Please don't do this while shopping...inspired by shopping pet peeves

[hentob]

we have to ask for phone numbers at the store I work for ~ I hate it, but I need to (again ~ you never know when a secret shopper is in your line) Most people give it out, some act offended and are rude and some make up numbers. How do I know they make up numbers? One woman was shopping with the young preschool aged son. After she gave me her number, he said "Mom ~ that's not our number. Our number is 555-123-4567"
She turn 10 different shades of red and I wanted to laugh, but tried not to show it!

What happens if someone says "I have an unlisted number"? What do you type in? Why do stores need phone numbers?

That is funny about the pre-schooler

 

[jedi_librarian]

Please stay off your cel phone when you are in line or getting checked out. No one wants to hear your personal things while waiting to get out of the store!

UGH!! That drives me crazy!!! I said something to someone once because they weren't paying attention and she had forgotten half her stuff in her cart (this was at Costco) and the cashier had to charge her separately because she had already paid. I told her if she wasn't on her cell phone, she could pay attention.

When I get asked if I want to open a store credit card, I sometimes I just tell them "No thank you, I'm getting ready to buy a house and don't want to add anything more to my credit". It's the truth. But they sure don't keep persisting. Most of the time, especially if I'm grouchy, I just say NO.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I just lie and say I all ready have a store card

I find that no thank you I'm not iterested works quite well and I am not telling a lie.

 

[minniecarousel]

Heh - I love when they ask for the phone number when I'm paying cash - oh, no, I'm not giving you my phone number!!

To the OP - when I'm in a dressing room that is filled with other people's "try-ons", I'm astonished that they didn't take them out! What's up with THAT!?

 

[mickeyfan2]

It's not that I'm a paragon of virtue when it comes to honesty but I just get stubborn and feel like I shouldn't have to lie when I'm handing over my hard earned cash! I'm the same way with the whole phone number thing. I refuse to give my number, but I have friends who will lie and give a made up number.

I just says it is unlisted (and it really is). 90% accept that. If they say they need a number I then tell them to use the store number (9%) accept this. For the last 1% I give them information 555-1212 and they are happy.

 

[Chicago526]

For credit cards, I just tell them I have one (and 9 times out of ten, that's acutally true, I just don't use them!) and they let it go, no problem. I did have one cashier at Eddie Bauer looked very surprised and shocked when I said that! I think she was puzzled why if I had one, I wasn't using it! She wasn't rude in anyway, just looked shocked!

For phone numbers, I just give my work number. Never gotten a sales call so it hasn't been a problem.

 

[va32h]

I used to work retail - I couldn't stand the ones who wouldn't even get their wallets out until you gave them a total.

They'd spend 15 minutes waiting in line, and only when I actually said "That's 19.95 please" would it occur to them to set their purse on the counter, and pull out their wallet - I mean - were they hoping I would just say "hey it's free merchandise day!". Most shoppers are aware that paying for the item is the point of standing in line at the checkout, right?

At Christmas, my peeve would be people who would ask me for gift recommendations. If you don't know what to get someone that you know personally, how the heck am I, a complete stranger, supposed to know?

 

[Regina]

I always hang up and bring out the clothes that I try on, but sometimes there's no rack to put them on, or the rack is overflowing with clothes that need to be returned to the sales floor. My fave is when I handed the clothes on their hangars to the saleslady and she sighed.

I don't mind them asking if I want their credit card. I just keep saying "no thank you."

What makes me crazy are the customers who wait until everything is rung up, finally start digging through their purse and whip out a checkbook. Naturally, they never have a pen. I mean hello, if you planned on writing checks, don't you think that bringing a pen and starting to fill it in would be a courtesy to the rest of us waiting behind you?

 

[cepmom]

What happens if someone says "I have an unlisted number"? What do you type in? Why do stores need phone numbers?

That is funny about the pre-schooler

when someone has an unlisted # or doesn't want to give it out, I usually put in 999-999-9999. The company tracks your "phone compliance" and will show your "score". It is supposed to be something like 85% or higher. So just to keep it around that 85% I will sometimes put in my own # or another # that I make up. It's ridiculous....I mean why is it my fault that some customers don't want to give out their number? I certainly shouldn't be held accountable for that. I ask everyone. Whether or not they give it to me is irrelevant.

They want the numbers so they can keep track of what products you buy and to send you coupons.....not to different from the supermarkets that require you to use a card to get the sale prices.

 

[Crankyshank]

I find that no thank you I'm not interested works quite well and I am not telling a lie.

I don't really care if I'm lying or not. What I care about is an expedient transaction and if I say no thank you I always get some sort of retort.

 

[golfgal]

When I worked at Macy's promoting the credit cards was part of our rating process-the secret shoppers would come in and rate us and if we failed we lost our jobs. There were times during the year where we could earn extra money for each credit card we opened so they get pushed even harder then. I hated doing that. I did catch someone that was wanted all over the country for all kinds of fraud. She opened her purse and had drivers licenses from at least 5 different states. You had to call in the credit card info at the time so I dialed store security instead and they came and got her. That was kind of fun.

I have always refused to open those cards until the last time I shopped at Kohl's. They had a scratch off promotion plus I got 15% off for opening a card AND I found out I could use the fundraising cards our school sells to pay my bills so I opened one and saved over $200.

 

[LoveWDW]

I so agree!! They should tell you that they need to answer the phone and then tell that person to hold on, that they're helping another customer.

That annoys me too!

I agree! For them to answer the phone and help the phone customer is the same as taking the customer standing behind me and helping her instead of finishing with me.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

To the OP - when I'm in a dressing room that is filled with other people's "try-ons", I'm astonished that they didn't take them out! What's up with THAT!?

I don't know! It amazes me how some people even say to their children "oh just leave it there, that's her job"

 

[Marseeya]

we have to ask for phone numbers at the store I work for ~ I hate it, but I need to (again ~ you never know when a secret shopper is in your line) Most people give it out, some act offended and are rude and some make up numbers. How do I know they make up numbers? One woman was shopping with the young preschool aged son. After she gave me her number, he said "Mom ~ that's not our number. Our number is 555-123-4567"
She turn 10 different shades of red and I wanted to laugh, but tried not to show it!

That's a good one!

One year before Christmas, DH and I were in Toys r Us and they asked for our number (this was the first time it ever happened to us). I was kind of surprised, because up until that point, stores had only asked for our zip code. I told her I wasn't comfortable with that because our number was unlisted, and DH said, "Oh, just give her our number, it's not big deal" and the cashier assured me that they don't call people anyway. Whatever, I gave it to her.

Two days later, on a Saturday morning, guess who called us at 8 a.m. wanting us to do a survey for a $2 coupon! Yup, Toys r Us! I woke DH up and handed him the phone, and man was he ever peeved! No more numbers from him.

Most places are okay when I don't want to give them my number, but there have been two that weren't. One was Sears, a cashier didn't even want to ring me up until my sister stepped in with a number. The other was Fashion Bug. Every time we went through this, the cashier would act all helpless and call over a manager, who went through this big long act of not knowing what on earth to do. One time I'd had enough of the farce and informed the manager that we'd been through this several times already and she looked really mad, but put in a different number.

Anyway, I understand all the things cashiers have to do, as I'd worked retail in the past for several years. I had a manager who pulled the same kind of stunts with customers that the Fashion Bug manager did, and it made me nuts.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I was in a grocery store once and the cashier was baffled when I didn't want to give my phone number and proceeded to tell me she couldn't ring my order without one.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

We have an unlisted number so I usually give them our old phone number. sorry to whoever has it now

 

[Marseeya]

We have an unlisted number so I usually give them our old phone number. sorry to whoever has it now

Someone did that to my sister once! They put HER phone number on their check and it bounced. The store harrassed her for months. I'm not sure why she put up with it as long as she did, but she finally threatened to go to the police with it. The calls finally dwindled down until they stopped.

 

[cepmom]

That's a good one!

One year before Christmas, DH and I were in Toys r Us and they asked for our number (this was the first time it ever happened to us). I was kind of surprised, because up until that point, stores had only asked for our zip code. I told her I wasn't comfortable with that because our number was unlisted, and DH said, "Oh, just give her our number, it's not big deal" and the cashier assured me that they don't call people anyway. Whatever, I gave it to her.

Two days later, on a Saturday morning, guess who called us at 8 a.m. wanting us to do a survey for a $2 coupon! Yup, Toys r Us! I woke DH up and handed him the phone, and man was he ever peeved! No more numbers from him.

.

OMG...they did??? That's who I work for (BRU)!! I had no idea they actually called people!! At our store, a little survey thing pops out every now and then ~ the customer can choose to call and participate in the survey for a $3.00 coupon.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I had a similar problem with Radio Shack a few years ago. They would not sell me something unless they got my full address. Now DH worked there in the early 80s, and I know it is so they can send out their flyer. I tried to explain that we already get the flyer, but supposedly the order would not go through, etc....it was a videotape I needed in a hurry for a concert or something so I gave it to him, but I was not happy about it. I don't know if they still do that; I avoid them now.
Robin M.

 

[disneymom3]

I don't think TRU uses the survey calls anymore, they do that little online survey thing. I was told I might be called to do a survey when they asked for my phone number and I gave it to them--I love surveys! I quailified for a $10 gc so that was very cool!!

I used to work at a toy store and we were getting zip codes for awhile basically to just track where people were coming from to see if it was worth opening a new store or something. There were people who were really rude and refused to give it to me. Hello??? It's just a zipcode! We were very easily able to override it though. I can't imagine having to ask for phone numbers.

For the credit card thing, we were recently really pushed to get one at the car repair shop of all places! We had a bill that was double what we expected and I groaned a bit when I saw it. Well, that was apparantly the tip off that I couldn't afford it or something cause man, did he push it! I finally said, "You know what? We don't believe in credit." He still argued that it was 90 days same as cash. I had to explain that i didn't care. If I didn't have the money to fix it, the car would have just sat in my driveway until it did. He just could not get over that I wouldn't apply for the card.