Customer Service

When was the last time you got good customer service, at a retail store?

Tired and still sick, but I’ll continue on this line tomorrow.

A delay in posting

Was sick this past week with something fierce. Feeling better so the posts continue.

Short on cool

I’m standing near the middle of The Store, zoning out when a customer walks in. He’s not actually a customer, though. It’s one of the Massage Guys.

Outside the Store there are quite a few open spaces occupied by kiosk venders selling what essentially is pointless shit. Manicure sets, fake designer bags, cell phone covers. You know the type.

One such is a massage station with three guys wearing the same blue polo shirt everyday. When they’ve got no customers they like to walk into The Store, look around, mess up the displays, and walk right back out, which ruins our conversion.* Sometimes they ask how much so-and-so is but never buy anything. I think they’re waiting for the day everything is under ten dollars or something.

Knowing what I know, I nod briefly and continue to zone out. But this time, Massage Guy walks over.

“I need a pair of jeans,” he says.

Oh, shit.
“Right away,” I say and take him straight to the sales rack. Having worked in retail hell long enough, I guess his size all right and pull out a pair of jeans. 34 inch waist, 30 inch inseam. We’re about the same height, so the inseam will probably be too short for him. I hand him the jeans anyway and put him in a fitting room.

I check on him in a few minutes. “How are those jeans, sir?”

He opens the door. The jeans seem to fit round the waist but are definitely too short by two inches. “They fit OK,” he says.

“They look a little short,” I suggest, knowing we don’t have anymore sales jeans in longer inseams. Actually, all we have left are 34″ and 38″ waists. And for some reason they all have a 30 inch inseam. What the fuck?

“No, these are fine,” he says while looking down at the jeans. Then he goes back into the changing room. When he steps out he hands me the jeans.

“OK?” I ask.

“OK.” he replies.

Holy shit, is he going to buy something today?

I hear footsteps behind me. It’s another Massage Guy. He says something in Chinese to Massage Guy #1 and points back outside. Massage Guy #1 looks at me. His face is guilty.

“Sorry I have to go,” he mutters.

The both of them exit the store. There goes the day’s conversion.

*People who buy something/People who come in = Conversion.