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Customers want all of the products they buy to come in a BOX. It doesn't matter if they're buying a toaster oven or just a silly little orange peeler---> MUST COME IN BOX.
(If we kept the boxes for all of the products we carry, we'd be limited to maaaaybe 100 items.....given the space we have in the store. The majority of packaging in and/or around the product is usually completely unnecessary and a waste of treeeeeees!)
God for-freakin-bid we don't have a box and the item the customer is purchasing is a gift. Hasn't anyone ever heard of gift BAGS?! I always suggest putting it in a gift bag and am usually shot down with either a dirty look or MAJOR confusion.....like, "I can put this in a gift bag? Really?". Really, I pinky swear you can! They come in all sizes and colors...some of them are even SPARKLY!!!
What puzzles me the most is when as soon as they hear it doesn't come in a box (even if there was never a box for it in the first place), they decide not to buy it. Like, let's trek over to Williams Sonoma and pay double the amount of $ just because it comes in a BOX.
MUST COME IN BOX. MUST COME IN BOX.
"I'm looking for a julie-Anner peeler."
The perfect example of what I'm about to tawk about happened today at work: I had just gotten off the phone with a customer and was gathering the pieces of paper I had just written on when a lady off to my right mumbles, "Do you have a powdered sugar shaker?". I could barely hear/understand her, so I looked over at her...she was facing the wall. I'm thinking..."Are you tawking to me?, "Are you tawking to your friend who's standing right there with you?", "Who are you tawwwwking toooooo?"
I say, "Were you saying something to me?". She says, *still not looking at me*..."Yes, do you have a powdered sugar shaker?"
This type of interaction happens ALL THE TIME. I'll be standing at the opposite end of the store doing something and a customer blurts something out and expects me to know that they're tawking to me.
I know I'm asking for a lot, okay....but could you please start off your question or statement with an "Excuse me", "Pardon", or "I have a question for you" so that I know you're speaking to me--especially if you're not going to have the decency to look at me while doing it.
I'll tell you the ways of getting my attention that definitely don't fly with me, or anyone else working in retail for that matter....
1. snapping---makes me wanna snap you.
2. heeelloooooo---not a hello, but a heeellooooo....makes me wanna deliver a, "Hi, asshole."
3. waving the product in the air---
a. are you having a tremor?
b. are you waving at me? Ohhh, hey!
c. are you cheering for a team, imagining that the cheese grater
you're flailing is a pom-pom?....GOOOOO, Tigers!
My ideal response, *Jersey style*..."Are you tawkin' to ME?!
"I need a knife for fille-Ting fish."
The "Made in China" people are the customers who won't buy anything that's made in China. You know what, to each his own. I could care less. However, if you're going to insist on being picky.....learn how to read a label, cuz damn....every single item they pick up they have to ask if it's "Made in China".
What's even more annoying is when a customer is looking for something very specific that you can't find anywhere----we have it! (yay)....BUT it's made in China. So the product you've been looking to find for the past 5 years is sitting in your hand right now, but it's MADE IN CHINA! Oh no, can't buy it! I guess they'll just have to spend another 5 years looking for the same damn thing, except made somewhere else. Good luck, cuz you're never going to find it.
It's like, you've wasted hours upon hours of your life for the past 5 years trying to find the stainless steel (brushed, not polished) kitchen towel holder, 4 inches by 2 inches.....the "best product ever" (have to hear that about 8 times throughout the visit) and you have finally found the only store that carries it and you just won't budge. Really? What is wrong with you?
It'd be fun to pull the labels off of all the merchandise and when one of the "Made in China" people comes in and asks where something is made....."That wooden spoon? France!", "The zester? Sweden!", "Espresso maker? Italy!".
I sometimes wonder if the "Made in China" people all live in a house together where nothing they own or touch is made in China...
Customers feel the need to 'get up in ma' space' way too often than I'd like. What I mean by 'way too often than I'd like' is that I never want you people closer than 18-24 inches from me. I can hear you. I can see you. I can feel your breath on my faaaaaace.
There are times when my personal space is being invaded and when I immediately take two steps back, they take two steps forward---like a magnet. I feel like if I started miming, they'd mime right back! Oh NO...clown image in my head. ::*deep breath*:: I'm okay. Phew.
Anyway, my point is it's not cool. We don't need to be toe-to-toe or holding hands for me to answer your question. Hasn't anyone seen that movie with all the dancing? This ( _____ ) is MY dance space, this ( _____ ) is YOURS...
Lots of women come into the store to shop for kitchen stuff right after they've gotten their nails "did". Even if you can't see the lovely manicure they've just gotten, you can tell their nails were just "did" because of the way they handle the merchandise: pinkie up, trying to avoid fingertip contact, palming everything like they're Michael Jordan palming a basketball.
Naturally, when they're ready to pay for their items they need me to help pull out the money/credit card out of their wallet because they don't want to ruin their nails. You're going to think I'm being sarcastic about what I'm about to say, but I'm not.....really. I don't mind pulling the money out. (I pinky-swear I'm being serious) They are actually usually really nice about it and we have this really corny "girlie" moment where we giggle and give each other the 'we've all been there' look.
I'm sure a manicured woman in the future with change my mind about this assessment, but for now......eh, I'll pull out the money. I sure as hell don't have a manicure to ruin...
Customers want all of the products they buy to come in a BOX. It doesn't matter if they're buying a toaster oven or just a silly little orange peeler---> MUST COME IN BOX. 
