Today''s bimbo kids in retail sales

[kenny]

A fun read

And yes, a bimbo can be male or female.

 

[cara]

Date: 9/20/2009 11:50:03 AM
Author:kenny
And yes, a bimbo can be male or female.

Yes but its not the same insult when applied to males versues females, and the current usage is generally the female-specific one. From the OED:

BIMBO:
a. A fellow, chap; usu. contemptuous.
b. A woman; esp. a whore.
DRAFT ADDITIONS MAY 2004
derogatory. A young woman considered to be sexually attractive but of limited intelligence. (Now the usual sense.)

And my sympathy to the author is somewhat limited. Well, I guess if I were paying $200 for jeans I would want some non-grudging assistance as well but maybe that''s a sign he shouldn''t be buying $200 jeans from that store. If the store managers wanted to provide better service, they could pay an actual living wage so they could hire and fire people until they found those with the appropriate work ethic and temperment. If they are pay peanuts they are only going to get people with that need to work to buy cigarettes and clothes (maybe) and have someone else footing the bill for rent/mortgage and groceries.

 

[kenny]

Sorry, no intention whatsoever to offend.
If I could I''d edit the title.

 

[kama_s]

I call a male bimbo a ''mimbo''

 

[kenny]

Hahaha. That reminds me of moobs.

 

[Tuckins1]

Haha! Too funny! I have had those thoughts rolling through my brain many a times in high falutin'' stores...

Never judge a book by it''s cover! I might just have thousands to drop in YOUR store, but because you didn''t think I was a quality human being based on the style of my clothes, my hair cut, or my $15 bag from Target, you ignored me. Your loss, another store''s gain!

 

[gemgirl]

This article is so true! Thanks kenny!

 

[somethingshiny]

We call a male bimbo a "himbo"

 

[cara]

No offense taken,

. Its just one of those words that is difficult to use without the gendered-connotation...

I was thinking... I usually get decent service in the chain stores that are not so fancy-pancy. Gap, Banana, JCrew. Do you think its because they are chains with better training and supervision of their staff or are they paid on commission? I guess I''m not usually looking for opinions or a stylist, but rather someone to chase down my size from the back or something.

 

[charbie]

Date: 9/20/2009 2:55:52 PM
Author: cara
No offense taken,

. Its just one of those words that is difficult to use without the gendered-connotation...

I was thinking... I usually get decent service in the chain stores that are not so fancy-pancy. Gap, Banana, JCrew. Do you think its because they are chains with better training and supervision of their staff or are they paid on commission? I guess I''m not usually looking for opinions or a stylist, but rather someone to chase down my size from the back or something.

i think often boutique stores (which is what this article reminded me of) there is only one person in the store, and unfortunately the manager/owner may not even know how their employee operates when they aren''t around. large stores, like gap, banana, jcrew, etc. have quite a few employees in the store at any given time, so yeah, rude attitudes and lack of customer service is noticed right away and either corrected or the employee is eliminated.

i do have to say that i''m really frustrated by being told the youth of today is so awful. im a young professional and am appalled at being compared to some of my generation, but this is a cycle that continues on and on and the older generations will always pick on the younger generations. there always is the excuse of "oh, kids these days...how terrible" but guess what- my grandparents were frowned upon by their parents for listening to rock music and going to the roller rink- they weren''t always "respectful"; my parents were yelled at by their parents for growing their hair long, smoking pot, and opposing the war- they weren''t always "respectful"; and now the kids of today at just the same but being looked at as lazy and terrible human beings who can''t communicate unless it is over a computer. sorry- but i think part of the problem is that parents purchase the cell phones for the kids at age 9 or sign for their tattoo or piercing at age 15. technology advanced so quickly for kids in today''s younger generations that the etiquette for how to use it wasn''t always put forth first.

ok- off my little rant. its just frustrating. i''m sure there will be plenty of reasons to belittle the generations that come after me as i age.

 

[oddoneout]

The article is pretty true. Not to generalize but most kids/employees at stores I see today have a pretty crummy work ethic or are very fake when they are "trying" (and I use the word loosely) to help you. I think kids today have a sense of entitlement and they're used to getting everything they want. They don't know how to put others' needs (the customers') above their own. Then again I've seen older employees at stores that are equally lazy and snotty too.

 

[radiantquest]

I think that it is all about satisfaction. When I was 16 making min wage I am sure that I wasn''t the best at customer service either. Why should I be? I''m 16, I have my whole life ahead of me. I don''t need this job. If my boss doesn''t like it he can fire me.

As I got older, got more satisfaction out of my work, made more money, learned more about life in general I learned more about customer service. The article was a fun read and I agree customer service isn''t great every where, but they are kids! Probably going to school and working. Give em a break. No matter how awful they are I make sure that I am nice. Even in the drive through when I can hear the conversation about the prior weekend over the speaker I still say please and thank you and say thank you again when I accept my yummy sweet tea. This hopefully will help them get in the habit of using these words until it becomes second nature.

 

[*Danielle*]

I would not judge every retail "kid" by this. My ex is in retail and has been for years. He just started a blog for a communications course dedicated to the opposite side of the spectrum.

http://duhdoyouworkhere.blogspot.com/

 

[iheartscience]

I''ve had the opposite experience regarding chains vs. boutiques. Every time I go into J. Crew, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, people rarely, if ever, offer to help me. They''re usually too busy doing visual merchandising to pay attention to the customers. J. Crew is particularly bad about it, actually. They''re constantly refolding sweaters and moving stuff around. I was just in Banana Republic last weekend and I walked in, browsed for about 5 minutes and walked out without even seeing a single employee. I''m not exaggerating-I really didn''t see a single employee! I''m not sure where they were but if I had been a shoplifter I could have had a field day!

Most (but obviously not all) boutiques want to set themselves apart from chain stores and strive to offer a high level of customer service. And it''s funny how often customers are offended/annoyed by offers of help. I used to work retail at a boutique that specialized in the very $200 jeans the writer is speaking of and so many customers refused help! They apparently wanted to tear up the wall of jeans by themselves when it would take an employee 30 seconds to figure out what they want (not to mention what would look good on them) and grab their size.

I guess I have a different perspective having worked retail myself, but I would say the majority of boutiques I''ve shopped in have had great employees and great customer service. Even in the ridiculously hip ones in New York, actually.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 9/20/2009 11:50:03 AM
Author:kenny

A fun read

Thanks for posting this, kenny. I enjoyed it, and-as usual-enjoyed, the comments written after it just as much. I had to tear myself away from reading them! Really interesting people seem to write comments after pieces written in, "The New York Times".

I also liked the blog posted by Danielle's ex-husband.

AGBF

 

[jewelerman]

Date: 9/21/2009 8:15:45 AM
Author: AGBF

Date: 9/20/2009 11:50:03 AM
Author:kenny

A fun read

Thanks for posting this, kenny. I enjoyed it, and-as usual-enjoyed, the comments written after it just as much. I had to tear myself away from reading them! Really interesting people seem to write comments after pieces written in, ''The New York Times''.

I also liked the blog posted by Danielle''s ex-husband.

AGBF

man i wish i had time at my work to ignore customers(today i had the fun task of helping 2 to 12...yes seriously...12 customers at a time today all day long...the store im at is the #2 store in the chain out of 70 and we cut hours and cut our staff down to 3 people so most of the time theres just one person on the floor to stock,mechandise,clean,assist customers,ring them up and greet the next hand full...and for 8 dollars an hour!At least everyone was patient and could see that i was doing my best helping a dozen people at once(i gave an extra 10% discounts to those waiting in line the longest or who had to wait to have questions answered or who had exchanges)...man it will be great to find a job in jewelry again or just get out of retail and use my new degree!

 

[AGBF]

Date: 9/22/2009 12:51:29 AM
Author: jewelerman

man i wish i had time at my work to ignore customers(today i had the fun task of helping 2 to 12...yes seriously...12 customers at a time today all day long...the store im at is the #2 store in the chain out of 70 and we cut hours and cut our staff down to 3 people so most of the time theres just one person on the floor to stock,mechandise,clean,assist customers,ring them up and greet the next hand full...and for 8 dollars an hour!At least everyone was patient and could see that i was doing my best helping a dozen people at once(i gave an extra 10% discounts to those waiting in line the longest or who had to wait to have questions answered or who had exchanges)...man it will be great to find a job in jewelry again or just get out of retail and use my new degree!

jewelerman,

I do not envy you your job; the only thing to be said for it is that it is better than unemployment! (Those missing people whose work you are doing are getting no pay or benefits, after all.) The high unemployment is really making me angry...at Wall Street. But I digress. I wanted to ask you about your new degree. Please tell us all bout it. I could use some good news and that sounds like great news. Education is never wasted and the time will come when you can use the new degree. What is it in? Tell us everything!

Hugs,
AGBF

 

[AGBF]

This thread was disappearing and I still wanted to hear from jewelerman, so I yanked it back up into Hangout. Would someone, please, tell jewelerman he is needed here?

AGBF

 

[jewelerman]

Date: 9/22/2009 5:29:43 PM
Author: AGBF



This thread was disappearing and I still wanted to hear from jewelerman, so I yanked it back up into Hangout. Would someone, please, tell jewelerman he is needed here?

AGBF

Thanks for asking about my degree.After 9/11 did a ton of damage to the jewelry trade in my area I decided to go back to college and finish the degree I started 20 years ago!I found that my early college credits would not be accepted in business and marketing and I would have start from scratch in all my generals.I decided not to work for four years and in fall of 2003 I started taking generals at the community college.I was lucky enough to get all my generals done in under two years and transfered to the University of Utah with a 3.8 GPA(Something im very proud of)I wanted a degree in Business but the accounting classes were very hard for me to master so I decided to take a minor in business(enphasis on marketing and public relations) and major in Organizational Communications.I started a minor in Art History but decided to cut that short and graduate in 2007 because of an accident at the college left me unable to walk or drive for several months.I finished up my last semester in a wheelchair and was able to walk to get my diploma.I finished in the top 7% of my class.The hard work paid off.It took me several months looking for a job in Communication or Marketing but the economy was already faltering and I took a job with a well known chain jeweler.After several months with them I parted company just before they announced bankrupsy.Ive been with my current company for a year and stay with them because they are closed on Sunday and the medical insurance is almost affordable.I am grateful for this job,but it can be very frustrating.Thanks again for asking about my degree!JM

 

[AGBF]

Date: 9/23/2009 12:17:12 AM
Author: jewelerman

I decided to go back to college and finish the degree I started 20 years ago! (snip) I was lucky enough to get all my generals done in under two years and transferred to the University of Utah with a 3.8 (snip) decided to cut that short and graduate in 2007 because of an accident at the college left me unable to walk or drive for several months.I finished up my last semester in a wheelchair and was able to walk to get my diploma. I finished in the top 7% of my class. (snip) Thanks again for asking about my degree!

Wow, jewelerman, you deserve a better thread than this one to call your own! You certainly did well for yourself. You did yourself proud! Not only did you return to school and have the guts to face having to start all over and the stamina to stick out all four years, but you did so even after a life-changing accident! I had no idea you had ever been through such an accident. Have you completely recovered from it? Are you networking with people in your field so that you will be ready to move on a professional job? Is your resumé up to date? You seem like a go-getter, so I bet you are on top of everything! Thank you for your response; you are even more fascinating than I knew. (And I found you pretty fascinating due to your expertise in jewelry, which I have seen manifested in Jewelry Pieces, for a long time!)

Hugs,
AGBF