Yes, this is sure to raise morale at work and result in higher productivity and more friendly service...
So management is now saying that they've tried to be "nice" about it in encouraging employees to say hello to every customer and that hasn't worked, so write-ups are going to follow now, because apparently even if you say hello to 99 out of 100 customers, that isn't good enough. Never mind the fact that working in a million-dollar store on the weekend where Sunday's alone typically average $215,000 in sales make it, quite frankly, impossible to smile/say hello to every, single customer unless you totally neglect your work and just stand in one place smiling and acknowledging people. It's apparently unacceptable now to miss even a single customer without risking a write up.
You know, Kroger, get a freaking clue. Customers want full shelves, fresh product, a clean store and a fast check out. That's why OSAT is so low - because all of that is lacking. It's not because a single customer got missed by one employee and that somehow offended him/her to the point that as soon as he/she gets home, he/she is going to rush to the computer and give a dissatisfied response. But continue worrying about all the wrong stuff while continuing to treat your employees like trash, Kroger. That strategy has worked wonders so far and I'm sure it'll continue to work wonders down the line.
On a side note, did around $90.00 dollars worth of shopping at Wal-Mart yesterday (would have cost me over $100 at Kroger, I'm sure) and it was great shopping without being bombarded by employees with their fake, forced hellos. I was greeted pleasantly by the cashier and that was more than good enough for me. I'll happily give the money I earn at Kroger to the competitors, screw what management says on the matter.
-- Edited by GenesisOne on Sunday 6th of December 2015 05:39:39 PM
Yes, this is sure to raise morale at work and result in higher productivity and more friendly service...
So management is now saying that they've tried to be "nice" about it in encouraging employees to say hello to every customer and that hasn't worked, so write-ups are going to follow now, because apparently even if you say hello to 99 out of 100 customers, that isn't good enough. Never mind the fact that working in a million-dollar store on the weekend where Sunday's alone typically average $215,000 in sales make it, quite frankly, impossible to smile/say hello to every, single customer unless you totally neglect your work and just stand in one place smiling and acknowledging people. It's apparently unacceptable now to miss even a single customer without risking a write up.
You know, Kroger, get a freaking clue. Customers want full shelves, fresh product, a clean store and a fast check out. That's why OSAT is so low - because all of that is lacking. It's not because a single customer got missed by one employee and that somehow offended him/her to the point that as soon as he/she gets home, he/she is going to rush to the computer and give a dissatisfied response. But continue worrying about all the wrong stuff while continuing to treat your employees like trash, Kroger. That strategy has worked wonders so far and I'm sure it'll continue to work wonders down the line.
On a side note, did around $90.00 dollars worth of shopping at Wal-Mart yesterday (would have cost me over $100 at Kroger, I'm sure) and it was great shopping without being bombarded by employees with their fake, forced hellos. I was greeted pleasantly by the cashier and that was more than good enough for me. I'll happily give the money I earn at Kroger to the competitors, screw what management says on the matter.
-- Edited by GenesisOne on Sunday 6th of December 2015 05:39:39 PM
Perhaps you should print this out and post several copies of it where you work.
If hearing it from the customers in the OSAT survey doesn't make them wake up, then hearing it from employees, who they choose not to listen to anyway, won't make a difference. The customers themselves are literally pointing out that they sometimes leave without what they intended to buy because it wasn't on the shelf or didn't look fresh enough or there weren't enough check lanes open. If they aren't going to listen to the customers, they certainly aren't going to listen to the employees.
Low OSATs at my store are rarely to never from poor customer service; it is almost always empty shelves, parking lot sucks, aisles are too small, discontinued item, gas points didn't work right/gas station sucks, no carts or baskets, store is cluttered, pallets on the floor, digital coupons didn't work, etc. etc. etc.
But the KROG wants you to believe you suck at your job so.....therefore, OSAT is meaningless to me.
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"Resistance is futile...you will be assimilated" - The Krog
I'm sure part of the OSAT problems where I'm at can be attributed to less than satisfactory customer service, but that's a separate issue from the whole "hello" thing. Maybe a customer didn't have an issue resolved to his or her satisfaction at the service desk or maybe a cashier screwed up and nobody caught it until the customer got home. However, as you say, and as I read in the customer comments, there are bigger issues here: out of stocks, store being a mess and so on. What's more likely to tick a customer off: the customer not being able to find one or more of the items he/she came in for (either due to a hole on the shelf or produce/bakery/floral not having fresh product) or the customer that wasn't acknowledged by every single employee? In most cases, it's going to be customer that couldn't purchase what he/she wanted.
Is it important to be friendly? Sure. If you're able to, sure you should say hello. But to expect every single employee to be able to acknowledge every single customer one-hundred percent of the time is absolutely ludicrous and to somehow place that of higher importance than everything else is even more ludicrous. Plus too, to try and scare your employees to the point where they're more worried about missing a customer and failing to acknowledge that customer than working their department, not only makes employees want to be there even less, but also, makes the departments look even worse.
Having every single employee saying hello one-hundred percent of the time to every single customer doesn't magically erase all the other problems festering around the stores. Let's be friendly, yes, but let's also be understanding and rational. We'll fix a lot more of what's wrong that way than continuing to go down this road.
-- Edited by GenesisOne on Sunday 6th of December 2015 08:22:33 PM
Scratched green beans on thanksgiving, empty shelf ad items from poor buyer planning or grocery guys checking/bagging all day...the week after you can always see what REALLY effects OSAT...completely morons running this company.
We all know a number of customers wait until the last minute to prepare for big holiday dinners like Thanksgiving... that's why Kroger is open on Thanksgiving until mid-afternoon, to grab that last minute business. Not all customers have poor planning for holiday dinners... but enough do to justify Kroger being open for a big chunk of Thanksgiving Day. Just because there are customers that plan poorly though, doesn't mean Kroger should too. As you say... scratched items, empty shelves, grocery department up front checking/bagging or outside getting carts... a majority of that could have been prevented by ordering product early and stocking up while making room in the back room for fast moving holiday products. Management should have been reviewing orders and making sure that departments were ordering heavy and not waiting until the last minute... because we all know the closer it gets to a holiday, the more scratches happen. So rather than freaking out about not enough employees saying hello... how about worry more about making sure customers are able to buy what they came in for? And then, making sure there are enough checkers/baggers on the front end on and around holidays so the departments can focus on replenishment and assisting customers on the sales floor. That's a better use of the other departments' time, not checking, bagging and getting carts. Again, yes, the holidays are a great time to make good impressions on customers and show them that Kroger is a friendly place to shop, but let's prioritize here and not let all the other stuff fall by the wayside, because that negatively impacts a customer's shopping experience and no amount of saying hello is going to rectify that!
I say hi when they approach and have a good day when they leave. When I go into a store, any more than that is just creepy. F@@@ osat, ring tender, que vision and everything else they use to rate employees. We seriously don't get paid enough and all customers really care about is getting their stuff and getting out asap.
I double dog dare anyone to write me up or yell at me for not saying hi enough. We put up with enough already as it is. I show up every day on time and do the best I can. Above and beyond doesn't coincide with my pay grade.
I read the comments we get, I have not once seen it mentioned that no one said hi.
Here we haven't been written up but we've been threatened with the whole "if you fail the mystery shop you have to go up front and pretend to be a freaking Walmart greeter at the door" thing.
Meanwhile the OSAT comments are, as Kenny said, complaining about things like the quality of the produce getting worse, the fact that the aisles are too narrow, the availability of items, the skids in the way in the daytime, etc.
People don't like being bombarded by everyone saying a fake sounding hello to them.
No threatened write-ups about it, but our Store Director gets a little annoyed with us if we're not saying "hi" or "hello" to every customer that walks by. The funny thing is, in the OSAT, we've had complaints by at least one customer that the employees were being over-bearing about trying to interact. So a lot of us dialed it down.
Lately, they seem to be happy so long as we're at least acknowledging the customers. Making eye contact and smiling is usually enough, and then saying "Hello" or "Hi" if it seems appropriate (as in, not interrupting a conversation they're having, or if they're scanning the isle looking for something).
Wish you could find some friends to take the survey and complain that they are tired of being bothered by all the employees saying hello when they shop. That will fix em! I don't mind it if the employee is sincere, but you can tell they are forced by the way they say it. Just like going to get a sub sandwich, as soon as you open the door it's "Welcome to Quizno's!". They don't mean it lol! Leave me alone....
It's been weird, for sure. Any store I go into, I'm practically inundated with peeps all "Hi! How are you? Finding everything ok?" Now, a coupla hits of that, HERE AND THERE, is nice........but every 10--15 FEET? Not so much. Next time I go to a store Ima pull a co manager aside and have a word about this.
I truly feel bad for y'all having to deal with this minstrel show.
Our OSAT scores are so low, that some if the employees at my store, myself included have been getting family and friends to dummy up good comments. They've even did comments themselves under a false name and email to raise our score and keep management off our back
They can't write you up for that and i would bring it up to the union about that threat. I knew eventually management somewhere would threaten to write people up over these damn mystery shops. If you do get written up all you need to say is i want my union representive and whether or not its true just say there was a cluster of customers around you and that you tried to acknowledge all of them.
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My Views and Opinions do not reflect that of the Kroger company. I'm an indivdual expressing my 1st amendment right.
Why not get a Kroger card at a store you don't work at, shop at your store, and then give yourself a glowing review? Make something up to get those beasts off your case.
Why not get a Kroger card at a store you don't work at, shop at your store, and then give yourself a glowing review? Make something up to get those beasts off your case.
It doesn't matter where you get the card. Your address and phone number will still be connected to that card. You would have to sign up for a new card with a different address and phone number. However, you wouldn't be able to get employee discounts with that particular card.
Why not get a Kroger card at a store you don't work at, shop at your store, and then give yourself a glowing review? Make something up to get those beasts off your case.
It doesn't matter where you get the card. Your address and phone number will still be connected to that card. You would have to sign up for a new card with a different address and phone number. However, you wouldn't be able to get employee discounts with that particular card.
So just use the "fake" card for a candy bar or whatever.
That's what I did (still do when the heat is on) I use my "fake" card, give an exceptional store review (sometimes on myself, rare, or another co-worker) to help boost OSAT scores. I just use a "fake" email so it cannot be traced back to me)
It's not just the mystery shops, unfortunately. We were all told by management that it's management's job to watch us and make sure we're doing what we're supposed to be doing (yeah, sure, that's why time theft is rampant and employees are on their phones talking while walking down/working in the back room, etc, etc, etc...), but according to them, saying hello is a part of everyone's job and that's what we were all hired to do, along with our regular tasks, so that's the logic behind the potential write ups.
I don't think one person doing a couple of "customer" surveys a week is going to change the present situation much. It could, but management is still going to be pushing the whole "there will be consequences" for not saying hello to everyone, and not just once either... even if we've said hello to a particular customer, should we pass that customer again later, and even if we recognize that customer from earlier, we're not allowed to pass that customer without acknowledging them again. Our store manager told that to one employee after he got on to her for not saying hello to a customer even though she told him she had already acknowledged that customer earlier. His response? "Doesn't matter."
So I mean, yeah, doing some "customer" surveys might help a little, but it's not going to really change the overall situation, I don't think.
It's not just the mystery shops, unfortunately. We were all told by management that it's management's job to watch us and make sure we're doing what we're supposed to be doing (yeah, sure, that's why time theft is rampant and employees are on their phones talking while walking down/working in the back room, etc, etc, etc...), but according to them, saying hello is a part of everyone's job and that's what we were all hired to do, along with our regular tasks, so that's the logic behind the potential write ups.
I don't think one person doing a couple of "customer" surveys a week is going to change the present situation much. It could, but management is still going to be pushing the whole "there will be consequences" for not saying hello to everyone, and not just once either... even if we've said hello to a particular customer, should we pass that customer again later, and even if we recognize that customer from earlier, we're not allowed to pass that customer without acknowledging them again. Our store manager told that to one employee after he got on to her for not saying hello to a customer even though she told him she had already acknowledged that customer earlier. His response? "Doesn't matter."
So I mean, yeah, doing some "customer" surveys might help a little, but it's not going to really change the overall situation, I don't think.
A fake, praiseful customer survey may not fix OSAT (what will?) but it might keep management off your ass for a few days.
God I hate myself for saying this but, saying"hello" greeting customers is part of our jobs. Management here is using job performance to discipline associates who are "not friendly enough". Friendly enough based upon who's standards. The poor clerk who is all alone on the sales floor after 4pm. The same clerk who is called to register no less than 4 times a night. The department head who is mandated to be MOD because proper management wants to be at home after 5pm. The 16 year old who is trying to bag for every register because half are in the lot pushing carts in or out. The CSC with a line wrapped around the service counter because well, it is that time of the month or year. The understaffed fresh departments with just enough help to be visible and take all the anguish from the customers because there is no bread, milk, beans, shampoo or heavens forbid the EBT system is down.
Kroger needs to reevaluate itself and its priorities. This company has taken a nose dive and I see no signs of improvement in the near future.
