Yep. I do retail. That means I get to serve the public. 90% of the time, I love it. It’s different everyday and it’s a challenge. It’s also extremely rewarding to know you have loyal customers (some for 9+ years). They followed me from the Knoxville store to the Oak Ridge store. It’s kinda neat.
Yesterday (most of this week, actually) was one of those days that all the stoopid people were out. I don’t know if it’s a high-pressure system coming through…or the weather change. Every other person that needed assistance yesterday was “having a bad day”… and, evidently, it was all my fault.
example #1 - phone call
lady: “do you have any parrots in stock”
me: “no.. we don’t sell parrots”
lady: “well…that’s not true, I bought one this week”
me: ”are you sure it was this store? the biggest bird I sell is a parakeet.”
lady: ”not the bird. a PARROT F-I-S-H”
me: ”oh..sorry. I misunderstood. You just said parrot”
lady: “well, i’m talking about the F I S H”
me: “yes. we have those” …
lady: “that’s what I thought…i’ll be down later (click)”
example #2
“this instant fence is marked for $329.. is that correct?”
“yes. it is… ”
“weeelll.. on your website, your selling it for $299…why is it more expensive in the store?”
“our website doesn’t have items for sell on it…just information about our stores”
“this is PxTxMaRT..right?
“no, maam…this is PetSuppliesPlus”
“I guess I need to go there then… (eyes rolling– and out the door)”
(I could have told her that the prices on their website are typically NOT the same as they are in the store, either….but she didn’t give me the chance… hope her drive to Turkey Creek was eventful)
That was just yesterday. On Friday, we had two classes from the OR Pre-school come to the store for a field-trip. They’ve been learning about pets this week. It was a total of 16 kiddos, broken into two groups with at least four adults tagging along. I had staff giving the tours and show-and-tell with the critters. I was running the store. There were probably a total of 30 people in a 12,000 sq ft store…with 7 aisles and 4 rooms.
A little lady (late 70’s) was checking out at the register and said “oh- you’re the manager… you all shouldn’t be doing this during business hours. It’s very distracting and loud in here. I’ve had a terrible experience in here today.”
She was the only one who fussed. All my other customers who shopped during the 2 hour visit were smiling and enjoying the immense excitement flowing through the store. It was a happy morning around here. And the SMILES… it was awesome.
I apologized to the angry little lady. But OMG…people need to get over themselves.
We waved at her exit. hee.
