Did you find everything you were looking for all right?
I am so sick of hearing that phrase. I don't know when it started or if it's just a Minneapolis thing, but I hear it from virtually every cashier at every store imaginable. "Did you find everything you were looking for all right?" Seems to have replaced "Thanks for shopping at X, please come again", though this new comment/greeting has a whole new level of insincerity to it.
I'm curious what the point of the comment is? After all most of these stores have people walking the floor to help me find what I want, should I need the help. Thus it can be reasonably assumed that since I am at the checkout line with any kind of product I was able to find what I wanted. Or do they actually think that I would pick up a load of crap that I don't want just so that it wouldn't seem as if I was so incompetent that I couldn't find what I was looking for?
You know what, next time I'm asked that question I'm going to change my answer, it's going to be "No". I'm curious to see what kind of look of panic will cross the face of the cashier. After all, they don't expect anything other than a yes. Are they prepared to deal with someone who wasn't able to find what they wanted? And what if I did manage to find what I was looking for but the process was arduous and I didn't feel that everything was "all right". Am I entitled to some kind of discount, or do I get to berate someone for half an hour for having placed the book not in alphabetical order by author properly?
Why can't we all be honest about the real relationship between the consumers and the employees of these stores. The reality is that these people have no vested interest in what I buy or if I had a pleasant shopping experience. I'm there because I need/want a product and I'm willing to pay for it. They are there so that they can get paid to buy the crap that they like. For all I know they despise me for my purchase of a half-gallon of mayonnaise, the latest Yanni CD, a collection midget pron DVDs and Scientology textbooks; so I would rather hear "Wow, you're the fifth person today to pick that particular DVD." or some other intelligent banter rather than the standard mindless corporate schpeel...but maybe that's just me, clearly I have peculiar tastes.
posted by Christopher Robin at 1:10 p.m.
7 Comments:
As someone who works in retail and used to love my job as a cashier I feel I have to comment. Yeah, the corporate structure instructs us to spout such mindless phrases as these, however, I actually listen for the answer, as do many others, and can help. Lots of people didn't actually find things, but won't speak up until asked. Plus, I've had many shopping trips when you actually want someone roaming the floor to help you, but of course you can never find them. Yeah, a whole bunch of people hate their retail jobs and don't give a shit about the customer, but there's lots of us who chose those jobs specifically for the customer contact, and we actually enjoy talking to them. Plus, we can throw in some fun phrases like, "Have a hoppy Easter" or "Have an eggs-ellent day". People get a kick out of it and so do I. (Elizabeth, if you read this you must remember those Safeway days!)
1:23 p.m.
Thanks Kim. I hope it didn't come across that I was looking down on cashiers and the like. I was more stunned by how often I have heard the exact same line, word for word, with no variation. As a result it starts t sound forced and fake. I also suppose that I'm one of those people who will simply ask if I can't find what I want, I won't wait for someone to ask me.
Either way, I just find it rather funny that there seems to be no originality, that somehow everyone is asking the exact same question. That being said I am appreciative of those who work in the customer service industry, after all, I am a customer and I do need to be served.
2:12 p.m.
Seriously, what variation would you put on this phrase! There's not a lot of ways to say the same thing in retail, but I am curious what people could come up with.
5:32 p.m.
I think there has been a bit of a miscommunication between us. If it's store policy to say that, well it's policy nothing can change. What I find odd is that a no-name book store, Best Buy, Blockbuster and just about eve other cashier I have come acorss in this city has said the same thing to me.
As for varriants:
"Is there anything additional you were looking for?"
"Is there anyting else I can help you with before you leave?"
"I hope you found what you were looking for."
11:34 a.m.
Yes, it's very annoying. But I moved from Wisconsin to NYC and here in NYC, people who work in stores just don't give a shit and 99% of them are totally rude. I kind of miss the overly-nice/helpful kind...
3:18 a.m.
I think it has more to do with shoplifting. If you get busted with 'something in your pocket' after going through the cash and cashier's question "Did you find everything you we're looking for..." then the store's case is stronger since a shoplifter would not be able to use the 'ol catch phrase "I accidently put it in my pocket." I don't think there is any other purpose for this question at all and yes, stores are more and more asking this question.
2:34 p.m.
let's get real folks - it's a fake scripted question.
Sure, if by some unlikely chance,
I, as a customer, was hearing that
phrase for the first time it might
sound sincere, but after the 1000th
time (or the even the third time!)
it sounds fake.
The time to ask customers if they
are finding everything is BEFORE
they are in a checkout line.
Honestly how many people are too stupid or shy to ask an employee in the aisles while they are still shopping?
If someone is too shy to ask
an employee on the floor, will they
be any less shy in front of a long line of customers behind them?
Instead forcing cashiers to do one
more mechanical thing why not
train floor employees to ask
customers if they are finding
everything? then it's USEFUL.
basically, its a dumb short sighted
corporate policy that is rationalized as a method for increasing sales.
I'd rather frequent a store
(and thus increase their sales)
that didn't put me through
these dumb scripted questions.
11:03 a.m.
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