The Grouch

It was around 5:15 at The Right Shoe today, a time less than an hour before closing where we get a lot of people just coming in to browse. I approached one lady who seemed to be studying the shoes more carefully than the other customers were, which was enough evidence to show me she was not a browser but a shopper. I approached her and asked her if she had any questions. Sure enough she did. She told me about the Merrell hiking shoes she had purchased before and how their insole had the best support for her foot and that nothing else had better support (which I believe is a little flawed - in an arch support war I think Birkenstock would be the hands-down winner). However, this time she was not looking for a hiking type shoe but wanted a bit more of a dressy sandal that she could wear to the office but also take long walks in. Ok, so my task is to find a comfortable dress shoe for her...can be done. She shot down some of my ideas, but managed to pick out one she liked. I was about to grab her one in her size when another customer who had just walked in stopped me to ask me a question. The other girl I was working with was upstairs at the time dealing with a customer on the phone, so it was just me on the floor with about 4 people in the store, so naturally I listened to the other customer's question.

The other lady was looking for a sandal for walking for a trip she is going on in the fall. She wanted to know if the sandals would go on sale before then of if she's better off getting them now. She told me the brands that were recommended by her podiatrist at Paris Orthotics, and I told her those brands don't go on sale very often and if they do, it's because we only have the "extreme" sizes left like 6 or 11 and she was a 9-1/2. I was on my way to just point out where she should look for the sandals when the other lady I was helping stops me and says, "Excuse me, but I was here first." And I was like, "yes, I realize that." What else do you want me to say, really? Then she said, "aren't you going to grab me my shoes?" And I responded with, "yep, I'm getting them, I'm just showing this lady where to look, but I'll get them in a second." With that, the lady slipped her shoe back on and stormed out of the store, leaving me completely flabbergasted and the other lady who had come in after felt so bad. She turned to me and said, "I'm so sorry. I lost you a customer." And I just said, "Don't feel bad. If that's her attitude I don't want to help her anyways. What am I supposed to do? I'm the only one down here. I can't ignore everyone and just focus on her. It's not your fault."

I had to reassure this lady several times that it wasn't her fault and that I don't want to deal with people like the grumpy lady anyways. The other lady was much more pleasant to work with.

I think I just don't understand where the grumpy lady was coming from. If I'm in a store which clearly has more customers than sales associates, I don't expect to be waited on. If the sales person quickly stops to guide someone else, that's fine. That is their job and it is also more efficient for sales if you can grab something for one person while the other is looking for things they like in the right section. If I didn't guide the second lady where to go, she probably would have picked out some sandals that weren't good for her feet and I would have to correct her and show her what would be better and why. If I can avoid that first step and show her what to look for, she will pick out good footwear that I can grab for her thus avoiding the step where I explain to her why the shoes she picked out are bad. It just seems logical to me. In my opinion, the first lady had no right to storm out like that. Well, "right" is not necessarily the best word, maybe "reason" would be better. I think she was being completely irrational and needs to stop being so selfish. I hope I never run into her again, but it's hard to say if she'll ever be back. With that attitude I hope she doesn't come back.