I was reminiscing about my first interaction with an American customer I had when I had just started working (I don’t live in America, she was a tourist or something.) I worked in retail, and was taking care of a long line of customers. This American lady was at the end of the line. When she gets to me she asks to see my boss, so I head back and tell my boss a customer wants to talk to him, while I turn to some other work in the back of the store. A few minutes later my boss comes back and says the lady was upset with me and my behaviour, because I had not greeted her as she entered the store (because I was busy helping another customer.) The situation has perplexed me ever since, do all American stores employ greeters? I’m aware of the concept, how big stores like Walmart employ people to stand at the front door and greet people. But is it like that for every store in America?
It seems like Massachusetts Best Buys did not get the memo. I hear all these stories about people hating Best Buy over pushy employees and have the opposite experience. The stores only have 1-2 employees on the floor and the duty of those employees seems to be to hide from customers. If I ever need help finding an item or want something from a locked display, I have to spend 15-20 minutes running around the store trying to catch a ninja.
Admittedly, my BBY experience is… Fuck me… 12+ years ago. Feels like a couple of years ago, but it’s not. I’d imagine employee count has dropped and by proxy, helpers when you need them.
I don’t go in very often, but when I do, I know exactly what I want, and sometimes that item is behind a locked window, and finding someone isn’t easy.
I tried to walk the line with greeting people and then letting them know that I’m around if they need help. I hate salespeople and being one was the worst job of my life. It wasn’t high stress or anything, but having a job where my role was to try and take all of the money from my customer was not something I enjoyed.