The Evening Edition (10¢)
Following a good dinner last night at Pizza Antica, The Girlfriend and I made a pit stop at Target to pick up a few things. A great way to spend a Saturday night, I know, but that’s beside the point. Last night must have been a particularly unique night for the employees at Target because boy did they suck.
Though I’ve never worked in retail, everyone knows that having a job requires a bit of responsibility, effort, and pride in your work. Unfortunately, the employees I interacted with, seemed to lack effort and pride. That made for a particulary unpleasent check-out process. Allow me to walk you through it.
As I approached the check out lanes, I saw roughly half were open, but four other employees were apparently wandering around instead of helping out. If you’re going to walk around, make sure you look busy or important. I was just annoyed that more people were being called to help get customers through. That was their first mistake.
The second mistake then? A lack of happiness, or even contentness, in their employees. No one smiled, no one cared, no one attempted to make your visit even a little more pleasant. The mood was somber and the effort of the tiring employees was lackluster. I felt like I shouldn’t have been waiting in the check-out lane because I was inconveniencing them. That brings me to the third mistake.
When I finally got to the checkout clerk, as I was behind about five people, the guy was stone cold. His badge read “Yuta.” He was a big fella, not heavy, but certainly a tall guy. He scanned my items, all four, and then without even looking at me, he asked, “Will that be all today?”—the same question he asked all five people before me.
I felt like my boy Yuta was trying to just get the hell out of there, offering only the most inhuman response to seeing a new customer. He should have just asked, “Are you effing done here so I can go home?” Regrettably, I didn’t call him out on it right there, but I wish I had.
His customer relations skills were clearly lacking. Working in retail, you need to have the ability to hide your own shortcomings and emotions and just hit it out of the park. As customers, we enjoy being happy. We like the smiles, the hello and goodbye, the salutations you could expect from any other good person.
Last night, target was completely off its game, and I’m not looking forward to going back.
Copyright © 2008 Mark Otto.
Jeremy Peterson
true dat, true dat