Customers on the Spectrum - Consumer war?

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BobinPgh
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28 Sep 2012, 2:04 am

I don't know where to post about this so I will start here

Have any of you had difficulty dealing with salespeople in a department store, or stores in general? It is said that retail is not a field for an asperger person but what about when we are the customer? I am often anxious in stores, aggressive salespeople approach me and I have run from them but when I do no need help with a product it would help a lot if we could find a salesclerk. I know that people who work in retail take a lot of abuse from customers but sometimes I have been the customer and was not treated very well. Is it because we cannot handle the chaos of a store? Sometimes I actually like Wal Mart because they are open 24 hours and I go there at a Gd forsaken hour where few people are there. I also find loud announcements at Home Depot and Lowes drive me nuts but don't seem to faze anyone else. If a store would accommodate people on the spectrum I think they would have customers for life.

Oh, but once when I was interested in being a sales clerk the manager told me that the customers were so mean I could not deal with it. Meanwhile, I am a customer too, is she saying I am mean? And maybe I should not shop there? Is there a "consumer war" going on? How do the rest of you handle the shopping you have to do?



Buttoneater
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28 Sep 2012, 2:09 am

Salespeople are subhuman while they are performing their job. I tell them what I want to buy, I do not tolerate them suggesting useless products to me. If they do I walk away from them and towards a different sales associate, making sure they see that I'm intentionally ignoring them.



JitakuKeibiinB
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28 Sep 2012, 2:57 am

If a salesperson says something to me then I say "no" and walk away.



gretchyn
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28 Sep 2012, 4:06 pm

JitakuKeibiinB wrote:
If a salesperson says something to me then I say "no" and walk away.


Me too. I'd rather do my shopping by myself...and I always use self-checkout if it's available. :)



musicforanna
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28 Sep 2012, 6:27 pm

me and sales people = DO NOT WANT.

One time I was at microcenter, and usually if you ask someone in a specialty part of the store, they have a brain and will help you find what you are looking for (and are aware of what you are looking for and know you're not looking to be cross-sold/up-sold on any other useless product). In the main part of the store though is another story. Say, if you're buying something someone with half a brain can pick out, say a memory card, CD-R's, dust-off, a usb hub, etc, then you get hassled all to hell. One time when I picked out a memory card for my phone I full-on-argued a non-worthy sales person away from me in microcenter. Doesn't help that they are on commission and try to hassle you for sales in the main part of the store to put their sticker on anything and everything.

Probably the worst store in that department though is best buy (aka worst buy). I picked out an ipod touch accessory, and bought a couple of dvds to add in for my bf's birthday. Some pushy salesman comes along and tries to upsell me on a gaming system (good lucky buddy-- they ALWAYS try to upsell you on ridiculous s**t there) and he kept following me around and hassling me about it. Eventually I said "dude, I don't need your pricey upsale crap" just shut down and started slamming myself in the forehead repeatedly with one of the dvd cases. This is when he noted my peculiar strangeness and started walking away. Yup. Consumerrissmmm in Ammurrrica. I don't just come from the wrong planet, I come from the wrong country too.



Pompei
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29 Sep 2012, 1:53 am

I have found the best way to get rid of them is to say I do not know specifically what I am looking for. I will look around to see if something catches my eye.



CyborgUprising
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29 Sep 2012, 10:57 am

Generally, I am not too bothered by salespeople. It's when they incessantly hound you, following you while hurling a volley of odd questions. It makes me feel as if I'm "acting suspiciously" and they don't trust me, so they must watch me like a hawk (there are stores that disguise loss prevention personnel as store personnel asking if you need help (I just tell them after the third time that the kind of help I would ever need could not be provided by you :twisted:) customers or salespeople). I have found that stimming more obviously has been rather effective in keeping them away. When they think you're "nutters," they tend to back off. Listening to loud music on large, conspicuous headphones does the trick too.



DerStadtschutz
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29 Sep 2012, 11:08 am

Oh god, don't even get me started on salespeople... I can't stand them. I don't mind if they ask me if they can help me find anything, but once I tell them no, if they don't leave me alone, I hate it. MOST of the time they leave me alone when I tell them I'm just looking, but I have to tell you about this one time...

I went shopping for a new couch with my girlfriend and two of our mutual friends. One of the stores we checked out was called N.B. Liebman. Upon entering the store, this saleslady asked us if she could help us with anything, what we're looking for, etc. We told her we didn't need any help and just wanted to look, and she left us alone... Or so we thought.

A little while later, I was explaining to our friends what I was looking for. I told them I didn't really want recliner seats because I can never seem to find a comfortable position to relax. I have to find a point somewhere between not reclined at all and leaning back all the way and hold it, and that just doesn't work. I also didn't really want a recliner because we have cats, and they like to climb under stuff. I'd rather not smash my cat in the reclining mechanism, so I didn't want one...

That saleslady must have been sneaking around(I imagine it looked like something like solid snake sneaking around the ship in metal gear solid) listening to us, because while we were in the middle of discussing this, she popped up out of nowhere(I think she hid behind a couch or something) and started telling us about how wonderful a motorized recliner would be... She also tried to get us to buy some ridiculously expensive couch that was way out of our price range after we just told her how much we could afford... Needless to say, I was severely pissed. I turned around and walked away while she was talking, but she kept talking anyway. She finally got the hint, but I was about to just walk the f**k out of that place and/or throw a fit. I can't stand that s**t. If I need your help, I know where to find you. If not, leave me the f**k alone...



Mirror21
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29 Sep 2012, 11:13 am

BobinPgh wrote:
I actually like Wal Mart because they are open 24 hours and I go there at a Gd forsaken hour where few people are there.


That is pretty much how I deal with shopping. If I can't find it there, I try not to need it.



Jinks
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29 Sep 2012, 12:45 pm

Please don't hate the salespeople too much. It's not their fault they have to act that way. I worked in that job role for three years and it is probably the worst Aspie job in the world (actually, I think it is one of the worst jobs in general). They are put under a great deal of pressure, have strict sales targets and are constantly in danger of disciplinaries or of losing their job if they do not make the company enough money or sell enough of the right products. They behave that way because if they don't meet their targets at the end of the month they might be fired and they are usually doing it for minimum wage. The store where I worked had a very high staff turnover rate (and I am sure other stores with sales structures are the same) and with few exceptions, the people who worked there generally worked there because they really needed a job and it was the only one they could get.

I also hate it when salespeople hassle me, but I know it's not the fault of the salespeople, but of the corporate structure which teaches them to behave that way and threatens them with redundancy if they don't do so or make the company enough money.

Saying you are just browsing is a good way to get salespeople to move on. If you have an unpleasant experience you might want to contact the company or manager and tell them you find their staff too pushy (without naming names of individual staff). Our store had a book customers could write comments in. It probably won't help, but if the company or manager has enough complaints they might realise it is turning away customers and begin to train their staff differently, which would improve things for everyone.



CyborgUprising
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29 Sep 2012, 12:49 pm

Jinks wrote:
Please don't hate the salespeople too much. It's not their fault they have to act that way. I worked in that job role for three years and it is probably the worst Aspie job in the world (actually, I think it is one of the worst jobs in general). They are put under a great deal of pressure, have strict sales targets and are constantly in danger of disciplinaries or of losing their job if they do not make the company enough money or sell enough of the right products. They behave that way because if they don't meet their targets at the end of the month they might be fired and they are usually doing it for minimum wage. The store where I worked had a very high staff turnover rate (and I am sure other stores with sales structures are the same) and with few exceptions, the people who worked there generally worked there because they really needed a job and it was the only one they could get.

I also hate it when salespeople hassle me, but I know it's not the fault of the salespeople, but of the corporate structure which teaches them to behave that way and threatens them with redundancy if they don't do so or make the company enough money.

Saying you are just browsing is a good way to get salespeople to move on. If you have an unpleasant experience you might want to contact the company or manager and tell them you find their staff too pushy (without naming names of individual staff). Our store had a book customers could write comments in. It probably won't help, but if the company or manager has enough complaints they might realise it is turning away customers and begin to train their staff differently, which would improve things for everyone.


That is precisely why I don't treat them "rudely" unless they are being more than persistent, crossing the threshhold into harrassment. When I am disoriented due to sensory issues, they are helpful in showing me where something is.



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29 Sep 2012, 2:19 pm

When a salesperson comes up and asks me if they can help me with anything, I say "just looking" and keep walking. If I can't find a product in a big-name store I'll find an employee and ask them where I can find [insert item name here]. Usually what happens is the store ends up not stocking what I'm looking for, so I rarely ask.



TheTigress
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29 Sep 2012, 2:21 pm

Jinks wrote:
Please don't hate the salespeople too much. It's not their fault they have to act that way. I worked in that job role for three years and it is probably the worst Aspie job in the world (actually, I think it is one of the worst jobs in general). They are put under a great deal of pressure, have strict sales targets and are constantly in danger of disciplinaries or of losing their job if they do not make the company enough money or sell enough of the right products. They behave that way because if they don't meet their targets at the end of the month they might be fired and they are usually doing it for minimum wage. The store where I worked had a very high staff turnover rate (and I am sure other stores with sales structures are the same) and with few exceptions, the people who worked there generally worked there because they really needed a job and it was the only one they could get.


I was about ready to post something just like this. These people are just trying to do their jobs to make ends meet just like anyone else. I'm sure they hate doing it just as much as you hate dealing with it but they are just following corporate orders. It's either be pushy or don't have a roof over their head and food to eat. Referring to them with such words as "Subhuman" is absolutely sickening. Class-ism is no better than racism or sexism.



BobinPgh
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29 Sep 2012, 6:45 pm

TheTigress wrote:
Jinks wrote:
Please don't hate the salespeople too much. It's not their fault they have to act that way. I worked in that job role for three years and it is probably the worst Aspie job in the world (actually, I think it is one of the worst jobs in general). They are put under a great deal of pressure, have strict sales targets and are constantly in danger of disciplinaries or of losing their job if they do not make the company enough money or sell enough of the right products. They behave that way because if they don't meet their targets at the end of the month they might be fired and they are usually doing it for minimum wage. The store where I worked had a very high staff turnover rate (and I am sure other stores with sales structures are the same) and with few exceptions, the people who worked there generally worked there because they really needed a job and it was the only one they could get.


I was about ready to post something just like this. These people are just trying to do their jobs to make ends meet just like anyone else. I'm sure they hate doing it just as much as you hate dealing with it but they are just following corporate orders. It's either be pushy or don't have a roof over their head and food to eat. Referring to them with such words as "Subhuman" is absolutely sickening. Class-ism is no better than racism or sexism.


More I think what I mean is the attitude that I found when working for a retailer that customers are the enemy and we (the customers) are all just sooooo nasty that salespeople have to have a "thick skin". I think it is worse now than in the past, maybe because of the corporate pressure. That is what I was trying to find out. With me, I have had more trouble trying to find a salesclerk to help me than I have with one being to pushy.

Example: Once I needed a foot pedal control for my medical transcription because I thought the one I had "burned out". Turns out I was able to fix it after all. I went to Office Max first and get "Help YA?" "Yes I am looking for this foot pedal" "UH, we don't have that, nooooo I don't know where you are going to find that one" in a turdy tone of voice. Was than necessary? Then I went ot Office Depot and a young man with a goatee goes in front of me "help ya" and I tell him. He touches his goatee and goes "don't know". I had to look myself. So I ended up fixing what I had, fortunately I could do that. What upsets me is the abrupt "Help ya" and the background music and noise. Home Depot is really bad with this, with announcements being screamed over the paging system. If a store would just stop with the voice paging, usually very loud and rude, They would have us as customers for life. I also figure that if I cannot stand to shop at a certain place as a customer, I can't work there either, even though I would like the merchandise. Why is retail so awful and why do people put up with it?