With a slogan like “Live Your Life, Love Your Job”, it’s impossible for an employee at American Eagle to not have a great experience, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, what they fail to tell employees is how hard it is to “love” their job when dealing with the types of customers that stroll into the store. Potential employees will train and prepare to become a sales associate, but it is hard to account for all the types of customers they will interact with, or try to help, on the sales floor at American Eagle. Occasionally, there will be a stream of polite customers who value the stores clothes and employees, but it is not something to get used to. More often than not, customers refuse to give employees the time of day and spurn to respect the clothes and the store. Many great skills will develop from working with difficult customers; due to the fact that there are more bad customers than goods ones, it is imperative that employees learn the types of bad customers and what to expect from them. The worst types of customers an employee will typically encounter at American Eagle are as follows: the neglected housewife, the mall rats, and the slobs.
To begin, let’s start with a relatively common customer at American Eagle: the neglected housewife. This customer is notorious for coming to the store for the sole purpose of talking about her problems; it is as if no one communicates with them in their home. These women will treat an associate like their therapist, informing them on all their life problems and asking for advice; little do they know American Eagle employees are not certified therapists. These customers are newborn babies, they constantly need assistance and comfort while shopping at the store. For all the attention they give the associates, they completely disregard the clothes until they have their therapy session. Eventually, once they decide it is time to shop, they examine every piece of clothing, picking at the every “defect” they think the clothing has. It is as if they comb over ever piece of clothing with a magnifying class. Once they have determined which pieces of clothing are up to their standards, they purchase a maximum of 4 items: 3 pieces for their children and a pair a ripped jeans for themselves their daughters have. It might seem these customers are worth it because they typically spend around $100.00, but the neglected housewife will return their clothing they bought when they come back for their next therapy session and go one and tell you about how their husband thinks they spend “too much money” at American Eagle. The neglected housewife is not the worst customer one will face when working on the sales floor, but they will test the listening skills and patience of all employees. To continue, one of the worst types of customers are the mall-rats. Mall-rats are the tweens and teenagers that go to the mall on Friday night just to loiter and hang out in stores. When they come into the stores, they laugh at the employee that tries to greet them and continue walking by as if no one just said “hello” to them. Even though the mall rats did not come to the mall to shop, the herd of kids will stand around the display tables and pick up every piece of clothing commenting on whether they think the piece is cute or not then lay it back down, unfolded. They will then take some pieces into the fitting room and have fashion shows for their entourages; who knew American Eagle hosted live fashion shows. Unfortunately for the store, the “models” never purchase their runway looks because they never had the intention to buy anything because they are just hanging out, not shopping. Lastly, the most common, and frustrating, customer at American Eagle …show more content…
With these classifications, an associate should be fully prepared to face the three worst types of customers they will encounter and should now know what to expect from them. The worst types of customers one will face are as follows: the neglected housewife, the mall rats, and the slobs. Even though most customers are substandard, employees can develop valuable life skills from dealing with
To begin, let’s start with a relatively common customer at American Eagle: the neglected housewife. This customer is notorious for coming to the store for the sole purpose of talking about her problems; it is as if no one communicates with them in their home. These women will treat an associate like their therapist, informing them on all their life problems and asking for advice; little do they know American Eagle employees are not certified therapists. These customers are newborn babies, they constantly need assistance and comfort while shopping at the store. For all the attention they give the associates, they completely disregard the clothes until they have their therapy session. Eventually, once they decide it is time to shop, they examine every piece of clothing, picking at the every “defect” they think the clothing has. It is as if they comb over ever piece of clothing with a magnifying class. Once they have determined which pieces of clothing are up to their standards, they purchase a maximum of 4 items: 3 pieces for their children and a pair a ripped jeans for themselves their daughters have. It might seem these customers are worth it because they typically spend around $100.00, but the neglected housewife will return their clothing they bought when they come back for their next therapy session and go one and tell you about how their husband thinks they spend “too much money” at American Eagle. The neglected housewife is not the worst customer one will face when working on the sales floor, but they will test the listening skills and patience of all employees. To continue, one of the worst types of customers are the mall-rats. Mall-rats are the tweens and teenagers that go to the mall on Friday night just to loiter and hang out in stores. When they come into the stores, they laugh at the employee that tries to greet them and continue walking by as if no one just said “hello” to them. Even though the mall rats did not come to the mall to shop, the herd of kids will stand around the display tables and pick up every piece of clothing commenting on whether they think the piece is cute or not then lay it back down, unfolded. They will then take some pieces into the fitting room and have fashion shows for their entourages; who knew American Eagle hosted live fashion shows. Unfortunately for the store, the “models” never purchase their runway looks because they never had the intention to buy anything because they are just hanging out, not shopping. Lastly, the most common, and frustrating, customer at American Eagle …show more content…
With these classifications, an associate should be fully prepared to face the three worst types of customers they will encounter and should now know what to expect from them. The worst types of customers one will face are as follows: the neglected housewife, the mall rats, and the slobs. Even though most customers are substandard, employees can develop valuable life skills from dealing with