Customers who refuse to accept that the service desk is closed

Date: Dec 9, 2017

Customers who refuse to accept that the service desk is closed

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Wow smh, I get customers like that all the time! disbelief I usually just say we're closed and keep walking.

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Anonymous wrote:
I usually just say we're closed and keep walking.

I'll be doing that from now on.

Going 4011 · Guru

"Sorry all our computers shut down at 10 PM" :)

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Mr Frontenac wrote:
So this lady is there standing at the service desk, flagging me down, expecting service. Signs are clearly there saying the desk is closed. I tell her the desk is closed. She demands to see a manager saying there's always a manager around. Well unfortunately for her, all the front end managers and store managers tend to be off the floor during this hour cause of other duties they gotta do like bookkeeping and such. I tell her that she's gonna have to come in tomorrow. She refused to accept that, saying she can't come in tomorrow. Demands to see a manager. I tell her there's no way for me to call them cause they don't give me the walkie talkies and that if she really wanted one, she'd wait the 5 or so minutes I told her. She throws a fit and walks off saying and I quote "I'm going to report you too." Funny enough, 5 minutes later, a manager emerged from hiding, but she was long gone by then.

You should have just paged a manager, then go and do whatever it is you do. Paging was all you had to do. You don't know what that customer needed. You sound rude to be honest.

Kroger-Employee · Guru

Mr Frontenac what time of evening did that happen?

haven't the front end cashiers been taught how to page over the intercom?

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Yeah, I agree with others here that making a page over the intercom would have been a better solution. At the Kroger stores that I've worked at, there is usually a co-manager there until around 11:00PM, and even then, once the last co-manager leaves for the day, you have the overnight grocery manager who acts as the manager on duty when the store manager/co-managers aren't there... so there's always some person with manager experience available. At least if you make a page over the intercom that the customer can here, the customer can see you're making an effort and if nobody shows up... well, then it's no longer "on you" that a customer left mad/went and called corporate.

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Anonymous wrote:
Mr Frontenac wrote:
So this lady is there standing at the service desk, flagging me down, expecting service. Signs are clearly there saying the desk is closed. I tell her the desk is closed. She demands to see a manager saying there's always a manager around. Well unfortunately for her, all the front end managers and store managers tend to be off the floor during this hour cause of other duties they gotta do like bookkeeping and such. I tell her that she's gonna have to come in tomorrow. She refused to accept that, saying she can't come in tomorrow. Demands to see a manager. I tell her there's no way for me to call them cause they don't give me the walkie talkies and that if she really wanted one, she'd wait the 5 or so minutes I told her. She throws a fit and walks off saying and I quote "I'm going to report you too." Funny enough, 5 minutes later, a manager emerged from hiding, but she was long gone by then.
You should have just paged a manager, then go and do whatever it is you do. Paging was all you had to do. You don't know what that customer needed. You sound rude to be honest.

Just another passive aggressive weak front end clerk.

Date: Dec 10, 2017

Kroger-Employee wrote:
Mr Frontenac what time of evening did that happen?
haven't the front end cashiers been taught how to page over the intercom?

Nope. No cashier has ever paged anyone over the intercom. The front end managers have walkie talkies. If a customer wants to speak to a store manager, I go to the front end manager, tell them that, then they call them on the walkie talkie. They don't give me a walkie talkie.

Kroger-Employee · Guru

Hmm, strange. I guess there are alot of differences in the way various Kroger stores are run, and concerning their intercom /phone system. At our Kroger, all cashiers (checkout lanes) are equipped with a phone that is "plugged into" the intercom system. Maybe some of the newer cashiers don't know it, or haven't been trained about it, or are two shy to speak over the intercom, but:

SO, say, (for a hypothetical example) if a cashier in lane #7 has a pressing question for someone in the dairy department (but something that might be too "minor" to bother a manager about), they could pick up their phone, press the "PAGE" button (or whatever button or buttons are used in your particular system) and say "can an associate in dairy call 2107, please". (spoken twice, per proper procedure, so they have a better chance of hearing the page).

In the case of the customer getting irate and needing a manager, I would just find the nearest phone, press 'page' and say "Can a manager please come to the customer service desk".

I'm wondering if this actually "works" in your store, but no one knows or cares to page, and/or managers want to have it done a different way (headset or walkie talkie), so customers don't hear all the chatter overhead?!

mega-kitteh · Guru

That's why you page them. How do you get bagging help or chdckstands help up front? Do it yourselves or make the customers bag their own orders? When that happens to me, I just page. EVEN IF I know they don't respond. Go through the motions. That way, the customer will say that you actually called and called and called only to have no manager respond.

Date: Dec 11, 2017

Oh the phones are there, I just don't see anybody use them except front end managers and service desk people when they're saying things like "pharmacy, you have a call on 101, pharmacy, call on 101." and stuff like that. Call it really bad training, but they have never told me, stuff like "oh, if a customer has an issue over a price of meat, here's the number to call the meat department." None of that EVER happens. Maybe the managers secretly don't want cashiers learning stuff like that. I really don't know.

If there's a problem, I wave over at the front end manager to come and save the day. If the front end manager, or whoever is running the floor, isn't there, then I'm screwed.

I'll ask again if there's a better way of getting a hold of managers if they aren't there. Perhaps even give me a walkie talkie, since those are direct lines of communications to them. But I won't hold my breath.

Oh, and this was at 8pm.

Date: Dec 11, 2017

mega-kitteh wrote:
How do you get bagging help or chdckstands help up front?

The front end managers take care of that. I'm just a cashier.

Kroger-Employee · Guru

Mr Frontenac wrote:
Oh the phones are there, I just don't see anybody use them except front end managers and service desk people when they're saying things like "pharmacy, you have a call on 101, pharmacy, call on 101." and stuff like that. Call it really bad training, but they have never told me, stuff like "oh, if a customer has an issue over a price of meat, here's the number to call the meat department." None of that EVER happens. Maybe the managers secretly don't want cashiers learning stuff like that. I really don't know.
If there's a problem, I wave over at the front end manager to come and save the day. If the front end manager, or whoever is running the floor, isn't there, then I'm screwed.
I'll ask again if there's a better way of getting a hold of managers if they aren't there. Perhaps even give me a walkie talkie, since those are direct lines of communications to them. But I won't hold my breath.
Oh, and this was at 8pm.

OK, so 8 PM is considered rather "early" in the evening so I would expect a customer to get mad if no manager could be gotten ahold of to solve their problem. Most customers probably assume a manager will be on duty at least up to 9 or 10 PM, if not later.

Also, how about just point-blank straight-up asking your front end supervisor "Is it OK for me to page for help, if I need it, such as calling the meat dept about a price change?" and if the answer is "NO, we use our walkie talkies", then ask "Why can't we page? They do it at other Kroger stores!"

That's the main reason why there are phones at each checkout lane. There should also be a phone at the U-Scan for paging. It does sound kinda weird, like your Kroger wants to have it's own special set of rules and routines. Almost sounds like they don't trust their cashiers to use their common sense, be a bit "pro-active" or "intuitive" or "innovative' or "problem-solving" (as companies often say they want their employees to be!) and solve some of the ordinary problems themselves.....like you all need a supervisor to constantly intervene on every little thing. No offense, just sorta seems like that to me.

Date: Dec 11, 2017

At the three Kroger stores I've worked at, the store manager and co-managers all carry wireless store phones and each phone has its own extension, but we still make pages for anything and everything, ranging from "override needed on register..." or so and so "please come to self scan/customer service/register...." and stuff like that. It's really, really silly not to mention majorly inefficient to not be using the phones at the register/self scan/customer care to make pages when needed.

Date: Dec 11, 2017

Anonymous wrote:
At the three Kroger stores I've worked at, the store manager and co-managers all carry wireless store phones and each phone has its own extension, but we still make pages for anything and everything, ranging from "override needed on register..." or so and so "please come to self scan/customer service/register...." and stuff like that. It's really, really silly not to mention majorly inefficient to not be using the phones at the register/self scan/customer care to make pages when needed.

Yeah at my store the managers have cordless store phones to answer calls that come to the store and store pages. It's convenient so they can answer calls from anywhere. Don't understand why his store doesn't utilize paging. Like someone asked earlier how fo they ask or vontsct other departments as bout something like price discrepancies?

EUID_Unknown · Guru

Ok, I'm going to ask a simple question! What time did this happen? I know some Service Desks have "Funny" hours, I always have told my associates...... Even if its outside of "Office Hours" you need to help customers. Assisting might just be explaining our normal hours, 50%+ its a simple question/issue that can be answered without anything to do with Money Service tasks.

Date: Dec 11, 2017

Paging someone to come override at the register? Yeah, none of that ever happens. We flag (or call out) down the floor supervisor to come help us. Or if they're across the floor, they walk over to them.

Majorly inefficient to not be using phones at the register? I agree, it is. Perhaps that is part of the reason why the store has the lowest customer friendly score in the region. But the store is brand new, so perhaps it hasn't gotten that stuff down yet.

There used to be a cordless phone at the Uscans (we have four), but I haven't seen the actual phone there in months. All that's there is the charging base. But each register does have a Cisco phone.

Store managers carrying wireless store phones each with their own extension? I think they probably did that in the first couple months the store opened, but now all they use are walkie talkies. No cashier gets a walkie talkie.

Calling other departments about prices? None of that ever happens. If a customer complains about a price, I just give them the price they saw. Every time I've asked a floor supervisor or store manager for help about that, they say "go ahead and give it to them." I believe they call that Make It Right? I have yet to be written up for doing that. I rarely ever get help from a floor supervisor. Only for weird stuff, like a customer's transaction has just been paid for but the gift cards failed to be activated.

I'll give an example of times when another department has needed to be called in our store. About once every week, a customer flags me down saying there's nobody in the floral section to help them out. I go to the floor supervisor and tell them that, then they proceed to get on their walkie talkie and call someone from produce to come and help. I think, a couple of times I've seen them page produce over the intercom. But at no point have they ever said "here, next time, just page someone from produce." Nope, and when I asked, they said to get a manager to do that.

Date: Dec 11, 2017

EUID_Unknown wrote:
Ok, I'm going to ask a simple question! What time did this happen?

It was at 8:30pm.

EUID_Unknown · Guru

I think I know which location you work at.... 8:30pm is WAY to early to close the Service Desk. (Crackheads and Homeless people still need to get their Western Union Money..... I worked there 1 day and that is all I had)

Date: Dec 12, 2017

Kroger-Employee wrote:
Also, how about just point-blank straight-up asking your front end supervisor "Is it OK for me to page for help, if I need it, such as calling the meat dept about a price change?" and if the answer is "NO, we use our walkie talkies", then ask "Why can't we page? They do it at other Kroger stores!"

I didn't ask about paging other departments, but I did ask about the situation in my OP to one of the ACSMs and the first question he asked me was "did you tell her to wait?" Like basically saying that I should have told her to wait for a manager to come around. And like I said in my OP, I did tell her to wait. I'm the one who brought up the question to him, the ACSM, if there is any way to get a hold of a manager by paging them, and he showed me the phone at the service desk.

I also asked a co-manager if it was okay to page a manager to the front if a customer needed help, and he said sure. I then asked him like if there's a code to use on the phone, and he gave me the code. But that's all he gave me. He did not give me any additional info, like "oh, you can also call such and such and such if this situation comes up, or such and such if that situation happens." There was no shock in his face when I asked him that question, like "whaaaat, you mean nobody has trained you on how to page?!" Just, "ya, sure, you can do that if you want" kinda response. So I get the feeling this is not standard cashier training. Service desk training, yes. Cashier training, no.

But I'll repeat this again. In the eight months that I've been here, I have never seen a cashier use the phones at the registers. Maybe once I've seen a floor supervisor use them to page someone. The only store paging I've seen has come from the phones at the service desk and that's by a service desk person or manager.

Date: Dec 12, 2017

EUID_Unknown wrote:
I think I know which location you work at.... 8:30pm is WAY to early to close the Service Desk. (Crackheads and Homeless people still need to get their Western Union Money..... I worked there 1 day and that is all I had)

8:00 actually, not 8:30. It's been like that for about 2 months now. Before that, it used to be 9:00. I dunno, maybe it has something to do with being understaffed.

EUID_Unknown · Guru

True, the whole KMA is understaffed......Restock Kroger! But it all starts on the top! They want to Nickel and Dime everything and then wonder why the associates are over it. $500,000,000 divided by 450k associates isnt going to make too many people stick around.

Date: Dec 12, 2017

Depends on the manager. Most managers don't care and you can page for whatever whenever.

We have one manager, though, who freaks out if you use the intercom. You are supposed to call her extension directly, every time. Then, she can use her walkie to do whatever. If she's not too busy. And on the front end. Otherwise, it's a talking to and maybe an (empty) write-up threat.

Our desk is open til 9:00 pm, though.

here's the number to call the meat department.

The department numbers are mostly secret at my store. The service desk has a unique book with all the department and office phone numbers, register manual excerpts, and all kinds of amazing things. The existence of that book is denied.

Usually, we end up paging the departments over and over until the customer just leaves.

Date: Dec 12, 2017

"The department numbers are mostly secret at my store. The service desk has a unique book with all the department and office phone numbers, register manual excerpts, and all kinds of amazing things. The existence of that book is denied.".

I have been told that the dept numbers (phone extensions) are the SAME across the board, at all Kroger stores. At least in the Louisville division...........don't know if this is true about other areas.

Such as.....deli is supposed to be extension 2211. Produce is 2221. See if it works, and let us know if that is true!!

I have also heard that anyone can call ANY Kroger store and as soon as it 'connects, dial the 4-digit extension number and it will be automatically routed to that dept phone. Check it out and let us know if this worked for you!!

UC151 · Guru

At my store, paging is always available at any phone as the "page" button is right there, or for Uscan / service desk / inner dept phones, the all zone page button, or just dialing extension 2700 directly to inter connect if you use a "courtesy / assistance phone" and take it out of AutoDial, aka hit the extension before you do anything to seize the phone and keep it from dialing 2000). Don't see why you can't just page OP? As I am only a UC and I had to go through a Phone Systems Training sheets to affirm and sign off on that I knew each and every function from either picking up and placing on hold, to transfer and page, to outside line pickup and how to use a portable if needed. Just ask, don't fear retaliation.

-- Edited by UC151 on Tuesday 12th of December 2017 06:14:00 PM

-- Edited by UC151 on Tuesday 12th of December 2017 06:16:48 PM

-- Edited by UC151 on Tuesday 12th of December 2017 06:20:37 PM

Date: Dec 12, 2017

UC151 wrote:
As I am only a UC and I had to go through a Phone Systems Training sheets to affirm and sign off on that I knew each and every function from either picking up and placing on hold, to transfer and page, to outside line pickup and how to use a portable if needed.

That's interesting. We didn't have that when I was going through the web training videos and signing papers when I was hired. Basics on how to bag groceries, the existence of Spill Magic, and equipment used to haul crates and using them safely, yes. Phone systems training, nope.

Date: Dec 12, 2017

Anonymous wrote:
I have been told that the dept numbers (phone extensions) are the SAME across the board, at all Kroger stores.

Can I get the full list of those codes?

4hourrush · Guru

At least here,

Bakery: 2201
Deli: 2211
produce: 2221
meat: 2231

not sure on the rest. But it sounds like they are the same in most divisions. manager phones are usually 2161 for the store manager, and 2162-2165 for the co-manager's phones.

most stores are supposed to have someone at the service desk until either 9 or 10pm. one store i've worked at sometimes had to close the desk early, but this was a really small store that usually had the only service desk employee there at night running register.

Not sure why your store is so against using the phones though, that just seems weird to me. lol

Date: Dec 12, 2017

4hourrush wrote:
At least here,

Bakery: 2201
Deli: 2211
produce: 2221
meat: 2231

not sure on the rest. But it sounds like they are the same in most divisions. manager phones are usually 2161 for the store manager, and 2162-2165 for the co-manager's phones.

Ours are the same but we also have speed dial buttons for each department too. Being in the bakery, it helps because we get a lot of phone calls for other departments because we're the first option on the telephone answering system. We frequently have to transfer calls to customer service.

Date: Dec 12, 2017

Registers 1-8: 2101 through 2108, respectively.

SCO: 2141

Scanning office: 2153

Service desk: 2091 & 2092 (two separate phones)

Management used to have wireless store phones, except I think they were all lost or broken. Recently, they've obtained walkie-talkies. I wonder what would be involved in buying a wireless voip phone and connecting it to the store network. It would be amazing for pranks.

I have also heard that anyone can call ANY Kroger store and as soon as it 'connects, dial the 4-digit extension number and it will be automatically routed to that dept phone.

That's correct. The phone has a different ringtone for that, though.

Date: Dec 13, 2017

So like, is it possible to call a specific register with my own cell phone?

Date: Dec 13, 2017

Bingo.

Call the store, let it pick up, and dial the extension.

At my store, for register 5, it would be 2105.

Date: Dec 14, 2017

Anonymous wrote:
Bingo.
Call the store, let it pick up, and dial the extension.
At my store, for register 5, it would be 2105.

Well... I tried that today, and... it did not work. I dialed the extensions of every register we have and... nothing. On my end, I hear a ring tone, but on the register's phone, there is no ringing. Even as I look at the displays of the phones, nothing shows up. And I know I'm dialing the right extension because the phone's extension is on the display. So I guess they disconnected the system that lets you dial register phones from outside.

Date: Dec 15, 2017

4hourrush wrote:
At least here,

Bakery: 2201
Deli: 2211
produce: 2221
meat: 2231

not sure on the rest. But it sounds like they are the same in most divisions. manager phones are usually 2161 for the store manager, and 2162-2165 for the co-manager's phones.

most stores are supposed to have someone at the service desk until either 9 or 10pm. one store i've worked at sometimes had to close the desk early, but this was a really small store that usually had the only service desk employee there at night running register.

Not sure why your store is so against using the phones though, that just seems weird to me. lol

I'm in Dallas division and our service desk closes at 8pm

Date: Dec 15, 2017

I've worked at three Kroger stores so far and all of them have closed their Service Desks at 8:00AM, too... but, that doesn't mean a customer is out of luck when it comes to some stuff, like refunds/exchanges/Rug Doctor rentals and such. Either a floor supervisor or a Self Scan Attendant can take care of things like that after the Service Desk closes. It's generally not a big deal and it's better than telling a customer that he/she has to come back tomorrow.

Date: Dec 29, 2017

Anonymous wrote:
Registers 1-8: 2101 through 2108, respectively.
SCO: 2141
Scanning office: 2153
Service desk: 2091 & 2092 (two separate phones)
Management used to have wireless store phones, except I think they were all lost or broken. Recently, they've obtained walkie-talkies. I wonder what would be involved in buying a wireless voip phone and connecting it to the store network. It would be amazing for pranks.
I have also heard that anyone can call ANY Kroger store and as soon as it 'connects, dial the 4-digit extension number and it will be automatically routed to that dept phone.
That's correct. The phone has a different ringtone for that, though.

We have wireless phones AND walkie-talkies. Previous store manager was big on using the walkie talkies, current store manager rarely uses one. I'm the overnight grocery manager and I sometimes carry one of the co-manager phones at night for FAST alerts since our system doesn't announce over the intercom. I usually carry around 2163 when I can find it. Phones, handhelds, and everything else not chained down has a habit of walking off at our store.

But we have 22 walkie talkies and probably 6-8 are used a day. UScan gets one, front end gets one or two, management sometimes carries them around, also department heads and receiving clerk. I never carry one since the last store manager change.

Our service desk "closes" at 10pm but some front end folks will shut it down earlier.

Date: Mar 26, 2022

Mr. Funkyneck should be fired immediately. he is an ahole, and should not be in any customer centric business! Hes a jerk.

Date: Mar 27, 2022

"You need to meet my demands while standing here being argued with cause I will be lost if we break eye contact. Take me back to the facility and lock me back up at once!"

i386 · Guru

Mr Frontenac wrote:
So this lady is there standing at the service desk, flagging me down, expecting service. Signs are clearly there saying the desk is closed. I tell her the desk is closed. She demands to see a manager saying there's always a manager around. Well unfortunately for her, all the front end managers and store managers tend to be off the floor during this hour cause of other duties they gotta do like bookkeeping and such. I tell her that she's gonna have to come in tomorrow. She refused to accept that, saying she can't come in tomorrow. Demands to see a manager. I tell her there's no way for me to call them cause they don't give me the walkie talkies and that if she really wanted one, she'd wait the 5 or so minutes I told her. She throws a fit and walks off saying and I quote "I'm going to report you too." Funny enough, 5 minutes later, a manager emerged from hiding, but she was long gone by then.

Walkie Talkie Talkie Walkie. I love my Talkie Walkie. I am goanna program it again to mess with my local Kroger. Everyone needs to hear the things they say over the Talkie Walkie. I am also goanna make a YouTube video recording the things they say.

Mr Frontenac wrote:
Kroger-Employee wrote:
Mr Frontenac what time of evening did that happen?
haven't the front end cashiers been taught how to page over the intercom?

Nope. No cashier has ever paged anyone over the intercom. The front end managers have walkie talkies. If a customer wants to speak to a store manager, I go to the front end manager, tell them that, then they call them on the walkie talkie. They don't give me a walkie talkie.

All department workers should have their Talkie Walkie. But some days I just plain out did not want one so I did not get it. Manager asked why I did not have one.. I said "I have my reasons". Certain Customer Service workers who were lazy called me for dumb reasons.

-- Edited by i386 on Sunday 3rd of April 2022 08:49:27 AM