But, I Need Shoes

A woman, about the age of 50, and her mother walk into a shoe store. Standing at the front of the store is a polite, young man, waiting to greet them and let them know about the BOGO sale. As he says, “Hi. How are you today?” The 50 year old woman stops dead in her tracks, glares at the young man with a deathly stare, exclaims “NO!” and storms out, leaving her poor mother standing in the doorway yelling, “But I need shoes! I need shoes!”
I was that young man and that actually happened to me. I work in the retail industry and am constantly bombarded with awkward situations that can’t be avoided. It’s part of my job to talk to people that I’d rather not talk to. So, lately, I’ve been asking myself the question “why?” Why am I more willing to talk to some people than I am to others?
I’ve decided t is all about the door approach. Part of our policy is to greet everyone. So when you walk through the door you get a “Hi. How are you today?” It is the customers responses that determine whether or not I want to even try to deal with them. They generally fall into one of three categories. First, they are friendly. Second, they completely ignore you. Third, they are rude or make snide comments to you. In general, I tend to help the first group the most.
My question, then, to you fellow bloggers is why the need to be so rude when walking into a store? Leave your comments on your own retail experiences whether you were the employee or the customer. Maybe we can make our shopping experiences just a bit more delightful and won’t have to leave our frail mothers yelling at us “But I need shoes!”

Brodie Smith