I've done a lot of retail in my life. It all started in '94 with my first job that didn't involve some back-country field and a pair of pruners and stick fights with the other guys on the crew. Toys R Us. For a young man with a habit of buying action figures and a penchant for flirting with cute cashiers, it was a dream job. I loved it. I was young, enthusiastic, and eager to please the customers to almost any lengths. There was the lady on Christmas Eve who told me I ruined a little girl's Christmas because I didn't have a certain Cabbage Patch, or any Cabbage Patch for that matter, in stock. But all in all, the customers were a delight.
Fast forward to 2003 By this point I have worked in three separate TRUs, a Pier One, Office Depot, managed in a Suncoast, and opened and managed a Hat World. I know retail. I've worked countless Black Friday sales enthusiastically. I've taken returns, legitimate and otherwise. I've listened to, placated and fixed situations with upset customers. I've broken up fist fights over toys. Yes, fist fights. I've caught and reported or kicked out shop lifters. But starting that year something new hit the Midwest retail environment, a new breed of customer.
We've all heard the adage, "the customer is always right." Anyone who has worked more than two months in retail, or anywhere really knows that rarely is the customer right. In fact, most the time the customer is a flat out idiot and relies upon our expertise to help them navigate what is a confusing and perilous journey from the shelves, racks and stacks to the cash register. (Yes, I realize how sarcastic that sounds, but I assure you, I intend its meaning to be taken at face value.) For those that don't know, the adage was to teach us retailers how a customer wants to be treated. Face it, no one likes to be wrong. So we approach the customer in a way that makes them feel comfortable. In a situation where the customer is upset with something, we acknowledge fault, even if there is little to none on our end, to amend the situation. We all know a happy customer is a buying customer. However, somewhere along the way more than the random self-righteous customer latched on to that phrase and even when the fault lies completely, 100% with them, they trumpet this at their loudest pitch in word and deed. The vast majority of guests coming into the stores arrive with a chip on the shoulder as if they are expecting a fight with employees at any moment. If something doesn't go 100% according to their plan, the proverbial excrement hits the fan.
To this end, I came across an article this morning chronicling Target's snafu with their new Missoni line. I've seen the commercials, and frankly, I thought the stuff was horrid, but hey, to each their own, right?
"Brielle deMartino, 23, from Del Ray Beach, Fla., was so excited that she woke up at 6 a.m. on the launch day and spent $700 on Missoni clothes, a bike and plates. The next day, she got an email from Target that her online order was cancelled. Then, she spent hours on the phone with Target customer service representatives she describes as unapologetic.
"I have never been treated like this," says deMartino, who got the charges removed from her card after calling her bank and posted on Facebook and Twitter about the ordeal. "Instead of taking responsibility, they didn't care. I have always been pro-Target, but I don't want to give my money to a company like that again.'"
Treated like what, exactly? Unapologetic? I'm sorry, I find it extremely hard to believe that if she spent "hours on the phone" with a service rep she didn't get at least one apology. Hell, I recently had a go 'round with AT&T, to whom I've been loyal for almost 10 years on internet and phone, and even that lady said she apologized. And after one bad incident a loyal "Pro-Target" shopper would rarely dump an establishment. Unless...there is that sense of entitlement. That sense that it all belongs to me, on my schedule and at my demand. Granted, I'm guessing here, but she probably started off angry after the poor rep had had to deal with a great number of angry, combative customers. I'm still trying to figure out how and WHY she had to call her bank if the order was cancelled. If they had already charged her, and she used her debit card rather than a credit card (not debit run AS a credit card...) I can understand. But people know that to credit a debit card it takes 5-7 days normally, right? This isn't some trick to steal your money for a week and make a huge day trader's investment on the company's behalf. It's how it works, and most of it is on the banking side of things.
"This was badly handled," said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys Inc., a New York customer research firm that has an index that shows Target's image has taken a hit. "What was supposed to be engaging and delightful is now the opposite — disappointment."
Morgan O'Murray, a Target spokeswoman, said the company experienced unprecedented demand for the collection and is working on correcting problems."This demand impacted our Target.com site and affected the shipment and delivery of select guest orders," O'Murray said in a statement. "Providing an exceptional experience is incredibly important to Target, and we have a team dedicated to addressing those guests who have been affected."
Mr. Passikoff and I agree on this. Target didn't handle demand properly. I'm sure they believed there would be I mean, that is the entire point of having a marketing campaign as big as they did. And ordering slightly less than what would be expected, plus the limited run of the items simply feeds that desire and increases demand. But it sounds like they didn't expect demand to be quite this high. Ok, so the spokewoman wasn't exactly apologetic, but c'mon. Her job is PR. We all know PR is corporate's way of spelling "BS."
But wait, this gets even better.
"The buzz turned to frustration for some shoppers. About two hours after the 6 a.m. launch, many on Target's website came face-to-face with Target's mascot bulldog and the disappointing news: "Woof! We are suddenly extremely popular. You may not be able to access our site momentarily due to unusually high traffic. Please stay here and we'll try to get you in as soon as we can!"
This happened throughout the day. Some who were patient got through. Those who weren't left the website disappointed.
Ben Rushlo, director of performance management at Keynote Systems Inc., which tracks websites' performance, said that he couldn't remember the last time a site stayed down most of the day. He said usually, a website slowly deteriorates throughout the day — with minor glitches becoming more prevalent — before crashing.
"It wasn't your normal meltdown," he said."
It wasn't normal. That's for sure. Sites go down all the time. Usually, within a few hours they are restored. It's frustrating as all get out, I admit. But I've never become so upset by a site being down that I vowed never to return. And I played WoW for 6 years. If you know nothing about how the gaming world reacts to their websites or games going down for even 20 minutes, let me explain: If a site goes down, people log in the game and bitch and complain about how the parent company and their tech support are all idiotic morons that couldn't find their own butts on a bright day at high noon. If the game goes down, people flood the site (thus causing it to crash) and declare the company is trying to ruin its own game, and they won't stand for it, they are going to give their money to some other game and are canceling their subscription RIGHT NOW! You'll find these players back in game in about 15 minutes complaining about code monkeys and how easy it is to fix such and such a glitch because they are a programmer for a living. Humorous, no?
So Target screwed up their website. Big black eye, in my opinion. But it's not the issue this article makes it out to be. Unless you throw in that "entitlement." Customers who feel they not only have every right to buy exactly what they want, when they want it, but that their desires to purchase an item outweigh everyone else's desires.
"Megan Bonner, 26, from Memphis, Tenn., bragged on Twitter after ordering $300 worth of Missoni dresses and cardigans until the next day when she got emails telling her that her shipments would be delayed. Nervous that she wouldn't get the items at all, she bought some of them at a nearby Target. But now she worries she won't be refunded for the other merchandise.
"I feel violated. I feel taken advantage of," she said. "If I don't hear back from them in another week, I will call back. Maybe, I just won't go back anymore."
Oh, please tell me Miss, how the hell are you violated? Because they had the courtesy to tell you your order would be delayed, rather than back-ordering and letting you hang on edge for weeks on end after spending money on your items, not knowing when they would show up or where they were? Oh wait, I know, it's that you got impatient, had to have it NOW, ran down to your local Target, found some of the items on the shelves and/or racks and purchased them there. But now you're worried they won't give you a refund for the duplicates? No, you're worried they won't cancel the duplicate items and not charge you the money you spent but didn't really have because of said impatience, right? But I understand being violated. I mean, some corporate muscle in a nice black suit that barely fits his mile wide shoulders did come to your house, hold you at knife point, force you onto the website to purchase the items and then called the warehouse to ensure your items were delayed. To top that off, he then forcefully convinced you to get in your car and drive to Target and buy MORE of the same things...and all that while sneaking a handful of your hiney. Wait, you mean that's not how it went down? Well then, I'm stumped.
Yes, I know this editorial is a little judgmental at points. But I'm so fed up with the general attitude of customers. I left retail several years back because I flat couldn't take any more. I truly loved it for a long time. I enjoyed going above and beyond their expectations and getting that "Thank you for all your help, Michael!" I know of many times I went above and beyond, cheerfully, and did my best to calm difficult situations only to have customers tell managers I was rude and unhelpful because they didn't get the outcome they demanded. I've watched guests belittle employees when I know they are doing their hardest to please. A few years back I went out on Black Friday as a customer rather than employee. I knew all the full-timers on staff. I knew it was going to be slow going. I mean IT'S BLACK FRIDAY FOR GOD'S SAKE! And stood in line while this lady berated the employees mercilessly, going so far as to call one poor seasonal, "kind of a moron," to his face. Credit due, he apologized and walked away. After 30 minutes of listening to her, and then that comment directly to the terrified young man, I turned in line and let her have it. I explained to her in small monosyllabic words that these guys were doing very well (this was after they had brought her four items off the shelf because she couldn't be bothered to leave the line and lose her place, mind you) and were conducting the store in the best manner I had seen done in several years. She was indignant. But she shut up. That's probably due in part to the fact that at least 5-10 people around us applauded when I was done with my tirade.
She is an extreme example, I know. But she is the extreme of the norm. She is the extreme of all of our feelings at some point, our feelings that we are the most important thing, and our desires are the most important desires. How is it that we've fallen so far away from what is really important. God forgive us, I pray.
