ay:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten tips from a

disgruntled sales

= clerk

COLLEEN FRASER

Tip I:

Know exactly what it is that you want.
What size, what book, what type of card,
which make, which model, what year. I
work in a bookstore. There are so many
books in print at any one time that I
couldn't possibly know them all off the top
of my head, nor can they all fit in my
computer. So if you ask me for Mirror
Mirror, but can’t tell me who the author is, I
can't help you, because there are at least
four different books with the same title.
Besides, if you don’t know what you want,
how can I help you?

Tip 2:

If you have a legitimate complaint, make
sure you're complaining to the right person.
An airplane pilot came into the bookstore
just last week. He demanded to know why
books are so expensive. I started to explain
to him about exchange rates, paper prices,
shoplifters and the like, but he would have
none of it. He went into a ten minute
tirade on why
booksellers should
be competitive
and sell all their
paperbacks for a
dollar. Well,
maybe they
should. But I’m
not the person to
tell. Complain to
a manager,
supervisor, Owner,
anybody but the
sales clerks. The
sales clerks make minimum wage and have
no authority. They can't do anything about
your complaint —except in special cases.

Tip 3:

Pay no attention to Chapters: food belongs
nowhere near any retail outlet. Not a shoe store.
Not a clothing store. Not an electronics
store. Definitely nowhere near a card store
or a bookstore. There's a simple reason
why—accidents happen. You may be the
most careful, responsible adult on the face
of the earth, but you can’t control that
little kid who thinks he’s an airplane and

   

Page 6 November [1 1998

 

 

1 Breen pie

hits your coffee at just the right angle.
Food damages merchandise. Chocolate
fingerprints, coffee stains, ice cream drips,
popcorn seasoning smudges and gum are
all reasons why you are now paying
exorbitant amounts for clothing, cards,
books and other stuff.

Put yourself in these shoes—
you're in a bookstore and you've
just found the perfect gift for
Uncle Don. But he's picky with
the condition of his
books...they have to be perfect.
There, on the fourth page, is an
ice cream drip. You ask the sales
clerk if there are any more copies. oe
Nope. That is the last one in the
whole chain, and it will take three weeks
for a new copy to come in. Uncle Don's
birthday is tomorrow. Are you upset? You
bet. On top of that, the damaged book has
to be returned to the publisher, who has to
mark down the price and loose money.
Where does the publisher make up the
money? You got it. The price of books just
went up again.

Tip 4:

Sales clerks aren't babysitters. They aren't
paid to be babysitters, and those frowns on
their faces may possibly be due to the fact
that your little darling is smudging
chocolate on a $150 dress, cheerfully
tearing the pages of a book, or screaming
at the top of their lungs. Even if they're
perfectly behaved kids, they shouldn't be
left
alone in
NY
store.

ia Sales
clerks
don't
have
time to
keep
track of
which
kid
belongs
to which mom or dad. If you've left your
kids alone in a retail store and they go
missing, don't blame the sales clerks, blame
yourself. Most malls have a kids’ play
centre where you can leave the little

darlings.

‘Tip 5:

If you take something off the shelf, put it
back where it belongs. There is nothing
more embarrassing than for a sales clerk to
say, “Oh, I know exactly where that is” and
then show the customer where the item is
supposed to be, only to have it missing. I

December 2, or

 
  
   

once spent the better part of an hour
searching for a book I knew was in the
store and that a customer just had to have
before the next day. I found it—a children’s
book—in the gardening section stuck
behind several larger books. I looked
pretty stupid to the customer, and
you bet the next person I saw
doing that got a dirty look. By
| the way, adult sex books do not
belong in the children’s section,
for obvious reasons. Would you
want your eight year old to pick
one of those up and start reading
it? They're put up on the high

shelves for a reason.

Tip 6:
Keep the receipt. Keep the receipt. Keep the receipt.
Keep it even if you know it’s exactly right.
You might find a hole in that dress in the
morning. Keep it even if you're sending it
to Toronto. It might come back. Keep it if
there is

cheaper shopping trip.

open it either. The answer most likely will
be no. In my bookstore, gift books and
coffee table books are usually sealed.
They're like that because usually the
people who buy them want them to be in
perfect condition for when they are given
as gifts. I’m not going to open a $50 book
just because you want to see the pictures.
The next person who actually wants to bu
it is most likely to ask, “Do you have it
sealed?” And when we don't have a sealed
copy, the book sits on our shelves forever,
gets sent back to the publisher, and the

prices go up again.

Tip 9:

If you put something on hold, make sure
you pick it up on, or before, the day you
say you will or phone the store back and
tell them you don't want it anymore.
Recently the book 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
came out. It was on Oprah. Everybody
wanted it. Several people put it on hold
and didn’t

 

absolutely
any doubt
whatsoever.
Most retail
stores
require
that
receipt. I
cant
accept any
book as a
return
without a :
receipt at my bookstore. Not if you beg, or
plead, or yell. Not even if you're nice to me
and try to be understanding. As a matter of
fact, I’m likely to get annoyed if you insist.
I have to prove to my boss that the book
really did come from our store and not
from Chapters, Coles or W.H. Smith. And
I don't know any other smaller retail outlet
that will do a return without a receipt
either.

Tip 7:

Shop on a Monday, Tuesday or a
Wednesday night. Nobody goes shopping
on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. The
sales clerks are less harried, more relaxed,
and more willing to spend lots of time on
you.

Tip 8:

Don't open anything you aren't going to
pay for. Nobody wants to buy the toy
that’s open, the box that's ripped, or the
diary with the wrapper off just so you can
check to see if the paper really is lined.
That's what makes prices go up and sales
clerks annoyed. And don't ask us if you can

  

come back
or phone
us. We sold
out of all
other
available

f copies. We
phoned
people back
to see if
they still
wanted the
4 book on
hold. “Oh, I bought that weeks ago!” Well,
thanks for telling us. We could have sold it
ten times over. Were you the disgruntled
customer who was told the book was sold
out? That's why.

Tip 10:
Sales Clerks are humans too. We have
feelings. We have bad days. We make
mistakes. Put yourselves in our shoes Mosi
of us make minimum wage. We are
expected to know our stock, our
competitors’ stock, the rest of the mall’s
stock, your thoughts, your moods, and
your needs. We are expected to smile and
be friendly to abusive people, rude people,
angry people, and ignorant people. We
must know everything for minimum wage.
We don't, And when you're unreasonable
when all we've done is smile, say ‘hi; and do
our jobs, we go for a walk, get mad, and
sometimes have a cry for the injustice in
this world.

Be nice. You'll get better service, I guar-
antee it.

All OP voting mem

November 25, 1998— bers, please attend.

whichever falls after

our completed audit.

The Other Press

4pm, room 1808