Some Like It Rude.

"Tindera", Saleslady, Staff?  However way you call it, some has embraced a "lakas maka-nega" attitude.

                                            

                                            

This article is a consumer post.  

Actual names and business settings where the article alludes the discourtesy to have occured against a customer,  have not been included to protect the names of businesses, and give leeway for their corrective cure in support of customer rights.

Subhead Translation here:  Tindera means store attendant; "lakas maka-nega" is colloquial expression to mean: a person displaying an attitude of negativity; in this context, a discourteous impression against a customer in a specific social situation.

IT would have been more understandable if the store attendant declared, ma'am you want to have another item?  We are trying to meet a 'quota' here.

That would have been said with the best intent.

But when a seller reacts to how a customer comments that "prices are expensive", and retorts back with an insulting remark, however slight, that is another issue.

To be honest, there are none a shopper or buyer right now who buys items haphazardly, or one that would fill a cart to a heavy rift.

Most customers right now who are lining up  in grocery stores, shopping malls, or make shift flea markets, buy only what they need-- like one or two items, at best, less than five items, to boast of.

Gone are the days when customers would stockpile their carts with looks of "what have you", just to fill their shopping frenzy.

Recently, the new shopping trend is that most buyers have become conscious of their purchases. 

Even a money-endowed customer, judging from how they show up dressed to the nines, still do their grocery shopping, but would actually  think twice of purchasing a branded cranberry juice for about the cost of Php 300.00 these days.  

We all know Filipinos love to get branded food products, right?

But  the splurge in food  ain't happening. 

So is a splurge on lifestyle items even if these are items essential to a home.

Hence, when a shop lady bolts back to say "wala 'pang isang libo ginastos nya, nagreklamo pa!", this line can already be outright considered a shaming and verbal tirade against a customer.

The problem is most customers are actually loyal.  One would actually prefer to go back to a store despite the "nega" attitude they experience.

Apparently some sales ladies are too confident about their jobs, they feel authoritative and compelled to shame a customer if the latter do not fit in their window dressing form of expectations.  Here meant a bias against customers.

Anecdotes like these do not come far in between.  

In my previous posts, this writer has already discussed the propensity of some individuals to "shame face" a customer; like a power trippin' boss, because they feel empowered right now against the latter.

In another situation, one grocery attendant shouts from afar "pa-sosyal ha?", clearly audibly displaying an attitude of intimidation against a regular patron who has none a gripe against the grocery staff.  

The customer was merely dressed up casually to the store unlike their usual customers who go walk-in wearing shirts and shorts.

These situations may sound mundane at the Department of Trade and Industry which can actually regulate businesses; but incidences like these do not only give the wrong impression to customers, but actually perpetuate an environment of intimidation and bias right at the business setting.

Where in fact the customers are by themselves already making a bended rule against their budget, and had to put up with the insecurity of the store employees against customers, there can be no true found of good customer relations without the customers being protected from irate sales staff -- no matter how soft shaming or what direct verbal commentary they give, when a customer comes in to their disgust of reaction or preferential attitude.

No customer must be made to feel so "low", when store  employees are already on the brink of a crushing truth, that the expensive commodities are hurting not just the ordinary employees, but also the affluent shoppers, who provide and ensure a continuance of their  businesses.

Please keep on reading News Review Philippines, for opinion, news and reviews. 

Thank you.

Editor's note: 

In the second to the last paragraph, the name of this site was incorrectly typed. The correct name of this media site is:  News Review Philippines.  The writer underlines the immediacy of content in posting.

Thank you.

Anna Liza VB