Bad Customers!

[calbear]

Ohhhh weeeeeee (shaking my head). The constant assumption that we care what people have on is really annoying. Most of my best customers don't ever come in dressed up. And to assume we only care about that is just not fair. Let me tell you what we care about:

#1 you walk in on your cell phone, three of us try to say hi to you, and when you finally decide to get off you get mad that we are helping someone else.

#2 you walk in saying 'I'm just looking' so I back away and ask you to let me know if you have any questions and maybe start helping the woman who knows what she wants and you start complaining that I choose to help her cause she was dressed better, older, cuter, whatever. when it was really that I'm not a mind reader and couldn't tell that you had stopped 'looking' and was really ready.

#3 you walk in to my store and immediately go in sit in a chair. Now because I was helping someone - I didn't see that you walked in alone but when I do finally notice you sitting in one of our appointment chairs - you have an attitude that someone didn't get to you sooner. Well usually people sitting in the chairs are people we sat down or are people not shopping but just waiting for their friends.

#4 You walk in with your best 'I know more about MAC that you do' attitude simply cause you hang out on the internet and know about an upcoming collection. So you are trying to test the staff on stuff we don't need to know until it launches and you have never actually put makeup on anyone else's face professionally. Then you expect everyone to be sachrinly sweet to you after being horrible to them. But we don't give good service.

#5 You are mad cause we don't know what your long favorite lipstick looks like. We have explained that it was discontinued at least 3 years ago and we've had about 30 lipsticks since then. We try to give you what the book says is the closest match but you are mad cause it looks nothing like your favorite. Now you are standing their complaining about how MAC keeps discontinuing your favorites and how popular it was (even though you haven't bought it in three years) and how bad of a staff we are for not 'helping' you.

#6 you and your friend come in and say you need my help finding a lipstick. I start helping you but you don't care about my opinion - you only care about what she says - so I shut up and let her run the show. Only to have you say that I'm not being helpful. Now no matter what I say (perhaps we need to go a bit lighter. I know you like Cyber but it's a tad bit dark on your NW25 skin) you don't care and what that Cyber anyway cause she said it looks cute. I help you find a lipliner for it and you return it the next day cause your mom/ boyfriend/ husband/ other friend said it was too dark. ARGH!

#7 you walk in saying that you aren't planning to buy anything today but want an explanation of MAC, what it's about and why should you buy it. I start trying to talk to you about our little company but you get mad that I have to help other customers (a. because I'm the only one on the floor and b. I have a goal to keep or I lose my job) but you don't care - I'm just a bad employee and you wanna write the website.

I could go on - but I think you all get the picture. Most of us are makeup lovers not necessarily fashion lovers so I don't know or care what labels you are wearing cause my closet is filled with jeans and 9000 shelf bra tank tops. I don't know anything about purses so the one you have on your arm means nothing to me.

There is so much more going on and I have quite a few responsibilities besides just playing with makeup. My customers are always first but I gotta keep up with my other responsibilites or I could be written up or fired. My inventory is due tonight and I'm off in 10 minutes - I'm sorry I didn't see you when you first walked in. It's no slight on your wardrobe but just a mistake.

PLease understand that maybe there is more going on in the picture than just, i'm the 'bad attitude having evil hag' who just doesn't like you.

 

[MisStarrlight]

Calbear, that was the BEST thing I've ever read!

At my old job (performing arts box office) we had a letter to the customer-things that we wished they knew-that we kept in the office to read whenever they were driving us nuts....and thanks to Specktra, several of our MAC customers know exactly where we're coming from!

 

[maxcat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FacesbyNiki Oh boy. Nobody is saying anything about our good customers. This thread is just a place for us to vent about the bad ones that's all. If that isn't you, it doesn't apply.

Well put!

Because if it weren't for the fantabulous people who light up our day we wouldn't do it! I just put in another thread that it's like physics -so I thought I'd put it here, too...
for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... for every customer that treats us like dog poo they accidentally stepped in, there is a customer who is so brilliant and lovely to work with, it cancels out the lousy one.

But sometimes, ugh. We need to vent. And the cellphone thing is my pet peeve. Put it the hell down if you need anything more complicated from me than just clerking and fetching what you know you need. You need a new foundation and need it matched? Then freaking hang up. It's rude and it's disrespectful of my time and energy, not to mention the person on the other end that you're now having a disjointed distracted conversation with.
If it's *truly* a crisis on the other end, you should be dealing with it, not shopping.

 

[SWEET LUST *]

Quote:

Originally Posted by effboysinthebut In all fairness we're not all like that. I can honestly say that I'm quite shy and polite, especially with strangers. And I can tell you that I've had atleast 1 person atleast 1 time at atleast every MAC i've been too, ignore me completely or be rude. I've come to the conclusion there's one in every store and avoid that person. Some people also need to realize that just because we come in wearing sweats, or jeans and a t-shirt doesn't mean we can't afford MAC. That's how I dress most of the time, and I spend more on make up than anyone I know.

Seriously. Theres only 3 MA's at my counter that really know me since they see me all the time. So I just got up to my counter once, and my main MA leaves to go to the bathroom. I'm left with a new guy and I'm looking around in my sweats and hair tied up and tshirt. He doesnt say anything to me, or even acknowledge me. I smiled at him and hoped he'd come and help me get my brushes/ eyeshadows. But he turned away to help some girls that JUST came over. I waited for my MA to come back but she didn't.. So I just stood there until he was done putting on blush and bronzer and helping this girl decide what she wanted. Her and her mom spent soooooo much time debating on the blush or bronzer it really pissed me off. I seriously felt he didn't want to help me because I was a little asian girl. I walked over to him and asked if I could get something and he told me he was helping the other people currently. And I've gone the same MAC counter several times after, he still never acknowledges me.

I love my main MA though

 

[jennylopez1010]

Quote:

Originally Posted by professionaltart I freaking hate that like, "Im looking for a red" Im like okay what kind of red? "Like a bright red." Like RUby Woo? Russian Red? NO like Cyber. Hi...Cyber isnt red.

hahaha
lord this happens EVERYDAY to me. I want something natural like nude....and im sitting there showing the a gazillion naturals and theyre like i want dubonnet...or some other totally not natural color......ugh.....irritating!!......also something irritating...when im doing an application....it would be nice if maybe someone said thanks when im done.....or in the middle of an applicaiton when im asking hows that look? and youre saying great...please dont tell me its too dark/light/natural whatever when im finished.....thats why i ask during!!!!

 

[circusflavouredgum]

calbear, amen sister.

I wonder where the idea comes from that people think "better" dressed clients get better service? I think sometimes it is just the person's own insecurities about their looks that makes them think this.

I used to work at agnes b. which is a high end casual French clothing store on Robertson Boulevard in L.A. We had many celebrities, big Hollywood stylists, and very wealthy clients. Do I need to say that 99% of them came in in sweats, baseball caps and no makeup on?

To me working behind the makeup counter, I KNOW that what someone is wearing or how old/young they look bears no relation on what they will spend. I will help whoever is first, period. I've had teenagers spend hundreds and women in "nice" clothes suck my energy dry for free. It makes no difference to me, I'm not a label/fashion snob. When I'm out shopping, I'm not dressed like a runway model either so I certainly don't expect anyone else to be.

People PLEASE when you need help, the fastest way to get it is to walk on over to the person behind the counter and say hi! My old counter was circular and had a huge pillar in the middle. I can't tell you how many times people would stand at the very back, just tap their nails impatiently and stay there where we couldn't see them.

It's not always possible to walk around the entire area when you're helping more than one customer and look for people so if you're in a hurry, please come up to where you see someone already working and say hello, it will get you helped a lot faster.

Also, never wave, snap, or scream "Hellloooooo!" when someone doesn't see you 2 seconds after you've walked up. Again a friendly "Hi" and a smile works miracles!

 

[SARAHluvsMAC]

okay that just reminded me or something when i was freelancing at a mac store, i was helping someone that needed to be rung up so i went in the back to get someone to ring for me...there were 2 other ppl on the floor ar the time and it was not busy at all. i was maybe in the back for 30 seconds when a customer walks behind the cashwrap, stands in the doorway and starts screaming at the top of her lungs into the office "HELLLOOOOOO?!?!?!?" my manager and i looked at eachother like wtf...?, i was so pissed at this point i answered "yes?" in my wor4st attitude voice and she started screaming "lashes, lashes, where are your lashes?" and jumping up and down like she had to pee
i was thinking there are on the sales floor bitch on the unit that says lashes...

when i asked the MA who were on the floor how the hell she got back there they were like it all happened to fast, she saw me walking in the back and just assumed i was trying to ditch her

craziest woman ever

 

[FacesbyNiki]

Man oh man!

I love you Calbear!!!

 

[MACtastic]

I just had the worst client in the world today.
A pregnant woman came in wanting a Bare Minerals consultation, no big deal. I sat her down in the makeup chair and matched her. Then, she asked me if she could have some color on her face, since she hadn't gotten the opportunity to do her makeup this morning. I was a little annoyed, because the store was super busy and full of clients that needed help, but I agreed to do it. She picked out 2 shadow colors, and I applied them...I thought they looked gorgeous on her. She was super fair, so I used a really light hand when applying them. After I finished, she took a look and said "I hate those colors!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She complained that they made her look "too pale". I told her that once we added some color to her cheeks it would change the overall look. She agreed to that, and I proceeded to choose a really pretty baby pink powder blush (which I think makes super fair skinned ladies look angelic!), and lightly blended the color onto the apples of her cheeks. She looked in the mirror and started screaming at me!! "Eww, I hate it! What are you doing to my face???? That looks horrible!!!! And that is NOT where you put blush, you NEVER put blush on the apples of your cheeks!!!!!!!!" Right then, I wanted to throw the brush at her and walk away. Then, she calmed down a bit and said, "Do you think we could tone it down a bit with some powder on top?" So I buffed some powder over the blush, and as I was doing this, she said "Have you ever taken the Bare Escentuals classes?" I said no. Then she said, "You should take them, they have some great videos!" Ooooh man, that got me more heated. She was insanely rude, but on top of that, she had the audacity to suggest that I had no clue on what I was doing???? For Christ's sake, if you know so much about makeup, do your own damn foundation match. And I have no idea who told her that you *can't* put blush on the apples of your cheeks...its one of the several places you CAN put blush, damnit! If she didn't like her blush put there, she should have nicely explained in the first place. She seriously made me want to cry, I felt the tears coming on. No client had ever been that rude to me.

 

[Holly]

I had a customer come in last week and she was completely crazy. I work in the Beauty section of a superstore, so we sell like jewelery and stuff too. So she was looking in the jewelery showcase, and had me get out some purple earrings. She didn't want to pay for them at my till because she had some grocery shopping to do as well, which was totally fine. And because of our high shoplifting rate, we have a policy where in the beauty section, anything in the showcase must either be paid for at the beauty counter, or we will give a pick up slip where we write the upc and info, so the customer can give it to the cashier in the grocery section to get rung through, and someone from beauty will be called over to bring the product to them. Simple as that.

About an hour later, I was called down to bring her the earrings, and then I went back to my makeup counter (which is a lot more busy than usual because it's getting so close to Christmas) Moments after I get back to my counter, I get a call from the cashier telling me that the woman said that what it was getting rung through for wasn't the right price.

So I went down to see what was wrong. The woman insisted that there was a sticker on the front of what held the earrings saying they were $9.99. Thing is, we don't sell earrings cheaper than about $20. So I tell her, I'm sorry but I didnt see a sticker saying that, and that all our earrings are priced at around $20 and up.

And then I even brought down an identical pair of earrings (the EXACT same), and had the cashier price check that one, and it was the same price as the other pair that was rung through.

She then starts yelling at me in front of all the other customers, insisting that I peeled off the sticker that said $9.99, and that she even watched me do it. And I'm like I'm sorry but I wouldnt do that. After that, she asks her sons who were about 3-4 years old, and she was like "The earrings were $9 right?" And of course they said yes... considering it's their mother. And then she goes on about how it's 3 against 1. She asked me for my name, and gladly told her, and then she started telling me like "Holly this is a consumer world, you must give good customer service all the time" And then starting insulting me in front of everyone.

And of course everyone in the store knows it would be ridiculous for any employee to do that, considering we don't get commision or anything.

After about 10 minutes of that, she finally agreed to pay the price and went off.

I was just so annoyed for the rest of the day. I'm sure she just wanted a reduced price or something.

 

[sadieboo]

I love this thread! I just want to add this - WHY do people come in on a Saturday less than ten days before Xmas and want to waste my time on finding the lipgloss that looks good on their friend?!?!?! The friend who is not with them to help us find it, the friend who is a totally different skin tone, the friend who probably wears MAC!!! (I work at a Bobbi Brown counter and you wouldn't believe the number of people who see black packaging or lettering and don't look at the name!) I've got people crawling all over my counter, a customer in my chair, and I'm alone - and it's a major shopping day! I am all for helping someone find what looks good on themselves - THAT person will know what they like when they see it. A friend-copier isn't interested in what looks good on themselves, they just waste my time looking at EVERY gloss saying things like, "Nooo, it was pinker on her," or "Nooo, hers looked more nude."

I almost told the customer to call her friend right then to settle the matter. Oh, and she was wearing a horrendous shade of coppery gold that she had just put on at Clinique, and because she thought it was so beautiful, we couldn't remove it. So we were putting glosses on our hands to see what matched her friend. GRRRRRRRR!

 

[noahlowryfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWEET LUST * Seriously. Theres only 3 MA's at my counter that really know me since they see me all the time. So I just got up to my counter once, and my main MA leaves to go to the bathroom. I'm left with a new guy and I'm looking around in my sweats and hair tied up and tshirt. He doesnt say anything to me, or even acknowledge me. I smiled at him and hoped he'd come and help me get my brushes/ eyeshadows. But he turned away to help some girls that JUST came over. I waited for my MA to come back but she didn't.. So I just stood there until he was done putting on blush and bronzer and helping this girl decide what she wanted. Her and her mom spent soooooo much time debating on the blush or bronzer it really pissed me off. I seriously felt he didn't want to help me because I was a little asian girl. I walked over to him and asked if I could get something and he told me he was helping the other people currently. And I've gone the same MAC counter several times after, he still never acknowledges me. I love my main MA though

which counter did you go to?

 

[Barefootgirl]

MACtastic, i am sorry you had such a stupid cow for your customer ! Maybe she had "pregnancy brain" where you turn into a complete drivelling idiot and hear stuff coming out of your mouth that you can't even believe you are hearing yourself say (I had it all the time - I wasn't rude but I said the most idiotic things)...either that or she was just a rude bint !

I really hate hearing people "talk down" to the counter staff. For one thing its just plain bad manners, and for another, it means they've put a MA in a bad mood and I wanted that MA to help me ! I am one of the clueless people mentioned earlier in this thread, but I do always go in with an idea of what I'm looking for or what look I'm trying to get. the MAs at my local counter are always lovely and helpful, so touch wood, I have never been disappointed.

 

[NikkiHorror]

I forgot to tell you guys this: there was a customer CHANGING HER BABY in an appointment chair at the MAC counter at my old store the other day.

I just walked straight to my counter and didn't look back.

 

[calbear]

I feel you on the baby thing - just had a customer yesterday come in with one of those mall strollers. We (in the course of doing our jobs) were too loud for her and her cell phone conversation so she picked the baby up and left the stroller in the middle of the store so she could get some quiet and didn't come back for a half hour. Meanwhile we are looking for her cause the store is getting busy, the strollers in the way, she left packages in it and we can't be responsible to watch it.

 

[giz2000]

Ooh..I had not one, but TWO "winners" last night. First an older woman who look like she fell into the "fashion dont's" closet and wore them all at once, went behind the counter and started opening the boxes of eyeliners...and swiping them on her hand. She would then put the liner back in the box and on the shelf. I caught her on the 2nd one...and very nicely told her that there were testers on the counter and that the two she had opened now had to be damaged out since I couldn't sell them (not true..we made them testers but I wanted her to feel a litle guilty...

)...well, she ended up buying a bunch of stuff (which she'll probably return today.)

There was another girl who was opening the boxes of the lipglass sets "to see the colors" even though the testers were right in her face. I showed the to her and very nicely asked her not to open the boxes (she was pulling the black ribbon that was around the box off as if she were trying to tear it off!) and that she could see the colors in the tester. She insisted that she wanted to see the colors in the box (as if it made a difference). I just stood there staring off into space (my feet were hurting) and she huffed "Don't worry, I won't touch them again." and walked off...good riddance!!!

 

[ms.marymac]

I wonder if the lady changing her baby's diaper tried to throw the dirty diaper in one of the trash cans at the counter. It would not surprise me.

I guess the girl who was opening the sets thought she was at TJ Maxx or Marshalls!

We had a gaggle of teenagers that came in the other night. I did a eyeshadow demo for one of them, and her friend plopped down and DEMANDED her makeup be done. My co-worker handled pretty well, considering how rude the girl said it. We knew that they just wanted to play (they said so). We had a few customers that actually needed help and when we went to help them, the rude girl was rolling her eyes and huffing and puffing.

 

[Bernadette]

Okay I have to share this story becuase it was a good one....
Back when I worked at Nordstrom on a busy Saturday this older woman and her 8 year oldish daughter come up to my counter while I'm very busy and this is how it went
Lady: "I need to put my bags behind the coutner while I shop."
Now as you all know, there isn't much room behind counters. This in particular was kind of a rectangle shaped bay.
Me, politely: "I'm sorry I can't keep the bags back here (there were like 5 huge bags!) because there isn't room and I can't be responsible for something happending to them. I'm sure if you go up to customer service, they will accomodate you."
Lady, all huffy puffy: "Well where is customer service"
Me: "It's on the third floor, just take the escalator all the way up and go straight back"
Lady, way more huffy puffy: "You want me to go up three floors?!?! Well that isn't help!"
Then she stormed off and I swear the little girl did the head snap and put her nose in the air!
My co-worker and I both laughed it off. All I could think was "The escalaotr will carry you up there, you really don't have to put in much effort." It was kind of sad that she was such a positive influence on her young daughter or grandaughter.
That's customer service for ya. You just gotta keep smiling, keep being polite and prefessional and roll with the punches. "Kill them with kindess." It works in this industry.

 

[M.A.C.NY]

Does any MA's out there that have that reoccurring customer that buys and returns like every few weeks that gets me so mad i wish i could ban them from the counter all together!

 

[FacesbyNiki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M.A.C.NY Does any MA's out there that have that reoccurring customer that buys and returns like every few weeks that gets me so mad i wish i could ban them from the counter all together!

Oh my gosh! I hate that so much. I know who they are and when they see me, they try to get someone else like I haven't told my coworkers about them.