off the clock, how professional!

C

Captain Orca

Joined
Sep 25, 2019
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Captain on his way to the front end, punched out for lunch. Pardon me, "meal." Guest to the Captain (and very politely I might add) Sir, can you tell me where I can find condiments? Captain: "sure, all the way down to the end of the main aisle, turn left to aisle # 19 left side." TL to The Captain: "are you on the clock"?
Fill in the blanks, you don't want to hear what The Captain said!
 
Captain Orca said:
Captain on his way to the front end, punched out for lunch. Pardon me, "meal." Guest to the Captain (and very politely I might add) Sir, can you tell me where I can find condiments? Captain: "sure, all the way down to the end of the main aisle, turn left to aisle # 19 left side." TL to The Captain: "are you on the clock"?
Fill in the blanks, you don't want to hear what The Captain said!
Click to expand...
Captain should take badge off when on meal, and ignore all questions directed at captain. Zombify (the walking dead kind)
 
If people asked me where things were as I was leaving work I would tell them.
I would tell people if I was in a store I didn't work at and shopped in all the time so it was just polite.
Sure as hell wouldn't do anything else though.

And if the TL wanted to say something I would explain it just that way.
 
The way I see it and taking into account my professional background working in customer service/tech support for a Fortune 500 co. telling someone you're off the clock just sounds trashy and cheap. Wait...REDdog is trashy and cheap. WTF it was something to do after an illustrious career
 
If they have it out for you, this is a no win situation. Answer a guest's question & they will call you out for working off the clock. Tell the guest that you're not on the clock & the guest could complain & then they can accuse of being rude to a customer.

If a guest simply asks where to find something I think it's terrible business to tell them you can't answer their question. If a guest needs more help than that though, it doesn't seem unreasonable to tell them you're off the clock.
 
If you're off the clock and I see you answer a guests question and it's like a 10 second interaction, it's cool.

If it goes on for longer, I'll step in and help the guest and then let you know when you clock back in to direct them to somebody else to help them in the future. Service desk is a great option.

Coaching just for the sake of coaching is not how we're taught to lead. Saying "don't do x" and offering no other insight is poor management.
 
I told the nice lady where the Guldens was. Anything more I would have (or as my former TL would say "would of") found someone on the floor to help her. Most of the customers were quite pleasant. A very diverse mixed demographic.
 
We had a nice lady who shopped our P-fresh every other day. She knew where everything was, was very pleasant and not demanding at all. The imbecile TL at the time would hound her constantly with CIHYFS. By the time she passed HBA, Chem, Paper and Pets she was asked the same nonsense many times. She finally told him to just stop asking!
 
Even walking to find someone is too much. If you're off the clock, you're off the clock. You cannot be accused of rudeness if you say "I'm sorry, but I'm not clocked in right now, but if you go to GS/courtesy phone, someone there will be able to help you." A simple question of "Where is" can easily lead to follow up questions, and it's even harder to politely extricate yourself after you've started helping them.

But you don't have to say anything if it seems to questioner that you never heard them. Not really feasible if you are standing still looking at someone but easy to do if you are walking.
 
Captain Orca said:
Captain on his way to the front end, punched out for lunch. Pardon me, "meal." Guest to the Captain (and very politely I might add) Sir, can you tell me where I can find condiments? Captain: "sure, all the way down to the end of the main aisle, turn left to aisle # 19 left side." TL to The Captain: "are you on the clock"?
Fill in the blanks, you don't want to hear what The Captain said!
Click to expand...
Ohh I’ve been called out on that . My response I’m just an other guest helping a guest because I know the know layout of the store . And it shuts them up
 

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