I work at Gap as a sales associate. I work there part time and go to school full time.
We are encouraged to greet each customer as they come into the store. I try to mix up what I say, so that I don't sound too repetitive. Some of the most common phrases I use are:
"Hi, How are you doing today?"
"Hi, Welcome to Gap"
or if I missed them come in and I see them browsing already I will use:
"How is everything working out for you?"
"Finding everything ok?"
"Can I help you find anything in particular today?"
I know that I *should* be asking more open ended questions, but I don't always feel like actually helping people.
Anyways, back to the subject at hand. I often find myself reflexively responding to people without actually listening to their response. For example:
Me: "How are you doing today?"
Customer: "I'm just looking."
Me: "Good to hear that."
I responded to their answer automatically assuming that they would say the usual, "I'm doing well, thank you."
I'm not the only one that is guilty of this. The customers will do the same thing to me. Sometimes I will try and change the wording around on a phrase they are used to hearing to give it a different meaning to see if they are giving me an automated response or if they are actually listening to me. (I get bored sometimes.)
Is anyone else guilty of giving automated responses? Why do you think we do this? Is it because we just don't care what the person has to say? Any ideas on how I/we can break this cycle?
I don't feel that it is appropriate to respond to, "How are you doing today?" with, "Well, I'm actually having a bad day. You see, first off, I knicked my chin today while shaving, and then I had a fight with my girlfriend about whether . . . " Most people (friends excluded) do not actually want to hear about your day. I know, as a sales associate, I don't really want to.
How can we find the middle ground between automated responses and giving up too much personal information?
-k1ng