Is this the easest way to lose customers, or am I just having a really bad week!

[mhall]

The norm in today's society is to be served in retail shops regardless of what you have on your ear. Whether that's rude or not is besides the point.

& your comparison to a dentist, doctor, bank manager, isn't even worth responding to.

Sorry, that is certainly NOT the norm in our shops. The instruction given to our staff (re-inforced after this thread) is to politely say "I'll wait till you finish your call" and to move on to the next customer. Our staff are not there to be abused, ignored or treated like second class citizens. As I have said countless times, good customers are everywhere, good staff are like gold dust.

Mind you, in this weather, it would be nice to have a queue at all !

 

[Deleted member 138423]

Sorry, that is certainly NOT the norm in our shops. The instruction given to our staff (re-inforced after this thread) is to politely say "I'll wait till you finish your call" and to move on to the next customer. Our staff are not there to be abused, ignored or treated like second class citizens. As I have said countless times, good customers are everywhere, good staff are like gold dust.

Mind you, in this weather, it would be nice to have a queue at all !

Nothing wrong with politely saying what your staff say, but to ignore and then to point to a sign is!

 

[Successful Selling]

Interesting stuff!

I've just read the all the posts right from the start again and the biggest debate seems to be around whether me talking on the phone constitutes as rude or bad manners.

I've been talking to my girlfriend over the weekend about this and as she pointed out; would I expect to be served if I walked in the shop and demanded a sandwich by shouting, swearing and threatening the staff? Of course I wouldn't (nor would I serve someone who was doing this if I was working there). Therefore in my opinion, the issue is more about what constitutes politeness, respect for others and good manners?

It's clear some people's views on this differ dramatically to others. I personally don't consider someone talking on the phone as rude. (I would have considered it rude 10 years ago though!) However, how tolerant I am regarding this would also differ greatly depending on who it was. If a friend was on the phone while i was trying to talk to them, sod 'em - they miss out on whatever I'm talking about. If it was a customer, the story is totally different. I worked in sales for most of my life and over the years definitely suffered fools less. That included customers. However, how I still understand how tolerant I was largely depended on how close I was to hitting my targets. Sometimes I just had to bite my tongue and take the cr*p knowing I was going to make some good money from it. Does that mean we all should take this attitude? Of course not and I totally understand if some people don't take this approach!
Again, it comes down to how much they value my custom and their profits. I totally agree with the shop sticking to their principles, I really do. The thing that concerns me relate to; 1. How many customers do they lose per year by taking this stance. 2. If they are that ridged with something like this, what other policies and procedures do they have which could (potentially) be detrimental to their future trading.

One interesting side point regarding manners is the amount of people who talk about 'the way they were brought up' or 'what their parents taught them'. I think 99.9% of people were taught what's acceptable/unacceptable by our elders or guardians etc. However the question I have here is; Did your parents run their own successful business? Because if not, your argument doesn't hold. I'm not suggesting people who have their own businesses should forget where they have come from or ignore basic manners, but my parents drilled lots of things into my head ("By the time you grow up you will need to speak fluent French otherwise you won't be able to get a job" and "You really need to work for the same company for the rest of your life otherwise you won't have a decent pension" are two of them) which from a business point of view I now disagree with or have problems accepting. I'm not suggesting it was bad advice, it just wasn't relevant to me running a business. I'm sure some of us were taught some good business manners from our parents, I just see this argument as an exception as appose to the norm.

One concerning issue for me is the amount of people who fail to see a difference between the customer and the staff member being on the phone. Rather disturbingly, quite a few people don't understand that concept. Would I chat to someone else while talking to a customer? Not if I wanted a sale I wouldn't. However, would I talk to someone else whilst a salesman is trying to sale me something? Depends on which person was the priority. I get cold callers wasting my time all day and regularly not hanging up even when requested. I often do other jobs when they are trying to flog me stuff. If they If they consider me as rude and hang up then great! They are doing me a favour.

I really admire entrepreneurs and business who think 'outside the box'. They are the future, I have no doubt about that. Because of this I really hope the sandwich shop survives and makes good money in years to come. Unfortunately, I won't be visiting them again.

Im flying to Abu Dhabi tomorrow. A culture that has completely different customs and traditions. I understand that and fly to the country enough times to know I have to tollerant of different things. Its all a learning process and as a country we are gradually becoming more multi-cultrual. Things what were acceptable yesterday, won't be tomorrow, just like things that weren't acceptable last week will be next week. I'm sure if I posted the same scenario in 10 years time, the views and attitudes of this forum would change dramatically. It would be an interesting test and one I may try.

A lot of good points and good debates! - Thanks

 

[Eclectic communications]

The only thing I see is that going to tesco for a horse/pork/hamburger was the biggest mistake. You should have waited to see just how good their food was. If you weren't talking on the phone you should not have held it up to your ear.It is confusing when the server does not know if you're talking to him or someone on the phone.

 

[drdes]

The only thing I see is that going to tesco for a horse/pork/hamburger was the biggest mistake. You should have waited to see just how good their food was. If you weren't talking on the phone you should not have held it up to your ear.It is confusing when the server does not know if you're talking to him or someone on the phone.

Yes but Tesco made a sale and the independent shop didn't.

We can certainly have our principles but if a company is happy to turn customers away based on their perception of manners and politeness (which the length of this thread shows is not a black or white area), then they shouldn't complain about the Tescos and Asdas destroying our high street.

I am very busy at work (as are most people) and I probably get 15mins at lunchtime to get a sandwich so if that is the only chance I get to make a personal call (pay bills, say hi to the wife etc..), I would do it while ordering a sandwich - if the shop has an issue, then I go elsewhere (Tesco!) - and ultimately the market will decide whether the independent will be successful or not. Simples!

 

[Vectis]

.........I think 99.9% of people were taught what’s acceptable/unacceptable by our elders or guardians etc. However the question I have here is; Did your parents run their own successful business? Because if not, your argument doesn't hold.................

That seems to imply that only someone who runs their own business can decide what is good manners and what is not. Obviously that's not right. Even you yourself say that ten years ago you would have considered it bad manners to talk on the phone whilst being served in a shop. I would suggest it's maybe you that has changed during that time. Most people's concept of good manners hasn't.

 

[swankypants69]

Have followed this topic from start to finish

I think perhaps you should understand that you were both in the wrong

You didn't deserve to be treated rudely, despite acting rudely IMO

You are right that times change and standards change over time, this however is not necessarily a good thing

If you think the decline of manners and respect and decency is a good thing, then I feel sorry for you.

 

[Successful Selling]

You are right that times change and standards change over time, this however is not necessarily a good thing

Agreed.

If you think the decline of manners and respect and decency is a good thing, then I feel sorry for you.

I don't think that at all. However, I feel times change and often people don't. There was a time when children had to refer to their parents as Mr or Mrs XXX. Is it rude that children now call their parents Mum or Dad? The same principle applies to this debate. If was chatting to an average teenager while texting, less of them would get offended than if i was to do it in an old peoples home.

Im not saying its right or wrong, better or worse. I'm simply saying their policy has lost them a sale.

 

[swankypants69]

Fair points made

I don't think their policy has lost them a sale, their implementation of their policy lost them the sale

There's a good chance you hadn't seen the sign, you deserved to be politely informed, every one deserves a second chance

I serve customers who are on their mobiles, I don't like it but I do it, I am not overly polite with customers who expect serving in this manner, as they are not affording me the politeness I would normally deliver

 

[a1anm]

Whats with the bad manners??

The shop clearly has a notice

"He then pointed to a sign behind the counter which said "Our staff do not talk on their mobile phones while serving you. We would respectably request that you do the same while being served by them".

The OP did not respect that... so did not get served!!

I went into a shop a while ago.. and there was a notice behind the till

" In God we trust, all others pay cash"

Thats what they stuck to... no credit cards, no cheques, etc... just cash.

their shop.. their rules... simples

You either give them your custom or you don't... your choice

How difficult is that?

What would have happened if you didn't notice the sign and tried to pay with your card?

Would the shopkeeper have completely ignored you or would they have pointed out the sign. I'd like to think they would do the latter however this isn't what happened in the case of the OP.

 

[Tej]

What would have happened if you didn't notice the sign and tried to pay with your card?

Would the shopkeeper have completely ignored you or would they have pointed out the sign. I'd like to think they would do the latter however this isn't what happened in the case of the OP.

The guy behind the till was built like a brick sh!thouse... i was not feeling brave enough to find out and probably having my card ripped to shreds..

 

[iArtist]

Funny attitude considering the amount of times we as customers have to wait while staff finish chatting to their colleagues or other customers about things unrelated to the job before we get served. Not to mention waiting while they tidy behind the desk, keeping their back to you until they (in their own time) are ready to serve ... the lack of eye contact, the lack of a 'thank you' when you hand over your money.

And most annoyingly of all 'do you need a bag?' ... no mate, I'll balance this lot on my head.

I hate people being on phones in public full stop it is rude, no two ways about it. I am not interested in the crap people have going on in their lives and don't want their droning on polluting my space when in a queue of any kind, but that is the way our world is going. I find the shop staffs attitude beyond rude when a simple "please sir, can you end your call so we may serve you" would suffice.

 

[iArtist]

And most annoyingly of all 'do you need a bag?' ... no mate, I'll balance this lot on my head.

This thread and my comment above inspired a cartoon. I wonder how many other people get annoyed by this? Probably not many lol.

 

[simon field]

This thread and my comment above inspired a cartoon. I wonder how many other people get annoyed by this? Probably not many lol.

No, not many. We take our own bags these days, had you not noticed?

 

[iArtist]

Maybe there's another reason they're asking me if I want a bag ...