SoapZone Community Message Board

I was never too worried about having snooty co-workers but yeah, I was expecting the customers to be a LOT worse. And...a few are every bit as bad as I expected but the majority are very sweet and incredibly patient as I fumble through an explanation of sales or can't find the style pants they want immediately* or hit the wrong thing on the register.

* Our store is organized by "shops", aka pieces that would go together are on the rack together. It looks nice but sometimes I'd prefer all the pants be in one area and all the jeans in another and all the tops in a third, etc.

Speaking of work (and I plan a longer post some time on Friday, my one month anniversary at Chico's, talking about my overall experience so far)...I received a really nice, but somewhat unusual, compliment today. Today seemed to be "shop with a sister/friend" day; we had very few solo shoppers. One duo came in late in the morning...I'm guessing they were sisters but they might've just been really close friends. One was a shopper (let's call her "S" for "shopper") and one really wasn't (let's call her "NS" for "non-shopper"). They were headed to lunch and I'm betting S dragged NS in "just to look at a few things". I got S set up in a dressing room with a few items, then NS found a couple things she wanted to try on. We were having a promotion today--$20 off a $100 purchase, $50 off $200--and I was encouraged by the store manager to get as many women to $200 worth of merch possible. NS liked the top and pants she'd tried on and when reminded of the promo, she found another top. I rang her items up...they came to $211 with tax. SM informed NS that the total had to be $200 before tax to get the promo price; her three items were "only" $198 and change. NS said, not at all unkindly, that she wasn't going to get anything then and it was a shame she couldn't get the promo when she was so close to the $200. In typical SM fashion, as she always does, SM got mad when she perceived a criticism, so she snippily said "I don't make the rules". But she checked to see if the register would let the $1 and change difference slide and it did. So NS got all her items AND $50 off.

Purchases in hand (well, in a bag), NS went over to this area that's not exactly seating but can be used as such (the front window display area) while S happily had me or someone else fetch this top in a different color or that top in another size. I'm estimating she was trying on clothes for at least 45 minutes, then she spent another 20 minutes analyzing jewelry, which was buy one, get one 50% off. I was giving her suggestions based on what tops she'd bought. When S slipped back into the dressing room to try on yet another outfit, NS came up and asked me what was my name. I told her and she said she wanted to compliment me. I said "thank you! Um...for what?". NS told me she thought I did a great job greeting her and S and giving the sales pitch without being pushy. She appreciated that I then walked away and let S and NS look around on their own. She asked me if I was taught that and I told her...not exactly. And left it at that; what we're taught is to practically pounce on customers the moment they walk in, inform them of the sales, ask them if they're shopping for a special occasion and then start throwing out suggestions. They want us to sell a minimum of three pieces, preferably pieces that make a complete outfit. But I'm not comfortable doing that, in part because I hate when I get pounced on by a sales person the second I step foot in a store.

ETA--after the coupon, S wound up leaving with almost $600 worth of clothes and jewelry. It was my single biggest sale yet.

I had to laugh...a couple weeks ago, the regional manager ("RM") was in the store for a video conference call (I don't know why she had to conduct it in our back room but in doing so, she prevented me from going back and taking a break that shift...but that's another story). When she was done, she came out onto the sales floor and was chatting with SM and another employee. A woman walked in; the door barely shut before RM was all over her, telling her about the sales. The customer actually stepped back, said something to the effect of "I'll come back later. I don't like how you were all over me the second I came in" and left (and didn't return). RM was totally bewildered and didn't understand why the customer was upset. No one else thought RM was in the wrong but I was behind everyone inwardly nodding and siding with the customer. It's tricky trying to figure out when to approach a customer and know how much fawning...um...attention they want. But NS thinks I aced it 😄