Happy Halloween Consumers!

So basically, Happy Halloween Everyone!
Today I’ll touch a little bit upon Halloween as a consumer event, from both sides of the counter.

The store I work at has been selling Halloween decorations and attire for some three weeks now, and it’s been selling well. To you Americans reading, this shouldn’t come as a shock, as you’ve been celebrating Halloween for eons now. Back here in the Old World, Halloween is a holiday which until within the last decade or so hasn’t been a huge event. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still isn’t a huge event, nothing on par with the celebrations you Americans experience. Shame really. I enjoyed Halloween as a child living in an expatriate compound in Bangkok, Thailand. (I was a rollerskating Dracula one year). I loved the dressing up in a spooky costume and especially the trick or treating, as well as all the insane decorations which the Americans living in the compound (which was most of the residents) put up, just to celebrate one day.

Finland, though, has only barely heard about Halloween, and schools have only recently began to host Halloween celebrations for the kids. International schools in Finland have had Halloween parties for a lot longer than the Finnish schools. Things seem to be changing rapidly though, much to the inconvenience of parents, judging by the complaints and remarks of some customers in the past few weeks. “Why are you selling this kind of pointless crap so close to Christmas?”, “…Stupid, meaningless American celebration…”, “I don’t see the point of spending so much money for a costume for a made up, bullshit, day.” etc etc etc…

The kids are more in tune with what Halloween is, as schools are now having these parties. Problem is, the schools don’t seem to have a clue what Halloween is, beyond the dressing up and candy. We had parents coming to the store asking about Halloween attire for her kid, at the beginning of October! Why so early? Because schools held their Halloween parties up to 3 weeks before Halloween! I assume many people just think that Halloween is a seasonal celebration, much like Easter and Christmas. Thank God we don’t have Thanksgiving over here, otherwise we’d be eating turkey with cranberry sauce (yum!) in September or something…

As I said, the kids know of Halloween already, but not really what it is, or how it should be celebrated. That’s right, no trick or treating in Finland (except on a particular day over Easter, but I’ll get to that when it’s that time of the year). Kids really do say the darnest things when asked by their parents what Halloween is (“It’s fun!”, “I get to dress as a witch”, “It’s a day when I dress up as something scary and get presents”, and “I think it’s like Easter when grandma gives of chocolate because she loves me”). Poor kids, it’ll be years before trick or treating becomes even remotely familiar to Finns.

Teenagers and young adults don’t fare any better with Halloween in Finland. To many, it’s merely another excuse to drink, except that this time you have the chance to dress like an idiot. (And act like an idiot, but that’s a given.) Most people in Finland who fall into this category don’t really know what or when Halloween really is. Just today I had a few 20somethings ask for a discount because “Halloween’s already over”. If you don’t know when Halloween is, maybe you shouldn’t be celebrating it, you dodo.

Then again, Halloween is becoming a larger consumer sales day, which means bigger bucks for the retail companies et al. This can be witnessed by the spread of Halloween goods in most stores and many restaurants. This ranges from a small pile of crappy Halloween decorations right by the entrance or the checkout counter at a supermarket, to stores splashing out by decorating their windows with all kinds of Halloween attire and decorations. Still a bit tacky in places, but the Finnish retail industry is beginning to get the point. (The bubble wrap is still present, along with the new car smell, clearly indicated by the fact that no one’s bothered to make Halloween into a Finnish event by coming up with a Finnish name and some lame new “tradition”. Instead, we’re left with people butchering the English language and pronouncing everything with a ridiculous accent. Oh have mercy…

Thankfully though, most people are smart enough to realize that:
a) the Halloween we’re trying to emulate is an Americanized form of a holy day (Hallow = sacred, as in ‘…hallowed be thy name…’, een = old way of saying ‘eve’. So, Halloween equals Sacred Eve. Tomorrow is All Saints Day, after all.) [hat tip to Martin for educating me on the fact]
b)as an American festivity, it should either be forgotten, copied, or applied to fit any particular culture’s customs. (which other cultures have Spiderman, Dracula, a bedsheet ghost, a pirate, and a princess ringing a doorbell together in the quest for candy, armed with toilet paper and eggs, just in case? Sounds more like a bad Hollywood movie] Thanks to globalization and the gradual Americanization of the entire world, Halloween is here to stay, as it is in America. With minor tweaks, of course.
And c) the kids will love it! There’s a restaurant chain in Finland which is celebrating Halloween with specials on kid’s meals. (only hiccup was that the special was valid October 19-26…)

As I mentioned earlier, the retail industry is beginning to learn to love Halloween. Each year, there are more and more stores selling Halloween goods, and the quality and quantity of the items grows with each passing year. No surprise there, as it adds to the profits, pulls more customers to the stores and is timed perfectly to kickstart the Christmas season into full swing on November 1st.

Which brings us to the bigger picture. Are special events, festivities, and holidays becoming too commercial? Let’s see, there’s Halloween, Easter, May Day, Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, start of the summer, back to school, and many other ones which defer from country to country. Oh, and let’s not forget about Christmas. How could we forget? It’s EVERYWHERE! To the clerks, Halloween and other such festivities typically bring extra pressure and stress, as everything switches so fast. (where I work, according to the schedule, Halloween ended yesterday and Christmas started today. You try switching the theme of the store and decorations from Halloween to Christmas in one day, and no the wrong day too!)

I was going to say that thankfully Halloween only comes once a year, but if you refer to the list I made above, you know that isn’t the case. Atleast there’s almost two months until Christmas!

I’ll leave you with a few questions, which you can reply to in the comments section below this post. What’s the stupidest Halloween decoration you’ve ever seen? (links to photos welcome) Best or worst Halloween shopping experiences? Any store which every year outdoes itself on Halloween? And, if you’re not in America, how’s Halloween celebrated in your country?

With that, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at The Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

How To: Purchasing Alcohol When Slightly Intoxicated

You know this situation: You’ve had a few (and then some) at a bar and you feel like running to the supermarket to get some more to keep your buzz (and the fun) going at home. (Alright, I confess. I’ve done it too. Many times.) You get to the store and plop a case of beer on the counter, already envisioning all the fun you and your buddies will have later on. But what’s this? The clerk won’t sell you any alcohol because “you appear intoxicated”! Oh dear.

I’ve been in that situation a few times prior to working on the other side of the counter. To do a little bit of public service here, I’ll let you in on a few secrets on how to avoid these situations.

There are five instances when a clerk at a supermarket or liquor store cannot sell alcohol to a customer:
-When the customer is under the legal drinking age (limit varies by country).
-When the customer doesn’t have valid identification to prove his or her age, when prompted by the clerk.
-When a customer is trying to purchase alcohol during hours when selling alcohol is not allowed, as mandated by law. (If you really need to buy a case of beer at 7am on a Tuesday, you might have a problem…)
-When the clerk suspects that the alcohol, once purchased, will be passed on to minors.
-When the customer is visibly intoxicated.

In most countries, the store and the clerk are subject to a fine, or other such reprimands, if one of the above rules is broken. Selling to minors is pretty easy to avoid. (You look young. May I see some identification, please? You’re 29? My bad. Just being vigilant.)
The second rule, well, no ID, no brewsky. Really quite simple. Just carry ID with you whenever buying alcohol, especially if you look or are young.
Thirdly, if there are time restrictions on the purchase of alcoholic beverages, either you should already be aware of it, or the times are posted within the store.
The fourth and fifth rule are where it gets difficult for the clerk to make the sell or no sell decision, and for the customer to actually succeed.

I’ll touch upon purchasing alcohol for minors in another post. Rule number five, purchasing alcohol when intoxicated, is the topic of the day.

Clerks are imposed with a certain degree of social responsibility here. In rare cases a clerk might be directly responsible for the well being of the intoxicated customer he or she sold alcohol to. To be clear, a clerk might have to pay fines to both the customer and the courts if the customer injures themselves as a result of consuming the alcohol they weren’t supposed to have been sold. (This actually applies to bartenders too). Thankfully though, it’s really hard to prove cause and effect in these instances. Nevertheless, nice pressure on the clerk, huh?

What exactly does “intoxicated” mean? I’ve never gotten a proper answer to this question. Most cases of intoxication are pretty obvious and straightforward though. Too drunk to stand up straight? Check. Too drunk to speak coherently? Check. Too drunk to walk without bumping into everything around you? Check. Reeking of alcohol? (Not the ‘morning-after-a-boozer-night’ smell, but the ‘I’ve-been-drinking-for-four-hours-straight’ smell.) Check. See a pattern emerge here? These are the easy cases.

Does intoxication merely apply to having consumed more than a certain quantity of alcohol? Where’s the limit? (“Buth I’fe {hic} only hath {hic} three… no… one beersh! {hic} What about recreational drugs? Is someone who’s just smoked two joints intoxicated? What about if this person has just snorted kilo of cocaine (ok, they’d be dead…)? What if they’re high on paint fumes, or prescription drugs, or from drinking 28 cappuchino’s?

I hope you can see the dilemma from the clerk’s point of view. If you can, here’s how to purchase alcohol when you’re “intoxicated”:

-Prepare for the fact that you might not be sold any alcohol. You can never tell how good the clerk is at spotting intoxication. They might have had their eye on you from the moment you walked into the store. Or, you might just get lucky and get a clerk who only has half a brain or is new to the job. Just be prepared. Most clerks can smell hesitation, fear and worry from a mile away.

-Be lukewarm. Meaning, don’t try too hard to act sober or cool. Don’t be loud and obnoxious either. If you try too hard to cover up your intoxication, you’ll stand out as much as a fat bloke in a dress amongst Miss Universe contestants. This is probably the second biggest mistake drunk people make in these situations (the biggest mistake is thinking that you’re actually sober, when infact you’re crawling on the floor…).

-Be nice, gentile, courteous and friendly to the clerk, but don’t over do it. Again, trying too hard is not a great idea. Just be normal, with a little cherry on top for decoration. If the polite behavior seems genuine, but you seem a little bit too intoxicated, but not too much, the clerk might just let it slip, just because you were nice to them. I have, and I know others do too.

-Guys, DON’T try to hit on the female clerks, just to get them to sell you alcohol. Damn near every female clerk will not like it, leading to a very dry night for you. Even if the clerk is flattered by the flirtation attempts, they’re at work and there’s usually rules against that kind of behavior when at work. And girls, hitting on a male clerk might work in some cases, but most of the time the guy will immediately realize your hidden agenda.

-Don’t talk on your cell phone while you stand in line and/or during the transaction. If you’re talking with your friends on the phone, you’re likely to fall out of character, and the switch back to it will be obvious, at the very least. Talking on your cell phone during the transaction is also rude and inconsiderate towards the clerk, and in these cases, that’s not a good idea. (It’s never nice.)

-TIPPING DOES NOT WORK!

-Don’t talk too much, but don’t be completely silent either. If you talk too much, you come off as being seemingly nervous. If you don’t utter a single word, you look like you’re hiding something, or trying to act sober.

-Don’t forget to greet the clerk, in a very normal tone of voice. As ordinary of a gesture as it should be, it’s still very polite, and it’ll go a long way.

-Take no for an answer. The clerk will not go back on his or her word. Pleading, begging, threatening, tipping, and appealing to the clerk’s sympathy will not work. A no is a no.

-Don’t try to be funny. A sober clerk, sitting at work, will not find you exceptionally funny. Especially if you’re drunk. If you’ve ever been sober around drunk people, you’ll know what I mean. Drunk people are only funny to other drunk people.

-Remember that even after money has changed hands, as long as your within the store, the clerk can still change his or her mind. No high-fives with friends, on stupid comments towards the clerk (after paying for a 12-pack of beer, the worst thing to say is “ha ha, you sold me alcohol even though I’m drunk! Woo!” True story. Idiot.). If you managed to purchase alcohol while intoxicated, keep the act going until you have left the store.

Now, if you remember all of the tips I’ve outlined above, your chances of acquiring alcohol whilst drunk should increase. (The Consumer Etiquette Guide will not issue a quarantee of success. It’s up to you to make it work.) If you notice that you’re too drunk to walk straight, talk coherent, or be sensible in any way, don’t even bother trying to purchase alcohol. This guide is aimed at the instances when you’re tipsy or a little drunk. Not when you’re stumbling drunk, too intoxicated to form a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

Disclaimer: This How To Guide was written as an attempt to provide some help to the consumers who might find themselves in these kind of situations. Please, use some common sense while drinking. I will not be held responsible for any stupidities you might commit under the influence of alcohol. Don’t drink and drive. Drink responsibly and know your limits.

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it! Any successes or failures in buying alcohol while drunk? Clerks, what are your guidelines for these cases? Any hopelessly stupid attempts? Sharing is caring. =)

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at the Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

10 Things NOT To Say To A Clerk On A Busy Day

10: “Busy day, huh?”
Thank you pointing out the obvious. You’re the first person to tell me that today. I don’t think I would have noticed without you. Now move along, you’re holding up the queue.

9: “I forgot to weight my vegetables. Be a good boy/girl and go do that for me.”
Gladly. While I do that, would you be so kind as to explain to the 27 people behind you why they have to wait longer in line while I’m off doing what you should have done yourself.

8: “Why don’t you have more checkout counters open?”
Oh, we would if it were up to the clerks. Because it isn’t, you have to settle for what’s available, while we have to work harder and faster to clear the growing queues. Talk to
management.

7: “You need to open more checkout counters
to get rid of the queues.”
Really, Captain Obvious? Ever occur to you that we’ve already called for more checkout counters? It’s not economically beneficial to have 25 people sitting around twiddling their thumbs, just waiting for those brief periods of time when it’s really busy. We’re doing the best we can. See above.

6: “Hold on for a minute, I forgot some goods.”
The best time to say this is when it’s your turn and the clerk has already registered all your items. That way you’ll hold up the queue most efficiently. That was your purpose, right? No? Well you did it anyway.

5: “I’m going to pay with coins.”
Unless you have no other means of payment on you, please don’t pay with coins when it’s a busy day. It’s the slowest possible means of payment, especially if you try to come up with the exact change. Oh, and whatever you do, DON’T hand the clerk a piggy bank or a plastic bag full of coins and tell them to find the right amount, from the smallest possible denomination. No one wants to have to handle, let alone count, 2159 pennies. Go to the bank.

4: “Hold on, I have to take this call.”
Um, no you don’t. It’s rude to talk on your phone while making a shopping transaction. It’s inconsiderate towards the clerk, as well as the other customers behind you. Tell the person that you’ll call back or have them call you back. If you really do have to take the call, don’t forget that you’re holding up the line. The other customers won’t complain to you about it, they’ll complain to the clerk. Thanks.

3: “You can’t go on break now, you have to serve me.”
Um, yes I can, and I will. If you’re going to be a twat about it, I really don’t want to serve you. And you know what? I don’t have to. I have every right to take a break. Actually, it’s government mandated. So pipe down and move to another queue. There are other queues, you know.

2: “Why are you so slow?”
Let’s see. I’m tired. I’ve been at work for hours. I’ve been making the same back and forth movement repeatedly for several hours at a time. I’ve been yelled at. I haven’t had my morning cup of coffee yet. I might be new to this job.
Take your pick. Clerks are only human. No matter how fast we’re moving, it’s always too slow for someone. We do our best, depending on the circumstances.

1: “Move faster, I don’t have all day.”
It’s ok, we get paid by the hour, we’re in no hurry, we do have all day. Every clerk moves as fast and as efficiently as he or she can at that given moment. It would be cruel and unusual to assume that one can work at breakneck speed for in excess of 8 hours a day. If you tell us a plausible reason as to why we have to move fast, politely, we might just dip into that little extra energy which we might have stored up.

+1: “I want to talk to the manager.” (after your credit card has been rejected) [Contributed by James]
The manager isn’t going to be able to miraculously snap his/her fingers and make your card work again. If the card was rejected, there was probably a darn good reason for that. Wanting a second opinion is just going to make everyone in line have to wait a little longer. Btw, the manager will merely repeat the EXACT same things as the clerk. Your busted/closed/expired/empty/maxed out/etc card WILL NOT WORK NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES OR HOW MANY PEOPLE TRY TO USE IT! So hand over another card or gimme some cash.

I have purposely limited this list to just 10 banned phrases, plus contributions, in the interest of keeping this post short and simple. If you have any quotes to add to this list, please write them in the comments section below. Don’t forget, if you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at the Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

Photos: KKK-Supermarket (I’m Not Making This Up…)

I’m really not making this up. The KKK-Supermarket is a part of a large chain of supermarkets and grocery stores operated by Kesko Oyj, the second largest retail chain in Finland. There are some 150 of them around the country.

Also a part of the same chain are City-Market (KKKK), K-Market (KK), and K-Extra (K), in order from hypermarket to your neighbourhood grocery store.

The retail chain used to advertise these different sized markets by referring to the number of K’s in the name, indicating the size of the particular store.

The official logo of the supermarket has dropped the two extra K’s, but the signs on most such stores still retain the unfortunate KKK logo. (Maybe someone told them what “KKK” is an acronym for…) The extra K’s have also been dropped from the other stores’ logos.

Disclaimer: The photo, the sign, or the corporation have nothing to do with the Klu Klux Clan. Someone just didn’t think it through when they came up with the logo, I guess. I’m not in any way associated with the company, although as a temp I have gone through the cashiers training at a K-Supermarket (never did any actual shifts, though).

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at the Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

Why Does The Christmas Season Start So Early Every Year?

It’s mid-October, and Christmas products and decorations are starting to be out and about in stores already. It seems that every year Christmas starts a little earlier.

I understand that most consumers aren’t too happy about this. Let me tell you a little secret: neither are the workers. Once again, it’s not up to the workers to decide when Christmas starts.

We’re still a few weeks from Halloween and America still has Thanksgiving to look forward to. Then why on earth do we have Christmas stuff for sale already?

It’s pretty simple really. Money. It always boils down to money. For most stores, Christmas is the best season for sales. Many stores sell more stuff between November and December than they do in the other ten months. Management gets greedy. Then again, it’s a bit of a catch-22.

Every year you have some customers complaining that Christmas start too late, as they’d want to start preparing for it earlier. On the other hand, many customers purposely wait as close to Christmas as they can to start their shopping. Why? Because of Christmas sales. The best sales are always, every year, right before Christmas. Can’t please everyone.

I work in a small retail store which does most of it’s business in the Christmas season, as most of the goods are focused on decorations, arts and crafts, and gift wrapping materials. The Christmas season just started last week (October 10th), with Christmas cards and wrapping paper coming on sale. It’s only October and we’re already suffocating in Christmas crap (yeah, most of it is crap which I can’t understand how anyone would want to buy…).

I know Christmas only comes once a year, but get used to the fact that it starts ridiculously early every year. There’s no use in complaining about it every year to the clerks, to the newspapers, to Consumerist.com, or to just about anyone who’ll listen to you. If you really want to effectively complain about, just don’t buy any Christmas stuff until you really need to. No one is forcing you to buy Christmas tree ornaments in October, even if they are on sale.

Today’s final thought is in the form of Christmas carols. Don’t you just LOVE listening to “Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer” in October or early November…? Neither do the clerks. So please, don’t complain about it. You might have to listen to it for an hour or so a few times a week, whereas the clerks have to listen to the same tunes for as much as 40+ hours a week for several months. So much for Christmas spirit…

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at the Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

Is It Wrong To Help A Customer Who Is Permanently or Temporarily Disabled?

We were just discussing disabilities in relation to shopping, and a question popped into my head. Is it wrong to help a customer who is permanently or temporarily disabled?

There seems to be a very similar breakdown of percentages of physically disabled customers, both temporarily and permanently, who either gladly accept the help offered to them, or blow off the clerk who’s offering help by saying something along the line of: “Do I look like I need your help!?” (um, yes you do…) or “I can manage by myself!”, in a snappy tone of voice. Sure, many customers refuse the help politely, but mainly it’s “thank you so much”, or “go away, I don’t need you help”. It’s because of the angry customers with disabilities why I’ve asked this question.

Any clerk SHOULD ALWAYS atleast offer assistance to a disabled customer, regardless whether they’re in a wheelchair, on crutches, or have their arm in a cast.

The topic of this post would be a non-issue, were it not for several personality quirks which some disabled, or “physically challenged” customers possess. (I don’t know which term is politically correct, the one that would not offend, so I’ll just use whatever pops into my mind. I apologize.) [edit: 23.10.07]
Back to the quirks. Regardless of whether you’re in a wheelchair or just have a cast on a few of your fingers, if a clerk offers you help, either accept it thankfully, or reject it politely. It’s that simple.

I realize that not all people are the same. There are multitudes of varying levels of physical disabilities, and rarely are clerks taught how exactly to respond to each such situation. This is where we, the clerks, need your help, to make your shopping experience pleasant and effective. That’s really what this thing is all about.

If you, the consumer, are physically disabled in a way which diminishes your ability to shop efficiently, don’t hesitate to ask for help from the clerks, if you need help. That’s what the clerks are there for.

If you don’t need help when it is offered, it is perfectly ok to politely turn down the offer. The keyword here is POLITELY. No screaming, no snapping, no crankiness. The clerk, when offering assistance, is NOT looking down at you for your disability, thinking you’re any lesser of a person. It’s either store policy to offer help, or the clerk is doing it to be NICE.

Oh, and to all you customers who aren’t disabled: you’re going to have to wait your turn patiently if the only clerk in the store is helping a disabled customer. Every customer is to be treated equally, it’s just that some customers really do need extra assistance. If you were in that wheelchair, you’d appreciate the help, wouldn’t you?

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at the Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

“I Love A Rainy Night…”

…But I don’t need the rain in the store!

It’s quite understandable that any customer who comes into a store on a rainy day will be wet. Nothing can be done about that little fact. The problem is, many customers do not realize that they are wet and go about their business in the store as if they weren’t.

From the moment a customer walks in, to the point they reach the checkout counter, they’ll leave an unnecessary path of wet goods in their wake.

When you walk into a store, don’t shake your umbrella inside. You’re damaging goods, and you’re getting the workers and other customers wet in the process.

Be aware of the fact that water and most store goods aren’t too friendly with each other. Accidental droplets of water from your clothes is acceptable. But don’t put your umbrella on the shelves or on top of goods. (a large number of goods are thrown away on a rainy day, way more than on a normal day…)Don’t put it in your basket or cart either, as you’ll just cause the next customer an unnecessary headache.

Upon reaching the checkout counter, please put your umbrella or wet bag on the counter or the belt. It causes extra, unnecessary work for the clerks, as they have to dry the surfaces before they can serve the next customer.

Trying to acquire a discount on a wet item will get you nowhere. I’ve seen this so many times that it’s not funny anymore. Picture this: a customer, soaking wet and dripping water everywhere, walks to the checkout counter with a wet item. “This is wet. I want a discount on it.” (ever stop to think that maybe you should’ve taken one that wasn’t wet?) Typically store policy is damaged goods will not be sold to customers, but exceptions are made for nice customers. Sometimes, in some stores. Furthermore, how am I to know that it wasn’t this particular customer who purposely made the item wet, just to get a discount on it? (I’ve seen that happen several times… One guy was shaking his umbrella on top of his semi-full cart, then proceeded to demand a discount for the “soiled” goods.)

Oh, and as a final thought, we can tell that it’s raining outside, you don’t have to tell us that it’s raining. Ever stop to think that MAYBE the last 100+ customers before you said the exact same thing? The wet jackets and umbrellas are usually a giveaway to the fact that it’s raining outside.

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at the Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!

Everyone Is A Consumer

Welcome to the Consumer Etiquette Guide!

In the following week or so I’ll begin work on this blog, churning out daily(ish) tips and hints, do’s and dont’s, for the average consumer (and for the clerks too, as they deal with consumers and are consumers themselves.)

I began to write this etiquette guide a month or so ago on one of my other blogs, Hell On Earth. Turns out there was a massive amount of material which I forgot to mention the first time around. As I was writing the new things down, I figured it would be easier to start a new blog, instead of updating the previous posts all the time.

Which brings up to http://consumers.wordpress.com and the Consumer Etiquette Guide. Before this kicks off, please go check out my original posts on Consumer Etiquette http://janihelle.wordpress.com/consumeretiquette.

As everyone is a consumer, your feedback will be invaluable. Please share your your stories and experiences relating to consumers and customer service, and any suggestions and feedback you might have for this blog. Feel free to contact me with anything that comes to mind!

Don’t forget to leave a comment as well!

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