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Communication in a retail store
All right, as you may or may not know from my previous posts, I work in a Best Buy. I've been here 6 years, since I started working in the 10th grade. I generally enjoy working there. However, of late, I have an issue, and I'm wondering if I'm alone here. The store has hired some people with a lack of understanding of English and in one case, is pretty much straight off the boat from South America. First, let me state that I have no issue whatsoever with these folks being in the country and working and earning a paycheck to support themselves and whatever family they may have. My issue is this. One fellow has an accent so thick that about half the time I simply cannot understand what he's saying, and I'd like to think I can deal with accents pretty well. He also doesn't listen. We have these bins for returned items, stuff people changed their minds on at the register or returned or whatever. He's taken to the bizarre method of just handing us a bunch of them randomly...and not giving us the bin so we can put that down someplace and work out of it more easily. I talked to my supervisor about it, who talked to him, and he still didn't seem to get it. The second employee is, I am told, now in his 4th month of living in the US after moving from South America. He's a nice enough guy, and he does work hard, but I really have to question why he was hired. He cannot understand written (and some spoken) English and everything in the store with only very rare exceptions is written in English only. He also has no idea about North American culture. He came to me with a small piece of paper that a customer had written down with the new Led Zepplin CD on it and I think a band called Boys Like Girls. I had to go show him exactly where these CDs are. His illiteracy is absolutely crippling in a Best Buy. He cannot read tags. He cannot use the computers to check inventory. The most amazing thing to me is he is not any normal Media employee who just finds CDs and DVDs and video games for customers. Oh no. He works in "Portable Life" which is a fancy way of describing the combining of mp3 players(including iPods!) and GPS units into one small space. Again, I have no problem with him working. I just cannot understand HOW he can effectively work in an area with such a need for technical knowledge and a need to communicate effectively with folks who are not knowledgeable about such things within the limitations he has right now. I understand we have a sizable Hispanic population around the store whose command of English tends to be shall we say shaky, sometimes, and I'm sure for those folks, these two gentlemen are a life saver. For general work purposes though, I have to think that this is a disaster. Am I just crazy here?
Comments
When I have a technical question I just can't trust them, they want to sell me something and not help me. Tech support guys focus mostly at making you buy something or ensure it's your fault and that you have to pay.
I don't understand why companies cut expenses at the wrong place. Most people don't get technology and just by convincing them that they somewhat matter one can make them happy, satisfied and ensure they will come back and buy more. By cutting customer service you just lose a customer and win bad press, people, who move away from your service, are lost money.
Nobody wants you to know everything, just a nice mixture of most stuff. For video games what genre they are in, what to expect from the game and maybe other games comparable to this one. For movies it's the same.
And when I ask a salesman about hardware I prefer to not just hear the tag read out aloud to me. Just what facts matter about a product, why they are important, the range of specs, which would suit my needs, how it compares to other products and maybe a comment on the quality per money ratio.
I've had this problem in a lot of stores in the DC area. For instance, I've gone into a grocery store (not a mom 'n' pop, not a bodega - a big chain grocery store), asked where they keep the soda, and have been met with a blank stare while the clerk went to get a manager who could speak English. I've been through the drive throughs of fast food restaurants where the people couldn't understand my order, I couldn't understand their questions, and then they couldn't deal with US money. I've spoken on the telephone to people at chain pizza restaurants who had no idea what I was trying to ask for and who eventually had to get managers to take my order.
Once I went into a Macy's in Gaithersburg, MD and asked a clerk where they kept their leather jackets. She looked right at me and said "Turanga longa loo." I just walked out of the store.
We've had to have a plumber come to our house twice when we where there. Both times the person didn't speak English at all, so we were literally reduced to sign language and hand signals for me to try to explain what was wrong and for the worker to tell me what the problem was. Then he didn't fix it right (because he didn't understand the problem) and someone else came who didn't speak English either.
The REAL kicker in the DC area is that just learning Spanish wouldn't fix the situation. I've had cabbies in DC speaking African click language to me, and I've heard languages from the clerks at Wendy's that I can't even identify.
Employers cannot discriminate against employees for not knowing English. I think that's just sub-optimal, especially in jobs where the employee will have to deal with an English speaking public. Some states like CA allow employers to keep English speaking employees in jobs dealing with the public, but others don't. I don't consider it the employee's fault so much as I consider it the fault of the employer and the law.
If you want to live and work in a country who's language you don't speak you should first learn the language. Here in the Netherlands we get a lot of immigrants from Eastern Europe and the the South-East. Okay, if you're only here to work in the summer at some crap paying job, fine, speaking English is enough then, and if you have to flee from your country for political reasons or war, sure come here. But if you then want to stay and work here, learn Dutch for god's sake. Imo same goes for us if we want to live and work in a different country. If I want to live and work in Germany or France or Africa I will learn the language first, that way I can understand my boss in his language.
Mr. Hart's employer might have his heart in the right place, but his brains not, or just doesn't bother using them.
I hated being in big cities when people didn't understand what I wanted, when I was reading the menu. I don't mind if they can't small chatter or understand stupid things, but I'd like them to know what a Big Mac at McDonalds is. v.V; I have the same problem with people who mutter or simply ignore you - actually, they annoy me more.
Um, for your problem? Not really a solution, unfortunately. Try to teach them, if at all possible, but if they're not gonna change, they might eventually get laid off. *shrugs*
My father-in-law is a general contractor and has been building houses for years. He has so many sub-contractors come in that speak little to no English he started to learn Spanish. He said when he showed an interest and started speaking to them in Spanish they bent over backwards helping him out. Put in a little effort getting to know the guy, and you might be surprised. I could be totally wrong, just a thought.
That said, whenever I'm dealing with a government employee I like acting like I can only understand French.... doubly so if they have a name like O'Brien or some other angliphone name