Dealing With Bitter Bettys and Bitter Bobs In Retail | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

I was in Chicago recently at one of my favorite little fast food salad places, and this one woman at the register was just in such a mood. Normally, they would take the salad and they would ask you about the dressing, and they would put the utensils in it, and put it in the bag. And when they rang me up, this young woman just put the bag on the counter, and I said, “Wow, it's such a bad day, you can't even put it in the bag, can you? And she's like, "What do you mean?" And I just took my piece and I left.

That's Bitter Betty, and there's an awful lot of Bitter Betty and Bitter Bobs out there. They hate retail, they hate their jobs, a million things happen to them and they kind of take it out on the shoppers, and people that are actually giving them money. And the important thing to realize is, the customer pays your paycheck. So do you have a Bitter Betty or a Bitter Bob? Attitude determines altitude and you can't settle for bad ones. Now sometimes you'll have somebody who's just having a tough time. It's a good time to say, "Hey, go take a walk, or get off the floor and do something meaningless."

But if you let it stay, that suddenly becomes the worldview of whoever works with them. And I'll tell you, after you get rid of that person, you will hear stories from shoppers who say, "I would never come back to your store because of the service I received". So today, I want you to look and say, do I have a Bitter Betty or a Bitter Bob on the floor? And if so, how am I going to have a counsel session with them, so that they understand that their attitude needs to be changed right away? And that may even an end up in a written warning. Because attitude is just as much as skill as anything else. That's your tip for today.

If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!