FLGS sucks

[ProfessorCirno]

The point being, while FLGS have been going out of business because they cannot compete with online prices, it is also because they haven't found other ways to be competitive, whether through good customer service, atmosphere, deals (e.g. 30% of Wizards products on their release date), etc.

I think FLGSes going out of business has less to do with business relations or competitiveness. I think this thread pretty neatly sums it up, as have several psychological studies - people will take offense at anything and everything in real life, and people will take offense at just about nothing from a computer, other people on the internet not counting.

People don't leave FLGS because "They charged too much," 90% of the time it's either 1) "I don't want to leave my house," or 2) "Something there pissed me off." Sure, Amazon.com will never provide the good environment a FLGS will provide, but nobody remembers the positive things, they remember that one time the manager sold you a bad book (out of the twenty or so good ones they've sold you).

 

[billd91]

For anyone saying that it's unacceptable for the staff to be playing WoW, hasn't owned or operated their own small business.

Sometimes the workload is enormous and you have zero time to do anything. Then you have massive lulls where through a 12 hour day, you might get two customers, one of whom doesn't buy anything and the other who buys something for $1.

When you work 80+ hours a week in a job like that, like a lot of owner-operators do, you NEED something like WoW to keep you remotely sane.

Having worked retail... I find that this idea simply leads to poor customer service. If you're going to be doing something that takes your attention away from the customer, it still needs to be something facing the general direction of the customer and in an attitude that suggests you're still paying reasonable attention and are open to questions. Turning your back to get involved with a video game closes communication... it also makes it a lot easier for unscrupulous patrons to exercise the 5-finger discount.
IF you're going to play video games between customers, it had better be something you can pause.

 

[billd91]

In this thread, I remember why I hated working retail.

Seriously? As someone who used to work part time at a FLGS? Suck it up. They were relaxing, they said "hey" to you, and let you wander the store. Maybe they didn't engage in counversation with you...but did you try talking to them? It sounds like you went in and immidiately got in a twist that they didn't jump up and lavish you with attention.

Then you proceed to the product area. And look, the books are wrapped to prevent people from flipping through them and leaving without buying. On seeing this, you immidiately prove them entirely correct by leaving without purchasing something.

Wow. Just... wow.
It's the people working the game store who have to suck it up. They're paid to do customer service, not play video games. That doesn't have to be lavishing attention but it darn well should include paying attention to something other than an online game.

In an unfriendly environment like that, preventing browsing and evaluating the product, and not even appearing open to conversation or asking "Can I help you?", I sure wouldn't be offering my hard earned cash.

 

[smootrk]

A lot of assumptions about my intentions and the behavioral psychology behind my actions... you know what they say about assuming things!?!

I can assure everyone that I went into the store with the intent to browse and purchase something, supporting the local gaming store because I believe in supporting the hobby in that way (or at least 'did' believe). Bad customer service is just that... bad customer service, and there is no excuse for it. I would be disinclined to support any store or service provider with this sort of service, whether from a restaurant or any other store type.

I will not get into any point by point rebuttals for the folks who would excuse or even praise such practices... but they are wrong, plain and simple.

 

[Korgoth]

For anyone saying that it's unacceptable for the staff to be playing WoW, hasn't owned or operated their own small business.

Sometimes the workload is enormous and you have zero time to do anything. Then you have massive lulls where through a 12 hour day, you might get two customers, one of whom doesn't buy anything and the other who buys something for $1.

When you work 80+ hours a week in a job like that, like a lot of owner-operators do, you NEED something like WoW to keep you remotely sane.

Yeah, working in a gaming store is tough. You totally need an escape when you're working in a grueling environment like that. It's either playing WoW instead of serving your customers sometimes, or giving up and going to a more relaxing profession like coal mining.

 

[Glyfair]

It's either playing WoW instead of serving your customers sometimes, or giving up and going to a more relaxing profession like coal mining.

I can see having something to do while there are no customers (assuming you have done all the work you can do in the front of the store...which should be a rare situation in a store that isn't in trouble). WoW isn't it. You need something you can set completely aside as soon as a customer comes in (that doesn't mean you have to lavish them with attention, but you must be 100% aware of them when they are around).

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Wow. Just... wow.
It's the people working the game store who have to suck it up. They're paid to do customer service, not play video games. That doesn't have to be lavishing attention but it darn well should include paying attention to something other than an online game.

In an unfriendly environment like that, preventing browsing and evaluating the product, and not even appearing open to conversation or asking "Can I help you?", I sure wouldn't be offering my hard earned cash.

But it wasn't an unfriendly environment!

Maybe I'm just reading it wrong. Here's how the sequence of events looks to me.

OP walks into FLGS store. FLGS guys are watching WoW (at no point in time does the OP state anyone is playing it) and turn around and give him a hello. OP walks around the shop a bit, finds the books are wrapped, and leaves.

How is that an unfriendly or unprofessional environment? I'm being dead serious here - what could the employees have done to improve this?

What it sounds like to me is that people jumped in ready to say "HELL YEAH DOWN WITH THE MAN" while not actually paying attention to what happened.

Maybe I should change my first post to "In this thread, a lot of people who have never had to work retail in their lives."

 

[Korgoth]

I can see having something to do while there are no customers (assuming you have done all the work you can do in the front of the store...which should be a rare situation in a store that isn't in trouble). WoW isn't it. You need something you can set completely aside as soon as a customer comes in (that doesn't mean you have to lavish them with attention, but you must be 100% aware of them when they are around).

Oh, I agree. When I worked in retail (a non-gaming comic shop, actually, and at the start of it I wasn't into comics) we used conversation to fill the dull moments. It seemed to work well enough and was easily suspended when the needs of customer service arose. I think we had good customer service, although we didn't hover over the fellows (something which drives me crazy when I'm a customer anyway).

 

[Darrin Drader]

Yeah, retail is hell, which is why I will never ever ever do it again, no matter how desperate I get. I managed a retail store for a couple years, and during that time I had no problems with reading books, cruising the internet, talking on cell phones, etc. As long as you can put it down and help customers, it's cool in my book.

The problem I have in the scenario described is that it really did sound like the employees were more interested in their WoW game than in helping the customer. If I were in their position, I would probably say hi, let them wander a bit, then make a point of asking if they had any questions. It's a pretty non-invasive way of letting them know that their needs are important. I agree that customers are often annoyed by pushy salespeople, but the opposite end of the spectrum is even more annoying, especially if you do have questions.

 

[Kheti sa-Menik]

1. Look, I'm sure the OP is not asking to served/waited on hand and foot. He wants a little customer service. As in: "Hi, " salesperson turns away from PC pausing WoW, "is there anything I can help you find?" "Just browsing? Cool, please let me know if I can do anything for you." Sales person turns back to his game while keeping a subtle and unobtrusive eye on the customer to make sure he's not a shoplifter.

2. In this age of dirt cheap prices online at sites like Amazon, Buy.com, etc. and the availability of RPG books at "big box" stores like B&N, Borders, Waldenbooks, etc. one of the ONLY advantage the FLGS has is that RPGs are their business. They know about them, can speak intelligently about them, knows about the local gaming scene. Where the Big Box employees give you a blank look when you ask about their RPG selection, the FLGS employee can expound on them.

3. FLGS can stock many different games, including lesser known titles/indie games. But I don't know any gamers who will buy a shrink wrapped book, sight unseen. If a book doesn't come from the publisher/distributor shrinkwrapped, the store has no business shrinkwrapping it themselves. I go into a book store, I see the book I want shrink wrapped, I won't buy it if I can't flip through it.