Tonight was one of those customers which use the vaunted, “Yesyes.” In other words, imagine yourself speaking, and in mid-sentence, someone cuts you off saying, “Yesyes.” If you were in a social situation, chances are, you’ll say something along the lines of, “That was very rude!” Of course, in retail, with the ‘mental giants’ (sarcasm) which exist here, it is their ‘right as a customer’ to shut you up when they feel like it. Because, the customer is always right. Yeah, right.
So a customer is making a return, and she purchased two of the same items in different colors. Currently, we mark items down not by the entire style, but by their individual colors, especially considering the amount left within the store, so we are not belabored with a mountain of extra sizes in an ugly color. (Black, white, and gray usually cost more when on sale, than orange, green, or maroon, because more people buy the basic colors.) Well the woman was returning the cheaper of two shirts (same style, different color) mentioning the fact they were different prices. And I tell her about the different color, different price rule.
“Oh, but it’s the same shirt.”
“Yes, I know.”
“So [the cashier] charged me wrong.”
“No, I just told you, different colors have different prices.”
“But, it’s the same shirt,” she lifts a pink shirt, “I also bought a white shirt like this.” I try not to roll my eyes.
“Yes, different colors have different prices.”
“[The cashier] must have overcharged me, but that’s okay.”
*Rolls eyes*
I am processing her return, and again, “So it’s only worth this much, even though I was charged more for the other shirt?”
“Yes, because different colors have different prices. We have a lot more pink…”
“Yesyes.”
Urgh.
–
There are different discounts: buy two pants for $35 each, buy three polo for $20 each, buy four panties for $10 each, etc. and each of these discounts appear in your transaction once you reach the two, three or four item minimum. Now, here I present a lose-lose situation.
In the beginning, I’d try to ring up all the items before the customer could react. More often than not, they would cut in saying, “How come this costs that much? It says I get two/three/four for that amount!?!”
“I didn’t scan them all in yet,” *Beep*, “See, now they are all the lower price.”
Being tired of this reaction, before I even start to scan, I’d tell people, “This is buy two/three/four for X-dollars, once all are scanned in, the price will adjust.” I hope this solves the problem.
Instead, 90% of the time, before I can get to the end of that sentence, they say, “Yesyes,” effectively cutting me off. So from people who are aghast and confused their discount isn’t automatic after the first item is scanned, they are not psychic-geniuses whom know the discount only applies when all items are scanned in. It is almost like they become dumber the longer they stand at the register. It is amazing! We should always complete the transaction before they even start– yesyes!
Customer Type: Yesyes, Deaf
Memoirs of a Retail Salesperson 