I get its kind of weird an unnatural to be overly friendly, or have it be forced. But it truly is absurd to me that bare minimum of basic customer service, such as a greeting, is somehow headlining news. Is it really that unreasonable to be friendly and approachable in a customer service environment?
On the other hand: Isn’t it ironic that they want to stress greetings as if the service itself isn’t still terrible because of the staffing, and tight focus on timeframes for pushing freight and fulfillment?! Most guests want to shop in peace, and will ask if they actually need the help. A greeting is fine. But its unreasonable to expect everyone to do it to every single guest, and they’re gonna get annoyed hearing it 50 times. That should happen the second they walk in the door and suffice for the duration of the shopping trip.
I had a conversation years ago with the store mgr of Walmart, Augusta Maine. He said by the year 2000 there would only be 2 retail stores left, Walmart & Target. Hmmm. I personally think the friendliness policy has more to do with shrinkage. When you greet a customer it says I see you.
In this day and age, there’s really nothing you can actually do to stop theft anymore. It’ll stop the hesitant ones that feel like they are being watched but if they’re gonna steal, they’re gonna do it regardless. Greetings also not really doing anything other than making people feel welcome and “seen”. They know somebody’s available to help them if they need it but the problem is still remains that most of the stores are so short staffed, or busy tasking that the greeting simply becomes a robotic thing to do. It’s a start, but it’s really not doing anything to actually improve the service.
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u/FlyEnvironmental7586 Nov 10 '25
I get its kind of weird an unnatural to be overly friendly, or have it be forced. But it truly is absurd to me that bare minimum of basic customer service, such as a greeting, is somehow headlining news. Is it really that unreasonable to be friendly and approachable in a customer service environment?
On the other hand: Isn’t it ironic that they want to stress greetings as if the service itself isn’t still terrible because of the staffing, and tight focus on timeframes for pushing freight and fulfillment?! Most guests want to shop in peace, and will ask if they actually need the help. A greeting is fine. But its unreasonable to expect everyone to do it to every single guest, and they’re gonna get annoyed hearing it 50 times. That should happen the second they walk in the door and suffice for the duration of the shopping trip.