Comment Re:(OT) After working in retail ... (Score 1) 1754
You think that, but that's the illusion that so many complaining customers fall into. As an individual, your opinion of the store is next to worthless. Statistically, the amount of money you spend at a store is insignificant. And if 1 customer is that insignificant, what difference will 10 or 50 make? The effectiveness of your storytelling will decline 100 fold each time someone passes it on -- how many people do you think you'll sway? You'd be lucky if telling a -direct- acquaintance even had an effect.
The reality is that stores will increase their profitability by ridding themselves of the chronic complainers. In the end, the complainers are seen as immature reactionaries anyway, and the public's memory for things like this is much less than the 6 months you get out of, say, a major political event.
As an individual, you don't matter to the store. Retail workers and even management -pray- that you never show up again, and they're happy when you don't, because then they can get back to being productive.
Like most things having to do with money, it's the long-term that matters. Complainers consistently think in a short-term time frame, and convince themselves that this 100x cost you talk about is effectual. And yet I'm willing to bet that any store you've complained to didn't go out of business, or much less suffer an even notable decline in profits, because of your statement.
Now, you're probably thinking that the time you spend complaining is costing the company money, and therefore they should acquiesce to your complaints. But that's not true, either. Assume the typical complaint lasts 30 minutes. How is company money spent any differently in terms of salaries, overhead, etc., servicing you, the complaining customer, than it would be making a sale? Not nearly as much as you'd think. For crying out loud, companys spend tens of thousands of dollars on videos and literature that train employees on how to deal with customers like you. I've never seen one that said capitulating to a complaining customer saved the company money. They probably exist, but I'd question the competence of any manager that stood behind such rhetoric.
And finally, for the sake of all the people standing behind you, watching you complain, who spend their delay rolling their eyes and concocting daydreams about how good your head would look on the end of a pike, be considerate and look at it from a philosophical standpoint. Shit happens. Deal with it.
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Jeff S.
The reality is that stores will increase their profitability by ridding themselves of the chronic complainers. In the end, the complainers are seen as immature reactionaries anyway, and the public's memory for things like this is much less than the 6 months you get out of, say, a major political event.
As an individual, you don't matter to the store. Retail workers and even management -pray- that you never show up again, and they're happy when you don't, because then they can get back to being productive.
Like most things having to do with money, it's the long-term that matters. Complainers consistently think in a short-term time frame, and convince themselves that this 100x cost you talk about is effectual. And yet I'm willing to bet that any store you've complained to didn't go out of business, or much less suffer an even notable decline in profits, because of your statement.
Now, you're probably thinking that the time you spend complaining is costing the company money, and therefore they should acquiesce to your complaints. But that's not true, either. Assume the typical complaint lasts 30 minutes. How is company money spent any differently in terms of salaries, overhead, etc., servicing you, the complaining customer, than it would be making a sale? Not nearly as much as you'd think. For crying out loud, companys spend tens of thousands of dollars on videos and literature that train employees on how to deal with customers like you. I've never seen one that said capitulating to a complaining customer saved the company money. They probably exist, but I'd question the competence of any manager that stood behind such rhetoric.
And finally, for the sake of all the people standing behind you, watching you complain, who spend their delay rolling their eyes and concocting daydreams about how good your head would look on the end of a pike, be considerate and look at it from a philosophical standpoint. Shit happens. Deal with it.
--
Jeff S.
