Archived guest complaint

[antwan5544]

ok today i had a weird moment my gstl who usally jokes with me but lately is under presurre because of redcards.when i was talking with him he seemed like he was joking but he said i had a guest complaint.but when i asked him what it was about he said dont worry about it.he said he told are etl ge.will i get fired for this? or am i just worry about nothing.i never say anything bad about guests while im at work.

 

[catrainer]

We have no clue if you get fired for it. We don't even know what the alleged "complaint" is. It could have been they didn't like your shirt for all we know. If he said not to worry about it, you could be just fine. You will just have to wait to see what it was.

 

[Barcode]

Most guest complaints are stupid so you're probably fine. Unless it was something serious or a repeated pattern.

I've had tons of complaints, most of them were just me following protocol though.

 

[antwan5544]

thanks barcode i will see when i get in if it was anything.

 

[RedorBlue]

A guest complaint is usually subjective and he said/ she said. It would be hard to hold someone accountable for a guest complaint. Now you may receive a conversation from you ETL of this is not the first complaint.

 

[GlobalTL123]

Most of the time the complaints are stupid.

 

[DoWork]

If you get a lot of complaints, steal someone else's name tag

 

[Sickofspot]

If you get a lot of complaints, steal someone else's name tag

Haha! Love it!

 

[redeye58]

I don't think he would've mentioned it to you in a 'joking' fashion & tell you that he passed it on to the ETL if was something serious.
One of our GSTLs would tell TMs that (guest) complained about (something trivial) about you but simply shrug it off.

 

[LadyCynide]

If you get a lot of complaints, steal someone else's name tag

This one week I had 3 guests complain about me, simply because I followed policy, so I grabbed a nametag that belonged to a former TM and wore it around and watched as management tried to resolve guest complaints about someone who had been long gone.

 

[desertcoyote]

"I'm going to call the company! Give me the number!"
"Sure here you go... my name is... have a great day!"
I don't even care about that anymore.

 

[redeye58]

One of our local groc chains always prints out the name of the cashier which never seemed to match their name tag.

 

[Jill of All Trades]

I had a complaint today. I was wearing a paper name tag (too lazy to fish mine out of my locker when I realized I didn't have it on) and I was covering a service desk break after I was finished with cash office. To be fair, I might not have been at my most cheery, but I was certainly pleasant. I should probably mention here that I am one of our stores more experienced GSAs.

This guest comes up to the desk in an absolute lather, waving two bottles of cheap shampoo and yelling "CAN I BUY THESE HERE?" I said "Sure, are there long lines at the checkouts?" thinking she was mad about waiting and I would call for backup. Well, the guest apparently thought I was being a smartass or something, and goes on to rant about how she was told to come here to price match but now she doesn't want to deal with my attitude. I calm her down and determine that we sell the shampoo for $7.76 and she wants to price match with Walmart. She starts getting out her phone and I ask her how much they sell it for, figuring I'll skip the iPad song and dance if it's not much. $7.67. NINE cents different. She starts waving her phone around again and I tell her "Don't worry about it, I got it." Then she starts in with "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A LIAR I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER RIGHT NOW!"


I didn't feel like telling her that she was, in fact, speaking to one would help the situation much, so I called the GSTM that had just been promoted to GSA the week before and let the guest yell at her until she was good and tired. Then the guest left with her discounted shampoo and the GSA and I had a teaching moment about the best ways to handle and deescalate angry guests.

 

[Firefox]

Guest complaints are pretty common once you start having to deny guests based on policy, especially if you work the Service Desk. Can't give the guest cash for the opened and used air mattress that they have no receipt for and paid in cash? That'll get you a guest complaint. Can't refund an opened video game? That's a guest complaint. Can't accept an expired coupon/isn't applicable? That's a guest complaint.

If your GSTL says not to worry about it, and that it's just the one, I wouldn't be too worried. I'd only worry if you get multiple complaints that all say similar things.

I had a complaint today. I was wearing a paper name tag (too lazy to fish mine out of my locker when I realized I didn't have it on) and I was covering a service desk break after I was finished with cash office. To be fair, I might not have been at my most cheery, but I was certainly pleasant. I should probably mention here that I am one of our stores more experienced GSAs.

This guest comes up to the desk in an absolute lather, waving two bottles of cheap shampoo and yelling "CAN I BUY THESE HERE?" I said "Sure, are there long lines at the checkouts?" thinking she was mad about waiting and I would call for backup. Well, the guest apparently thought I was being a smartass or something, and goes on to rant about how she was told to come here to price match but now she doesn't want to deal with my attitude. I calm her down and determine that we sell the shampoo for $7.76 and she wants to price match with Walmart. She starts getting out her phone and I ask her how much they sell it for, figuring I'll skip the iPad song and dance if it's not much. $7.67. NINE cents different. She starts waving her phone around again and I tell her "Don't worry about it, I got it." Then she starts in with "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A LIAR I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER RIGHT NOW!"


I didn't feel like telling her that she was, in fact, speaking to one would help the situation much, so I called the GSTM that had just been promoted to GSA the week before and let the guest yell at her until she was good and tired. Then the guest left with her discounted shampoo and the GSA and I had a teaching moment about the best ways to handle and deescalate angry guests.

My GSTL did something similar during my training. My GSTL was handling an irate guest at the Service Desk and I was setting up the break schedule, when he just goes "Hang on, I'm gonna stop you for just one second. Firefox! Get over here." and he just had me deal with her; and it was a nightmare. Easily one of the worst and most prolonged experience I've had with an upset guest before. When we finally manage to get her to leave, he just said "See, now that you know how bad some guests can get, all the others will seem trivial." And that it did. It's kinda like just jumping into the deep end instead of wading in slowly.

 

[commiecorvus]

Guest complaints are pretty common once you start having to deny guests based on policy, especially if you work the Service Desk. Can't give the guest cash for the opened and used air mattress that they have no receipt for and paid in cash? That'll get you a guest complaint. Can't refund an opened video game? That's a guest complaint. Can't accept an expired coupon/isn't applicable? That's a guest complaint.

If your GSTL says not to worry about it, and that it's just the one, I wouldn't be too worried. I'd only worry if you get multiple complaints that all say similar things.



My GSTL did something similar during my training. My GSTL was handling an irate guest at the Service Desk and I was setting up the break schedule, when he just goes "Hang on, I'm gonna stop you for just one second. Firefox! Get over here." and he just had me deal with her; and it was a nightmare. Easily one of the worst and most prolonged experience I've had with an upset guest before. When we finally manage to get her to leave, he just said "See, now that you know how bad some guests can get, all the others will seem trivial." And that it did. It's kinda like just jumping into the deep end instead of wading in slowly.

I don't know if I want to applaud your GSTL or beat beat him with him with a bag of oranges.
The fact is you can get people who have that very special blend of schizoeffective disorder combined with antisocial personality disorder that will make it impossible to deescalate the situation no matter how hard you try or what training you have.
They will also have the ability to rattle you in ways that a normal guest customer can't because they get personal or suddenly sift gears out of no where.
There is no way to really make this type of person happy except to give them what they want but sometimes that can be tricky to figure out before they go nuclear on you.

The most important thing is not to take it personally.
In a way that person is almost as much a victim of the moment as you are.

 

[desertcoyote]

These examples about following policy are why I don't care about guests complaints anymore. There has never been a complaint about my behavior/attitude. It's always policy related issues. Last time I was a monster because I wouldn't price match 10 bottles of cleaner that were on sale at Home Depot.

 

[squirrely]

I agree that most guest complaints are over policy. I pissed off a lady pretty bad yesterday by not letting her do two transactions so she could use a gift card from the first order on her second.

 

[Retail Girl]

I agree that most guest complaints are over policy. I pissed off a lady pretty bad yesterday by not letting her do two transactions so she could use a gift card from the first order on her second.

Seriously? Yes, Target would prefer they come back again, but it's of no consequence if they use the gift card 30 seconds or 30 days later.

 

[squirrely]

Seriously? Yes, Target would prefer they come back again, but it's of no consequence if they use the gift card 30 seconds or 30 days later.

My store has come down pretty hard on this. Idc either way, but we were told that they have to be used on a future date.

 

[NPC]

I agree that most guest complaints are over policy. I pissed off a lady pretty bad yesterday by not letting her do two transactions so she could use a gift card from the first order on her second.

What? That's weird? I've never heard of that. I even offer if the guest asks when they can use it. I'd rather thay use it on a seperate transaction than go cash it out. Is this an official policy? Because this has even been done for me, and I don't want to get in trouble.

 

[indigo25]

What? That's weird? I've never heard of that. I even offer if the guest asks when they can use it. I'd rather thay use it on a seperate transaction than go cash it out. Is this an official policy? Because this has even been done for me, and I don't want to get in trouble.

My store says it is not allowed. We had super couponers splitting up into way too many transactions to get a gift card train rolling and it was ridiculous.

 

[thetargetman]

Guests over exaggerate about what the TM actually did all the time!

 

[RhettB]

My store says it is not allowed. We had super couponers splitting up into way too many transactions to get a gift card train rolling and it was ridiculous.

This is when you use your discretion to have them leave empty handed. I tossed a few out last weekend. They try to go to newer cashiers who may be easily confused.

 

[GlobalTL123]

My store says it is not allowed. We had super couponers splitting up into way too many transactions to get a gift card train rolling and it was ridiculous.

Just hand them blank gift cards.

 

[redeye58]

During my years at GS it didn't matter how nice I was when I had to decline something based on policy.
The guest would invariably complain & toss in that I was 'rude' for good measure, simply because I told them 'no'.