Leave Me Alone, Mr. Thumb!
Let’s make a deal, Tom Thumb grocery store. Let’s stipulate that “I’m fine,” so you don’t have to ask me, and if I’m not fine, I’ll stop and tell you.
I ran into the Tom Thumb this morning in Preston Center. In the space of five minutes, count ‘em, five minutes, I was asked seven times “How are doing, sir?” Three of these inquiries came from employees who were within hearing distance of their colleagues who had just asked that question and been asnwered. This is not friendliness, it is merely an absurd corporate directive to pretend to be friendly.
I was so intent on avoiding eye contact and scurrying through the store as fast as possible that I forgot one of the items on my list. Enough already!
By Charles Geilich
Feb. 25, 2010 | 8:35 am | 34 Comments | Comments RSS
34 comments to "Leave Me Alone, Mr. Thumb!"
“You drop everything you are doing and say Hi from anywhere in the store when someone comes in. It doesn’t matter if they are in a conversation or on the phone or you are helping another customer, you always say hi. Most of the time everyone hates it, but the higher ups want to make a point so just do it.”
Doesn’t make me feel special or that they actually care.
But, MK, if it makes you feel good, who am I to deny you?
It’s just that my perception of the staff at Central Market, for instance, is that they are just as friendly and helpful, without being assaultive.
And I may be grumpy this morning, too, but that’s beside the point! Ahem.
And like many other grocery stores, they have their cashiers ask if you found everything OK, but usually do nothing when you actually answer them and tell them what they were out of. So it is an illusion of helpfulness.
@citygirl–if you get a Reward card your name will print out on the receipt and they won’t have to ask you your name, they’ll just read it off the receipt. So you can sign up as “Mrs. F-U” to get a chuckle at the end of your shopping trip.
I do have to admit that it still beats the terrible service that the Mockingbird Kroger has – just awful, never shop there any more.
That question should only apply to little old blue hairs with 2 weeks of groceries in paper sacks.
you are required by the corporate offices to greet EVERY customer. there is a secret shopper program and if you don’t greet every employee you get lectured by the store manager and you get docked points. it was so ridiculous. there are about 7 steps of customer interaction that are required.
half the reason i quit was because of this ridiculous program.. i felt bad bothering every customer.
By the way, as of this week, no more American Airlines miles from Tom Thumb. One more reason to shop at Kroger. I also have had good service there. And they carry 10 types of Pringles in case Merritt needs another can.
When my son was younger we used to frequent the TT at Preston/Forest & loved to visit with a couple of the guys in the produce department who always recognized us. One was a big guy and my little boy always called him “my buddy.” He looked forward to going to Tom Thumb to see his buddy, who always had a stick of gum for him as we came through his department. Those were genuine conversations with people I had come to know, not these pretend conversations that TT is now forcing on their customers.
And you would not believe the number of times that one of their cashiers has handed the receipt to me and said, “Thank you, Mrs. Crap.” Seriously. Who says that without double-checking the spelling first?
2. The Preston Center TT (the Hyer store), the Highland Park Village TT (Bradfield/Armstrong) and the Snider Plaza (UP/Armstrong) are like old time neighborhood stores. I appreciate the fact that when I go to the Hyer store I get to see people that I may not be able to interact with as much, such as the moms and dads whose kids might have been on one of my kids Y athletic team or tribes. Those of you who seek anonymity may be better served by going to one of the flagship stores.
3. I am usually greeted by one or two people I know each time I go into the Hyer store. Why shouldn’t the employees of Tom Thumb greet me by name or send me on my way using my name as a friend might?
I’m just saying
I was just walking up to two rather long lines when I heard “lane 5 is open for checkout” over the PA system. I looked around and nobody seemed to be making a move, so I headed that way and managed to be first in line. I happily said something to the checker like “wow it paid to be listening.” I was greeted with a scowl and the response, “they were way out of line calling me over the PA like that, there aren’t that many people in line.” Umm, I just meant yay for me I don’t have to wait in line? Then, the manager came over to her and asked her to turn on her light which prompted more protests regarding her annoyance. Again, umm do your job? And thanks for making my day happier.
Of course unlike the happy checker, I never uttered a single word my first . . .
P.S. Ten + people waiting in 2 lines in a tiny store DOES warrant another line being opened.
In some of the responses above, I notice that TT customers praise the friendliness of the employees whose names they know and with whom they interact on a regular basis, to which I say: exactly! That’s real friendliness, as opposed to a formulaic, faux-friendliness.
Leave a Reply