Of shoppers and shopkeepers ...
Was at 1 U on Saturday to catch Ice Age 2 (which was funny, but a bit aimless). Pre and post movie, I was wandering around the shops and it struck me that with a few exceptions, none of the shops were manned by the original owners.
Everywhere I go, I see only hired people, the same bored look on their faces, and the same unhelpfulness when you try to do your shopping. They are just there to : make sure no one steals the goods, grab the goods and pack them, and of course, collect money. And from what I heard from friends, turnover of these hired folks are very high.
As a result, shopping in the big malls becomes a very impersonal experience - you just go in and grab what you want with minimal human interaction. I might as well be shopping online.
My wife shops at a boutique in Puchong Jaya, and the owner, who looks after the shop herself, takes the trouble to advise her on what's suitable and what's not, and SMS her whenever new stuff comes in. Needless to say, the amount my wife spends there far exceeds what she usually spends at malls.
Which leads me to this question - why do investors, after spending considerable amounts of money setting up the most cutting edge stores at the malls, and paying sky high rents to boot, decides to just hire any Jane, Tom, Dick and Ah Moi to man them? Why not hire people with nice personalities and good attitude, and train them properly in serving and advising the customer? Do they realise that they are losing tons of revenue when potential customers walk by and decide not to buy due to the sour look on the staff's face?
A place like 1 U may be wonderful to wander around in, but in terms of real shopping (as opposed to window shopping), it leaves me cold with the staff's indifferent attitude.
3 comments:
hey pat, don't expect much from the sales girl or whoever in the shop at the big shopping mall...most of them are not highly educated and their level of thinking are not up to consumers' expectation. Sometimes we have to think and consider when we are in their shoes, we will act like that...u know why?? If you are whole day in the shop and u could met with many and different level, race, character of customers...and u also bored....
Of course u can't compare them with the shop outside the shopping mall which got personal touch and serve you nicely as they are the owner!!!! unlike the in the shopping mall, most of them are the workers like u mentioned...their attitute are 'who cares!!!!'...not my own business....
just be positive and always have an open heart and mind to all the people and thing u met in our life...
Stay cool, friend....
What you said is true, I sometimes don't buy because the sales person puts a sour face.
Then again, think back to when I worked as a sales girl in Lot 10 (after form 5), I remembered that it is a very boring, tiring and unrewarding job. In the morning, we are expected to be there earlier, to sweep and mop the floor before business starts. Then, we are not allowed to sit at all...must stand the whole day...feet really aching at the end...so really hard to smile.
Occasionally, we will get customers who are like "crazy", they will try on every single clothing in the store, mess them up (lipstick stain on the clothes) and did not buy a single item at the end. I experienced that before, going up the store like 10 times for this customer...and the store is not really on solid ground, it is actually at the gap of the ceiling...stuffy and dangerous to climb up. I actually fell down once and very painful, but gotta still get up and serve the customer.
My experience overall is not a pleasant one, I get scolded by colleagues for being helpful at the cashier, they thot I wanna steal money :p
Thers's even "bad" ppl there who try to offer some sort of better life to the sales girl, but actually trying to get u into "those illegal" business.
But, there...I learned that earning a living is not easy. I really understand that if I continue to be lazy and don't get good education, that might be the kinda life I will be living.
And yes, the turnover is very high...I think every 2-3 months.
Hey Eric, Poh Nee,
Yeah, I fully agree that we should see the other side, too :) Long hours of standing and facing difficult customers, of course people would find it difficult to be cheerful :)
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