# Please train your hired help!



## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

I placed an order with a popular brand large scale train company a week ago or so.

*What do ya' want to order?* I gave the exact part numbers and part descriptions.

*OK*.


I'd like two of each please.

*We only have one.*


Of both parts?

*Yeah, only one*. (No offer of telling me when they might expect more in).


*Anything else?*

No. That's it.


*OK. I'll get that out to you.*

Uh, excuse me, can you tell me how much you will be charging to my credit card?




*What's the price on the sheet your looking at? It hasn't changed.*

Well, I wasn't looking at a "sheet" at the time, and you would think he would have access to that kind of info.

*Did you say a part no. 76?*

No. I said 75. ( and gave you a description of it so you could cross check it you moron. You should have verified my order prior to not telling me what the charges would be.)


I have since ordered three other items from other companies and received them all. So, I call again today to check on the order.

Hello, this is Del Tapparo. I placed an order with you. Can you please give me the status?

*What did you order?*


I told him.

*I sent it out on Monday.*


Great. How did you ship it?

*I don't remember.*



(Well, gee, I sure wouldn't want to put you to any trouble and have to actually check on something for me.)

Thanks.


I guess I should be thankful the part is even on its way, but they sure don't go to any trouble hiring or training people that know how to talk with a customer! 


End of Rant (Unless I don't get my part prior to the National Convention)


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Companies to day look at the numbers and the numbers look much better with minimum wage workers than it does when you pay extra to get someone who takes interest in what they are doing. 

Randy


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Sounds like an old Saturday Night Live skit ("No Coke, Pepsi," and "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger") or a Seinfeld episode ("No soup for you!").


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Some People just dont have TACT. They dont know how to offer more help. Sometimes I think they have no Maners. 

On a different note I want to know who was the person that taught all the people that man the drive up window how to give change. In fact over the counter people do the same thing. 

WHY DO THEY PILE YOUR CHANGE ON TOP OF THE DOLLARS BILLS AND RECIEPT AND SHOVE IT AT YOU. I don't know how much change I have lost that got dumped on the ground because the bills folded and spilled the change. 

Sorry don't mean to hi jack the thread.


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## bull (Jan 28, 2008)

Was it USA Trains or Charles Ro? That's how they are never give me a total of what will be charged or give any shipping info when I would call back a few day's later. 
Later


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Well, let's just say "They must all be hiring from the same gene pool"! Sad.


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

"Geeeeeeeeeeez whadda ya want "SERVICE" ? That would be too hard and take too much time! Don't get much of that in today's world. "I don't get any respect" from a famous comedian. LOL The Regal


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## GN_Rocky (Jan 6, 2008)

* Well beleive me, it can be worse.... 
Mrs. Rocky had put in her notice at her place of employment after 4 years of loyal dedicated work. 
Why you ask ??? Because the other support specialist(who is a young female employee I must add) has the Asst. manager tied around her finger and WILL NOT preform her duties AND she gets away with it. Mrs. Rocky has always had to pull the extra weight to keep the job posistion above water. After following everything listed in the employee guidelines, nothing has changed, in fact, it's gotten worse. Now this little trolip doesn't do the receiving - get's the men to do it for her. Didn't do the deposit or receiving, but in fact stayed in the backroom and blew up ballons all day. Yep, the day of REAL good employees AND management has gone along a dead end siding. Time to start your own business  

Rocky*


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

*Must have been Charles ro supply, i ordered something last year and the dope at the counter that took the order sent it to my old address when i gave him a new one when placing order... dude had a tude and i complained at ECLSTS TO RO himself because this guy was a moron to me on the phone. kinda funny thou when i came face to face with the guy at the show he ran the other way when he found out who i was... *


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

We've been down this topic in the distant past. But I totally agree. First, they can't make change without the GD computer. Then, like you said, they shove it at you all at once, without even counting it!! I was in some store recently, and the young girl was nervous as she was totalling up the sale and trying to give me the correct change. I stopped her, and told her to take her time, there was no one behind me, and showed her how to count up when giving change. She was sweet and didn't take any offense. That was certainly a new experience.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The reason they pile the change is because the computer/register tells them what change to give, so you get $28.72 as a twenty, then a five, 3 ones and the change counted out... 

The old way was you bought something for 17.95 and gave them a twenty... they then would say $17.95, drop a nickel in your hand and say "18 dollars", then put a one in your hand and say "19", and then another one and say "20".... the change always came first because it was used to get to an even dollar, as they counted up from what you owed to what you paid.... 

Nowadays, people handling a register do not need to know how to make change, subtract numbers, or even read the prices on the objects... all they need to do is read the bar code and count the change they are told to give you... 

I go to the robotic checkout counters... they are faster and smarter... 

Regards, Greg


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

_{snip...}_ all they need to do is read the bar code _{snip...}_

Yeah right, that I'd like to see. Maybe, make sure the bar code is properly scanned to record the item being sold.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I meant using a scanner to read the bar code... they don't make sure the code is properly scanned, it has it's own "check digit"... they cannot make a mistake... doesn't that make you feel good inside? 

Greg


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes sir, I know what you meant, it just painted an amusing picture someone that couldn't make change without the help of the computerized point-of-sale register, yet capable of reading a bar code.








they don't make sure the code is properly scanned,

Sure they do, cause if after scanning it, if it doesn't show up on the register they rescan it.
it has it's own "check digit"... _they cannot make a mistake_...

I wouldn't bet the farm on that. Think about some of the errant routing of Fedx, UPS, etc. packages, and that is especially true of the newer 2D (two-dimensional) bar codes. And before we go there, yes I'm fully aware of the calculated error rates of various bar codes (i.e. 3of9, interleaved 2of5, code-a-bar, UPC-A, continuous & discrete, etc. etc.), but I'm also aware of the human and automated scanning practices the will cause scanning errors to be accepted.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Not counting the error in putting the sticker on the product! Or the idiot that exchanges the stickers. Or the clerk that enters the data into the computer the scanner looks up the price in.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Sometimes the OWNER needs a bit of customer service training as well. How many e-mails does it require to get an answer to a parts price inquiry? I'm not gonna order something (or 20 somethings) until I have a firm price on them. I understand being busy, but what is a reasonable expectation? three days? a week? I'd have ordered last week, and still would NOW * IF* I had a price!... tomorrow? maybe not


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## Bill4373 (Jan 3, 2008)

I quit using a very popular hobby shop because of telephone answering ability. 
The worse part is that they breed and reproduce. 
I'm reading a book about dumb criminals. A guy holds up a grocery store, gets the money and then wants a bottle of scotch. He was told by the clerk that he had to be 21 to buy liquor. He shows her his drivers license to prove that he was 21. And still wondering why he's now wearing a shirt with a number stenciled above the front pocket.


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

Several years ago when travelling with a friend who was the manager in the mailroder/internet/phone sale division of a company we stopped in at a very prominenent internet and mailroder/phone sales store that advertises in most all the railroad magazines. He was astounded at the minimal conditions they were working in for the amount of business they were doing simply on the phones. i can remember when I was in college working part time at Fay's drug store as a stock "boy" and ended up working exclusively on teh registers. We had a blind man who educated me on how to "serve" him. He returned often to my line. I worked in retail for a long time so I've seen both sides of that coin. A few of you have hit the nail on the head with the modern registers. Takes the mental need out of doing the calculations. Why learn it if you don't have to?

Chas


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

As a follow up .... I did receive my parts today. As I suspected, I know now why they only have one of each part. They have to remove it from a complete assembly (dead or returned loco). The parts had glue on them from parts being removed. I still didn't get a receipt for the order, only a packing slip, so I went to my credit card site to see what I was finally charged. Wow! No shipping charges! So ... lousy up front service, but the end result was good. 

Edit: Didn't look close enough. There was a $5 shipping charge, but that's OK.


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

"Why learn it if you don't have to?"


Call me a pessamist, but when the computer fails to receive the electricity it needs to do our work for us, and we have to figure the problem long hand, so to speak, what then? An analogy can be drawn to our present economic situation. If you lived beyond your means in the good times, you're finding it hard nowdays, I would suspect.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

When I was in Siberia... a dozen years back, I bought a souvenier pocket knife at the native Inuit's trading post. 

I was watching as the sales lady would add everything on her abacus and then enter the total into the resgister. When it came my turn I walked to the knife display. Pointed at the tray. She brought it out of the case, I made my choice and hoped I had enough rubles to pay for it. We were only allowed to have 1,000 new rubles, when we left the ship. I held up a 500 note and there was a flurry of hands as she backed away. I fanned out wht I had, 2; 200 rubles notes and a c-note. A little old man with a cigarette stub stuck to his lip pulled the 100 note and let me hand it to her. She gave me back 61 rubles in change. 

I still carry that knife, after all it was quite a bargain for 3.9 cents! We had exchanged one dollar for a thousand rubles. 

John


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Del

Well it's good to hear that you did get the part(s) you ordered, in spite of the poor customer relations encountered.

"Why learn it if you don't have to?"

Dan

To a certain extent Chas has a point, since in a great many instances without the POS register (i.e. no electricity) no sale could be recorded in any event. Even if they wanted to start manually recording sales, where would the pricing information come from, since now days that once again comes from scanning the bar code (i.e. UPC and/or SKU), retrieving the current item pricing from the stores/districts/regions database, and I wouldn't even want to get into the sales tax thing. Our whole technology based, JIT supply chain system model does have its systemic weak points.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

WHY DO THEY PILE YOUR CHANGE ON TOP OF THE DOLLARS BILLS AND RECIEPT AND SHOVE IT AT YOU. I don't know how much change I have lost that got dumped on the ground because the bills folded and spilled the change. 

Sorry don't mean to hi jack the thread. 


Hehe! I have fun with this type. I always just tip the bills and let the change fall out all over the counter. "Oops, I didn't see those". Or if they hand me the bills first I quickly remove my hand and if they're not paying attention THEY drop the coins all over the place. One of my pet peeves too.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Richard Smith on 06/28/2009 12:24 AM


WHY DO THEY PILE YOUR CHANGE ON TOP OF THE DOLLARS BILLS AND RECIEPT AND SHOVE IT AT YOU. I don't know how much change I have lost that got dumped on the ground because the bills folded and spilled the change. 

Sorry don't mean to hi jack the thread. 


Hehe! I have fun with this type. I always just tip the bills and let the change fall out all over the counter. "Oops, I didn't see those". Or if they hand me the bills first I quickly remove my hand and if they're not paying attention THEY drop the coins all over the place. One of my pet peeves too. 


Thank You It is so nice to know I am not alone.







I thought I was the only one anoied by this


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I can make change in my head, including tax - faster than I can find the right buttons on the stupid touch screens. Instead of being considered an asset, in many places I've worked it just got me into trouble.... "How do WE know you're right?" "It screws up the inventory when you do that!" and/or "It's against company policy!" 

At that point I suggested that either they follow along and double check, or that they come in at 5AM when it started to get busy, instead of 6:30...... I usually got fired.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

The high school non-graduation rate in Clark County (Las Vegas Valley) is 37% If parents can't coach their kids thru high school, it is highly unlikely they coach them in any decent moral values, to include work ethic. Couple that with the "me-me-me, it's all about me" society that teaches people to disrespect others and themselves, this is what you get.


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