Comments on: Dearth of a Salesman

By: gbruno

gbruno — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 01:20:08 +0000

The biggest idiot around was teh guy buying a leafblower. Now he can spread noise pollution – sounds like a person screaming, what kind of idiot enjoys that?
He can also spread air pllution – blowers pollute like 20 cars, a filthy smell.
And for what? So he can exert a technological dominance over a bunch of leaves? When he is merely moving them around.
I would join with all the people you encountered in calling you a disgrace

By: cashflagg

cashflagg — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 03:32:37 +0000

Most (if not all) big-box retailers have instituted policies like this, wherein employees are required by corporate law to push essentially worthless discount programs, warranties, service agreements, gift card sales, etc. to everyone who makes a purchase, regardless of the customer’s (lack of) interest. Not only that, but many stores also crack the whip on these tactics by requiring middle managers to constantly observe/critique cashiers, sending in “secret shoppers” to make and file reports on each employee’s level of obedience, and firing workers who don’t feel like uttering the required spiel. (And no, commissions are not one of the motivating factors. That would a) make too much sense and b) possibly allow some people to earn a living wage.) The whole thing is just really stupid and irritates the hell out of everyone involved, but since the idiotic executives who came up with these ideas don’t have to deal with customers walking out on them, telling them to shut up, and/or otherwise reacting with justified anger, it’s likely that this trend will continue until every single chain store consumer switches to on-line purchasing.

By: Nancy Lebovitz

Nancy Lebovitz — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 21:40:10 +0000

In re the two women blocking traffic: If I can, I try to address such situtations when I’m angry enough to be forceful, but not so angry that I’ll encourage the other person to be stubborn.

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 03:09:39 +0000

Yes, I think that’s what’s driving it, but that’s also exactly what I think is a penny-wise, pound-foolish strategy: it turns the experience of shopping at a store into an ordeal when the salesman is under heavy compulsion to push something that most savvy customers know to avoid. So you lose the savvy customer–which Best Buy otherwise has specifically set out to court. There was an interesting piece a while back in the NY Times on this: Best Buy and some other retailers costed it out and found they lost money on the people who only showed up when there was a huge sale advertised, and made money on the people who were there for a specific piece of electronic merchandise that they’d researched and decided on. I suspect that the customer you want most in that sense is often the customer who does not want to be hassled or pushed around by a hard sell strategy.

By: joeo

joeo — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 23:39:39 +0000

Some stores like best buy have, or had, a requirement that salesmen needed to sell extended service agreements on a preset percentage of electronic devices. The salesman were better off not selling the electronic device if they didn’t sell the extended service agreement along with it.

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:03:48 +0000

I don’t even want to be Mr. Burke to them, really.

By: DougLathrop

DougLathrop — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:12:33 +0000

I actually hate it when ANYONE besides family, friends, coworkers, or others with whom I have some sort of standing relationship address me by my first name. I’m not sure where it comes from–first names are the default in California–but when a supermarket checker or the receptionist in a doctor’s office calls me anything but “Mr. Lathrop,” I feel as if they’re treating me like a child. That’s on top of the fact that, at large chain stores at least, this creepy faux-familiarity is nothing more than marketing department crap.

Of course, no one seems capable of pronouncing Lathrop correctly on the first try (it’s LAY-thrup, not LA-thrup or La-THROPP), so I’m screwed either way.

By: DarkoV

DarkoV — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:25:55 +0000

"Their big thing is to greet customers by name when they see your name on a debit card or credit card receipt, which Iâ€m sure some consultant says makes people feel at home" One of the benefits of having a non-American sounding name and especially one that can be mis-pronounced in a seemingly infinite amount of ways is dealing with just such social stupidities. Most times, the retailer will look at the charge card, shake their head, and return it to me with nary a mumble. The brave and the stupid (individuals of the same cloth, basically) will start with good intentions and then shatter into bits on the letter strewn rocks beneath the cliff of my name. A simple "What did you just say?" directed at them will then finish this exchange and no further words need be exchanged. If it's been a particularly straining day, I may sigh just before the greeting is attempted. That's usually enough of a signal to desist with the corporate niceties.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 23:53:15 +0000

I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT when people get my name off my credit card and then address me as “Ms. Goetz.” They never, ever say it properly and hearing my name pronounced wrong by someone who does not know me and has no reason to be nice to me other than the fact that someone higher up told them to makes me really, really angry.

Thanks for letting me join the rant.

By: ogilvie

ogilvie — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 22:19:59 +0000

Hmm. Around here (western Massachusetts), salespeople are quite blasÃ© about memberships, extended warranties, and the like. They go through the motions until you ask them to stop, but they don’t really care. Maybe they don’t get a commission for it.

Your last paragraph brings up one of my own pet peeves, though: strangers who address me by my first name, either because they have my credit card, or because they are calling to try to get me to donate to their charity. It’s sometimes creepy, and it’s always rude. Frankly, having just spent a year in France, I occasionally think it would be a good idea if we revived the distinction between formal and informal second person pronouns in English. I used to think that being on a first-name basis was our sociolinguistic equivalent, but clearly that’s no longer the case.

My, I am sounding curmudgeonly!