Gotta Love Retail!

Like I said before, I sell shoes. In the mall. When a customer comes into my store (it's a small store) I'm supposed to greet them and start a conversation. "If they don't want to be annoyed about shoes and feeling like I am just trying to see them shoes, I try and find something else I can talk to them about. "Are you enjoying the holiday season?" "Have any big plans for the weekend?" "I like your Chacos! How long have you had them?" If a customer clearly doesn't want to have anything to do with me, I leave them alone. Sometimes I come back after a while and see if they've found anything yet.

Here's how a conversation typically ends up:

Me: "Hey there." "How's it going today?" (or my manager "What's jumping off?!" "Causing any trouble yet?")
Customer: "Hi." "Good." --ignore-- "How are you?"
Me: "Lookin' for some shoes today?" (as they're looking at our shelves, picking up shoes, etc.)
Customer: "Nope, just looking."

Let's replay the last part:

Me: "Are you looking for some shoes today?"
Customer: "Nope, just looking."

Hmmm... I hear this constantly. It replays itself in nearly every conversation I have with a customer. But when they are looking at shoes and I ask them if they are looking at shoes and then they tell me they are not looking for shoes I get confused. YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SHOES. What you really mean is "yes, I am looking for shoes but I don't want to be bothered by a sales associate."

My favorites are people who just blatantly ignore you first. IGNORE. I know you heard me. Just because I'm a sales associate doesn't mean that I'm the scum of the earth. I'm still a person. I still deserve respect!

It feels good to vent about that :)