For the past few years I've wanted to buy an elliptical bike. I used to ride mountain bikes when I was younger and as I've grown older I've gained weight. A lot of weight. I'm not one to go to the gym. Or running or working out in general. I'm not very social and the less I have to interact with people face to face the better I am. So, I figured that if I did something I grew up loving to do as a kid at home and it helped me lose a bit of weight then why not?

This Saturday my wife and I decided to take a trip to Sears to look at elliptical bikes. After several years of telling my wife I wanted one she finally said to get one. As we're standing there looking at three of the "bikes" trying to decide on which one to purchase and not being helped I tried to find a sales person. No one was around. A few moments went by and we were still looking and a sales woman walks up to us and says quite rudely, 'You can't be doing that.'

Puzzled I looked at her and asked, "Doing what?"

'Looking at the elliptical machines.'

o_O

Even more confused I asked, "Why not?"

'Look, you can't be touching them or trying them out without a salesperson. Only SERIOUS buyers are allowed to touch them.'

At that point I got annoyed. "What the hell do you mean serious buyers only?"

'Look. You're not allowed to look at the machines unless a salesmen is with you and you are a serious buyer only. I'm going to have to ask you to get away from the machines until I can find someone to help you.' She says to me nastily.

"Oh. I see. Well...just so you know my wife and I were about to pull the trigger on buying one of these machines...but I guess since we're not allowed to look at them without the pressure of a sales person until we're ready then we're done here. You just lost a sale, lady." I replied to her.

'Oh, well...I'll see if I can find someone to help you just give me a minute.' She responds.

"No! We're done here. Screw you."

I couldn't believe it. That was the first time I've ever been turned away at a Sears before. The woman made my wife and I feel like crap, like Sears was too good for us. After that my wife went back to customer service and returned the purse and t-shirt she had bought. We also went and complained to management but they didn't seem to care much.

Has anyone experienced anything like what I described here? What did you do about it?

This is the first I've ever heard of retail salespeople being unfriendly.

It's not for me, just the first time at Sears. The lady was exceptionally nasty. Hell when I was working in retail I was very nasty...but then again...I'm not a social butterfly and generally hate people. But I am pleasant when I need to be. This woman was just an idiot.

Sears?

Is still around?

Huh.

I remember reading an op-ed a few years ago, talking about this new style of customer approach, where sales people aren't hovering over customers, salivating at the opportunity of a commission, leaving them alone to look first.

He said, in response to this, that stores still haven't figured out customer needs, too busy focused on the sale rather than the service. Customer don't want to be left alone, but they also don't want sales pitches thrown down their throat the second they walk through the doors.

I agree with this, and it's a shame most employees have to do what they're told by people who've never worked on the floor a day in their life. Executives who climbed the ladder have a better understanding than those who were hired from a company that just let them go (or they quit because their golden parachute wasn't packed right).

This country needs the apprentice system back, because it's forgotten so much.

The rudest thing that's happened to me is the local grocery store shuts at four o'clock and the checkout person wouldn't let me buy some milk because they wanted to go home

I would have told her I'm not moving.

At least get a laugh out of it.

One thing I've noticed about grocery stores is that there isn't a whole lot the employees can actually do if someone decides to be obstinant (in the short term), in town at the big grocery store they have alarms that go off when someone is stealing a watch or something, but heaps of extraneous stuff sets them off so they never stop anyone, and to top it off the staff is entirely teenagers and old ladies except for the manager.

Wow well that woman was clearly an idiot. You handled it well. I assume you'll go some where else for the bike. If you got her name, or even if you didn't, write a letter of complaint to their customer service branch - the headquarters, not the specific store. Be polite and explain exactly what you have here. At the least it will get passed down and a note will be made of it. It's likely she has done this before, so if a couple of people complain she will be put through for retraining, so it's worth doing. You'll also probably get a letter of apology, which goes a long way to taking the sting off of the incident. Mention that the managers didn't seem interested. I think that's important. It's true that the top brass in a company don't really know how to help customers, but they also care a lot about complaints. I recently telephoned my telephone provider to complain about a saleswoman who hung up on me. The result was a grovelling apology and some emails being sent to her manager. Hopefully she won't be rude again.

Remember that as a customer it is you who is providing the company the profits that it gives it's shareholders, you who pays the money that puts this woman in employment. Part of the money you spend on a bike, or t shirt, or whatever else, goes towards this woman's wages. As a customer, if an employee is rude, you are not getting the service that you have paid for. Therefore, treat it as you would treat any transaction that you have made where you didn't get the quality of product, or service, that you have paid for.

Also, try not to think about it all too much. This type of thing used to make me livid and I'd think about it for days, getting angrier and angrier about it. If you write a letter to whoever you can, at least that can go some way to closing the issue.

That's OK, you want a Recombinant Exercise Bike anyway, better for your back, hips and more conducive to actually using it. (You can read or watch TV comfortably without straining your neck or kinking your upper back)

It's amazing how some retailers in general seem to try to drive customers away with poor/rude service, bad pricing, long checkout lines, dirty and messy shelves. I'm not talking about Sears specifically here, just in general. K-Mart was in my experience very much also in that category.

It doesn't seem to be a big secret that retail stores that care about the customers experience do well, and those that don't don't. But it's amazing how many retailers don't get it.

BTW, Sears stock was at about $180 per share in 2007, it's now about $43.