Sunday, June 28, 2009
"Amazing people" in our society
It has had been a good experience working in such a wonderful company which emphasizes so much on customer service. Moreover, we, as staff, have been encouraged to go the extra mile (GEM) in servicing the customers in whatever ways we can to satisfy their needs (and make them happy).
After reading my post, I hope that you people will be able to reflect upon your actions on how you behave, especially when you are making payment at the cashiering stations...
In this post, I am going to share with everyone on the various categories of "amazing people" we have in our society. Also, in order to make things simpler, I will list out the different categories of "amazing people" in point forms. Please proceed once you are ready:
"Amazing people" - Case Study 1
It was a fine afternoon and it was roughly 30 minutes more to my dinner break. Out of a sudden, three ladies came to the cashiering station and demanded, and I really mean demanded, someone to help them out with the children clothing as they are unable to find any other staff who could assist them. Since there was not many people around, I volunteered myself to help them.
I walked the ladies to the children clothing section, and the fun began~
"Hey Miss, do you have any clothing for children aged 2 years old? All these tag says 4, 5 and 6, is this the size or the age group who can wear this shirt?"
I looked around and there really was no other permanent staff, so I looked blankly at the clothing, and I told the lady, "Yes, the number on the shirt indicates the age group that is suitable for the child.".
Next, after imaging her grandchild wearing that shirt, she asked me for a pair of jeans. Later on she asked for something short, because long jeans is way too warm to be wore in Singapore. After I got her what she wanted, she told me that the material is too think, she wanted something thin and light...
After the pants, the lady decided to look for a few more pieces of shirts, shirts with button and collar, because her grandson's head is too big to go into those t-shirts, she asked if there is any discounts for the clothing that she choose, blar blar blar.
After getting five to six pieces of the clothing, she asked if we sell socks, I ran around to look for socks and found her a pair which cost 6 bucks. Then she complaint that a pair of socks that cost 6 bucks is way too expensive. Anyway, after the socks, she just proceeded on to pay for her clothing. I scanned the clothing, I folded them nicely and put them in a bag. If I am not wrong, she spent around 200 over just on the few pieces of clothing.
Time check, 45 minutes have passed! Boo!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 2
Singaporeans sure do love discounts and vouchers. There was a weekend where my company issued 5 bucks vouchers to all its members. And the only criteria was to spend a nett amount of 30 bucks in a single receipt.
In the afternoon, I was rather irritated as there was a long queue and people who wanted to use the vouchers either request the cashier to help them separate the bills, or did not even attempt to cut out the vouchers that they wanted to use. This are just some of the ways on how overboard people can get... If you were me, I am sure that you would be frustrated too. I might understand that because of the economic downturn, people are behaving this way by getting the best deals and making full use of all the discounts vouchers. But why is it that they are unable to be more understanding of the people working in the service industry? Is cutting out a piece of voucher such a difficult job for them? *Shakes head*
So after sometime, there was this customer in line who came to me with a Nike kid t-shirt and two pacifiers. She asked me to scan in the Nike t-shirt to see if she is entitled to use the 5 bucks voucher. I scanned and told her that it's not enough as there is a 20% discount for the Nike t-shirt. So, she added a pacifier into the bill, and I told her that it is still not enough due to the fact that Avent items also entitled a 20% discount. So, she asked me to add in another pacifier she was holding on to...
However, after scanning in all the items, I realised that previously, I forgotten to click on the 'Group Members Discount', which entitled members to have an additional up to 20% discounts on selected items. At the end, when I clicked on the 'Total' button, it showed something like $29.65... So I nicely told the lady that she is still unable to use the 5 bucks voucher as the total cost is less than 30 bucks. Suddenly, she exploded and shouted at me not to bluff her as the Nike t-shirt is already $28, blar blar blar.
No matter what I tell her, she just do not believe me. So, I asked my senior, the permanent staff who was at my usual station came over and asked the lady to come in to take a look at the system and that we really did not bluff her. I do not understand why some people just like to think that they are always right...
So, in the end, the lady went to get a packet of Barbie pencils and top up her bill to $32 and managed to use the 5 bucks voucher.
Oh me, oh my!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 3
I was with the Nursery Department during my first three weeks with the company. As a result, I was not very sure of certain discounts offered at the Men Department, especially the cuff links section. So, I remembered there was this once, a person came to purchase a set of cuff links. I scanned the price, I process the transaction, I pack the cuff links in a bag for him, blar blar blar.
The man happily went off after purchasing his set of cuff links and he even used his 5 bucks vouchers. A minute later, I realised that I have forgotten to issue him a 10% discount! And by the time I have realised that, it was way too late. He was no where to be seen around the departmental store.
Oops!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 4
I do not understand how come things usually happen during the weekends.
There was a Sunday when a man who bought half a dozen of shirts came to my counter to pay for them. He started chatting up with me as though we have known each other, just that it has been a long time since we last met up. This customer purchased up to 400 over bucks, so perhaps due to all the chatting and stuff, I got myself disorganized. I told him that there is some form of lucky draw going on and that he could visit the Customer Service to get his lucky draw ticket (Due to my bad memory, I am not sure if I told him to check with the Customer Service to see if he is entitled to the lucky draw).
After the customer left, another permanent staff from the other cashiering station turned over to asked if I knew that guy as both of us were chatting happily. Mm, all I could say is that the customer is being too friendly!
A week later, he came back to shop for more shirts, after all, it's the sales period where people will make use of this opportunity to stock up their wardrobe. The same customer came to me and told me that he was not entitled for the lucky draw as he is not a member of the store and he reminded me that he only paid with his POSB ATM card. In the end, I apologised to him (though I seriously thought I asked him to check with the Customer Service first...).
Aw! Never mind now.
"Amazing people" - Case Study 5
And of course, there will always be this group of people who would come back to you saying, "I thought there is a 20% discount for this pair of Clark shoes?"...
And my reaction would always be, I am sorry sir, let me double check for you. So, I will have to run over to the shoes department to check if there is any discount for the pair of shoes. And if there is none, my reply would be, "I am sorry sir, but this is already a discounted item". However, most of the time, the discounts were not reflected on the system. Then, what I will have to do is to do a refund back to the customer and charged again by manually keying in all the discounts. Lastly, before the customer leave, I will have to say, "I am really sorry about the trouble sir".
So far, I do not have any problems with this kind of customers. At least they would not scream at me saying that I did not issue them any discounts. Ha ha
At the same time, there was this other "extreme" customer whom I have encountered. My cashiering partner from the Toys Department once helped me with all the scanning while I did all the packing. After the customer paid and everything, she came back 10 minutes later, informing me that I have forgotten to scan in one of her spoon. So I will have to open everything and counter count the number of spoons, forks and knifes she purchased. I did a refund and charged her with the right number of spoons, forks and knifes. She was very glad and apologised to me for all the trouble caused.
Hmm, what a very honest customer that was. If I were her, I guessed I would have disappeared the moment I found out that the cashier charged me one spoon less! Oops!
Shh~
"Amazing people" - Case Study 6
There is always this group of interesting people who always never fail to ask this question, "Wow, you mean I will have to sign on the machine? That's interesting!"...
I always wonder, what should I reply when they ask this question... So, there was once I told a customer, "Yeah, that's today's technology.", which does not sound very convincing at all. Another time, all I did was to laugh along with the customer. And most of the time, I just smile and continue with all the packing of items into the bags.
Another group of interesting people would ask, "Can I have a bigger bag so that I can put everything together?"...
Huh? I thought that the government have been emphasizing on asking us to go green by using our own shopping bags? Then why are all these people even asking for more bags?
Uh-huh!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 7
Lastly, in this post, I am going to write about a group of people whom I hate most. And they are... *drum roll*
The people who like to say, "Hello, I am rushing for time, can you please hurry?"!
I wonder if they think that they are the only people who are rushing for time...just because they are rich?
There was this once when a colleague came by to ask a question, I have to process and think before I could gave her an answer. Concurrently, I was serving a customer, processing her transaction and packing up her items. She got a bit impatient and told me that she was rushing for time.
Well, it is not as though I am not serving her or something, right?
Tsk tsk tsk!
Now you should understand why my post was titled "Amazing people" in our society. Most importantly, if you happened to be one of those who appeared in my case study, please, and I mean please, DO reflect upon your acts and ask yourself what went wrong. I am totally disappointed by how people behaves in our society. Hmph!
Anyway, in my next post, I am going to talk about more ungracious acts which I have seen and encountered while working with my wonderful company. Do stay tune!
After reading my post, I hope that you people will be able to reflect upon your actions on how you behave, especially when you are making payment at the cashiering stations...
In this post, I am going to share with everyone on the various categories of "amazing people" we have in our society. Also, in order to make things simpler, I will list out the different categories of "amazing people" in point forms. Please proceed once you are ready:
"Amazing people" - Case Study 1
It was a fine afternoon and it was roughly 30 minutes more to my dinner break. Out of a sudden, three ladies came to the cashiering station and demanded, and I really mean demanded, someone to help them out with the children clothing as they are unable to find any other staff who could assist them. Since there was not many people around, I volunteered myself to help them.
I walked the ladies to the children clothing section, and the fun began~
"Hey Miss, do you have any clothing for children aged 2 years old? All these tag says 4, 5 and 6, is this the size or the age group who can wear this shirt?"
I looked around and there really was no other permanent staff, so I looked blankly at the clothing, and I told the lady, "Yes, the number on the shirt indicates the age group that is suitable for the child.".
Next, after imaging her grandchild wearing that shirt, she asked me for a pair of jeans. Later on she asked for something short, because long jeans is way too warm to be wore in Singapore. After I got her what she wanted, she told me that the material is too think, she wanted something thin and light...
After the pants, the lady decided to look for a few more pieces of shirts, shirts with button and collar, because her grandson's head is too big to go into those t-shirts, she asked if there is any discounts for the clothing that she choose, blar blar blar.
After getting five to six pieces of the clothing, she asked if we sell socks, I ran around to look for socks and found her a pair which cost 6 bucks. Then she complaint that a pair of socks that cost 6 bucks is way too expensive. Anyway, after the socks, she just proceeded on to pay for her clothing. I scanned the clothing, I folded them nicely and put them in a bag. If I am not wrong, she spent around 200 over just on the few pieces of clothing.
Time check, 45 minutes have passed! Boo!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 2
Singaporeans sure do love discounts and vouchers. There was a weekend where my company issued 5 bucks vouchers to all its members. And the only criteria was to spend a nett amount of 30 bucks in a single receipt.
In the afternoon, I was rather irritated as there was a long queue and people who wanted to use the vouchers either request the cashier to help them separate the bills, or did not even attempt to cut out the vouchers that they wanted to use. This are just some of the ways on how overboard people can get... If you were me, I am sure that you would be frustrated too. I might understand that because of the economic downturn, people are behaving this way by getting the best deals and making full use of all the discounts vouchers. But why is it that they are unable to be more understanding of the people working in the service industry? Is cutting out a piece of voucher such a difficult job for them? *Shakes head*
So after sometime, there was this customer in line who came to me with a Nike kid t-shirt and two pacifiers. She asked me to scan in the Nike t-shirt to see if she is entitled to use the 5 bucks voucher. I scanned and told her that it's not enough as there is a 20% discount for the Nike t-shirt. So, she added a pacifier into the bill, and I told her that it is still not enough due to the fact that Avent items also entitled a 20% discount. So, she asked me to add in another pacifier she was holding on to...
However, after scanning in all the items, I realised that previously, I forgotten to click on the 'Group Members Discount', which entitled members to have an additional up to 20% discounts on selected items. At the end, when I clicked on the 'Total' button, it showed something like $29.65... So I nicely told the lady that she is still unable to use the 5 bucks voucher as the total cost is less than 30 bucks. Suddenly, she exploded and shouted at me not to bluff her as the Nike t-shirt is already $28, blar blar blar.
No matter what I tell her, she just do not believe me. So, I asked my senior, the permanent staff who was at my usual station came over and asked the lady to come in to take a look at the system and that we really did not bluff her. I do not understand why some people just like to think that they are always right...
So, in the end, the lady went to get a packet of Barbie pencils and top up her bill to $32 and managed to use the 5 bucks voucher.
Oh me, oh my!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 3
I was with the Nursery Department during my first three weeks with the company. As a result, I was not very sure of certain discounts offered at the Men Department, especially the cuff links section. So, I remembered there was this once, a person came to purchase a set of cuff links. I scanned the price, I process the transaction, I pack the cuff links in a bag for him, blar blar blar.
The man happily went off after purchasing his set of cuff links and he even used his 5 bucks vouchers. A minute later, I realised that I have forgotten to issue him a 10% discount! And by the time I have realised that, it was way too late. He was no where to be seen around the departmental store.
Oops!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 4
I do not understand how come things usually happen during the weekends.
There was a Sunday when a man who bought half a dozen of shirts came to my counter to pay for them. He started chatting up with me as though we have known each other, just that it has been a long time since we last met up. This customer purchased up to 400 over bucks, so perhaps due to all the chatting and stuff, I got myself disorganized. I told him that there is some form of lucky draw going on and that he could visit the Customer Service to get his lucky draw ticket (Due to my bad memory, I am not sure if I told him to check with the Customer Service to see if he is entitled to the lucky draw).
After the customer left, another permanent staff from the other cashiering station turned over to asked if I knew that guy as both of us were chatting happily. Mm, all I could say is that the customer is being too friendly!
A week later, he came back to shop for more shirts, after all, it's the sales period where people will make use of this opportunity to stock up their wardrobe. The same customer came to me and told me that he was not entitled for the lucky draw as he is not a member of the store and he reminded me that he only paid with his POSB ATM card. In the end, I apologised to him (though I seriously thought I asked him to check with the Customer Service first...).
Aw! Never mind now.
"Amazing people" - Case Study 5
And of course, there will always be this group of people who would come back to you saying, "I thought there is a 20% discount for this pair of Clark shoes?"...
And my reaction would always be, I am sorry sir, let me double check for you. So, I will have to run over to the shoes department to check if there is any discount for the pair of shoes. And if there is none, my reply would be, "I am sorry sir, but this is already a discounted item". However, most of the time, the discounts were not reflected on the system. Then, what I will have to do is to do a refund back to the customer and charged again by manually keying in all the discounts. Lastly, before the customer leave, I will have to say, "I am really sorry about the trouble sir".
So far, I do not have any problems with this kind of customers. At least they would not scream at me saying that I did not issue them any discounts. Ha ha
At the same time, there was this other "extreme" customer whom I have encountered. My cashiering partner from the Toys Department once helped me with all the scanning while I did all the packing. After the customer paid and everything, she came back 10 minutes later, informing me that I have forgotten to scan in one of her spoon. So I will have to open everything and counter count the number of spoons, forks and knifes she purchased. I did a refund and charged her with the right number of spoons, forks and knifes. She was very glad and apologised to me for all the trouble caused.
Hmm, what a very honest customer that was. If I were her, I guessed I would have disappeared the moment I found out that the cashier charged me one spoon less! Oops!
Shh~
"Amazing people" - Case Study 6
There is always this group of interesting people who always never fail to ask this question, "Wow, you mean I will have to sign on the machine? That's interesting!"...
I always wonder, what should I reply when they ask this question... So, there was once I told a customer, "Yeah, that's today's technology.", which does not sound very convincing at all. Another time, all I did was to laugh along with the customer. And most of the time, I just smile and continue with all the packing of items into the bags.
Another group of interesting people would ask, "Can I have a bigger bag so that I can put everything together?"...
Huh? I thought that the government have been emphasizing on asking us to go green by using our own shopping bags? Then why are all these people even asking for more bags?
Uh-huh!
"Amazing people" - Case Study 7
Lastly, in this post, I am going to write about a group of people whom I hate most. And they are... *drum roll*
The people who like to say, "Hello, I am rushing for time, can you please hurry?"!
I wonder if they think that they are the only people who are rushing for time...just because they are rich?
There was this once when a colleague came by to ask a question, I have to process and think before I could gave her an answer. Concurrently, I was serving a customer, processing her transaction and packing up her items. She got a bit impatient and told me that she was rushing for time.
Well, it is not as though I am not serving her or something, right?
Tsk tsk tsk!
Now you should understand why my post was titled "Amazing people" in our society. Most importantly, if you happened to be one of those who appeared in my case study, please, and I mean please, DO reflect upon your acts and ask yourself what went wrong. I am totally disappointed by how people behaves in our society. Hmph!
Anyway, in my next post, I am going to talk about more ungracious acts which I have seen and encountered while working with my wonderful company. Do stay tune!
# posted by yf and Sunny @ 10:49 AM 
~*--�在乎天长地久,�在乎曾�拥有--*~ 
