Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[T.o.b.y]

9 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Does anyone else hate it when you enter a store, and there is always the one employee waiting for you who goes like: "can I help you with something?" I always jumb because most of the time I'm just looking around and want to be left alone.

I hate that so much that it usually triggers my flight instinct. I have fled several stores and never finished my purchase. Finally, my father gave me the idea to have a few snarky responses ready that I use - in my head only. That makes me smile which makes me relax and able to say quite pleasantly: "Thanks, just looking". 

That's me - Molly on the outside, Sherlock on the inside. 

[Pseudonym]

I don't like it either. We don't tend get people leaping on us as soon as we arrive here, I think we're not a very friendly country and managers have come to realise sending someone in immediately they're likely to get snarled at. There are a few shops with a welcome person at the door, but they tend to just smile or say hello and then leave you to it. 

There are some shops where someone will mosey over eventually, but it usually takes quite a while. 

[T.o.b.y]

The funny thing is, I live in the most northern part of Germany and people are notoriously grumpy and hard to approach here as well. But in stores, they still think it's a good idea to pounce on you as soon as you walk through the doors. 

Lots of older folks actually complain if the staff aren't "attentive" where they shop. They expect this kind of behavior and get offended when left to their devices. Which is why I actually prefer to shop when things are busy. Crowds don't faze me much as long as I don't have to interact with anyone. 

[Pseudonym]

Huh, where as I'm guessing the younger folk would like them less attentive?

It's like when I hear old people complaining about the self-service checkouts in supermarkets, because it means there's no human interaction - which is exactly what a lot of people want. And for those who can't get their heads around it, or who do like to chat with a cashier, they do still have that option. 

[T.o.b.y]

I do like to be able to get advice from an actual human being if I am trying to find something or unsure what exactly I need for a given purpose. But I like to be the one who approaches them. 

I love the way our local building supplies store handles its customer service. They have an information desk with a buzzer. When you go in it seems like nobody works there but when you buzz, a competent someone in a red shirt reliably appears, as out of thin air, to look at your cell phone pictures of your broken faucet and tell you what part you need and what aisle it's in. 

[HerlockSholmes]

I don’t think that the uk gets the ‘customer service’ thing right at all. How many times do we see a crowded shop with only one person serving customers but 3 people stacking shelves!? Today I was in Tesco’s and i needed to ask someone where to locate a certain item. I walked around for ages before I found an assistant who looked around 12 and was utterly clueless!

i mentioned this one on another forum the other day on a ‘things that annoy’ thread. Around a month ago I was in a jewellers shop buying a present for my aunt. I bought a pair of earrings for £35. The assistant offered to box it up and wrap it decoratively for £3. I said yes.

The assistant then got out a calculator to add £35 to £3 !!!!

I kid you not!

what is the world coming to?!

[Hikari]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 3:10 PM, Fantasy Lover said:

Does anyone else hate it when you enter a store, and there is always the one employee waiting for you who goes like: "can I help you with something?" I always jumb because most of the time I'm just looking around and want to be left alone.

I now order Bath & Body Works products online exclusively and refuse to set foot in their stores on account of being swarmed by employees when I go in there.  Approximately every 10 feet, another employee is stationed to ask me if I need help finding anything.  By the time I have worked my way from the door to the registers, I have been accosted by at least 6 or 7 different people wanting to help me or spray me with something.

I worked retail for years and I know the employees are compelled to greet each and every customer in their eyeline within so many seconds or they get written up.  But if there are so many staff tailing me around I'm tripping over them as I'm trying to shop, it's way too much.  I hate to be hovered over.

[Pseudonym]

Lol, I've just had an email sent to me with this on it... seems apt. 

[Pseudonym]

14 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

i mentioned this one on another forum the other day on a ‘things that annoy’ thread. Around a month ago I was in a jewellers shop buying a present for my aunt. I bought a pair of earrings for £35. The assistant offered to box it up and wrap it decoratively for £3. I said yes.

The assistant then got out a calculator to add £35 to £3 !!!!

I kid you not!

what is the world coming to?!

I'm guessing she was probably too frazzled and exhausted to think straight. I sometimes have to do trade shows, and in the morning, I can do things fine, but half way through the day I'm usually stressed and frazzled and get really flustered so just use a calculator for everything. I've seen people looking at me like I'm an idiot, but when they're the 50th person who's handed me a bag full of bits with all different prices (and no till) my brain is just fried. 

Though adding £3, which must be a common charge, onto one other price does sound a lot more straight forward. 

[HerlockSholmes]

That’s a very generous interpretation Pseudonym🙂

I have to admit that it wasn’t my first thought😃

[Pseudonym]

I'm just going by my own experience. But yes, she might have just been an idiot.

[Sheerluck]

On 5/8/2018 at 5:03 PM, J.P. said:

After I moved to Germany I was dreading that moments. Someone wanted me to speak without preparation?   "Thank you, I'm just looking around" was one of the first really essential sentences that I learned.

If I remember my German:

Danke. Ich schaue nur. ?

[Sheerluck]

18 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

The assistant then got out a calculator to add £35 to £3 !!!!

I kid you not!

what is the world coming to?!

I see this often. I usually tally up for them to save them the hassle and to keep my head from exploding.

[Pseudonym]

Are the rest of you guys in the EU getting bombarded with emails about the new data protection laws, or is it just us in the UK?

[J.P.]

Yeah. And noone can explain it in few short sentences, so that not-lawmakers would understand it. I've seen some crying wolf postings, but could not find any confirmations of those. Internet…

[Van Buren Supernova]

I love self check out at supermarket, although you'd find me losing a fight with machines just like John Watson.

A greet and ignore is fine, the most annoying thing is staff following you around, step to step, at very close distance. It happened to me often enough that some time I actually asked them if they needed to do that. Most time it's store policy that they should be ready to help customers, but that is not helping and usually kill my determination to stay any longer. Or maybe, they don't like my nose.

Sorry to jump and replying not latest topic and not showing my nose around here, it's certainly tedious for me especially like just now, when I needed to log in almost ten times just to reply to one post. Grmblll.. same old &@%^#%@&

[Pseudonym]

We'll have to up our Khan photo posting to make it worth your while. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

If she can even see them.

[Pseudonym]

[Pseudonym]

There is a sparrow that sits right outside my office and every morning, at the top of his tiny little lungs, he does a startlingly accurate rendition of the shower stabbing musical theme from Psycho. Repeatedly. It’s like an ice pick to the brain first thing in the morning, he really needs to sod the f*ck off. 🐦

[T.o.b.y]

At a place where my husband used to work, a pair of pigeons tried to build a nest on the windowsill outside the office. They kept failing and one of his colleagues, annoyed by the racket, finally printed out instructions he found on the Internet and taped them to the window. It actually worked - a few days later the nest was finished and eventually there were eggs, then chicks, then fledglings. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

If only most humans could RTFM (read the uh, fine manual) as well as those pigeons!

[Pseudonym]

Should go wash my hair. Really can't be arsed. I hate washing my hair.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

Do you keep it long?  When mine was long, I would often go for months between shampoos, because washing it was such a hassle.  There wasn't much oil buildup because I have very dry skin and hair (but still...).  Now that it's short, I wash it far more often (every few weeks, which is just about right).

[Pseudonym]

It's a few inches past my shoulders so not really long but not short either. The problem is that it's curly, so tends to go full bird's nest after washing unless is gets loads of attention. I had it short for a while, thinking it would be easier, but no.