Stores and restaurants that are TOO friendly

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And I mean friendly in a pushy, overbearing kind of way

Top of my list is Chick-Fil-A. Yes I know there are at least a dozen political reasons not to give them any business to begin with, but it is about the only kind of fast food I can tolerate anymore.

I just cannot stand how pushy the employees are. They try too hard to be friendly and helpful. Like when I'm getting my food, someone will grab my tray ahead of me and ask where I would like to sit. They also try to take my tray away before I'm done eating.

Next worst for me is Trader Joe's. They are a fantastic place to shop in a lot of ways but the employees are so chatty and perky, it is obnoxious. I can avoid it until checkout but then I'm forced to chat with the cashier. And I say "forced" because they pretty much insist that I have a conversation with them. I know it is their shtick to have their people act like that but it is just too much. And I am in there often enough, don't they realize that I'm not a fan of it? I just want to get my stuff checked out so I can get out of there.

What places bother you the most?

Dick's Sporting goods was a big one for me. I was accosted by four people in five minutes. They have a policy that whenever you enter a department someone has to ask if you need help. I talked to the manager about it and asked to have them back off with me and just wait for me to ask for help if I wanted it. They respect me with that now and it makes my shopping there much better. You can ask them to please give you space and wait for you to ask if you need anything and they should respect that.

The worst place was a chain called Kenny Roger's Roasters. They closed out around here only a couple of years after opening (mid 90s) and their employees were just too darn friendly. I remember being with Mom looking to get takeout and the cheerful employees offering a place to sit down. People are generally friendly in stores here being Canada and with high unemployment but this is the only example of employees who were obnoxiously friendly to the point of being pushy. It got so bad we started just going through the drive-thru and eventually stopped going completely. They went under a few months later and I would suspect this was part of the reason and both their locations here were like this. Probably the only business that was ruined by friendliness!

There was also a Department store chain called Zellers that was bought out by Target a couple years ago. The employees were trained to "celebrate the purchase" with customers and it drove me, as a solitary male absolutely bananas! I swear the company was run by Walmart double agents because their employees became increasingly stalkerish. I even had a security guard follow my every move (with a smile) at one point and just avoided the place like the plague. I also gave up going to Future Shop when I was hounded by their commissioned employees.

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I used to work for TJ's and I loved it until I had to get to the register and check people out or work the floor to help customers. They really do encourage friendliness towards the customers as a central tenet of their business plan. When I worked the floor I had to walk around and ask people how they were doing and if they needed any help. I'd usually walk around so quickly that I'd be done with the store in 5 minutes. "How are you can I help you find anything, no? ok." and on to the next person. Then, because I have mild face blindness, all too often, I'd come back to the same person and ask them again. It was pure torture.

At the registers, I could never really strike up conversations with people. I tried, and occasionally I could do it, but I am a profoundly poor conversationalist when it comes to trivial things. My personal goal was to just check out each customer as fast as I could so I wouldn't have to be forced to be talk to them. Needless to say, I didn't last their long. They paid great, and used to treat their employees really well [I think a lot has changed since they've crept across the country=more corporatist], but it just wasn't for me.

OK, now I'm going to complain. The place where I used to donate blood had phlebotomists/nurses who positively fawned over me......asking me endless questions (about what I do, my accent, etc.), telling me where I might like to go, even bringing over their nurse-colleagues to come look at me, asking if I were OK since I looked pale - some were practically fondling me. I almost do not want to give blood anymore.

So, yes, I know what you mean. Sometimes we *might* just want to shop, have lunch, etc. quietly without being pestered. Attn: leave the Aspie alone.

Yeah I've had trouble with that at Home Depot, and I talked to a manager about it too, but it didn't make any difference.



I wonder how many places actually undermine their own business with that kind of policy. More than they realize I bet.



"Celebrate the purchase"???? That sounds like a nightmare



I thought about trying to get a job there when they opened up here. But after I saw how it is I was glad I didn't. I would have nutted up.



Ew!! that sounds so weird!

The MAC Cosmetics area in the nearby Macy's. One was so persistent that I had a meltdown. I'm just waiting for there to be an exposé that the manager purposely seeks out people having manic episodes and then fires them if the episodes end or they go on medication. These people are beyond just friendly and pushy. I really worry about their mental health.

Last edited by NicholasName on 27 May 2014, 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Whenever I walk into Bob's Discount Furniture out on Long Island, I am bombarded by at least SIX salespeople. The thing to do is tell them you're going to the "office" (i.e., to pay your bill).

I dunno, I actually kind of like it when employees at stores and restaurants go out of their way to be friendly. It makes me feel like a king.

Add Wegman's supermarkets to the list, as well as Meijer.

A bank is supposed to be quiet right? When I walk into Santander bank it is always "hard sell" with some sort of credit card or plan or account pushed on me. They call and bother me at home every day with this stuff. I called to "opt out" and it is going to be a 30 day wait until they stop (I have my doubts). I'd love to switch banks but I can't close my IRA because the federal government will take a 10% tax on that.

The Feds will only take the 10% taxes if you make a withdrawal. If you rolling over to a different IRA, you have 60 days to complete the rollover before you are taxed. There are exceptions to this rule. Go to www.investopedia.com/articles/retiremen ... stakes.asp for an article on Common IRA mistakes that can be avoided.

As an aside, I try to avoid going into banks also, because of the hard sell. Unfortunately, this tactic is now all too common, whether it is Santander, PNC Bank, People's Bank of Glen Rock or Belco Federal Credit Union. Nowadays, it's easier to open an account online, have the bank send you the necessary paperwork to be signed, the drop the paperwork down the bank's night depository.

Many places put a lot of emphasis on "upselling." That is, getting the consumer to buy more than they intended. I fully expect a waiter/waitress to ask me if I want a "beverage" other than water, appetizer and/or dessert. It's "upselling." I do not accept them being pushy about it.

Some places push the "upsell" too much and it can offend customers....AS and NT alike.

It was. What that means is that employees were trained to say for example "that Pink Bra looks great!" or "nice bottle of Pepsi there" or comment on what's in your cart. It's one thing to try to make young mothers (their target market) comfortable but you don't do that by annoying everyone else (including many mothers). Like I said, that company had so many idiotic ideas in their late years they must have been run by spies from the competition.


Let's recap my last shopping trip and a reminder why I usually shop online:
Target: Pushed the RedCard (which I actually have)
EB Games (Gamestop): Pushed used copy of the game and a "discount card" and then pushed a "guarantee"
Lids: Pushed embroidery
KFC: Pushed upsize
Cinnabon: Pushed toppings
Royal Bank: Pushed international wire transfer service (AGAIN!)
Shell: Pushed lottery tickets/car wash

Yes, every single store pushed an upsell of some kind! What I find ironic is the one place that I was left alone and never bothered on that same day was at the Casino. The employees are always friendly and helpful but are arms length. Companies are like telemarketers: quick to notice the few times this is successful but fail to notice how it annoys most people and drives them online, both NT and AS!


Ugh. I don't know what is worse: the furniture stores where you are stalked to death by 3-4 creepy gold toothed salespeople who pretend to be your friend or when I go into a more upscale store and treated like I don't belong since I dress and look like a teenager. At least in the mall stores the sales clerks are genuinely nice people who don't enjoy being pushy.

I just wish all stores could be like an adult store I went to last year. After 5 minutes or so the employee quietly slipped over, asked in a soft voice if I had any questions or needed directions and then slipped back to the counter and said they were available if needed. Was so comfortable I actually bought something I had no intention of.

Yeah that sounds ideal. First having some time to acclimate yourself to the store before they accost you...most places, when I walk in I am adjusting to the light and the sounds and the temperate and what not and the last thing I need is someone jumping up in my face immediately, or yelling a greeting at me in a passive aggressive tone of voice from 30 feet away.

Then if they want to make an offer to help, okay, but if I say no I don't need any they should just go away and stop asking.

The Publix grocery store near me is really bad about doing that. The overly cheerful cashiers will say things like, "Oh, this looks delicious!", "Have you had this before? Is it good?", "Where did you find this? I haven't seen it before, but it must be in here somewhere, ha ha ha", "This looks yummy!", "I bet this would go good with asparagus", "Oh, I love this! Don't you?".

It's not just one question, which wouldn't be too bad, but it's like you have to pass a quiz before you are allowed to leave the store! I'm glad my mom is the person doing the paying, so I can just sort of tune them out most of the time.

There's also a card shop near me that has overly friendly workers, the two women who seem to be the shop's only employees will come by and ask if you need help every 5-10 minutes, and they always ask what kind of card you need and keep asking more and more personal details about your card buying situation.

The people at Best Buy can be annoying too, but I can overlook them because a bunch of different people ask if you need help (one or two per department) instead of the same person over and over again. Sometimes I will avoid going there if I don't feel like having ten people ask me if I need help and to let them know if I do, but I can understand it better than the other places I listed.