I was reminiscing about my first interaction with an American customer I had when I had just started working (I don’t live in America, she was a tourist or something.) I worked in retail, and was taking care of a long line of customers. This American lady was at the end of the line. When she gets to me she asks to see my boss, so I head back and tell my boss a customer wants to talk to him, while I turn to some other work in the back of the store. A few minutes later my boss comes back and says the lady was upset with me and my behaviour, because I had not greeted her as she entered the store (because I was busy helping another customer.) The situation has perplexed me ever since, do all American stores employ greeters? I’m aware of the concept, how big stores like Walmart employ people to stand at the front door and greet people. But is it like that for every store in America?
No, most stores do not have greeters in the United States. You encountered a “Karen”, a rude entitled American woman. There are so many of them in the US now. I used to love my country but every day I despise the bulk of the US population more and more. There are so many uneducated self-important assholes here now.
No, it’s pretty atypical. There’s Walmart (as you mention) and a few others but more often, somebody stationed at an entrance/exit is security, a receipt checker (less common), or a cart-wrangler.
Sounds like you met one of our distressingly many entitled weirdos. Sorry about that.
Greeters is a jobs program that keeps retirement age people working instead of them having to steal from the stores they work at.
It’s seriously only disabled people or people who should have been allowed o retire already.
It’s mostly just Walmart, and they have been laying off their greeters this year.
Your first paragraph I know is humorous but what keeps them from stealing from stores they’re working at as greeters? Too busy standing around at the front of the store to steal anything?
People usually don’t steal things they can easily pay for.
Not at all. That customer was hunting for something to complain about so they could negotiate freebies from your boss. Sounds like your boss fell for it.
When I worked at Best Buy, if a customer entered my department I was expected to address them. We were trained to make it seem natural, just a greeting and naturally segway into asking if you can assist. It was to prevent theft but also the chances of closing a sale go up significantly.
My understanding is nobody likes doing it and most customers aren’t big on the pushy sales people.
It seems like Massachusetts Best Buys did not get the memo. I hear all these stories about people hating Best Buy over pushy employees and have the opposite experience. The stores only have 1-2 employees on the floor and the duty of those employees seems to be to hide from customers. If I ever need help finding an item or want something from a locked display, I have to spend 15-20 minutes running around the store trying to catch a ninja.
Admittedly, my BBY experience is… Fuck me… 12+ years ago. Feels like a couple of years ago, but it’s not. I’d imagine employee count has dropped and by proxy, helpers when you need them.
I don’t go in very often, but when I do, I know exactly what I want, and sometimes that item is behind a locked window, and finding someone isn’t easy.
I tried to walk the line with greeting people and then letting them know that I’m around if they need help. I hate salespeople and being one was the worst job of my life. It wasn’t high stress or anything, but having a job where my role was to try and take all of the money from my customer was not something I enjoyed.
No. A typical “supermarket” (grocery + clothes, housewares, etc.) does not, nor do smaller stores that are mostly just grocery. Walmart is an exception.
Costco has people who could be called greeters, but they are just checking that you, or someone you are with, has a paid membership. Some stores have security guards at the entrances, but that’s a different thing.
A ton of stores do this in the US, but I’ve never once found myself upset that someone didn’t greet me. That person sounds bat shit insane
No, but common retail etiquette is to say to people who come in the store.
There are two types.
Greeters are typically someone staged at the door. They typically tend to be elderly, and often during Christmas season and sometimes longer. It serves two functions, being welcoming to customers and being a presence to thwart petty shoplifting. It obviously doesn’t stop someone committed but enough to make some think twice or choose a different exit.
The second type is just your average floor employee. This has become less common over the years with modern systems cutting back hours and shifts during the day. Back in the 90’s in my previous experience, we were expected to great EVERY CUSTOMER with a smile and a few words. Even offer to guide them to what they’re looking for. There were secret shoppers testing or observing and you’re get reprimanded for not doing it. Most customers appreciated the gesture but every once in a while you would experience a power tripping Karen/Ken being awful.
Other than Walmart and stores that have memberships like Costco, there aren’t really designated greeters. That being said, when I worked for a gas station, the area manager, the person over a couple dozen stores in our part of the state, mandated that we all give some sort of greeting to every customer that comes through the doors. This is because, as middle management, she had nothing better to do than read google reviews of every store and make sweeping mandates based upon them. Obviously, we ignored her and continued greeting almost nobody. So, there are some crotchety people that will complain about anything.
Welcome to Moe’s!
The number of times I wanted to go get a burrito for lunch (Moe’s was next door to my office building) but went hungry instead solely because I did not want to hear “WELCOME TO MOE’S!” is very non-zero.
No, Walmart is kind of an outlier by having a greeter. In other places that have a “greeter” it’s usually an extra layer of security/theft prevention, or it’s a place like Costco where you need a membership to shop there. That said, it’s basically standard for an employee to seek you out and ask if you would like help finding anything fairly soon after you walk in the store. It’s generally seen as good customer service, and in larger stores it’s not uncommon to be approached by several employees asking if you’d like help finding what you’re looking for over the course of your time in the store.
American customer service culture tends to be a little extra. There’s a premium on going the extra mile that’s tied into America’s self-image of the “land of opportunity,” and the hustle culture that goes with that. But when that’s what you’re accustomed to dealing with, the customer service cultures of other countries can be kind of jarring. I know from my own travels through Europe that shopping in some countries can range from feeling cold and indifferent, to feeling actively hostile.
That said, most Americans wouldn’t think of complaining to your manager about it. It’s only a specific kind of over-entitled asshole that does that. Sounds like you had a real karen on your hands.
lmao wtf
As other commenters have said this is basically only a thing at Walmart. Sometimes in very small shops someone will say hello as you enter, but that’s a much more informal thing and as I said only really happens with tiny mom-and-pop stores where there might only be one or two people working.
I’ve only ever seen this at Walmart
In most stores, greeting is just a task that all staff are trained on. The store has to be over a certain pretty large size before that one task becomes an entire person’s job. They also fulfill other functions like giving directions that make more sense at larger stores.
