Hello to all here.....I wanted to give you a slightly different perspective on this subject......that from the employee side. This is a retail high end store and people come to sephora for many reasons. Selection, cleanliness, and hopefully a pleasant shopping experience with a smart staff. All your points are valid and generally unacceptable. People are people and that goes for employees. They have bad days, they have feelings too. I can't tell you how many people are simply rude to the staff. While we judge mishaps on the customer side, lets think about the reverse, and how the employees have to take S&*T from very rude customers. The ones who think if they rant and rave they can get anything they want. The customers who always make complaints no matter what you do.
Sephora is a unique place for cosmetics. They take back everything.....receipt or not. Do you know how many people take advantage of that policy? Buy a product, use it till it's gone, then return it saying it didn't work and buy another of the same and keep returning items over and over and over?? It is happening like crazy. To make it worse, we have to give them service while shopping, knowing full well that the items they are buying will be returned empty in 30 days. And if we give them a little attitude because essentially we are wasting time with them, they will call corporate, and we get our ass chewed out, and then on top of it all, they get a gift card.....imagine that.
Then there is the theft issue.....Sephora has a very care free policy on stealing. All employees no matter where you shop at any corporation should protect company assets. This is true even at sepohora. They have many items out that are in excess of $50 and easily can be stolen and easily concealed. There are no security tapes/stickers etc on the products like every other store in America to prevent stealing. You walk out the door and the alarm sounds....not at sephora. So we have to watch. With the economy as it is, staff hours are light and there are just not enough staff in the store to deter theft. As a result, those who want to steal will steal big time. Keep the employee distracted, and a small team can steal thousands in a minute.
That effects the bottom line in the store, and effects employee compensation down the line. No raises, no bonuses, no nothing. Hell, there are even those that steal all the time that still have the nerve to "shop???" in our store, and pretend we don't know....we know. Just frustrating for us because there is nothing we can do even if we catch them. It's kind of a joke.
So you see, it's just not as simple as it seems. We try our best and for the most part, a majority of the employees are career people and really care about their jobs and the way they treat people. Not 100% of the employees, but alot. Every company will end up have bad employees with poor attitudes....hell I even can bet you know a few where you work.
