Quest for the Dollar

When I started to work in retail at the age of 16 the business was not as cut throat as it seems today. Everyone wanted to work we all had fun. We gave our Holidays up as in today's realm but we added to our family of contacts. Back rooms and or gathering places off site where decorated for the season and everyone brought a dish for a lavish spread. Needy families and or children where welcomed and treated for the holidays which brought our new families even closer. Service to our customer and our community was our primary concern....no matter the cost. That was what brought our customers back again and again. If extra help was needed to provide this service you didn't hear cut hours before heading into a Holiday.
The rift between Management and associate was not the chasm it is today. In the grocery store where I launched my career fun was had by all together ....and yes the work got done. SURPRISED?! Managers would page “ALL BAGGERS TO THE FRONT” and then take bets on who would get there first. And of course when we got there they would be laughing because no baggers where needed.. Yes we did get our jabs in at management also without fear of retaliation.
People treated each other with the respect that was expected and deserving for the retail field. Even customers where not caught up in this I AM ME SERVE ME NOW that is so prevalent in today's society. People would not tear a store apart or let children run wild for the the associates to have to spend hours redoing everything before they could leave to spend time with their families. Everyone knew that Sunday was the day stores closed....”so our associates can have a day with their families”.
In today's quest for the dollar families our torn apart, Holidays all but forgotten. Sunday is just another day of the week now. Respect and consideration has went the way of the Neanderthal. Our fast paced world has no time nor tolerance for such enmities.
I struggle today to find my place in this the career path I chose so long ago. Maybe I've grown tried of the rat race that has taken its place...or maybe..with age I've come to realize what I've lost in my quest for the almighty dollar. Just maybe it's time to slow down and find what is really important in life again. The Please, the Thank you, May I help you, the customer that appreciates our service not expects it.24/7.
I understand that in time all changes will come to pass but I fill we can choose more carefully which changes and how much. We must weigh in our quest for the dollar what we will lose and is it really worth it.
I've made my strongest observation on my retail experience since that is where most of mine has been but have also spent time in the factory environment and have found it to be the same. Especially in the larger Corporations where the quest seems to motivate the corporate policies on how to treat their employees. The dollar seems to negate the fact that we are living breathing human beings and not machines that require little if no maintenance...... respect. Maybe the Dollar is the root of all evil? Don't take that the wrong way. Money is necessary to provide for our loved ones also but where is the balance? When do we say enough is enough? We're not just numbers on a payroll sheet. We have names and we have faces.
In a crunch it is the common laborer that feels the pinch first then on up the ladder from there. The lowest paid man goes first...the only time we're given any thought. In retrospect however we find numerous articles telling of the overpaid unqualified CEO's that run the largest Corporations in the world today. Of which most seem to maintain their jobs and income despite cutbacks and layoffs. In
this cut throat world why is it the general labor that is hit first? Maybe the first cut should be the wallet
of the decision makers. Maybe then they would find ways to maintain the customer service and the profitability of the company without placing the burden on the general work force. Why do CEO's
leave companies with huge bonuses when in effect they have failed to do their job.
What I'm trying to say is that there are ways to cut company expenses without sacrificing
customer service which is what any company must maintain in order to survive. Long customer waits at cash registers to long waits on a customers order being filled....it all relates to service. Why cut service and end up like a dog chasing our own tail? We cut hours to increase profitability and in turn effect more declining sales with poor service. We then demand more sales but on fewer hours which stresses the existing work force. The stress then relates to poor service which will always lead to customer dissatisfaction. Then here we go again sales drop again we cut hours which again effects service. Why not try to increase customer service or at least maintain it? Sure might run in the red till the word is out. But once the word is out of no long lines the red will fade to black. I myself would pay a few cents more to avoid standing in a line for 30 minutes.
I once heard that “to make money you need to spend money”. Should we not strive to offer the best customer service to ensure customer returns? Should we not ensure that when there are 23 cash registers in a store that at least 15 are open or can be opened in a busy spurt not 6. Can not careful monitoring of other expenses enable companies to maintain the service level to ensure their existence in this competitive market?
Companies today buy in such large quantities that a lot of merchandise gets to the customer sight unseen. This relates in a quality issue that again relates to customer satisfaction. This is usually spotted and handled at this level but also contributes to shrink at this level. To assure customer satisfaction quality should be a major concern from start to finish. Also some buyers tend to still go where the deal is even if its something the average consumer may not want. This in turn leads to mark down shrink. Maybe as a company we need to buy smarter and assure the customer of quality and the product they want. Not force something down their throat with pricing.
Higher ups tend to forget what it is like on the front lines. The average Joe and Jane that build the business on a day today, hour per hour. To try and have to explain why there is not enough help why a certain product is not in. Some companies are trying to reverse this by having executives return to the field every so often but with dismay many return to their post with no insight to the front lines and the consumer. Why not use this knowledge to better serve the customer? To our dismay a lot of companies will not even consider this recourse.
Many resort to technology to control expenses which is good. In time this will be the preferred means but in today's world a smiling face is what most customers want to see and deal with, not a machine with a mechanical voice. My own mother will not talk to an answering machine over the phone at all. My father will not deal with self checks at all. Times will change and these things will come to pass as everyday expectations...but for now we need to remember that not all of us are alike and that a broad range of tools are needed to service today's customer to their full satisfaction. First and foremost is a living breathing, smiling person to attend to their service needs. Or has it come to pass that in our quest for the almighty dollar that a living,breathing and smiling face is not worth much in today's market place.