I move too fast, said the guest...

TheClopen

TheClopen

Joined
Oct 22, 2021
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One time in Tech it was a really busy day and I was moving at warp 9 speed trying to push truck and tackle the workload.

Then these 2 guests come into Tech looking around the department and called me over with a question about an item so I stopped real quick answered the question and gave my recommendation, then left to go back to pushing the truck.
Well, they then went and complained to a TL about how I was moving too fast and they felt they couldn't "Approach" me. So the TL called me over we both answered some more of their questions then they walked to the front.
The TL totally sided with me because he knew I did stop and help them and he knows that I'm never one to get a guest complaint so he was confused as to what they were even complaining about. I was moving too fast and they wanted me to slow down??? Made no sense.
So then after complaining to him they decided to go up to the front and complain to a higher-up ETL which then caused the ETL to come back to Tech and ask me about what happened? So I said, "I stopped, helped the guest and answered any questions then went back to work". The ETL said "well the guest felt that you were not very Approachable because you were moving too fast..."

So now I'm completely confused the guest was mad because I was good at my job by getting the work done really quickly by moving too fast??? They didn't like this because they felt they couldn't stop me, so they not only go and complain to a TL but also an ETL... Excuse me but wuuuut???
Well to this day I still move fast and I get stuff done because of it, I go into work every day to actually work, I'm not gonna change who I am and how I work because one guest doesn't like it.


Has this ever happened to anyone else? But I guess the Guest is First!
 
TheClopen said:
One time in Tech it was a really busy day and I was moving at warp 9 speed trying to push truck and tackle the workload.

Then these 2 guests come into Tech looking around the department and called me over with a question about an item so I stopped real quick answered the question and gave my recommendation, then left to go back to pushing the truck.
Well, they then went and complained to a TL about how I was moving too fast and they felt they couldn't "Approach" me. So the TL called me over we both answered some more of their questions then they walked to the front.
The TL totally sided with me because he knew I did stop and help them and he knows that I'm never one to get a guest complaint so he was confused as to what they were even complaining about. I was moving too fast and they wanted me to slow down??? Made no sense.
So then after complaining to him they decided to go up to the front and complain to a higher-up ETL which then caused the ETL to come back to Tech and ask me about what happened? So I said, "I stopped, helped the guest and answered any questions then went back to work". The ETL said "well the guest felt that you were not very Approachable because you were moving too fast..."

So now I'm completely confused the guest was mad because I was good at my job by getting the work done really quickly by moving too fast??? They didn't like this because they felt they couldn't stop me, so they not only go and complain to a TL but also an ETL... Excuse me but wuuuut???
Well to this day I still move fast and I get stuff done because of it, I go into work every day to actually work, I'm not gonna change who I am and how I work because one guest doesn't like it.


Has this ever happened to anyone else? But I guess the Guest is First!
Click to expand...
You did not do the GUEST thing 100%.
Greet, Understand, Engage, Solve, Thank
 
Hardlinesmaster said:
You did not do the GUEST thing 100%.
Greet, Understand, Engage, Solve, Thank
Click to expand...
You're right I missed the T. I usually just say have a great day! As my form of thank you.
But I know "Thank you for choosing Target today" or a similar option would be the appropriate Target official way.
 
There are guests who complain about anything and everything. You haven't worked at Target until you've had a guest complain that you're stocking the floor in their presence or helping another guest instead of helping them.

Don't worry about it. Guests rhymes with Pests for a reason.
 
They wanted you standing there waiting in case they had any other questions.
Yet, if you kept asking if they needed anything else or had any other questions they would've complained that you were badgering them.
There seems to be no happy medium.
Same thing happens at my SB counter: I'll greet them, answer a few questions, wait a few while they stare blankly at the menu/talk on their phone/mutter among themselves.
Then, as soon as I go back to tasks behind the counter, they'll either have ONE MORE question or wander off because I wasn't standing there waiting breathlessly for them to decide.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
 
redeye58 said:
They wanted you standing there waiting in case they had any other questions.
Yet, if you kept asking if they needed anything else or had any other questions they would've complained that you were badgering them.
There seems to be no happy medium.
Same thing happens at my SB counter: I'll greet them, answer a few questions, wait a few while they stare blankly at the menu/talk on their phone/mutter among themselves.
Then, as soon as I go back to tasks behind the counter, they'll either have ONE MORE question or wander off because I wasn't standing there waiting breathlessly for them to decide.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Click to expand...
This is why decaf exists…and degreaser.😁
 
Some people just like to complain. Perhaps the guest didn't get the apology they felt was necessary from the TL so they told the ETL as well.
I move pretty quickly too, given my short little legs, and I tend to be less helpful to maskless guests. I still answer their question, but it's more to the point, less engaged. Sort of expecting one of them to complain about me sooner or later.
And sometimes, you just can't win for losing. Move to slowly and another guest will complain about something not being on the shelf already.
 
Only advice I can give is greet them 1st then ask if they have any additional questions when the conversation feels over with then say " I'll be unpacking some boxes but let me know if you have any more questions " It will give them the impression your approachable and willingness to help.
 
Imagine complaining to not one, but two managers about that. But I see that one a lot since I'm S&E. When I have that kind of guest, I tell them that it's good they talked to me because I'm exactly the right person to talk to about service issues and I promise I'll take care of it, take it seriously, etc. That cuts way down on the "can I speak to the manager of the manager and also the CEO and the CEO's mother" lunatics. I knew my acting training would come in handy some day....lol.
 
60SecondsRemaining said:
Imagine trying to structure human interaction. It's such a personal thing - I can't imagine anything like this ever resulting in anything but a bunch of employees who come off like robots and very impersonal, cold interactions...
Click to expand...
Beep Boop hello guest I am here to serve you...do you need...any help TODAY???
 
60SecondsRemaining said:
Imagine trying to structure human interaction. It's such a personal thing - I can't imagine anything like this ever resulting in anything but a bunch of employees who come off like robots and very impersonal, cold interactions...
Click to expand...
At the risk of being an uncool corporate drone, I really like GUEST. It's a little awkward because understand and engage are basically the same in practice, but I think most of my team does better when they have a mental template to work from, at least until their guest service skills get to the point where they understand how to best help people in our environment, for our brand (this takes a lot of time and experience as it's a skillset that requires practice, trial, and error - see how much better TLs are at addressing concerns than TMs, and how much better ETLs are than TLs, etc). I really hate corporate euphemism and acronyms - I think everyone does - but this one helps imo.
 
NotCynicalYet said:
At the risk of being an uncool corporate drone, I really like GUEST. It's a little awkward because understand and engage are basically the same in practice, but I think most of my team does better when they have a mental template to work from, at least until their guest service skills get to the point where they understand how to best help people in our environment, for our brand (this takes a lot of time and experience as it's a skillset that requires practice, trial, and error - see how much better TLs are at addressing concerns than TMs, and how much better ETLs are than TLs, etc). I really hate corporate euphemism and acronyms - I think everyone does - but this one helps imo.
Click to expand...

I think that's fair. I was there before the "can I help you find something" Era and we struggled a lot with that when it first started.

My team engaged the customer but they didn't say those specific words, and it turned into a battle between myself and my idiotic etl at the time who wanted to force them all to use the same exact phrase instead and engaging personally.

If it helps it helps, and in hindsight it doesn't seem as prescriptive as CIHYFS
 
60SecondsRemaining said:
I think that's fair. I was there before the "can I help you find something" Era and we struggled a lot with that when it first started.

My team engaged the customer but they didn't say those specific words, and it turned into a battle between myself and my idiotic etl at the time who wanted to force them all to use the same exact phrase instead and engaging personally.

If it helps it helps, and in hindsight it doesn't seem as prescriptive as CIHYFS
Click to expand...
The idea of a script is rather awful! I hope they don't bring anything like that back.
 
I get the idea of the GUEST model, but I tend to use my own mental template, just because it sounds more natural coming out of my mouth lol.
 
I would be like "absolutely won't happen again." And not change anything. Because they can't have their cake and eat it too. Guests don't complain about this type of thing often enough to make it worthwhile to allow yourself to fall behind on your tasks just in case they do. A lot of times when leaders talk to you they don't actually want what they're asking. They just want to be able to say that they talked to you about it so if their leadership asks them they don't have to lie about having spoken to you about it. What they really want is for everything to stay "green" and not to be bothered
 

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