Sustainable Nicety

Yesterday, while walking to work, I was grumpy.  I was making myself even grumpier thinking about how I would have to be nice to people all day.  "When do I get to be the bitch?" I wondered. "It works for other people.  Maybe today I will be bitchy."

I remembered that to be bitchy at work would be ruinous.  Customers might not enjoy their time, leave pissed off, tell all their friends about the horrible shopping experience, and then avoid us for years.  This happens!  Staying grumpy and purposely sharing it with others would be about as smart as cashing my paycheck and setting the bills afire.

It is not an option to be bitchy out in the world, when I am the customer.  Since I am pleasant with people during interactions, they are nice to me and I usually receive excellent customer service.  I am usually in a good mood, especially when I am not working.  So in order to be bitchy outside of work, I would have to maintain the mood all day.  That seems ultra stressful.

That leaves me one choice:  the internet.  Oh yea, Clerk, that is why you started this blog in the first place.  Relief washed over me when I remembered that I already had an outlet for those snarky times.

It's going to be a beautiful day!

shop local vs. the internet

Today I had a customer tell me about how she found a certain big ticket item online for half the price of what we sell it. She was not looking for a price match, but rather, an explanation as to why some website could sell it for that price and we could not.

I told her all the scenarios that I could think of that could possibly cause that: how our price includes shipping and freight, how the online retailer might have more bulk buying power, that it could be a clearance price. I really stressed that before she buy the item, she find out the shipping cost, especially when she said that there definitely was not free shipping. I encouraged her to find out how much assembly the piece would require and the level of difficulty.

As sweet as she was about the whole thing, and as much as I appreciate her honest questions, I was also slightly perturbed. When you shop in a store, you get to talk to a human and probably to their face. I know this can be a bad experience, depending on a lot of factors, but I think a lot of sales staff is actually going to do their job: answer questions, give opinions when needed, assist the customer with making the right choice. If you are shopping in a store where this happens, you should keep shopping there (when necessary of course) and count your blessings for a helpful clerk.

(I know this post sounds boastful, but, damn!)