Why is it that I can be IN a store, and an incoming phone call is more important?

I've had receipt in hand, waiting to be loaded at a Lowe's and the incoming call is more important.

I've had clerks answer the phone while ringing me up. (think Walgreens all the time)

Recently, I patiently waited while the clerk was on the phone with a customer as I walked up. My turn came and he started to help me. The phone rang, he answered. It was very brief so I didn' t say anything. The phone rang again and the second time, I asked him not to answer it because I had waited my turn for help and I was in the store, whereas the person on the phone was not. He looked dumbfounded with the twitches of not answering the phone.

Is it just me this happens to? I have had enough of being there to spend $ and they want to help someone who isn't even in the store. Is it the noise? Maybe I should start humming or singing so I get their attention and they want to help me ?

dl

You should talk to the management. The clerk is probably just doing what s/he was told.

I used to work for a veterinarian. I always had to answer the phone, even if it meant interrupting an in-house client. We never knew if a call was an emergency. I once had a lawyer snottily tell me that he instructed his secretary to ignore the phone if she was speaking to a client. I told him he needed to bring it up with the vet. I'm sure the same lawyer would have complained if prices went up because the vet had to always have at least two people available - one to talk to in-house clients and another to answer the phone.

Anyway, I realize Walgreen's doesn't get emergency calls, but I do think you won't get anywhere unless you voice your complaint to the manager.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

As Paul Harvey would say....for the rest of the story. I did speak to the actual store mgr of Lowes. He made all the right noises to agree with me, but really was dis-interested and kept looking around. I believe there, it starts at the top since it isn't a priority to him.

I know at Walgreens they have to answer the phone at the front counter, however, there and anywhere else, they could simply ask the caller to hold. It just never occurs to anyone not to answer, or ask the person to hold.

dl

I have been on the other end more - where I'm calling a store and it rings for eons and nobody picks up.

Usually if I am calling a store it's because I want to find out if they carry something before I make a trip because I don't have all day to go from store to store in search of an item. When they don't answer, I call the next store on my list of possible stores, and the non-answering store has probably lost a sale - maybe even a big sale if I need to get several items that I would've purchased there.

I can see both sides, really. The store is there to make sales, and the customer on the phone is a potential 'lost sale' while the one already in the store is all but a done deal. You can't ever get that lost phone caller back. Once it quits ringing... the sale ain't gonna happen.

Do I like it when I'm there in house and the phone slows down my check-out process? No.

Personally, were I the cashier, I'd take the call but immediately tell the caller I needed to put them on hold while I finished with a customer and then I'd be right back.

I don't know why I thought you were at Walgreens. If I had read your post properly, I would have thought, "Oh, that's Lowe's." I had the worst retail experience of my life at Lowe's. I'll never shop there again. I had to call corporate customer service several times before they admitted that they owed me over $600 in merchandise.

And, for the record, when I worked for the vet, I always put the caller on hold if I had been speaking to an in-house client and the call was not an emergency.

__________________
If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I did mention both Lowes and Walgreens. There are other retailers too, it's rampant.

dl

I was at the checkout at a grocery store the other day with noone behind me and the cashier whose register I was at chose to spend a minute over the intercom advertising the days specials instead of checking me out.I thought that was rude to do. She waited till I had everything all laid out on the counter and then just stood there in front of me at the cash register looking at me like I didn't exist while she did her intercom advertising.She could have waited till after she rang me up to do that.
I really thought it was rude.

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I would have just walked out and let her deal with all the stuff left on the counter.

__________________
If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I can't remember the last time I was treated rudely by anyone involved in customer service. In my experience, customer service has improved in the last 10 years or more. I seriously can't give an example of any particularly noteworthy example of poor treatment I have ever received. It seems like some people are just continually bothered and others apparently aren't. Odd ...

I am a regular at Home Depot, Lowes, and Walgreens.