It can be taught

After reading your comments about my local JoAnn Fabrics store experience compared to other JoAnn Fabric's experiences, (and unfortunately they don't sound all that different) I was thinking about customer service (yes, again - it's important, dammit, although at times I feel like I'm one of the few thinking this!) or in most cases - the utter lack of it. Not necessarily just JoAnn Fabrics, but any store where the public brings themselves to shop. What in the world is so freaking hard about training your employees to do things the correct way? And there's really no gray areas here - there's the correct way and the wrong way. I really don't believe it is that hard to find someone with a brain who can understand basic direction and follow thru on that direction.

I used to work for JoAnn Fabrics as an employee in their fabric store (this is back when it was actually a fabric store and not so much of the dollar store crap that they love to jam down the middle of every aisle now). It was a great job. Left on great terms with everyone at my store and went back often after quitting. Only left because I needed a full time job, with full time pay and benefits. I used to seriously stalk the manager starting on or around the day after the strip mall was built and the "open" sign was in the window. She told me to come back and fill out an application as soon as I turned 16. My birthday rolled around and I was in the store soon after that. My application was approved and I was hired within the week.

Now, looking back, I can clearly see what a gem the manager of that store was. I hope they were paying her well. I have a feeling it was slightly more than the $3.35 an hour they were paying me. And don't I feel old now (but seriously, I'm 26 in my head!). The minimum wage really was $3.35 -- and best of all, I was completely happy to have it - that and a sweet 15% off of all the fabric that paycheck could cover.

Back to the manager, I've since forgotten what her name was, but I do remember she was from Huntsville, Alabama cause the movie Space Camp had just come out and took place in Huntsville, AL! And, no, that had nothing to do with this post, but was to show my mom that I hade not killed off all the brain cells! :)

Anyhoo - this manager, was awesome. (By the way, she was not a fluke, because I've had a retail job since that first one and there was another woman manager who taught us the same basic/common sense sort of stuff.) She had very clear instructions about exactly how things would be done. They are only common sense, but unfortunately when you're in stores these days it's painfully obvious that common sense has left the building. Here were some of her rules mixed in with today's observances:

1. When a customer walks in the door, stop what you are doing to say hello and ask if they need any help. If you're already with a customer, you can still greet them. We had a rather large theft problem at one time at our store, so greeting people was our way of letting them know that we knew they were there - that and the obnoxious bell on the front door!

2. When there was no one in the store, we could have our normal conversations with each other as we did the other work that needed to be done, but the minute a customer walked in we stopped our personal conversations immediately. Now, whenever I go in a store, it bugs the crap out of me when I have to listen to two twits and their not-so-witty-banter as they scream at each other across a store about what they did last night and who they caught their boyfriend with, blah, blah, blah. Totally unprofessional, not to mention moronic.

3. Cell phones were a non issue when I worked retail in 1986, but they are an issue now. I do not want my transaction interrupted so you can talk to your friends while you are ringing me up. You do not pay enough attention on your best day, much less when you have a phone near your ear. One girl actually stopped ringing me up at the grocery store so she could answer a text she just received. Keep your cell phone in the back of the store with your purse, not in your pocket. You are not that important and the calls/texts you will be getting during your 4 hour shift are not that important either - trust me on this.

4. Dress like a human. Look professional. Of course, this means whatever is appropriate for the environment you are working in, but no one wants to see any part of your butt and if you have to hold on to the back of your pants to bend over, either your pants are too low or your shirt is too short! Actually the manager-type person at my local JoAnn fabrics looked like she was wearing her pajamas a month or so ago. Messed up hair, sweat pants, non-matching sweat shirt and shoes that could have easily been slippers. EWE! I have a tattoo also, but I do not want to see your ripped off sleeveless shirted arm full of skulls and naked women. I also do not want to look at your face/nose/ear/eyebrow/lip and tongue full of earrings. Go be an individual on your own time, not at work.

5. Stop smacking your gum around and put down your greasy fast food (and wipe your hands off!) before you touch my stuff. That happened at the scrapbook store - greasy fingerprints on each and every single sheet of paper she touched as she rang it up.

6. When I worked for the fabric store, we never had full carts of merchandise just sitting in the aisles. We put it away as it came in. Yesterday, I had to dig (to get the good stuff of course) thru a towering cart full of fabric still in the plastic bags. Hard to sell this way and it was parked directly in front of 2/3 of the thread display. That's was super convenient for the dozen or so people trying to get anywhere near the thread. At this particular store carts in many aisles of unstocked merchandise is the complete norm, not a sign of a busy day.

7. Know and understand your merchant agreements. This goes for the cashiers at JoAnn's and Kohls especially. I am paying with a Visa card. Someone who trained you should have explained to you Visa's take on forcing me to show you my id when making a purchase using my trusty Visa card. Here's what Visa says (from their Rules for Merchants)... Visa believes merchants should not ask for ID as part of their regular card acceptance procedures therefore, merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to provide ID. It's laughable that I can go to Best Buy and drop far more than the 1/2 yard of material is going to cost, but you think it is your god given right to scrutinize my driver's license for some fabric and a spool of thread.

7b. By the way, if you ever want to report a retailer to Visa for this or other violations you can contact them here:

Visa Phone Number: 1-800-VISA-911
(International: 1-410-581-9994)
Or call the number on the back of your card

Mailing Address: Visa U.S.A. Inc.
P.O. Box 194607
San Francisco, California 94119-4607

Online: Your card issuer's website may let you send them complaints about merchant violations and start a dispute if your were charged a fee to use your card.

I have heard that Visa takes these violations seriously and will contact the merchant.

8. Do not talk about, bitch about or make fun of customers that have just left while other customers are still in the store. You never know who you are talking in front of and it's very unprofessional.

9. This one might be my biggest freaking pet peeve of all. After I have paid and you are handing me the receipt, we should now both be hearing you saying "Thank you". It's not freaking rocket science. I paid, I supported your store, I probably had to endure your weekend horror story and now I'm leaving, this is the part where you thank me for being a customer of your employer so that I feel appreciated and might possibly come back again to spend more money that goes towards paying your ungrateful ass. I have just said thank you to you because you handed me a receipt and my bag. The very least you can do is say thank you to me for shopping in your store.

Although, sadly somewhat more expected, the Manager at the Dollar General yesterday (the villagers begged me to take them into the filthy hole as we were right next to it) had the reply of "yeah" and an eye roll when I said thank you as he handed me the receipt. Yeah?? What the hell kind of response is "yeah"? Ugh.

See - customer service is basically dead and buried, but the good news is that it can be taught and learned. And for the record, I can be hired to teach it. :)