Last week was busy at work. We had five promotions running, and four of them ended on Sunday. On top of that, two of my coworkers were on vacation at the end of the week. I’m a little sleep deprived, because I’ve been staying up late packing every night (less than 2 weeks before we move).
A customer came in with her husband at the end of my shift Friday night. She said she saw our sale as she was walking in and wanted to purchase her kitchen with the promotion. (My first thought was “Are you crazy?” A kitchen is a major purchase that most people take weeks if not months to design.) I asked which promotion she saw a sign about. She wouldn’t answer. I told her about our different promotions and when they ended, but she gave me no response. I asked what style she wanted her kitchen, and she stared at me. I felt like I was failing whatever test she was subjecting me too.
Normally, I communicate really well with people and can explain things well. But there was something about this lady . . . maybe it was the fact she wouldn’t answer any of my questions . . . that frustrated me.
I tried to explain our process and how it wasn’t realistic to design and purchase a kitchen in the next two days with just two of us working, and I was already booked for the weekend. This lady wouldn’t take no for an answer, but that’s about all she would verbalize.
Finally in frustration, I told her that she needed to start giving me some feed back if she was serious about purchasing. (I have never had to say that to a customer before.) Then she suggested that she give me a copy of her resume, and that maybe I would feel better.
Did I miss something?
At this point I was wondering how exhausted I really was. I couldn’t make sense of her. She finally gave me a clue: she’s a chemical engineer and feels qualified to design and purchase her kitchen in 36 hours.
In case you didn’t know:
chemical engineer ≠ kitchen designer
I knew it was futile to argue with this woman. So I introduced her to my coworker, who set up an appointment with her the next day.
1 comment:
This is a little more humorous for me since Nick is a chemical engineer. I thought some of his communication issues were due to his gender...
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