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I hate this especially when you’re waiting to pay for something and the cashier is dealing with a phone customer. I wish they would put that person on hold and wait on the people who are already there in the store with their merchandise and money ready instead of dealing with someone who is at home sitting in their easy chair who may or may not ever darken the door of the store. I know it may be considered rude to put them on hold but is it better to keep customers waiting who are ready to complete their sale right now?
Couldn’t agree more. When I worked in retail we always ignored the phone when helping someone at register. Of course, you can’t help it when people do their shopping via phone. What I hated most was the meek boy who ordered books on Japan and weaponry over the phone every week and almost never picked them up. You had to shout and guess in order to coax him to the next word. I wish I could’ve hung up on him until he learned to talk in full sentences.
I have worked for a store where the phone customer was more important than the live customer in the store, which I never understood because we never made money on phone customers. Phone had to be answered within three rings, and corporate actually paid people to phone and ‘test’ the stores on their phone customer service, and we got poor marks for cutting off a phone customer to help a live customer.
As a cashier who is expected to fully satisfy phone customers whether or not there’s people in line at my register, I fully and completely agree with you. It’s one of the rudest things I can imagine, and I feel horrible every time.
Unfortunately, I don’t get to make the decision to just not help the phone customer, or to put them on hold and pray someone else will get the cal, since I know that the likelihood of someone else getting it is slim to none.
At my store, we focus on the people in the store first. Unless somebody comes into the store while we’re in the process of helping the one on the phone–then we handle the phone customer first, and as soon as they’re off the line we handle whoever is in the store first.
I rather like that better, since it makes more sense–guaranteed money, or somebody who might possibly maybe spend some money someday.
I would (politely) tell the phone person that I had a customer at the desk. Then I’d ask for their number so I could call them back as soon as possible. They nearly always obliged, especially if they were regulars because they knew that one of us WOULD in fact call them back. When they balked, and I couldn’t wave over a second clerk, I’d ask the person to hold. Then, every 10-20 seconds I’d check back with them and ask if they still wanted to hold. Sometimes they’d hold for not more than one check-back; sometimes they’d hold for a couple of minutes – and then either I would answer their questions or another clerk would.
Want to say, in 35 years that was one of the better stores I ever worked in.
I had this happen with canned tuna. What brands did we carry? Did we have albacore? Was it packaged in oil or water? Are we SURE that no dolphins were harmed by the nets? (I understand the concern there, and I agree, but how are we supposed to know, even if it’s printed in the bleeping can? Ever heard of false advertising, dear customer?) Never mind, they didn’t want it anyway.
On the other hand, it was a slow day, and it gave me something to do besides straighten the candy aisle and sing show tunes in my head…
I have a customer who calls, probably once a week, to ask the price of 1 of 2 items. Toilet paper, or Dreft detergent. The prices haven’t changed since the last time they called, but the insist on calling and checking on it anyway. And it’s always too expensive for them.
Had one of these just yesterday. Took me about half an hour to get rid of him (I have an online business, so no other customers were waiting) but the odds are that he’ll never place an order. It would have been less frustrating if I had been able to understand more than one out of every 3 words because of his thick accent.
I have an online business too, and my experience is that more often than not, when I get a phone call two or three others try to call at the same time. I usually just ignore the call waiting signal and hope they try calling again later; if I put the first caller on hold I can be sure the second caller won’t let me go and then I’ll likely lose both of them. It’s strange though how I can go for hours without a single call and then all of a sudden three people call me at the same time. Frustrating it is.
My managers have allowed me to hang up on a customer if they’re getting in the way. This was a refreshing change compared to my other retail jobs, since I was never allowed to do that before.
The way they saw it was, we work at a discount liquidated goods store. There is very little chance that we will have any big spenders, and absolutely no possibility that anyone who shops here is anyone important.
I’ve honestly hung up on a couple different customers who have called wanting a description of every camera (or TV or DVD/Blu-Ray Player) we have with a “Sorry, Sir/Ma’am, I have a LOT of customers IN THE STORE looking at me right now and waiting. If you’d like to come down to the store, I’d be glad to show you what we have, but trying to explain all the features of all of our cameras over the phone isn’t going to work. Sorry again.” *CLICK*
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never gotten called back or they called back and asked for a manager, even though whenever I’ve had to do that I EXPECT a callback to happen.
These calls were the bane of the Greenhouse, because for several years it didn’t have a phone. I would have to walk into the store, answer the phone, put them on hold to go back out to the greenhouse, go back into the store and pick up the phone hoping they have not hung up only to call back once I forgot what they was looking for.
Back when I was a store manager I was the only one manning my store one day and was ringing up a multi thousand dollar sale (I sold cameras and this guy said yes to every add on I suggested, he helped me reach my goals for that month) and the phone kept ringing. After the sale the phone rang again, I answered it cheerfully and got chewed out by my DM for ignoring the phone. While I was being chewed out for fifteen minutes, several customers came into the store, waited by the camera case, sighed audibly and left. (and the other line was ringing too)