Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin
That's highly unfair to the employee who is probably earning minimum wage, hasn't been given the information needed by his/her lord and masters, and is struggling in today's bad economy. Why kill the messenger when your real anger is with the CEO?
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Exactly. In today's retail world, this is precisely what happens, all the time. Corporate makes unrealistic decisions, provides workers with little to no information, and expects it to be implemented flawlessly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertgrandma
Hang on a sec. I've worked in retail all my life, both as a 'clerk' and as management.
Never was any corporate ever handed down to 'embellish' or "pad" information. And what kind of company would encourage such behavior?
The rule of thumb was this. "If you don't know the answer, say so. Then direct, escorting if necessary, the customer to someone who does."
Its that simple. There is no excuse for trying to pretend you know something you don't. A simple "we just really don't know right now" would do.
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With all respect, DG, (and you do know I respect you, I hope!), this is no longer the case in the majority of retail establishments. In my experience, what rhadin said is more usually the case. Most corporations do not care about their own low-end workers, or their customers. They want their objectives carried out, but see no reason to give the people actually carrying out those objectives the tools to do so. This leaves the low-end workers with two choices. Admit they don't know the answer, take the customer to their manager, who also doesn't know the answer most of the time, and leave the customer with an impression of incompetence, or pad the information and then also come off looking incompetent. Rock, meet hard place. No, it doesn't make sense, and common sense would tell you that it shouldn't be that way, and you're right that it didn't used to be that way. But sadly, that is the way it is now in a LOT of corporations. Including the one I work for...