Saturday, September 4, 2010
Vague Sentences
For those who have work at a retail store, have you ever had those customers that don't know what they're looking for and expect you to be able to find it for them? That seems to happen to me every week. Some customers would try to explain a certain item but not be able to give me enough information for me to help them. For example, this lady asks me to find a toy for her child's birthday. I am obligated to ask her how old and what gender her child is. She tells me that her daughter is turning five and likes dolls. Unfortunately, she does not know what kind of doll she interested in. So I ask her, "Does she like Barbie dolls? Or does she like any of the Disney Princesses?" Her response was, "I'm not sure. I just know she likes dolls." I thought to myself, "That does not help me at all." Without any other detail, I probably spent a good half hour trying to find something to appease her. In the end, after looking through numerous aisles of girls merchandise, she ended up buying one Barbie that I showed her in the beginning. Because of her vague description, I feel like I wasted time looking for something that was in front of us.
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Heyyy Solephisticated29! I can totally relate to what you're talking about. I use to work at the Journeys shoe store where people would come in all the time asking questions where they would expect me to know the answer too. Vague answers such as, "I'm looking for a red shoe." The answer is helpful but at the same time, very broad. There are many different shoes in Journeys that are red (Vans, Converse, D.C.)
ReplyDeleteIt sucks that you wasted so much time helping a customer like that out. The lady shouldn't be asking a random stranger (even if an associate of the store) to pick out a gift for their child. The parent should pick out the gift because they know more about their child then you would.
Unfortunately, when working with the public, customer service is your priority. I too worked in a retail store. I remember trying to please everyone and it simply did not always work.
ReplyDeleteThe public will look at an associate and assume they have all the answers. I recently went to a store looking for a birthday gift. I had no idea of what I was going to purchase. Sadly, I too approached someone in the hopes of them knowing exactly what I needed. They were awesome, they knew their products and gave me what I was looking for, though I didn't even know what that was.
I share your frustration. A few years back I worked as an on-call sales associate at Macy’s in the handbags department and experienced similar situations with customers. I realized that sometimes we cannot explain what we want, because we truly do not know ourselves.
ReplyDeleteChristmas season was the worst – as you might imagine. A good number of men who were shopping for their wives, girlfriends, mothers and sisters were in a constant state of confusion with only a few small details to help aid them in their search. “She told me she wanted a black purse” they would say. To which I would usually jokingly reply, “Well, that narrows it down”. Asking additional criteria such as price limit, favorite style, preferred designer, fabric or leather, was extremely helpful in narrowing the search and clarifying the statement. Speakers do not always make vague statements with the intention of being vague. Sometimes they unconsciously apply a fixed value to the object of their statement.