10 Ways to Not Be a Jerky Shopper During the Holidays
Posted at 5:00 AM Dec 10, 2008
By Bonnie Ruberg
We all do our time in retail. Personally, I spent my senior year of high school slaving away at my local Build-a-Bear Workshop, "where best friends are made." If you're not familiar with Build-a-Bear, it's a chain store you normally find in fancy malls that lets kids -- or adults -- stuff, dress, and name any number of fluffy animals. The idea is actually pretty cute, except that they're an evil capitalist empire. Plus they literally made me tell tiny children that their bears "would love them more" if they bought expensive accessories. Sadness.If there's one thing I took away from my experience in retail though, it's that customers can be real jerks -- especially around the holidays. Tensions are high, malls are crowded, and everyone is full of that specific type of holiday spirit that cries, "I want what I want, and I want it NOW!" Here then are a few tips I picked up at Build-a-Bear, for those who'd prefer not to be total assholes to poor retail employees while doing their holiday shopping. Remember, we've all been there.
10. Don't berate the cashier.
For some reason macho male customers who want to prove to their kids that they're über tough like to treat 18-year-olds who take AP calculus as if they can't use a calculator. Don't speak to cashiers as if they're incompetent before they even open their mouths. Just because the customer is always right doesn't mean the person helping you is always wrong.
9. Don't leave your children with strangers.
One of the more depressing parts of working at Build-a-Bear was the number of parents who'd treat the store like a babysitting service, leaving children to mess around with products they'd never buy while the adults spent three hours in Gap. At 11 p.m. closing would roll around (extended holiday hours) and we'd have to stand outside the gate, holding some poor child's hand, hoping his mom would remember him before shoving her shopping bags in her SUV and heading home.
8. Don't hit on young, female employees.
There's nothing sleazier than being asked out by a man you don't know while making a teddy bear for the 3-year-old daughter he's ignoring. Enough said.
7. Don't buy more than you can carry.Lugging around bags of gifts is bad enough. At Build-a-Bear, we'd package each animal in its own little cardboard house -- which is super cute if you're holding one or two, but when you've got five to carry around the crowded mall... Well, for one you'd need three extra hands, and for two you're nobody's best friend. Ouch, lady, that was my spleen you just rammed into!
6. Don't bring your kid in to spend her pennies on Dec. 24.
Sometimes kids would come into the store with a bag full of change and want to spend it on a teddy bear. On slow mornings, this was adorable. On busy days -- like, oh I don't know, the day before Christmas -- this was a nightmare. The people standing behind a child like that in line definitely aren't filled with goodwill and cheer.
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Comments
While on the topic of Build-A-Bear, I have two additions. First: If being made to go there (by a girlfriend) to buy a particular bear, with particular clothing, particular accessories, don't wait until the person (Me) buys everything only to be called moments after purchase saying, "You didn't buy me that bear did you?" and forcing an immediate return.
Second if your mother is in the store with you, be sure to ask her kindly not to fart while in line. I figured my mother was about this sort of thing.
Posted 12/10/2008 at 08:09:15 AMDo these rules only apply to Build-a-Bear? Was that your only customer service job? Try dealing with the elderly all day.
Posted 12/10/2008 at 11:41:45 AMI worked retail for a very long time in Newport, RI. It's a small town that thrives on tourism. I was always amazed at how many people would respond "Just looking!" to "HI, how are you today?" And if they did stop to talk to me it was usually to get directions. One woman was so daft at following my instructions to "find the water" I finally told her to "pick a dircection and start walking, you're on an island." Ah, good times.
Posted 12/10/2008 at 12:11:18 PMOK, you're not alone in the forced babysitting thing. This used to happen a LOT at the Gamestop I used to work at. Like, to the point that the manager gave us permission to call security if there was a kid alone more than 5 minutes in our store. I loved making those calls...
Re: #5. OK, this is my theory. At the malls near me, we have extremely aggressive makeup kiosk workers, who will approach you, block your path and even grab hold of you to drag you over to their kiosk so they can start their extremely high-pressure sales pitch for their ridiculously overpriced beauty products. I HATE THESE PEOPLE and am going to start carrying pepper spray if they hassle me again. According to friends, these kind of kiosks are all over the country, so I suspect that people who are in the position you were in are suffering from the fallout from the kiosk people.
Posted 12/10/2008 at 12:40:02 PMJohn, I hear you. The kiosk people at my local malls are awful...they stand in front of you and harass you with lotion and nail files and eye masks and neck rolls. It's so hard to be polite when every friggin' time you go to the mall they stop you sand say "Can I ask you a question?"
I've always thought about making a chain of flip signs that I can wear around my neck at the mall. Then, when someone stops me i could flip to the "No, you can't ask me a question" sign or the "I get my cell phone service free through work. Beat that!" sign or the "Get out of my personal space please" sign. Whattya think??? :)
Posted 12/10/2008 at 12:56:18 PMFar too complicated, Joan. Much easier to brandish a canister of pepper spray at them with a meaningful look on your face. *nod* :)
Posted 12/10/2008 at 04:54:08 PMI work in a department store, so here's a few more:
1. Don't biatch about long lines. You are shopping the week before xmas. What do you expect.
2. If you decide you don't want something, put it back where you found it. After watching a lady drop off different things all over my department, and catching her trying to stuff a blouse into a shoebox, I walked up to her and said "I'll put these back where they belong, along with all the other things you left lying around." She didn't know how to react. haha.
3. Don't expect every employee to know the whereabouts of every item in the sales paper. Look for the damn thing yourself first.
That is all I can think of for now.
Posted 12/11/2008 at 06:58:38 AM