Rant on professional behavior...a nation of slobs

I have been a Sprint phone user for 12 years. My bill is about $200 a month for 4 phones,which is a competitive price and the phone performance is generally very good. I have no complaints about the service, the phones, or how it works overall. But when I have to interact with the Sprint staff, or go to a Sprint store....it is like a walk into a homeless shelter or crack party.

They all work for the performance rating and will "yes sir you to death, but never fix a problem".

Recently I bought a new phone, but could not get it activated on line, even following instructions and after hours on the 800 phone. They finally told me to go to the nearest Sprint store. A big inconvenience, but it was Saturday, and I needed to be activated by Monday, so I did.

At the store, I encountered 3 very lazy, totally American (1 black, 2 white), very laid-back employees, rocking to the music, playing with their hair and "manning" the store....in a fashion. I interupeted their party day.

I stood there for an hour, while they played with their hair, rocked along with the music, sang along , talked with their constant stream of pals that just that just dropped by to BS and eat ice cream. They discussed their Chinese takeout lunch, their plans for the evening and parties.......As a customer just trying to get my new phone activated, I seemed to be intruding on the free spirit of their "on the job" fun and frivolity.

I felt bad about intruding upon their paid holiday, no need for "American exceptualizism" It took these rubes over an hour to do what a focussed person, with an average IQ, could do in 20 minutes.

When I hear all this talk about American exceptualism, I wonder if you are living in a different country than I am???????? What ever happened to managers that set the rules and expected employees to meet the standard? Maybe Americans are not what they used to be? These are someone's kids, maybe your's, maybe mine....lets quit making excues for them.

I ran in to that very same issue at Sears at least 15 years ago. I never darkened the door of one of their stores again,it was that bad.

I would report it to the general manager.

I think what you encountered is the exception not the rule. Up here in Mn. anyway the staff behind the electronics counter is great. Dressed and groomed professionally, skilled and trained and curtius.

(quoted from post at 02:56:48 08/03/14) I think what you encountered is the exception not the rule. Up here in Mn. anyway the staff behind the electronics counter is great. Dressed and groomed professionally, skilled and trained and curtius.

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That's been my experience at Verizon stores around me (Central/South Central Ohio). Got me in an out quickly and everything worked.

I wish you were right, but I have been to 3 Sprint stores.. all just a music party. Go to an O.Reilly's ..not much vehicle expertise. Ask a question at TSC....da..a tractor wow? I thought Tractor was in your store's name....remember?

I went into a Verizon store where I had a contract and bought a new phone. The girl at the counter told me it would be $20 to activate. I told her to do all she could do for nothing. Got my phone activated and left. I wonder where the $20 would have went; probably not in the register.

Think he is going to admit that the place was a mess on his watch? I see excuses coming!!!!

yes I have seen the zombie yuppi type... you ought to tell them that you have 50 yr old tractors and equipment that works very well any time you need it ,, and you personally repair it ,and upgrade and renew it ,CHEAPLY . and the newest tractor you have was built 20 yrs ago .also give them hale about how crappy their product is about reliability and longevity ,,./ tell them if you had a dollar for every dropped call you would never have a bill ...tell them they have a great big screen , but the numbers are displayed so small one has to stop walking or doing anything else just to dial the gotdamphone ,, also tell them how easy the phone you had 3 yrs ago was to charge by simply placing it in a charger cradle in passing ,and it was trouble free ,.now that feature is no longer available and you have to fite the gotdamwireinto the hole you cant see that only fits one way , requires eye glasses bright lites , 2 CLEAN HANDS and quite a bit of choice words when the gotdamwire shortzout and burns up the charger ,, and of course you cant buy a new charger, only ... because it is no longer available,, so you got to do complete all new everything

As a FORMER parts counterman, you have to understand that countermen [and women] with experience are being replaced by folks off the street with NO experience, who'll work for near-minimum wage. This is because the folks who sold the parts catalog software told someone that ANYONE could look up parts on their system. It's hard for a person to make a living wage working at a chain parts store. When I left the dealership, I was making $10 per hour plus commission. A few years later I went to an O'Reilly's AFTER I had my associates degree in automotive management, and when I asked for $11 an hour, the manager went ballistic...said that HE didn't make $11 an hour. That told me all I needed to know about why folks are complaining about parts people at the chain stores.

I had the same problem with my wifes new sprint phone from radio shack.We had to drive 45 miles to a corporate sprint store to get the phone to work.They lost my password somehow and a corporate store is only allowed to change passwords.The radio shack employee who messed it up was very nervious and three times while we were there drank from one of those small energy shot bottles.

Sounds like you ran into some real winners. I'm sure you could probably find a web-site and let someone in the customer service department know about. I wouldn't expect them to do much for you, but at least someone will know you were unhappy.

There are eight places to eat in my town. I will only eat at the BBQ shack.

The others are manned by lazy,bad cooks,crack heads,people on the phone with bad service.

I went to an O'Reilly store to get an accelerator pump for my 600 cfm edelbrock carbeurator. I had already looked it up on line and knew what I needed and that they were fairly universal. The guy behind the counter couldn't find it on the computer so he dug out the books, I showed him the numbers and everything on my phone. He didn't quit until he found what I needed and said he would order it in.
Fast forward a week and I finally had time to get there, its an hour drive from home, and they had already sent it back. So I asked the other guy behind the counter and was told I would need the individual carb number and wouldn't even try very hard to look it up. I drove halfway across town to MOPAR, walked in and skeptically asked the scrawny book nerd looking kid about it. He walked right back to the shelf full of them and found exactly what I needed.
Moral of the story is that it depends on who you get. It wasn't O'Reillys fault for not stocking everything imaginable under the sun, or the counter help not knowing every imaginable part ever built by everyone. However when the one just flat had it in his head that he wasn't going to look, that really turned me off.
IMHO the american exceptionalism line is mostly a rally cry. I think we should strive to build things as good as the Germans have a reputation for and fight better than France lol.

A few years ago, I purchased two cell phones from ITT. They had a $50.00 mail in rebate for each phone.
We went through an enormous amount lies and promises and it took nearly a year to receive the first rebate and the second one came a little later after my call to the BBB!!

Also for a good time look up American Exceptionalism on Wikipedia. Its really interesting how the American Communist Party embraced it at one time and how the idea is traced back nearly 200 years.

There are many people, young and old, that have little to any work ethic. It seems the younger the worse the problem is.

A good friend runs a farm Coop. His biggest issue is workers wasting time on their cell phones. They talk to everyone they know while on the clock. Then when they are not talking they are texting the same people. LOL Then if that is not wasting enough time they are playing around on the internet. He has had to make several leave their cell phones in the office during work hours.

I just about hate going anywhere that requires dealing with service sector people anymore. I usually am mad before I get back home. I have low expectations for most of them and it seems they live down to them. LAMO

O'Reilly's? My grandson just quit one of the local O'Reilly's stores. Minimum wage job, and screw around with your hours. Once a day is enough to go into work - they wanted him to go home in mid-day, then come back later for a couple more hours - all for minimum wage. He found another job working three days a week for the same weekly pay that he made at O'Reilly's, and then he found a Saturday job for icing on the cake. I know you can't pay a kid right out of college the same that you'd pay an old guy with 20 years experience, but at the rate they're going, they'll never have anyone with more than a few months experience. You just can't expect much from a minimum wage worker, especially if he's actively looking for a decent job - and who wouldn't be looking for better conditions. Same deal with your phone Edd - minimum wage worker is what it boils down to.

Sounds like my experience at the Big R store in Greeley last week. Drove over there to get a new pair of western boots. Big farm/clothing store. Walked into the clothing dept. and noticed four or five young Mexican girls standing around the counter talking. Figured I better just help myself and walked over to the boot aisle. Couldn't find the brand of boot I wanted so went back to the counter. One of the girls stopped talking long enough to ask me what I wanted. Told her I was looking for a black pair of Tony Lama boots. She said, "Oh, let me get the boot girl," and hollered at another girl. I knew then where this was going. The other girl told me, "I don't think we have any." She looked for a little bit and finally found a pair and handed them to me. I asked if they had one of those foot measuring gauges because I wanted to measure my foot and make sure I was getting the right size. Well, the other girl found one and gave it to me. I couldn't figure out how to read the thing and asked both of them what size it said. They looked at it and didn't know how to read it either. I gave up and tried the boots on and they fit so I told the boot girl I wanted another pair. She found another pair and started mumbling something about they were defective. She finally showed me what she was talking about, there was a little white scuff mark on the top of the right boot. Told her that didn't make any difference to me. Well, she went and checked with someone else and came back and told me I could have fifty percent off of that pair. Went back to the counter and the others were still standing there talking to each other. One of them stopped talking long enough to ring up the sale. The only thing that made the trip worthwhile was I got a hundred and sixty dollar pair of boots for eighty dollars and paid full price for the other pair.

That is exactly right. A good parts person is worth a fortune. It used to be when you went in to a dealer years ago it was someone you more than likely knew, they knew you and your machinery, and their hands were dirty. Now days on occasion to find a parts person that actually CARES about doing their job is a rare find. Most of the time if you don't have the make, model number, serial number, part number....and if it isn't in the computer it doesn't exist, as heaven forbid anyone would look in one of those....old...you know...thing they used to use....book, that's it lol.

So you ran across three young punks whose boss has failed to jack them off their cabooses and you would condem a whole generation and the US in general, you must never have worked many hands if you think there is anything odd about people screwing off when left unattended. Why didn't you tell them you did not have all day to play patty cake and to get off their butts and take care of business, it works almost everytime. American exceptionalism is a term coined by a Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, to describe how Americas founding pricipals of liberty and opportunity for all set us apart from Europe. The damage done to those pricipals and the nation in the 20th century was largely done by the baby boom generation, the worst generation in American history, of which I am also a part. The baby boomers selfishly demanded and voted for the ever expanding quasi socialist state we now live in, the majority of whom apparently never gave a thought or care to the possibility that the resulting public debt would result in the enslavement of their children and grandchildren, which of course, will be the case.

ran into same situation in La. several years ago. I couldn't get only the barest of service at U-Haul & several chain parts stores. Nobody was working or wanted to. Never saw anything like it. It was a complete rebellion against everything I'd ever learned or done.

Sorry about the rant. I don't want to be an old fogy who gripes about anything modern or up to date. Unfortunately, I fear that this lack of self discipline, and lack of basic decorum that we see so frequently, is a sign of larger long term economic problems in our country.

I have been all over the world, and in the countries that are our major competitors, the trained and disciplined workforce still exists.

I generally tend to blame it on management, for not setting the rules, standards and discipline. But maybe, like JD Seller said, management has a full time job just keeping the workers off their cell phones during clock hours. For those of you hiring people, has the quality of the workforce changed over the last 25 years?

I know we are mainly a service economy...but in my opinion....the level of service has declined about everywhere. My expectations are lower, so I find now that if I happen to encounter someone that is really good, knowledgable and helpful I am surprised by simple basic competency. Not a good sign.

Similar experience first of last week, only with US Cellular. My plan now has 4 phones on it, myself and three of my kids. My oldest daughter just got her own plan. When we went in the local store about a month and a half ago to get my daughter set up on her own plan, I also got a new phone for my son.

Well, there is a problem with the new phone, so my son and I took it to the store to get it checked out. We explained the problem to the fella who "helped" us and also told him what we did to try to correct the problem. At this time he just said he would have to send it in for warranty repair and would take up to 8 weeks. Never looked at the phone, never even picked it up. But he did receive and return three text messages during the time we were explaining the problem.

I ask if it was possible a reset of the phone would solve the problem, at which time he mumbled something, connected the phone to his computer and ran some kind of test on it. During this time he received a phone call about a party he was going to after work and several more text messages. Finally he told me the computer says nothing is wrong with the phone and he would have to send it back.

At this point I took the phone from him and told him not to worry about it, since he seemed more interested in texting and talking to his buddies than doing his job, I would go to another store. He got defensive and claimed he had done everything he could do, and if I had a problem with the service I received it was my problem, no this.

I drove 30 miles to another store, where the representative actually checked the phone out indepth and attempted a reset of the phone. Yes it did need to be sent out for repair, which I do not have a problem with, but at least I dealt with a representative who was focused on the customer.

Some time back I walked into a big box TV Appliance Electronics Store, there were 3 young dudes behind the service check out counter, one young babe (The 3 dudes were all happy giddy and "sniffing" around the babe and texting), and myself the only other paying customer. I was there to make a major purchase and wanted some guidance and to be shown around. So I walk in right past the desk where the 3 young employees were working AND NOT A ONE LOOKED AT ME OR GREETED ME OR ASKED IF THAY COULD HELP. So I go look at TV's and on purpose kept walking past the 3 dudes and NO ONE EVER LOOKED AT ME OR ASKED IF THEY COULD HELP.

I got by the door walking out and yelled at the desk THAnKS FOR ALL THE HELP.

I got home and on my professional engineer and attorney letterhead and envelope I wrote a nasty letter documenting the time and place and store location and finally got a response from corporate headquarters apologizing, have no idea if the dudes were spoken to I WENT TO A LOCAL SMALL MOM N POP TV SHOP and got great personal service even if a few bucks more.

Nuff said

John T

In my area, there are two Kubota dealers. I went to the nearest one and talked to them about a B2320.
I then went to the other one and had the same talk with them.
Next day, I went to the nearest dealer and there was no other customers that I saw. Three employees talking/joking and all of them saw me.
I only assume they paid no attention to me because of my work clothes!
After about five minutes of trying to decide if I really needed it, they made my decision!
I walked out and went to the other store and it was a pleasure to deal with my choice of interested salesperson.
I bought the B2320 and informed the salesperson of my experience.

I just walk up to the group of employees and start talking. I make eye contact with one of them, and start directing my talk to that person.All the rest scatter. Usually they are mid sentence talking about their weekend when I barge in and ask where I can find so and so or whatever else it is that I may need help with.

The owner of the store where I work part time. Solved that problem. Anyone caught with a cell phone. During working hours.Will be looking for a job.

I read through all the comments with interest and have had the same experiences.

I worked for most of my life for a local grocery chain (40 stores). My dad worked for them for 30 years before retiring. We both learned how to meet and greet folks of all kinds.

I now work for an electronics supply store. We have eight employees, including the owner. It's a retail/wholesale setup and the rules are simple: Speak to everyone who comes through the door. Tend to their needs and go on with business.

Though all of these comments are aimed at the useless employee, the problems go both ways. I don't wait on someone who comes in talking on a cell phone. It's not polite to interrupt someone's important conversations.

Yes, sometimes I can't figure out what the guy wants, especially when he doesn't know what it is either. That includes the ones who decide they can repair TV's watching Utube.

It does take a special person to be successful working on a parts counter, no matter what the parts are. One has to be perceptive in order to wait on people and make them happy. The stories about employees standing around are interesting. That isn't necessarily their fault, management can play a large part in that by having work for them to do when there is slack time. At our store there is plenty to do all the time. We are a small group and one slacking off puts more work on the others.

Cell phones in the work place are getting to be a problem, that's for sure. Again, rules can fix that easily. I mentioned in another post about the job applicant who answered calls when being interviewed for a job at our store. Oh well...

It IS hard to find decent workers any more. One thing that adds to the problem is the low wages paid by many (my store is actually one of them) and the long list of applications waiting in a drawer to be called. Auto parts stores have been known for that for decades, this is not new.

Yes, computers have added to the insult as well. At our store we have discovered that a large majority of the suppliers simply don't print parts books any more. We HAVE to get on the machine and hope for the best. After that doesn't come up with anything I will go to Google and get lucky sometimes. After a bad time looking for and finding the part I will remember it and look like an expert to the next person looking for it.

My post is too long already. I go into a store and see the same problems you all have talked about, and I leave and find a better place most of the time. It's on the consumers back to pass the information along to someone who can fix it, or it never changes.

Years ago before I knew better ,I went into an O Reilly s to get a set of spark plugs for a J D " B" . The counter guy could not find them in the book , came up with plug for a J D snowmobile!
I asked to look at the book, found the tractor listing , told the guy what I needed. He came up with a box of 4 plugs. I told him I needed only 2 , he responded that they would not sell break open a box for just 2 plugs. After a few " words " I got my 2 plugs and have never been back.

I would like to add one thought to this subject. I do agree with just about everyone's view point/comments...but! There also use to be something called "Job Ownership". I read about this once many years ago. It seems if a person has a job and feels that his/her job is "important" in the scheme of things that this person then gets "ownership" of that job. Sort of like a cog in the wheel. Companies were around for a long time, not just a few years but a few generations. A person could actually have a relationship with the company. Now it seems like the company raiders/big dogs just get the companies to strip them of any value and then chunk them on the waste pile of civilization. Ya'll have seen this with long time tractor dealerships etc run by long time families with long time employees etc suddenly being run out of business by mother deere or such. There doesn't seem to be much longevity for companies when people worry that their job might not be in existence tomorrow or next week or next year. Who wants to bust their butt for something that might just go away anyway. Or work for pennies and pay taxes just to see another aspect of society sitting on their lard butts enjoying the benefits of the working persons' labor. I don't know if i have been able to say what I really wanted to convey but I did try to. One more thing, if I may, in the mix of all of this confusion is....It seems that everyone's kids are on some type of prescriptions. ADHD or ADDHD or some obscure form of Autism or some newly discovered reason why their special child cannot just sit and obey in school or pay attention or not have out bursts or...a zillion other reasons they are special and don't have to actually "work" to learn or perform a school task....Yeah Boy Howdy, ya'll see where I'm going with this. Translate this into the now "graduated" teens/young adults that have moved into the job sector. Remember that they have been told how they are "Special Needs" children and have to be given exception to where they work so they continue on their "special" path of life. This = idiot workers that stay on the cell phone and act really stupid when you actually ask them a real question. I mean they actually pause and look at you like you just grew another appendage on your forehead or something. No way America was built on the pills that these kids have been fed since they were young. No way that many kids have ADDHD or what ever the he** they call it next week or next year. B.S. is what I call it. Most of them just need the phone taken away and a boot implanted in their rear. Done fussing... :evil: