes it right. That's the protocol and if it's not followed, make a complaint with your register receipt online.

This feedback system allows Corporate to see how regional stores are doing by using a 1-10 rating system with 10 being excellent service. Also by using this system, you are entered in the chance to win a $5,000 Home Depot gift card.

But you gotta squawk (or praise) to enter.

[Pomai]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

If I look helplessly in your direction, that means please come help me. If I'm standing there and problem-solving, that means leave me alone. I think it's pretty simple.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think part of the (unspoken) reason retailers with self-serve registers keep an assistant stationed around those checkouts is not only to help customers who are having problems, but also to monitor for shrinkage from shoplifters who might be trying to cheat the computer and place unscanned (unaccounted) merchandise into their shopping bag. (Craig just answered this part, but I'll leave it here anyway). Thanks CW!

Unless the lines are really bad, I tend to avoid self-serve registers, particularly because there's no human interaction to it. It feels like you're buying everything from a massive, walk-in vending machine.

Dealing with senior citizens in a retail environment (or even at home!) can be VERY FRUSTRATING. Been there, done that.

[DannyWilliams]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

What does "uh no" mean? That you disregard my annoyance and will swoop in anyway?

If I look helplessly in your direction, that means please come help me. If I'm standing there and problem-solving, that means leave me alone. I think it's pretty simple.

Apparently since I have been on this board you nitpick left and right on what I say here. Now to clarify what I said in Your reply to what I said I would not make a guest that is infront of me an idiot who does not know how to insert their card when making a purchase. They usually push it in front of me assuming that I would take their card. I direct them to our credit card machine which they can freely use. And like I said guests may need some direction here so in their next visit with us they already know what to do.

[Miulang]

Re: Pet Peeve of the Day

Self-service checkout stations were created for two purposes: the MAIN purpose was to reduce the number of cashiers that are required (ha! so instead of having constant interaction with their customers, the cashiers now stand bored or frustrated waiting to help customers who can't figure out how to use the scanners) or for impatient people who don't like standing in long lines.

I rarely use those self-service lines because I want to keep as many cashiers employed as possible at the stores I patronize, and I do like the human interaction with them. One local grocery chain here has a "3's a crowd" policy where if there are more than 3 people standing in a line, they will automatically open up another cashier station. Now that's service with a smile!

Miulang