Salespeople at the Mall

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I am of the opposite take. I feel that, as a customer, I am the most important person there. It should be as if I were a king that had just strolled in. I don't wish them to talk to me... just to try to catch my eye to see if they have permission to approach.......OK..I am kidding.

I hate shopping with a passion. I do almost all of my shopping on line. However, when I must go shopping, I really expect them to watch me for signals that I do not wished to be talked to. Don't get me wrong. I know they have a job to do. I really do appreciate them approaching me, as the customer, but I look at them and gently shake my head no, while shutting my eyes. This should be a universal sign for no. Should they proceed forward, I will then put out a hand, signally them no (in a stop motion), and say "No thank you". I have never had a problem before beyond this. I research the product I am shopping for before hand. I know what I want and the going price for it. If it is a fair price, I buy it. I am always cordial, although my wife calls it curt...I have never detected hurt feelings from the clerks.

Now, had I been wearing headphones, I would not have removed them. My reaction would have been the same as the above.

I hear ya; I used to work for Suncoast, and we pretty much had to do the exact same thing. What made it even more fun was--at checkout--I had to offer like 16 different add-ons to the customer.

Here's your scenario: I'm an Autistic guy with lousy people skills working in very Anti-Capitalist NJ who has to sell add-ons on top of "mall-priced" videos/DVDs to customers.

I surprisingly did quite well all things considered; but it certainly didn't help that I was in a severe depression with virtually no self-confidence at the time; and my clueless boss kept trying to prop me up by telling me all my positive traits...and she somehow missed all of them and told me things that weren't even true...

Its their job.

Also in places that sell electronics its how they get their comission. It doesn't piss me off, if anything I feel sorry for them because of how many people are rude to them.

It does annoy when people try to force flyers down my throat on the street. I usually walk apart so they wont attempt to give me one.

Oh, I didn't get commission for it. The perk then, you ask? It's still my favorite job that I've ever held; I had so much fun working at a store where I could chat about movies and action figures, then on my break buy fast food, head downstairs to KB, and Sam Goody, and whatever else I wanted to do.

I got a pretty nice discount too...not to mention first dibs on most toys we got in

i am not rude to them. i just want to prevent any wasted time.

but if i am buying something like a TV, i do want people to come and ask me what i want.
in that circumstance, i get annoyed if i am left to wander around looking for a salesperson.

we have an electronics retailer in australia called "dick smith electronics", and i was asked to leave one of those shops about 2 years ago when i wanted to buy some printer cartridges. the printer cartridges are not on display, and a salesperson must go into a back store room to fetch them for me.
there were no salespeople around, and i stood there and waited for what seemed like 5 minutes, and then i became irritable.

i approached the check out counter and said "i want some printer ink cartridges, and i can see no one around to ask".
she said "if you just wait, i am sure someone will help you soon"
i walked around the entire store for another 2 minutes, and i eventually saw a salesman talking to a lady, and i asked him for some ink cartridges and he said "i'll be with you in just a few minutes mate", so i stepped back a few paces and folded my arms and waited.
after a few minutes, he was still not done with her, and i got annoyed more and i went off to see if there were any more salesmen, and there were none, and when i went back to where he was he was gone!

the bastard! so i went back to the counter and i said "sorry is there some sort of ticketing machine where i have to get a number so i will be served sometime here? or should i ring and make an appointment to be served?"

she told me to be patient, and i said that i had been there for ten whole minutes, and it was a barren wasteland and i could not get service.

then, unexpectedly from behind, a security person for the shopping complex took my elbow in his hand and i reefed it away from his grip, and he said "sir, i think you'd better leave", and i went beserk. i have not been there again (macquarie center) because i am sure they are on the look out for me now
so the point of this post is that i do not shun all people who approach me.

i did not mean to make out that i dislike people attending me. i just meant that if i am shopping for things that i can get off a shelf, then i need no assistance, but some other times i do need assistance.

i guess this post is also caused by hale_bopp who made me think more clearly about who i shun and who i do not, and whether it is sad that people who are just doing their jobs get rudely refuted by me.

whatever. it is a hard world out there in shopping land.

I relize that it's required for them to do, but at the same time ti bothers me even when they ask if I need help walkin into a store. I would prefer them to just leave me be unless I seek them out for help -.- I'm fully capible of determining whether or not I need help.

That said, if I do need them, I do not hesitate to find someone to help. I've been with plenty of people shopping who don't want to o ask for help when they need it. I find that equally frusturating.

In many stores, the cashier would have called for someone to help you when you talked to her. I would have been frustrated in that situation too. I think part of it is the inefficiency of the store's system for dealing with customers. People often dislike the "take a number system" but I think it is a good one.

Speaking of efficient systems for dealing with customers, I wish all lines for check out used a single line instead of guessing which line will be reasonably quick.

Personally, I think the majority of businesses are inefficiently run.

More than one way to see this.

In the USA, customer service is a big deal. Not asking or offering assistance would be seen as rude and a chance to lose a customer. A simple "no thank you" does the job for the decent sales people. In other nations, their attitude is to offer you nothing unless you ask for it, and many Americans find it difficult to deal with that as not being rude.

i like the systems where you take a ticket with a number on it if it works properly.
unfortunately they are also a source of irritation for me many times.

at the RTA, they have a system where you press a button and get a ticket with a number on it.
example: when i went to renew my drivers licence in february, i got a ticket that said "94", and i sat down.
there was nothing to read there, and i went in without any reading material, so i could not take my eyes off the led display that had the number of the currently served person on it.

it was at 87, and after about one minute, it said "88". then after another minute it said "89".
then after another minute it was still on "89", and i started to become impatient as i was used to the time intervals between number changes by that time. after another 2 minutes, it still said "89" and i looked along the line of people who were being served to see who was the snag in the current.
(there were 4 attendants and they were dealing with different aspects of business. one was dealing with licensing and one with registration and one with company vehicles etc. i did not know which teller was dealing with what aspect, and the snag occurs because there is only one teller dealing with licencing, and i did not know which teller was dealing with licensing until i traced the smaller numbers above the teller to see the number i was looking for)

anyway, i saw a person arguing about the fact they did not have a passport with them, and i became furious that they were holding me up, but i sat there and held my peace.
after another minute, i went to the counter where the person was still arguing and i said to the attendant that i should not be made to wait for that person who was unprepared.
i waved my ticket at the attendant and said i would be a geriatric by the time my number came up, and he told me to sit back down so i did.
then after another minute i went to the person who was arguing and told him that he should step aside and let me perform my 5 minute transaction rather than holding me up. again i was told to sit down because it was not possible to ring my number up until all the previous ones were completed.

anyway, my point is that if they were not constrained to the ticket system, they could have told that clown to wait while they served the "easy to deal with people" to clear the backlog.

it was the persons fault for being unprepared, not my fault. why should i waste time waiting for a feral baboon who rants his obstinate gibberish and causes a backlog?

so i went and sat down again, but i was sizzling with contempt, and it was not fair.

after the person was dealt with....the next number that came up was "59" and i got up and scrunched my ticket up and threw it at the counter and left in disgust.
i had to leave or else i would have gotten into trouble because i could not think of any way to act that was not "inappropriate".
i spent more than 20 minutes waiting that day for nothing.

a few days later i went back and i had to take a person i knew who could pacify me if it happened again.
ticketing systems are not always an efficient way of processing peoples requirements.


alas, again i am prone to minor meltdowns in a single cue system.

they usually have one cashier at service stations (gas stations), and i may be standing 4 people back in the queue, and the first 2 people pay cash, and they get out of the way quickly.

invariably, the person in front of me uses a credit card, and it is a painfully frustrating process to wait behind. i can scarcely prevent myself from muttering "jeezus christ!! !" when they are told what they owe, and to my horror, they have not even got their wallet out yet!.

it is dumbfounding to witness a person with a vacant expression on their face being told "that's $20.00 thanks", and they look like they think "huh? derrrr oh ok", then they search their pockets for their wallet, and they slowly pull their wallet out and fumble with it to open it.

i am already exasperated to the extreme, and i think they are going to pull cash out, but they pull a credit card out and i think "you bastard sh*t!! you do not even have your own damned money!! !". then they become confused about how to swipe their card, and then they get rejected because their credit is exhausted.
"this must be a dream" i think, and they have already put their wallet away, and they search their pockets to find it again, and they pull out another credit card.

sometimes i burst out with "c'mon!! c'mon!! c'mon!! c'mon!! c'mon!!", and then the person and the cashier stop and slowly turn to look at me, and i wave my hands and shake my head as if to say "just ignore me ok and get moving!"

then the person turns back to attend to their purchase of gas, and i am so enraged that it seems like it is all happening in extreme slow motion.
they slowly pick up the pen and sign the docket, and the cashier slowly looks at the signature, and they seem to have moronic expressions on their faces.
the person got $20 worth of petrol, and they should know exactly what they owe, and they should have their payment method ready as soon as they approach the counter, but they are morons and they waste my time i should be using to relax with.

then when the person walks away, i walk forward and slap a $50 note on the counter (if i got $50 worth of petrol) and say "pump 6 thanks! seeya!!" and walk out within the space of 2 seconds.

god what a rant. sorry. it is also off topic.

if there's one thing I notice about people using their credit cards, they barely even try to properly sign their names on the slip; they almost just put an "x" on the line. I find it overly pitiful.

I agree. But I have to be in a really good head space, to smile spontaneously and say, "I'll let you know if I need help."



I am also so grateful to have a real person answer the phone, that I don't mind the big phony lead in, so much! Often there is a computerized menu that forces you to sit through a bunch of choices you don't want, and then you still have to wait a long time to speak to someone, anyway!

You sound a lot like me, b9! Once I had visited a supermarket. I had someone waiting for me outside, parked in an illegal zone, because I had only to buy one thing, and they didn't want to park the car. There were only 2 cashiers on duty, so I got into line with my one thing, and there was this guy ahead of me with a large quantity of groceries. I sighed inwardly, but was patient. After the cashier said the total amount owed, this guy started fumbling about for some method of payment. He finally proffered a credit card. The damned thing was maxed out, so he fumed a bit, and then rushed out of the store, leaving the bagged groceries.

I asked the clerk if he could just void the sale, and ring up my one item? He shook his head and said that would be rude, because the person with the bad credit card might return. I said, so what? You can then just ring him up again! I've got somebody waiting for me outside. But he refused, so I left. I figured, how is it my problem, that this person went shopping before checking if he had sufficient funds to pay? Why should I be inconvenienced? I have zero tolerance for such stupidity.

I simply march on, ignoring them. I dislike clipboards intensely.

On the rare occasions when they ask me if I have a few moments to spare, I respond with a cheerful but emphatic 'no!' which does the trick.

I do find them annoying, and although they are only trying to help, if I actually needed help I myself would walk up to them.

I can always find one when I already know what I'm looking for...its when I don't know where the item I am looking for is, then I can never find them