The other day, I was working at my local thrift store ringing up one customer. As I was doing so, a lady asked me “Is this the right price for this vase?”
I turned around and looked at what she was holding. It was a small, round cut glass bowl or vase that was $34.99. “Yes, I think so.”
The lady looked at the bowl and left it in its spot. “$3.49 for a vase, maybe, but $34.99?!”
I was a little annoyed, but I finished checking out the customer.
After that, the woman sat down in one of the chairs we were selling and picked up a package of bubbles that I believe was sitting on a table we were selling. “Oh, I love bubbles!” she said. “$1.99. That’s a good price. But that candle-holder (she was calling the item a candle holder), that’s a lot.” She turned to her friend, who was pushing a buggy and still looking around the store. “That candle holder is $34.99.” She went on to say other comments about how it was expensive, and said something like this: “They should take that up to the city since they’re wealthier, not try to sell it to us poor people.”
Her friend turned to me and said, “Why don’t you tell her that you didn’t price it, you just work here?”
I gave a small smile, but her comment was not very helpful for one specific reason: I was the one who had priced it.
Cut-glass vases and bowls are expensive, and I had searched up the bowl online before pricing it. I wasn’t able to find the exact replica online, so I made my best guess based on the prices of other cut-glass vases that Google lens pulled up. If a customer knew about cut glass vases they would see that it was a good deal and buy the vase. But if not, then someone would buy the vase for half price when it goes on sale in the next couple of weeks. My coworkers usually say to price higher because if no one buys it at the higher price, we can always lower it later. However, we cannot raise the price of an expensive item once it goes to the floor.
It isn’t new to hear customers complain about some of the items we price, but some customers are way more loud and annoying than others when it comes to items they deem too expensive.
I once had a woman come up to me with a teacup and saucer set that was probably $5.99, and she asked me “Did you price this?”
I hadn’t, and I told her as much, and I was under the impression that she wanted me to say which one of my coworkers had priced the teacup and saucer. Maybe she didn’t, but either way, I wasn’t about to tell her even if I did know who had. She then started to talk about how it was expensive. This other woman chimed in and the two of them both started talking about how things were getting too expensive nowadays. That gave me the opportunity to quietly make my escape and walk away.
One annoying thing about people complaining about the prices in the thrift store I work in is that some of the money we make goes into charitable works the organization does for those in need. So do the customers who complain about our prices not want the charitable organization to make enough money to help others?
Another thing is that my coworkers and I need to make our budget or our goal as often as possible if we are to earn more money for the organization and ourselves. So why do customers feel like it’s okay to complain about prices when we’re trying to survive?
It’s completely fine if a customer doesn’t want to buy an item that is out of their budget. I can understand seeing a nice item I want but not being able to or willing to because of the price, especially since I may need to save my money for other things. What is not fine is complaining about how the items my coworkers and I price are too expensive, as if we are out of our minds.
When people complain about the price of some of our items, it shows me two things. Firstly, it shows me that they don’t understand the worth of the valuable items we price. People who know a valuable item’s worth and actually want the item end up buying it the moment they see it. Secondly, it shows me that whether or not the person understands the value of an item, they may be complaining because it’s sour grapes to them. It’s something they cannot afford, so instead of simply thinking “Oh well, not today,” they have to say for the whole world to hear, “This is way too much!”
Whenever customers complain about prices, I don’t know what else to do except smile politely. I think that’s all I can do, really. I could try to explain why the item is priced the way it is, but I’m a bit shy. But with all that said, I think people should be more thoughtful about what they say, when they say it, and who they are speaking to. An employee may smile and nod at someone complaining about prices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they appreciate what they are saying.
.gif)
Comments
Post a Comment