Complaint About Retail Store Workers

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I was at the mall yesterday and decided to stop into The Limited. I looked around and decided to try on 3 shirts, and as I went into the dressing room, the sales woman yells to me (with a slight additude) to make sure to bring out what I wasn't going to purchase. Why is this OK??? I was like, "Ok, and when I get out, make sure to have part of your pay check waiting for me!" ETA - There was no rack to put the unwanted clothing on - she wanted me to put them back.

I don't ask people to do my job for me at my work, why do I have to do theirs for them? What, was actually doing their job going to take away from the fact that all they were doing was sitting on the tables and chatting!?!? Oh, I was so annoyed!! And then when I actually wanted to purchase one of the shirts, it was a 5 minute wait/search to find someone to actually ring me up.

Ok, vent over.... anyone else experience this? How do you feel about it??

 

[clh2]

I hate when stuff like this happens.

While I am not normally a vindictive person, every once in a while a monster takes over, and then I do stuff that is, well not very nice. I would have made it more work for the worker by putting the clothes back. Just not in the right spots, and not all together either. NOPE - not very nice either.

 

[marybet]

The girl did have an attitude. But don't you just hate going into dressing rooms that have so many clothes left in them that there is no where to hang the ones you want to try on? Even when they do have a rack to hang them on I still find tons in the dressing rooms. I must be in the minority but I always put the clothes back after I try them on. If there is a rack for that purpose I will use it, but I mostly just take them back to the rack I found them on.

Most stores are understaffed. Good help is hard to find.

 

[Jennasis]

At the limited by me, they have a knob on the back of the dressing room doors to hang unwanted clothes (it's facing outside, not into the dressing room). Maybe there was one of those.

I find it completely unacceptable for people to just leave their unwanted clothes in the dressing room. I personally either hang them up on the "discard" bar (if there is one) or go and put it back on the rack. It takes all of 2 minutes to do that in most mall stores. Never been in a dept store that didn't have "the bar'.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

First of all, I want to say that I did, and almost always do, put the unwanted clothes back myself. I also hate it when you go into a dressing room, and theres so much crap thrown around, that theres no where for you to stand, let alone put the clothes you want to try on.
Having said that, it is still their job to do this, and by no means my responcibility! If the sales people want a clean dressing room, I suggest they put on their sneakers and do it themselves rather than leaving it to the customers. Sorry, it just burns me.

 

[Kim&Chris]

I am not, in any way, taking sides on this issue, but I can tell you this: I work at the corporate offices of a major retailer. Times are horrible in retail, and the stores are understaffed and the employees are overworked. Budgets for store payroll are one of the first things to get hacked, so she may be doing the job of two people.

If she asked you to bring the merchandise out after trying it on, it may be because she had a ton of things to do prior to closing, and she was attempting to condense her workload. Maybe. However, if she was just farting around out on the salesfloor, then I understand your frustration

 

[KilimanjaroSafaris]

I always bring my clothes that I want and do not want out of the dressing room. I find it common curiosity to do so! Just like I pick up after myself at home!

 

[Jennasis]

"Ok, and when I get out, make sure to have part of your pay check waiting for me!" ETA - There was no rack to put the unwanted clothing on - she wanted me to put them back.

I don't ask people to do my job for me at my work, why do I have to do theirs for them?

First of all, I want to say that I did, and almost always do, put the unwanted clothes back myself. I also hate it when you go into a dressing room, and theres so much crap thrown around, that theres no where for you to stand, let alone put the clothes you want to try on.
Having said that, it is still their job to do this, and by no means my responcibility! If the sales people want a clean dressing room, I suggest they put on their sneakers and do it themselves rather than leaving it to the customers. Sorry, it just burns me.

Well your statement first sounds an awful lot like you don't "almost always" put the unwantred clothes back yourself. Apparently it's not YOUR job...ya know...to put away the things YOU take out.

As for your second part, you weren't asked to clean out a dressing room an put away the clothes left by others. You were asked to bring out the three shirts you brought in. Seriously.

 

[EpcotBeauty]

I always return unwanted clothes. However, I would have a problem with a snotty saleslady TELLING me I had better do it. It is a matter of respect and it doesn't sound like the saleswoman in the OP had any of that for the OP.

If the store wants customers to return unwanted clothing to the rack, they need to put up signs. They would have better compliance that way, rather than depending on a snotty sales person, imo.

 

[mickeysgal]

I too am amazed that people leave the clothing they've tried on in the dressing room. So many can't even be bothered to put the clothes back on the hanger. I'll say it...they're slobs. Inconsiderate, self-centered, slobs.

If there is not a discard rack available to hang the clothes I don't want or if it's full, I put the clothes back on the right rack on the sales floor. It's not hard.

It never used to be this way. You never had to have a dressing room cleaned up between customers. People took their clothes with them when they left the dressing room. Now I guess people expect to be catered to. More of the entitlement mentality thats running rampant.

 

[sharlon]

I always put the clothes away after trying on. What would have really ticked me off would have been the attitude. That would have made sure that I didn't buy anything.

 

[bicker]

What would obviate this problem is to have The Limited hire more customer-focused staff. However, there is a lot of competition for such high-quality workers. The best of the best get jobs with the retail outlets that pay the highest salaries, and of course, there is a strong correlation between the stores that pay the highest salaries and those that charge the highest premiums for what they sell. So this basically boils down to "Great service or low prices: Pick one."

One other aspect to this is that The Limited is, specifically, aiming at a younger clientele (regardless of who is actually buying there), and so tend to hire younger staff. Keeping other factors constant, by limiting their labor pool in this way (i.e., discounting the skills of older workers, because they [rightfully] feel that younger workers will resonate better with younger patrons), they're going to end up with lower quality workers. The result of this is that even as compared to other stores in the same "price-range", The Limited will not provide the same quality of customer service.

[Note that in the paragraph above I didn't say that younger workers were categorically less customer-focused. If you read it that way, then please understand that you misunderstood what I wrote. I specifically mentioned the limiting of the labor pool... if you limit your labor pool by any characteristic other than customer-focus, then the result will tend to be less customer-focused workers, regardless of the extraneous characteristic that you're limiting the labor pool by.]

My wife, incidentally, suggests going to The Gap instead of The Limited. She feels that she consistently gets better customer service there.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Jennasis - This is exactly how I feel, so don't read into anything else. As I said, I don't mind bringing back my clothes, as I almost always do, but I do mind a sales woman with an additude telling me what I have to do. I agree that stepping into a clothes filled dressing room is annoying, and the people that leave it that way are rude, but still, I believe it is the sales persons JOB to clean it up. It was when I worked retail 10 years ago, and it still is. I also believe that (gasp) its the sales persons job to go to the back if I can't find my size out on the racks and not give me the generic "Everything we have is out on the floor" responce..... gasp!!!

I always return unwanted clothes. However, I would have a problem with a snotty saleslady TELLING me I had better do it. It is a matter of respect and it doesn't sound like the saleswoman in the OP had any of that for the OP.

If the store wants customers to return unwanted clothing to the rack, they need to put up signs. They would have better compliance that way, rather than depending on a snotty sales person, imo.

 

[RadioNate]

Having worked in retail I always rehang and take out any items that I brought in. If I don't put them back on the rack myself I do hand them to the sales person on my way out (or while I pay).

I worked at Kohls in college and during the holiday season people would just leave clothes in piles on the floor. Rarely were they even put back on hangers let alone put on the 'discard' rack.

Was this salesperson the only person in the store at the time? I know there were times where I'd be working alone and you really couldn't go into the fitting rooms at all until closing. Then, because of payroll, you'd only have 30 minutes to close the registers, clean up everything and leave.

I'm sorry if the girl had an attitude but the current 'not my job' mentality in society needs to go too....guess I'm just too nice.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

I've worked in retail on and off for 10 years. When I started it was in the mall at a clothing store. At the stores I've worked at, we'd rather the customers did not rehang the clothes themselves. It is the employees job to see to it that ALL of the clothes come out of the dressing room and are hung in the right location. Employees not monitoring dressing rooms is just asking for a high shrink amount. If she was busy and needed you to bring the clothes out, a polite "After you're finished, could you please bring me the clothes that don't work out? Thanks" would have been more appropriate than yell with an attitude!

 

[corndog]

You'll know when the economy actually starts to get bad, because customer service will return.

 

[bicker]

Interesting hypothesis. Probably very true.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

You'll know when the economy actually starts to get bad, because customer service will return.

Interesting hypothesis. Probably very true.

Exactly what I was thinking..... Just didn't want to be the one to say it.

 

[OrlandoMike]

If you want to have the sales clerk put your clothing back for you, it's gonna cost the company extra to hire more clerks. Hence, the price of your clothing is going to go up!

 

[mickeysgal]

I've worked in retail on and off for 10 years. When I started it was in the mall at a clothing store. At the stores I've worked at, we'd rather the customers did not rehang the clothes themselves. It is the employees job to see to it that ALL of the clothes come out of the dressing room and are hung in the right location. Employees not monitoring dressing rooms is just asking for a high shrink amount. If she was busy and needed you to bring the clothes out, a polite "After you're finished, could you please bring me the clothes that don't work out? Thanks" would have been more appropriate than yell with an attitude!

OT but I have to share...

Yes, a lot of shrink happens in the dressing room. A friend of mine who works at a major retail store recently told me that they regularly find used underwear in the dressing rooms. They simply put on something new and walk out. I can't imagine...

Unfortunately, in today's ecomony, stores are cutting back on employees and hours. They have to do more with less and end up taking a hit in shrink.