Oh my god: the NICEST people in the world work there.
Maybe I am jaded from the CVS on Fifth Street, where, combined with the people who staff the Food Lion, I always feel like I'm in a depressed, third-world country. Seriously -- shopping at that strip mall is like entering one of those rings in hell.
Everyone looks dead in the eyes. They don't smile or talk to customers. When they chat with each other, it's gruff and aggressive. Probably it's the bad lighting, dirt, poor pay that does it.
Anyway, this great CVS on Barracks Road featured:
1) several staff people - that is, the manager obviously cares about helping people
2) all of them took the time to ask me if I was finding anything or needed help
3) the photo guy also offered help, got off the phone to help me -- the biggest rarity of all these days -- and promised to have my prints done in 20 minutes
4) they smiled
And basically made me feel like a million bucks.
What is going on? Are they paid better? Is there better morale? Is it because the store is clean? Is it better because of the location?
Whatever it is, I wish that all retail places would follow this example. It makes shopping a pleasure instead of a pain - for everyone involved...
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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5 comments:
Maiaoming wrote: Probably it's the bad lighting, dirt, poor pay that does it.
I would imagine it's the "dirt poor pay." no comma. It's hard to do a "Step'n fetchit" attitude when you're only getting a few bucks above minimum wage and no benefits of any sort, but are still working nearly (if not actually) full time.
I'm constantly surprised at the unreasonably high expectations people have of minimum wage workers.
I would also speculate that the difference between the two stores is that in the happier more cheerful store the employees are probably the type for whom that job won't be a career. And perhaps they are paid better as well.
Thanks for your comment!
However, one thing I did not mention was that the employees of both stores fit the same kind of profile in terms of color, class, etc. (as far as generic generalization goes). That's what made it even more surprising, in terms of attitude.
I don't think I had "unreasonably high expectations" - I shop at the crappy CVS all the time. Rather, I was shocked to go somewhere that didn't fit my expectations.
I certainly don't expect FoodLion workers to be singing and dancing for joy. I can understand their boredom.
But thanks for the thoughts!
Maiaoming
Upon further reflection (all other factors being equal) the difference in store environments could very well be attributed to the management style of the manager's at either store.
One might be a tyrant and the other one of those types of people everyone enjoys being around. That alone can make a big difference in the work environment and attitude of employees.
In any event it's always nice when Customer service exceeds expectation.
My husband (not a shopper) came home raving about an excellent customer service experience he had when buying a leaf blower. It's amazing how significant a good experience can be, when balanced by all the bad history one has built up. He was saying how taken aback he was to have such personal help -- so accustomed we've become to picking the box up off the shelf, the box we've found on our own, and heading off to the self-checkout.
I'm all for bringing back excellent service, and willing to pay more for it, to boot.
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