Last Saturday, I went a-hunting for fake eyelashes. I had already bought some from Sa Sa but one of my colleagues had recommended those from The Face Shop.
I popped by at the outlet at HDB Hub. The salesperson started out quite alright. She was knowledgeable about her products and gave good advice as to which lashes to uses. Trouble only came when a second customer 'cut into' our conversation and started asking her own questions, first about fake eyelashes as well, and then about foundation powders. I was also asking about oil-free compact powders and only managed to 'intersect' a few times in order to get my questions answered. The second customers kept interrupting, as if I was the one who should wait for her to finish her questions.
As a salesperson, one should be super highly sensitive to such issues: be it who was in the queue first or who was actually being served first.
This salesperson was either too polite to 'reject' the second customer until the first (in this case, me) was being served, or she just does not know the un-written etiquette of first come, first serve. I was secretly seething inside but kept my calm. I stared blankly in one direction, waiting for the salesperson to come back and serve me. I think even if I did not make eye contact, she should have asked if I needed further help. Instead, she went all out to help the second lady, totally ignoring me.
I think making your customers feel cared-for, is very important, but this salesperson failed to do that. Instead, she made this customer (me, of course!) very mad, for I was actually in a hurry to get home so that I could get ready for a concert at the Indoor Stadium that night.
After a few more seconds of pause, I walked calmly to the cashier. The other salesperson who was going to ring up my purchases, picked up the bad vibe but kinda said the wrong thing. She asked me, "Still cannot decide is it? I see you thinking."
To which I replied, "No, I am not thinking. I actually have questions to ask, but that lady kept interrupting. I was here first and yet I am not being served. I am in a hurry. I am not going to buy anymore."
"So sorry about it. Oh, OK", said the salesperson but did not offer to ask me what questions I wanted to ask regarding the compact powders. I think she was getting nervous with my calm, matter-of-factly face and the fact that her colleague had upset a customer."
"Hold on, I do have a discount card. Can I use that?", I asked.
"Oh, so sorry, actually do you want to get another two pairs (of fake eyelashes)? Because you can only get a discount for purchases ten dollars and above."
This made me even madder, but this was policy and it is no fault of the salesperson's. I told her, "Never mind. I don't want to get anything more.". I was not about to give her more business.
After paying she very nicely returned me my card and receipt with both hands saying, "Thank you, see you again!". With a smiling face of course, but a little too late. Damage done.
I think even as a salesperson, one must learn how to reject and so no, or even wait, albeit in a positive manner. It does not mean that you have to kow-tow (bow) to each and ever customer and neglect 'policing' who came in first. To me, it is just plain manners anyway.
This is not the first time that a Face Shop salesperson has upset me. I cannot remember whether I blogged it in my other blog, but the store at Wisma Atria also did something that I did not approve of: speaking to me in Mandarin all the time when I kept speaking to her in English. It was not like she did not know how to speak English. I could tell that she was not local, but she DID start off speaking to me in English first, so I don't understand why she had to be impolite and keep replying to me in Mandarin when I was clearly speaking another language to her.
Maybe I just dislike being mistaken as The Other, the ones from that country (and I am not talking about our neighbours). I would be the first to admit this. But if we want to be tops in customer service (which is still a far way away since we are using so many foreigners and not tightening the ropes on their training), we need to get CSO s (Customer service officers) to be in-tune the needs of customers.
Two Face Shop shops down. Now, I will rely on the Junction 8 outlet and the Plaza Singapura outlet. Keeping my fingers crossed now.
