Readers Respond: Retail Store Atmosphere Turn-Offs

Responses: 25

From Shari Waters, former About.com Guide

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I was told by the owner of a college souvenir store that sales were down so the item I was looking for wouldn't be back in stock for a few months. I nearly burst out laughing. The item? A $3 shot glass!
—Guest Brooke

What bothers me most is when I'm checking out and the sales clerk is in the middle of a personal discussion with a co-worker and she goes through the motions of checking out my purchases without ever addressing me or making eye contact, while at the same time continuing the conversation with the co-worker. I actually whispered to the sales clerk at a local grocery store once that when a customer is in front of her she should pay attention to that person. I haven't experienced the problem at that store since.
—Guest Karen

I try not to take it personal when I don't get greeted. Sometimes they're busy doing their job, are with a customer, or maybe just having a bad day. But there are some people who just shouldn't be in customer service. Or they need to be trained to improve. I guess working in retail myself has me expecting a wee bit higher quality customer service. I don't expect things to be done for me that would cause an employee their job or act like I deserve undivided attention and catering to. Just good old fashioned customer service. Everyone wants to be treated differently as a customer as far as while they are shopping but I think it's fair to say most everyone appreciates a "Hello" a smile and a "How are you today?" usually doesn't hurt either. Those are just some of my thoughts!
—Guest Renae

The salesperson who will follow me around even when I am simply browsing, and the moment I pick up something that catches my eye, he or she starts extolling the virtues of the product's features. It puts me off and either I tell the person to back off or I leave the shop.
—Guest simplymesg@yahoo.com

Old people who work at retail places and look at young people with tattoos, such as myself, like we're out of place in their store.
—Guest Stephanie

The outside appearance is very important. Pick up the trash outside your store location. Also empty the trash outside your store, an over flowing trash can is not pretty.
—Guest Michael

Sometimes we as customers blame our own lack of responsibility as well as what we present as irritation for the workers in the store and we tend to lean on the fact that they get paid to deal with this, that is not always fair. IE: bringing back items that are used/old/destroyed by ourselves, throwing money because of their race or etnic background/cursing them out/showing attitude based on how we see them, asking for a penny or more!, wanting to speak to a male vs female or white vs black. We must admit, this does happen. My golden rule is that I would never act a way I wouldn't want someone to act at me when I'm at work.
—Guest XO

when i see a sales person chewing chewing gum in a very nasty way, that turns me off.
—Guest ruchira

Usually, what turns me off most is bad customer service at a retail store. It is true, there are many stores with unpolite staff out there. What also irritates me is how most problems are blamed on the machine (so called "system"). When I want to change something about my purchase, or have any unusual activity or demand, usually they blame that the system is not able to do this, and they back off. I am a pretty flexible person, and would rather like to hear some alternate solutions to solve my problems rather then findind out that its not possible to satisfy customers with the existing system.
—Guest Owais

This has more to do with retail workers than the store itself, but I really get turned off when I walk into a store and see sales clerks with piercings and tattoos. Maybe I'm just old and don't 'get it' but it really looks unprofessional.
—Guest Sandy

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