Sunday 5 May 2013

Getting and Missing the Point.

Finally! Somebody has conducted a poll which indicates that 80% of shoppers are put off by having staff approach them with ‘may I help you,’ or some such robotic phrase. Hardly a surprise, is it? I wrote a blog post about it once.

The man who runs the polling organisation said that retail managers should take note of this and stop instructing their staff to indulge in a practice which merely irritates shoppers. Well, of course they should. But then the-man-who-runs-the-polling-organisation seems to miss the point:

He says that a more open statement like ‘feel free to ask if you need any help’ would be much better. No it wouldn’t. It would relieve the shopper of the pressure to say ‘no,’ but it implies the presumption that the shopper wouldn’t have the nous or the nerve or whatever to seek help or information, and that’s an insult. If anything, it’s worse. What we want is to be left alone. Simple.

You know, I do love that old saying we have in Britain:

‘If all else fails, try management.’

2 comments:

Madeline said...

The people who work in stores in the U.S. are much more aggressive than those in the U.K. That was one of the pleasant surprises of living in England - I could go into a store and not be hounded!

My mom dislikes it when waiters or people in stores read her name on her credit card and then call her by her first name. It's just weird.

JJ said...

Well, the relationship between sales assistant and customer is a bit of a hobby horse of mine. Among other things, I dislike being called 'sir.' It smacks of subservience. I worked in shops in my teens, and I never called anybody 'sir' or 'madam.' There's no need; it's perfectly possible to be polite and helpful without sinking into fake subservience.

So your mother has a name? I assumed her credit card would be printed with 'Madeline's Mom. AKA Mrs K. Get it right, buster, or my corgi will bite your goddam ass!'

I think I'm indulging a flight of fancy here, but my reverence has been crushed so I may be excused.

I'm still watching your Lady Gaga video, you know. I love it. She has such strong and expressive eyes. And that scene with the straightjacket... well... Makes me want to go and biff the bounders. It does.