Bill and Ted's Excellent Furniture Purchase
Keanu Reeves waited on me at Office Depot on Saturday.
I went to buy some furniture for my office in the new house. Once I made my selections, I stood around in the furniture area looking like I needed help for about 10 minutes. No help came, so I asked someone for help. She, in turn, got on her radio and asked for help helping me.
Eventually Keanu showed up. Okay, so it wasn't Keanu. But this guy had the same vacant look and a similar hair-do.
I told him which pieces I wanted to buy and then he disappeared to get them from the back.
When I returned, I caught him out of the corner of my eye. I was looking at a magazine killing time and heard him saying, "Hey dude."
I kept flipping through my magazine.
"Hey dude," I heard him say again.
I finally realized that he was talking to me. It took me a while to catch on, though, because in all my years in the business world, I've never had someone use "Hey dude" to get my attention.
Keanu escorted me to the register, where I was helped by a 19 year old girl who, like her male counterpart, hadn't had much experience in the customer service arena.
I could write an entirely different post on my experience writing a (gasp!) check, but for now let's wrap things up with what I feel could be some good pointers for these young Office Depot folks:
1) Your customer is "Sir" or "Ma'am". If you happen to know their last name, you can call them Mr. (Last Name). That's it. Your customer - not your store manager or district manager - is your boss. As such, your customer should be given the respect due to a boss.
2) Try staffing the areas with the big-ticket items. The school supplies and mark-down items had plenty of coverage while I was there. I spent 30 minutes in the store and paid $700 for my order. With a little staffing in the furniture area, I could have picked the stuff, had it brought out from the back and paid in about 15 minutes. That would have freed up an additional 15 minutes for Keanu to put the hard sell on someone looking at a 99-cent spiral notebook.
3) Explain the check verification process to your customer. The girl at the register took my check, scanned it in the register, and then called someone on the phone and gave them my name, address, checking account and routing number, and driver's license number. All of this happened in earshot of anyone standing at or near the register. I had her explain to me why she needed all that information, and it makes perfect sense. But it's probably best to do it discreetly for the customer's protection.
Okay. I'm off my soapbox for now.
I went to buy some furniture for my office in the new house. Once I made my selections, I stood around in the furniture area looking like I needed help for about 10 minutes. No help came, so I asked someone for help. She, in turn, got on her radio and asked for help helping me.
Eventually Keanu showed up. Okay, so it wasn't Keanu. But this guy had the same vacant look and a similar hair-do.
I told him which pieces I wanted to buy and then he disappeared to get them from the back.
When I returned, I caught him out of the corner of my eye. I was looking at a magazine killing time and heard him saying, "Hey dude."
I kept flipping through my magazine.
"Hey dude," I heard him say again.
I finally realized that he was talking to me. It took me a while to catch on, though, because in all my years in the business world, I've never had someone use "Hey dude" to get my attention.
Keanu escorted me to the register, where I was helped by a 19 year old girl who, like her male counterpart, hadn't had much experience in the customer service arena.
I could write an entirely different post on my experience writing a (gasp!) check, but for now let's wrap things up with what I feel could be some good pointers for these young Office Depot folks:
1) Your customer is "Sir" or "Ma'am". If you happen to know their last name, you can call them Mr. (Last Name). That's it. Your customer - not your store manager or district manager - is your boss. As such, your customer should be given the respect due to a boss.
2) Try staffing the areas with the big-ticket items. The school supplies and mark-down items had plenty of coverage while I was there. I spent 30 minutes in the store and paid $700 for my order. With a little staffing in the furniture area, I could have picked the stuff, had it brought out from the back and paid in about 15 minutes. That would have freed up an additional 15 minutes for Keanu to put the hard sell on someone looking at a 99-cent spiral notebook.
3) Explain the check verification process to your customer. The girl at the register took my check, scanned it in the register, and then called someone on the phone and gave them my name, address, checking account and routing number, and driver's license number. All of this happened in earshot of anyone standing at or near the register. I had her explain to me why she needed all that information, and it makes perfect sense. But it's probably best to do it discreetly for the customer's protection.
Okay. I'm off my soapbox for now.
posted by Leighton @ My Best Investments at
6:06 PM
9 Comments:
Oh, MBI, do I feel your pain!! I've had a few of these adventures myself, and since I am in a customer service position, I usually ask to speak to a store manager and give them a "grade card" on their staff.
Glad you were able to buy what you wanted. Are you going to post pics once the office is set up???
You should call or write the manager at that store to tell them about it. I've found that they can't fix what they don't realize is broken. (And before you say it, yes, the manager should be aware of it, but maybe that's part of what is broken too.)
As a manager, I appreciated when customers gave me defined feedback about what went wrong, what went right and how we could improve.
The female equivalent - which has happened to me - "HEY LADY!". I feel like I've been waited on by Jerry Lewis.
You should have told him to "be excellent to one another"--maybe he would have understood that! yuck.
Oh dude! I feel your pain.
Of course, after living in Southern California for 10 years, I also feel "dude" is both a term of respect and endearment.
"Hey Pastor Dude, can you hang out for 10 seconds? I have a question."
Maybe you were somehow transported to an Office Depot in San Diego?
Nice post, dude. But at least you get a sweet new office.
I'd let the store know too.
We've had that whole check thing happen too. Nothing comforts you more than an unproffessional young person hop on the phone and spill all your personal info loudly. We've been watching that account like a hawk.
Dude, I hope your office is EXCELLENT!
I'd like to add the term "Hon" to your list. I have to bite my tongue when little high school or college girls at my favorite coffee shop call me "Hon". It is not acceptable, IMO, to refer to someone who is older than you are as "Hon". Call me crazy.
I know what you mean! :-( They really need to have training sessions for these people.
And the check thing! Oh my word.
My sister actually got onto to someone at Target, because they didn't ask for her ID. She even had it written on her credit card (where the name should go) to ASK FOR PHOTO ID. Amazing.
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