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Post Info TOPIC: Customer Service Booth Help For New Hire
Anonymous

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Customer Service Booth Help For New Hire
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I'm just curious about what the experience is like and how complicated it is to learn how to do ALL that is required for the position? There's just SO MUCH info that you have to take in and while I'm hoping to get adequate training, I just want to prepare myself for what's expected of me.



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Anonymous

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Take notes.  It takes time to learn everything.  Some things will be easier than other to learn.  Returns, exchanges, lottery, bill pay and money orders, Western Union shouldn't take that long to learn because you will do them every day.  Any down time you will have to go work on a register so you will have to learn that too.  In three months you will feel competent and that's when you will have time to realize what a horrible place Kroger is.  I had two days training.   



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Anonymous

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Do not be afraid to call a manager or supervisor for a second opinion or when a customer asks for one.

There will be regulars you don't know yet, they will get away with things others cannot, but until you know them, back it up with another employee.

Any office paperwork or tasks you're not comfortable with at first? Do not do them by yourself until you are. There is always someone with more experience or knowledge who will do it - and they'd rather do it then have you mess it up. I close the office and if I'm baffled by something, I leave it for the bookkeeper in the morning and don't touch it.

As for what you'll be doing, the closing office work varies by store so take notes during training. I transferred stores and they close just differently enough for me to have needed notes the first few shifts!

Oh yeah, don't be afraid to stand your ground with customers. The name on their ID must match the one on the western union money transfer, that's their policy not ours yadda yadda yadda (managers always back you up).

Try to learn about the store - when are grocery/gm workers there during the day (not when you need them to answer the phone!!!), where are things (in general), hours, phone numbers...

I love customer service and enjoy the stresses of it more than the stresses of being on a register my whole shift. You'll know within a few weeks if it's for you



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The best way I've heard working the CS desk described is as going through a giant flowchart. A customer comes up and says "cigarettes", or "refund", or "western union", etc etc etc. Then those might have subcases, like if it's a refund, does the customer have a receipt, is it over $20, and so on. It's tough to master initially, so I definitely second Anon's tips, ASK if you need help, don't be afraid to take notes. But once you get the hang of it, it's basically just a lot of "if-then-or-else" reactions to your customers' actions, and it becomes almost automatic and zen-like (minus the part where zen masters don't randomly bitch at you for not having their favorite Pall Malls in stock).

But yea, notes definitely helped me a ton, especially when remembering when to do what kind of refund (going to depend on your store's policies, so again ASK) and for more complex things like closing the office down.



-- Edited by Going 4011 on Thursday 6th of August 2015 05:30:39 AM

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Anonymous

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Anonymous wrote:

Oh yeah, don't be afraid to stand your ground with customers. The name on their ID must match the one on the western union money transfer, that's their policy not ours yadda yadda yadda (managers always back you up).

 

 

Manager's always back you up? HAHAHAHA.  I had one that was going to push me to do a payout of nearly $1,000 on expired ID.  I'll happily take that "insubordination" accusation up with the union.



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Anonymous

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Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

 

Manager's always back you up? HAHAHAHA.  I had one that was going to push me to do a payout of nearly $1,000 on expired ID.  I'll happily take that "insubordination" accusation up with the union.


 WOW. I've always gotten back up for western union ID rules. That's crazy!

Does anyone else have wildly differing ID policies? At my old store we had the same standards for beer/cig, check, and WU - no paper IDs over a month old (our state gives you that at the office then mails the real one) and must be completely valid. At my new one, we can take paper IDs until their expiration date (usually 5 years after issuing) (they have no holograms! no security features!) and we can take expired IDs for checks. No wonder they always pull the "they let me at the other Kroger..."

I do get conflicting messages from managers about returns or placating an angry customer, but the weirdest was getting conflicting messages from the same manager the same night! He took back 3 expensive cans of formula with no receipt, no kroger card, nothing to back them up whatsoever. Later, he told me to be careful with money because there are scammers out there. He also told me to make sure the money was always always secure but then had me get on a register with the pickups on my person (thousands of dollars) because customers are number one!

OP - don't let the rude ones get to you, their lives are so pathetic they enjoy yelling at minimum wage workers. Oh yeah, if management ever does something that goes against what you've been told with a return, make them do it on their register number.



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Yea I can't remember a time management didn't back us up on ID/Western Union/check rules, they very much trust our judgment there. Refunds are the one area where we sometimes get overruled on (refunding $50 of product with no receipt? you look trusting, here you go), but it's no big and there's customers even management will refuse refunds for.

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Western Union rules are because of the federal anti-money laundering laws.....management should ALWAYS back that up. 

My advice is that if you have checkfreepay for utility bills at your store, triple check the account number before you send.  Sometimes we get in a hurry because of long lines but some details shouldn't be rushed.  I personally don't want someones electricity turned off because I got in a hurry and put the wrong account number in.  

You will be dealing with way more money than you did on a register (at least at my store, people use us as a bank).  Count it in front of customer, count it when putting in till.  Yes, I know they will tell you speed is important but when I am messing with someone elses money, either Krogers or the customer.....I prefer to stay on the safe side.  

When it comes to returns, it appears ever store has different rules.  We not only have different rules, but they can change 3 times in the course of a work day depending on what manager is working and if they want to be bothered or not...... 

Remember that inconsistency is the rule at Kroger.  What you thought was corrrect one day can change completely the next.  Just try to keep up with it the best you can.  

 



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I've been working with Kroger for 3 and a half years majority of it cashiering, a month in pharmacy including all the training courses required, and now currently being trained the customer service desk myself now. Really you can take on anything with a matter of proper training and applying your knowledge with customers. The more practice you get the easier it is. Before you know it you'll be an expert on it. Believe me I felt nervous with the pharmacy but right before I switched out to the service desk I knew all I needed in pharmacy (I'd consider it the same level of hardness).



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