Retail Life

The holiday crunch is winding down, however, employees are struggling to decompress from two straight months of intense work schedules to meet the ever increasing demands of consumers.

The shoppers that come into Macy's never cease to amaze me. Some are well-mannered, so of course, we don't remember them. Those wonderful shoppers ask for service politely, say thank you and wish us a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year or a nice day/evening. If children accompany these lovely people, they are well-behaved or just plain cute.

The rest of the shopping population could learn a thing or two from these kind folks. Throwing merchandise at me while talking on the cell phone will not garner you outstanding service from my side of the counter. Nor will screaming at me because store policy won't let you price merchandise to your liking. Yelling at me because the whole store is out of gift boxes won't make aforementioned gift boxes appear out of thin air.

This holiday season has been no exception as for the craziness out there. One customer got mad because she had to pay state and local sales tax on her purchases. Another customer wanted me to look up postal zip codes for her to send a gift out of state. One "charming" young lady informed the long line of customers behind her that they will have to wait while she marched me over to see merchandise that she insisted was marked down but was not.

Let's be clear. Retail workers are human. We have good days and bad. Yes, some have an attitude - I've run into that. We have the perspective of both sides of the counter. We probably have a better idea of how retailers work than a lot of consumers. We don't resent the empowered and knowledgeable consumer. We just don't like being played or bullied. We don't make store policy nor do our immediate supervisors/managers.

Macy's is a large department store which is tied to legally binding retail agreements with hundreds of manufacturers. Macy's doesn't set the prices on all merchandise. Notice the word - all. If we want to sell Levi's jeans in our stores, we have to enter into a legal agreement with Levi Strauss to allow us to do just that. Levi Strauss has every right and reason to dictate what price will be placed on their jeans and if/when they go on sale. They can tell Macy's to not use our own coupons on their merchandise. This is all completely legal. However, many consumers fail to understand this.

What amazes me and  many of my co-workers is how much the customers rage over the high price of certain items (for example, children's clothing). Yes, I agree, a $35 Ralph Lauren Polo shirt for a toddler boy is outrageous. However, my question is this - why are you shopping here if you can't afford it? No one is making you buy that $35 toddler Polo shirt, so don't. All of the Ralph Lauren line - men, women, children - is expensive. Ridiculously expensive. However, Mr. Lauren can ask those prices because he knows there are customers who are happy to pay those prices. There is no shame in his camp because there is no shame among his consumers. People are willing to pay extravagantly for his brand and the image that goes with it. This is called Economics 101 and Marketing 101. For the rest of us, there's Walmart, Target and KMart. If those stores are too much, there's always the thrift stores.

Now that the holidays are over for the time being, we have to clean up the mess left behind from frenzied shoppers. This year, especially, the store is completely trashed. It's frustrating enough that at any time during the year, we will go to great lengths to make the store merchandise look pretty for our customers. We sort merchandise by brand, style, color and size - all for the convenience of our customers. We strive to make a pleasant shopping experience only to be "thanked" for our efforts by the tables, racks, and shelves being completely torn apart by people sifting through the merchandise. Fitting rooms become a disaster area with discarded garments strewn on the floor, turned inside out, and (here's the disgusting part) soiled with human waste. People are gross. No, we do not have a crew of people who come in during the night to straighten up the store.

 I wish there was a way we could educate the public on how to conduct themselves in a retail environment. Maybe I can outline a few tips for shoppers:

• Empowerment, as mentioned before, does not equate bullying. Demanding that I give you 50% off a garment that is excluded from coupons will not endear you to my good graces. However, if you ask nicely, I might be able to accommodate you. It just depends on the item. Remember, legally binding agreements between Macy's and the vendor are out of my control. I am empowered to override coupons, but too much of a good thing could get me fired. If you are on the conservative rolls complaining about the "freeloading poor" in our society, costing me my job could land me where you don't want me. Please think about that before yelling at me.

• Pretending that we are the best of friends won't get you a higher discount. It boggles my mind when some people come in and act like I will do them an extra favor. No, I will not. Furthermore, I never saw you before in my life. We are not friends. My real friends would never expect me to jeopardize my job to save them an extra dollar. So, pay for your selection and get lost.

• Tag switching is always something that just slays me. You really think I'm so dumb that I won't notice you switched out a Ralph Lauren tag for a store brand tag and placed it on a pair of Lauren jeans? In addition, I will notice when a designer swimsuit suddenly comes up for $4.00 in August. Or any other time of the year. Designer swimsuits never sell for $4.00.

• Please don't come to me with a garment that's missing a tag and expect me to magically know how much it is. That two-second question will launch as much as a 20 minute search and often times I have to find something similar because that item is no longer in the inventory system. After all that, the best I can do is a guess on pricing - might be an amount you don't like. Well, too bad. That's how it is.

• A favorite scheme that some young people like to pull - getting too friendly and physical with me. Not sexual, just friendly. This ploy is to distract me while the friends behind me steal something. Seriously? I never saw you before in my life. I don't know who you are nor do I care. DO NOT take my arm and guide me to where you want me to see whatever it is you want me to see. I know your buddies are shoplifting and the first chance I get, I will call security and see to it that your happy little behinds get caught.

• Parents - please watch over your own children. Too many times, I have seen small children run wild throughout the store and I cringe over what may happen. Collision with mannequins, customers, or racks of merchandise lead to possible serious injury. When I tell the kids to stop running, I'm not being a jerk. I'm possibly saving your child's life, something you seem to value less than I. Further, in an age where child abductions are frequent and publicized, you should be worried about who else is in the store. Predators disguise themselves to look like everyone else. That's how they do what they do. Store employees are not baby sitters. Our security team is watching for theft of merchandise, not kidnappers. If your child cannot handle the shopping experience, go home. Go straight home. Don't pass Go and don't collect $200. Get a baby sitter or come back another time.

• If English is not your first language, please bring an interpreter. I don't speak Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Japanese, Swahili, Russian, Arabic, or Klingon. Shopping by yourself when  you don't know the language is asking for trouble in the form of honest and dishonest misunderstandings. In addition, it's just plain annoying to explain 15 times that you won't get 20% off an item that is excluded from that discount. Oh, yeah, and pretending you don't understand English will not help you in any way. I can spot it and won't budge an inch. I'm German like that.

• Unless you know exactly what you are looking for and where it is, coming into the store to shop five minutes before the store closing is never a good idea. Employees are tired and want to go home. We have only a short period of time to close registers and clear out fitting rooms. The lights are turned out because we want you to leave. If the item you are looking for is that important, you should have made time earlier in the day/evening to look for it in the store. We do not give extra discounts when the store is closed for the evening. So, don't even try it. Continued shopping in the dark will only get you personalized escort service from our security personnel.

The holiday season is past and the shopping cycle begins anew with clearance, Easter, spring and summer, wedding, and back to school sales looming on the horizon. I will draw this to a close by repeating what is said every night at store closing: "We hope you have had an outstanding shopping experience today. Thank you for shopping at Macy's and we look forward to seeing you again soon."