highs and lows of retail service

so i've been at my job for almost 9 months. sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's annoying but for the most part it's fun.

my DM said we got 97% rating from a mystery shopper and for my part i got 100%. that really made my day. imagine getting a perfect rating as a sales staff! i wondered what i did, who that customer was and was completely blown by it. it was a pretty good rating our store manager decided to print a copy of the result for all of us to see. man... i am really proud.

so i read the mystery shopper assessment report complete with all the questions and criteria. i was hugely disappointed that for my 100% rating, all i really did was smiled and acknowledged the customer who rated me. bummer. i mean, i know it's still an important part of customer service but i expected to read that i really did something great, like answered her questions expertly or went out of my way to meet her needs. well, i guess it's a start.

sometimes it's hard...

it's physical work. i've never done any real physical work before. i've always done computer-related work or paper-work. now, i have to lift rolls of rugs or metal beds, move bins/bays around, push trolley-full, bin-full of things around and other shop-related work. i also have to climb ladders to put or take things on and off shelves, which is not a bad thing... only i'm afraid of heights. aside from the physical aspect, i have never worked in retail before. so i not only have to struggle with the job expectations but also have to adopt to a totally different culture.

the first few months were really hard and confusing. i was assigned at the homewares department where i have to sell and talk to customers about duvet and valances and whatnot. we don't have those kind of stuff in the philippines so naturally i was at a loss.

aside from being unfamiliar with the products we sell, i also have to struggle with the accent and slang of kiwi people. thankfully for me, i find that part entertaining. where we say thread, they say cotton, where we say fabric, they say material.

sometimes it's annoying...

i find it really annoying when things get really messy. i understand that you can't stop customers from wanting to look at the products and feel it. but... do they really have to be rude and lazy? rude as in not thinking that sales assistant are also just human who gets tired and irritated having to tidy and refold and repackage every hour. i mean, is it too much to ask that they at least put it back the way they've taken it out? do they really have to take out every single item on the shelf when there's already one displayed for them to see? sometimes it makes me even more annoyed thinking that maybe they do that because we're not a high end shop. i often check out other shops selling the same products that we do and i notice that customers don't mess things in those "posh" shops. i just wish customers will be more respectful of the sales assistants and the next customer. the less time we spend tidying things, the more time we have to actually assisting them.

sometimes it's boring.

when it's really quiet and all we do is tidy, it can get a little boring. it's very rare though. but still, it can be boring.

for the most part, it's fun.

i'm also lucky to work with nice people. you do get the odd one once in a while but as a whole, everybody's really nice and friendly.

we may get a few rude and fussy customers but we get more friendly ones. i particularly like the sweet old ladies. the ones who are happy just because you took the time to assist them and ask them how their day is going. some will tell you detailed account of their morning or day, some will show photos of their grandkids or them when they were young or grandkids classmates, some will gossip, some will just be happy talking about the weather.

no matter how different it is from anything i've done before, i am happy with my job. i do get a few rude customers and one even asked me if he can speak to someone who "speaks english" but in balance, i also get some really good ones who appreciate the service i've done for them.

that's all in a day's work.