jmcgready’s misc universe

I know, not the most SEO friendly title, but it’ll do.

was listening to William Ury’s The Power of a Positive No
and heard his linking Kubler-Ross’ 5 stages of grief to
reaction phases when a someone hears a no
(in any form) from you.

His version includes 6, which (in no particular order) are:

• Denial
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Bargaining
• Depression
• Acceptance

All this to say this -
in the last few days I’ve been surprised
how much denial I see in my customers’ responses.

The first is denying recognition of the no ever being said.

Second is denying that the no applies to them.

Third is denying any recollection of previous conversations,
save for selectively remembered (and/or distorted) snippets
which emphasize the original denial of the no.

If I persist in my no, I may encounter anxiety -
which is expressed in one of two ways:

Whining (both men and women) -
The tactic here is to force compliance by annoyance -
it worked with Mommy and Daddy, so it has to work here, right?

HFOW (hysterical flow of words) - (mostly women, some men) -
The tactic here is the emotional version of the Powell Doctrine -
use overwhelming emotional force and unrelenting verbiage to
brute force the target into compliance.

If I press further I might get anger,
but I usually get the classic “I want to talk to your manager” line
by this time (if I don’t suggest involving him myself).

The tactic here is pulling rank - a pure status play,
especially in a rank-conscious environment
where a customer sees
themself as having a rank advantage,
either by the sole virtue of being a Customer
or by some other external token of status.

The Bargaining stage is usually an alternative second response,
replacing anxiety (or preceding it).

The tactic here is, again, to wear down by repetition of questions,
most of them trivial and/or nitpicking.
Answers reinforcing a no are conveniently
not understood and/or forgotten.

The Depression stage can emerge at any time,
as it is primarily concerned with inducing Guilt.

The tactic here is to elicit sympathy (and compliance)
instead of empathy (and a respectful, yet understanding No).

Acceptance (grudging or otherwise) is the goal -
as both parties end the transaction accepting the outcome.

Technorati Tags:
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross,
difficult customer,
customer service,
William Ury,
retail hell

Technorati Tags: 5, anger, brute force, conscious environment, emotional force, force compliance, hysterical, kubler ross, observations, Retail Lexicon, stages of grief, tactic, william ury

Suzanne came up with this wonderful example of what I face on a daily basis…

all I can say is hear, hear!

colorwhirl: Instant gratification consumerism:

Instant gratification consumerism
A few days ago, I read a news story about the instant gratification generation and how it is ruining customer service as we know it.
The idea that we deserve the best service, always and forever, is changing the idea of purchasing and supporting products as well as the notion of fixable culture.

Instead of offering replacements for defective products,
companies are having to implement screening processes because people are returning a DVD
for having a slightly chipped case (personal experience) instead of being a defective disc.

Your phone doesn’t work in the middle of the forest?
Here, have a credit!

LJ went down for 3 hours because the entire city of San Francisco lost power?
Here, have a credit!

The climate of instant gratification has been created by unreasonable demands and fussy customers
who are fed by the entitlement culture that is constantly being fueled by our social lives
as well as the pap that we are continually fed via TV, the radio, and the internet.

{strange stuff, life, Retail Lexicon}

Technorati Tags: anger, observations, strange stuff

Technorati Tags: consumerism, instant gratification, plague, Retail Lexicon, technorati, unreasonable demands

we will be happy to help as soon as you finish
your cell phone conversation

I’m probably not the only retail person who wants a copy
of this sign in their shop.

Powered by Qumana

Technorati Tags: Retail Lexicon

and that’s going well.
It’s just a good feeling to have time before work
to figure out what needs to be done before going into work.

The day was busy, annoying and mostly fast paced.
Lunch was around 3 PM, after which I ran into a difficult customer
who was hell-bent on having me perform her little dog and pony show
to her exacting Martha Stewartesque sequencing,
even chiding me once in an irritatingly condescending sing-songy
voice for being a "mean salesperson".

To keep her from experiencing my true expression of meanness,
I had a part-timer complete the register transaction.

I can only hope she reaps sevenfold of what she has sown.

I’ve observed that encounters like these tend to happen more
when I’m wearing lighter colored clothing - and that I’m less
often challenged when wearing dark and/or black clothing.

It’s getting close to bedtime, so I’ll stop now…

Tags: difficult customer, retail, dark clothing

Technorati Tags: observations, Retail Lexicon

is a casual dining sports themed restaurant

when it’s crowded with sports fans.

By 1-top I mean someone dining solo.

I’ve had this experience at least 3 times,

2 of which I have suffered through (and paid for)

lousy food and not-so-hot service.

The third time, this Sunday last, was different.

I just walked out.

After being seated near the entrance,

watching countless waitstaff pass by me,

3-5 minutes pass,

and the host checks to see if anyone got my drink order.

Another 10 minutes pass, and still no drink order.

I ask myself “how badly did I want those nachos and fish and chips anyway”?

I stayed for another set of commercials,

then calmly left the menu on the table,

gathered my things, and left.

A new person was working as hostess,

and she wished me a good day - as I left.

I later thought that I should have left

my business card with the message

“sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer”

written on the back.

What I did do was go to a pizza joint

and get 2 plain slices and a Diet Whatever

then just went home.

“Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out” (Steven A. Shaw)

{observations, Retail Lexicon}

Technorati Tags: 1-top, anger, annoying, cold soda, frustrating, life, miserable failure, restaurant, Retail Lexicon, stress, stuff, stupid

Technorati Tags: observations, Retail Lexicon

Found a website (through the Make Blog)

that solves the wallet bulging conundrum

of having to carry all your club cards around with you all the time -

Just One Club Card

allows you to enter your club card numbers

and have the barcodes printed on one double-sided card

(in case you have lots of club cards)

From the site:

This is a simple web application I made.

The goal is to fix the problem of having to carry around tens of loyalty, discount, and club cards every time I go shopping.

I finally broke down and created this page when I realized my wallet was way too thick and

3/4 of the thickness was from the various supermarket and other loyalty cards.

Follow the instructions on the main page to create your own card.

Print out the generated card, cut it out and fold it together

to make your one new card to rule them all.

“Make Your Dollars Stretch by Buying Wholesale: A Directory of Wholesale Distributors for Bargain Shoppers, Businesses, Stay-at-Home Moms, and Everyone Else!” (Kailin Gow)

Technorati Tags: cool experiences, coupon codes, deals, DIY, hacks, life, money, observations, retail fun, stuff, Tech Stuff

Technorati Tags: Retail Lexicon

On workdays such as yesterday,

I tend to deal with some of the more unusual phone calls with a practice I call Newharting -

named after Bob Newhart, who developed it earlier in his career:

From Wikipedia

It was at the company that he and a coworker would entertain each other in long telephone calls

which they would record then send to a radio station as audition tapes.

When his coworker ended his participation, Newhart continued the recordings alone,

developing the shtick which was to serve him well for decades.

In addition to his various standup bits, he incorporated that shtick into his television series at appropriate times.

It’s basically the art of the one-sided phone conversation.

Me: so you want to get a MacBookPro……. you’re looking at the site….. is it our site?…. no?… is it Apple’s store? no?…

which site are you looking at sir?…. It’s eBay…

Me: you’re calling for your daughter….. you need to charge her iBook - OK - we don’t have any AC adapt-….

oh, you do?… for your iPod?…. no, I don’t think you can charge the iBook with that…. no…. sorry… you’re welcome… goodbye.

“Something Like This… The Bob Newhart Anthology” (Bob Newhart)

{life, observations, Retail Lexicon}

Technorati Tags: holiday burnout, life, newharting, observations, retail fun, Retail Lexicon, strange stuff

Technorati Tags: observations, Retail Lexicon

“The Customer is always right” ?

nope.

This thick, steaming pile of untruth hides the doctrine of retail appeasement -

which, in the long run, works about as well for stores

as it did for Neville Chamberlain in WWII -

i.e. not really

Unreasonable behavior increases among both the

previously unreasonable and the previously reasonable,

as it is perceived as an effective tactic to getting what they want.

Which is why I love this article from Violent Acres,

which discusses this in relative depth.

Excerpt and Link below.

Violent Acres:

The phrase ‘The Customer is Always Right’ is the single worst philosophy

that has ever been adopted by American culture.

It gave an entire generation of people the green light to be as impolite,

unreasonable, and demanding as their little hearts desired

because they were always going to be considered right.

It destroyed the entire concept of courtesy and rendered manners obsolete.

People began to treat their peers in the service industry like incompetent morons,

lacking in feelings or human dignity, who deserved to be browbeaten and abused

for no other reason than they had the audacity to run out of a particular brand of coffee.

“The Customer Is Usually Wrong!: Contrary to What You’Ve Been Told…What You Know to Be True!” (Fred Edmund Jandt)

Technorati Tags: annoying, frustrating, life, violent acres, Retail Lexicon, stress

Technorati Tags: observations, Retail Lexicon

it’s 4PM and I’ve just got out for lunch -

still trying to do the South Beach thing,

eating a South Beach wrap kit

(2 wheat tortillas w/chicken ‘n cheese)

I’m afraid I’m out of control,

I’m seeing better with my glasses off

than I am with them on -

that happened when I was first diagnosed….

I’m getting hypo more often,

even this lunch has me feeling a bit empty,

although I’ve pushed the envelope today and

might need to put some quicker carbs in me -

guess I’ll go to Wawa and grab some snackage….

I’ll check in later tonight….

(edit: 2 AM - I’m better now)

{observations, life, Retail Lexicon, stuff}

Technorati Tags: annoying, frustrating, negative people, diabetes

Technorati Tags: observations, Retail Lexicon

Goldvish releases million dollar cell phone:

If you thought Paris Hilton’s blinged-out Sidekick was a sight to behold, you’ve got another thing coming.

Sure, you could drop seven figures on the 1001hp Bugatti Veyron and rip around the mountain passes,

but wouldn’t you much rather spend over a million dollars on a cell phone?

{Tech Stuff, observations, Retail Lexicon, strange stuff}

Technorati Tags: annoying, frustrating, money, text messaging

Technorati Tags: observations, Retail Lexicon