coercion

[susanmcgee48176]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "bzbbaba" <gbadams_77 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Beverly says (coming out of her lurking status):
> 
> Employers do coerce their employees to say certain things.  My 
> husband works at a warehouse type store and has to answer the phone 
> with, "We're having a great day here at (name of store), my name is 
> (John) how may I help you."  I have called up a couple of times, 
> heard him say it and just about want to barf.  The managers are 
> kidding themselves if ANY customer thinks the employees are having 
a 
> great day.  
> 
> So coercing the employees to say a certain greeting around the 
> holidays is management trying to placate customers and find a 
middle 
> of the road answer to a puzzling question:  "When our stores are 
> decked out in decorations (because we have customers who come in 
> droves to buy them--even in August) of a certain quasi-religious 
> holiday, what do we say to them during this season?"
> 
> Interestingly enough, during Ramadan my husband tried to give an 
Arab 
> customer (he knew he was Arabic; he wasn't trying to profile him) 
an 
> Arabic greeting ("Al salaam alikum").  When the customer asked my 
> husband "Are you Muslim?" and my husband said that he wasn't, the 
> customer told him he should not be giving the greeting.  This 
> customer refuses to say anything in Arabic now to my husband, who 
had 
> been on friendlier terms with him before and conversed a bit with 
him 
> in Arabic.
> 
> Which makes me wonder if Christmas had not been overtaken by 
secular 
> commercial interests and wasn't the mega-holiday it is now would we 
> even be having this conversation???  Probably not.
> 
> Beverly (who thinks that people are constantly evolving socially 
and 
> that eventually we will be able to say to each other, "Live and let 
> live" without getting our knickers in a twist)
>

Very interesting, Beverly.

I agree.

Some corporations employ "secret shoppers" who test the service to 
customers.

I've read some of the criteria..there's some things such as if a 
customer comes within a certain distance, the employees in a store 
are required to greet the customer.

Employees who are checking out customers are required to say "did you 
find everything you were looking for?", and are required to say 
things like "have a nice day." Or they are required to say "how are 
you doing today?"

I find that when I figure out that this is a requirement I don't 
bother to really respond, I just try to be polite, and say just fine 
and you?

Employees are required not just to tell customers where a product is 
located but to take them over to the product and point it out...

Etc., etc., etc.

Now, I think it's absurd to have people say "we're having a great day 
here".... but I ran a 24 hour crisis line for many years, and we had 
some problems with staff/volunteers answering the phone in a bored, 
tone..when someone would call seeking help, some people would say 
rude or insensitive things...when another professional would call and 
say "this is so and so", some people would say "uh-huh"....or "what?" 

We did have to establish standards of practice and how to speak to 
people...to ensure that we were delivering the best possible service 
and giving the best possible impression of our organization...

Susan
Who still believes in caring, respect, and compassion, which means 
that you greet people in the way they want to be greeted, and you are 
careful not to further marginalize people who are oppressed, 
depressed or in trouble...