There’s such a thing as too much customer service, and Cold Stone Creamery really scoops it out.
Their strange service rituals strikes us as the most unsettling of all the examples given in the Wall Street Journal’s recent article (no sub required to read, btw, because we hook you up like that).
“At Cold Stone Creamery ice-cream shops, young employees scooping ice cream into dishes labeled “like it,” “love it” and “gotta have it” …are expected to sing in unison whenever a patron drops a tip into a cup near the register.
But it just gave the creeps to Jason Feifer, a 26-year-old free-lance writer in Cambridge, Mass….
“It’s unsettling,” he says.
…On a return trip to Cold Stone, he says, he told the cashier that he was going to tip her, but she didn’t have to sing. She thanked him, and he turned away, relieved for a moment. Then the singing started up again. “I’m sure the company thinks it encourages tipping, but I would dispute that,” Mr. Feifer says.
We’d dispute it too, had we had any idea it existed. Either the people at the Cold Stone on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn aren’t co-operating with the policy, or we are cheap bastards. We can’t recall which.
Which over-the-top customer service habits annoy you? We can’t stand the strangers at the powder counter. Leave us alone and let us look at the damn makeup. Do not talk about our skin with us.
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CaptainRoin – no, you’re not. I *hate* that, mainly because I’m usually pleasantly surprised at getting such a nice person on drive-thru, so I answer back just as nicely. And then I hear the real person and realize that the teenagers must be in there snickering at the idiot being courteous to a recording.
It also gives the message of “You’re not important enough for us to actually speak to, so here, listen to this recording of a nice person until we get around to your order.”
What bugs me? The over-done, pushy customer service at Bath & Body Works. I went in yesterday specifically to get some hand soap. I got stopped (acutally stopped, she stepped in front of me) by a girl working there, who said “Hi! How are you today? What can I help you shop for?”
Ack!
And then the 20-minute sales talk when you try to check out about ‘if you buy x more things, you can get something free!’ or ‘don’t you want to try our new scent?’ or ‘have you tried this product, because its on sale today for 3 for too much damn money!’ I don’t think it would bother me so much if they would just say hey, we’ve got this sale going today, did you notice? instead of the pushy sales pitch.
Yes, they are really aggressive at Bath & Body Works. At least I know I can always get help in there if I ever need it.
“Your burrito order is very important to us — please continue to hold.”
The CSR asking if there’s anything else they can help you with…what is wrong with that? If THAT bothers you, I think you’re going a bit over the top. The irony is that I’d bet good money the folks that find this practice to be annoying would be the same folks who would be STARK RAVING MAD when they had something else they needed help with and had to wait on hold again if the CSR DIDN’T ask this question.
I’ll add inappropriate sales pitches, though. When I call to complain, it is not appropriate to attempt to try to sell me something. I recently had got some new credit cards. The activation phone call is NOT an appropriate time to try to sell me on your scamtastic credit protection scheme!
re: “Can I help you with anything else today?” Well, if you’re on the phone with your bank, that’s your cue to joke that they can give you money! I thought EVERYONE knew that!
(The husband works for a bank call center. He somehow manages to at least chuckle like he means it every single time someone says that. So about a dozen times a day.)
The singing at Coldstone definitely creeps me out, but the Corporate Script is a bit much, too. I used to work at Suncoast, and there was a very clear script you had to stick to, with every single customer in the store. As far as I was concerned, it was harrassment.
I went into FYE the other day, and they were employing the EXACT same script. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. And there’s only so many times you can politely say, “No thank you; I don’t want your ‘rewards’ program” before you want to shout, “You’ve scared me away from EVER shopping here again! Are you happy?”
But, having been on the other side of the counter, I’m aware it’s not their fault. I held my tongue.
My daughter works at Coldstone Creamery. Most of the songs they sing are pop songs that have been rewritten to feature their ice cream flavors (e.g, “Nights in White Chocolate.”
She’s ineffably perky, likes when they sing, and greatly appreciates tips. I’m sure that some Coldstone workers feel “forced” into singing, but most of the kids who work with my daughter are in high school and seem to think it’s kinda fun. Incidentally, you can tip individuals, rather than putting money in the communal tip jar, so if you’re particularly pleased with the service, give whomever helped you a tip. (And tell them they don’t have to sing.)
I’ll second the compulsory corporate script thing. I used to work for Books-A-Million and they insisted we answer the phone with “Thanks a million for calling Books-A-Million! This is Retail Monkey, how may I help you today?” I said a big N-O to that one, both for my dignity and the callers’.
They also ran a discount membership program, and lord, was there a script for selling that mother, complete with laminated cue cards with sample customer interaction, etc.
One day, the mystery shopper reports come in, and I get called out for not offering a discount card with the requisite speech. Managers’ brows were furrowed. This was a Bad Thing! I looked at my manager and said, “Sure, you could write me up for this, but I DID sell 150 of these yesterday.” End of discussion, end of corporate script.
I realise companies want to standardise the upselling process across their stores, but it almost always works better if you do without a script, and try and make what you’re selling fit the individual customer’s needs as much as possible. Customers are much more likely to have good feelings about a store if they feel like the customer service people are ordinary people too, not ServBots reading off little corporate-issued cue cards.
The worst Corporate Script I’ve ever seen: Games Workshop. I worked there over the Holiday Season a few years back.
Reasons to hate the script:
Theme song from Conan plays in the background all day, yet you’re not allowed to disembowel the idiots who walk in.
The Corporate pre-scripted introduction of “Are you familiar with my hobby?” is usually answered with the customer’s pre-scripted “No thanks, just looking.” Even though the question and answer are in no way related…yet again, no disemboweling allowed.
You are required to ask if they’d like a Demo. During which, you are required to be as enthusiastic as a ferret on a sugar-high. Usually you run the kid through a demo, and then have to do it all over again when the “wallet” arrives (namely, the parents).
Let’s face it, parents like quiet. The level of enthusiasm a sales rep is required to show scares ‘em off much more than the price of $100.00 for a handful of unpainted plastic toys.
On the other hand, the ban on disembowelment is a good thing…parents hate you after you explain that the boxed “starter” set is NOT enough to play a real game.
People who already play are not allowed to play a game in the store unless the models that they paid for are practically “showcase” quality.
Finally, sales reps have to deal with the religious nuts who accuse ‘em of promoting the Devil’s work with Demons and Witches. Granted, it’s really funny to see in person, but that thrice-damned disembowelment rule is replaced by a much less satisfying call to security.
1.) the post office workers are required to say “does this have anything liquid, fragile, perishable or hazardous? and then they always ask if you want a phone card. no, i do NOT want a damn phone card
2.) at petco, the always ask you at checkout how many pets you have and what their ages are. feels very disingenous.
Just thinking about the singing at Cold Stone makes me want to barf. You know when you’re watching a movie, and someone is being a complete idiot, and you get that “I’m embarrassed for all of mankind” feeling? That’s the feeling I get at Cold Stone.
On the other note, the only thing I can think of that really annoys me in retail is the question “would you like the receipt with you, or in the bag?”, followed by the cashier holding both my purchase and receipt hostage awaiting my answer while giving me the ol’ plastic smile.
Really, you helped enough in ringing up my purchase, I don’t need you to deliver my receipt to its final destination. Whether it ends up in my wallet, the garbage, or the bag, I can do it myself, effortlessly. It’s with me either way. From your hand to mine will be sufficient, thanks.
I used to work at a call center where one of the clients was a maternity clothing catalog. So we would take orders for maternity clothes, nursing bras, etc. Then we were supposed to ask all these questions like “when is your due date?” and “are you having a boy/girl/don’t know?” I quit asking after the first couple of times because it felt really creepy to be asking, and I imagine it felt creepy for the person on the other end of the call, especially if it had been a guy asking all these questions. Kind of like, now that I have your home address, tell me about your fetus and when s/he will be born so that perverts or kidnapers can arrive at your home in the middle of the night…
“2.) at petco, the always ask you at checkout how many pets you have and what their ages are. feels very disingenous.”
Are you sure that’s not PetSmart? The first time, it seemed like an innocent question. Every time after that, it got annoying.
So, next time a PetSmart cashier rings me up for a bag of cat food and then asks me how many cats I have, I tell her “none.” Usually, they just ignore that answer and continue checking me out.
I happen to love the service at Cold Stone. I find it refreshing that employees actually seem to enjoy their work and say thank you to the customer. I would hope more businesses would focus their attention on a creating a fun, relaxing atmosphere where the customer is treated with a smile. The all too common practice of ushering people in and out without as much as a hello is what “creeps” me out.
Went to Culver’s recently, and was greeted with, “Welcome to Culver’s, this is George Jetson, how may I help you?” I nearly bust a gut laughing and asked him how Jane and daughter Judy were doing. the guy told me I was the first person who had called him that day. He told me he had been Stonewall Jackson, Abe Lincoln, Friedrich Nietsche, and a number of other personalities.
A lot of the US retail scripts aren’t as annoying to me as the highly formal, overly polite language (“keigo”) used when shopping in large department stores in Japan. It just seems robotic to me.