The way retail/service people are portrayed in commercials

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

As someone who works retail I can't stand watching ads with service people in them. Retail people on TV are always nice, always smiling and always love their customers so much they would take a bullet for them. Oh and they love the awesome company they work for too.

I know ads are not supposed to be super realistic, but I still feel this presentation is wrong and oftentimes creates unrealistic customer expectations and creates SCs.

If you are at my register I will smile (sometimes) and be pleasant. I will not be super cheerful, I will not bow to your every whim and I won't risk my job just to please you.

[blas87]

I totally understand where you're coming from.

I feel the same way about how mothers and fathers are portrayed in cleaning/baby-kid stuff commercials, same as the way they portray all people over the age of 55 to be stupid in those AARP commercials.

It's probably for the best that I can't watch daytime TV anymore because of my new shift.

[ExRetailDrone]

I know what you mean. When I was still working in retail (gads, please let me never have to again) and saw those commercials, it would sometimes upset me because that was not my experience in the slightest. Most of my coworkers hated their jobs and who they worked for, just as I did. When management got worse, so did morale, and none of us ever really felt like smiling let alone helping people who treated us like shit. And to have commercials showing such an obvious farce leads SCs to think that they are in the right for treating the workers like shit on the bottom of their shoe because the workers are obviously not doing what they're supposed to be doing because they're not acting like 'workers' in the commercials.

[aurelemsrealm]

I don't pay attention to such nonsense. As a customer, I don't expect the people who help me to be all cheery and enthusiastic. I'm content if they can just be professional and civil in helping me. I guess this is because I don't feel cheery and enthusiastic in dealing with the majority of my customers. I know how to empathize with customer service people when I'm the customer. As a clerk, I try to remain professional, civil, and focused on the task at hand. Then, I try to move on as quickly as possible to the next task, and keep doing that until the work day is finished.

[mikoyan29]

The one that bothers me the most was a commercial for a Dodge Ram from a few years ago. The two guys working the fryer were dreaming, "It's got a Hemi" and the Ram owner looked like a complete douche. And they forget to give him the food or something.... Anyways, that one bothers me.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Service people in commercials act the way the company thinks they should. I wonder how an ad would look if it were written by someone who works retail?

[ExRetailDrone]

Service people in commercials act the way the company thinks they should. I wonder how an ad would look if it were written by someone who works retail?

It probably wouldn't get too many people to want to visit the store in question

[LadyBarbossa]

I think it's safe to say that Flo of the Progressive ads is the worst offender. Gah.

[Rageaholic]

The ones I hate are the ones where the customer is being an obnoxious douchebag and asking all these questions like "Will I still get the deal if hell freezes over?" ect. I don't even work in service and it annoys me!

[Boozy]

It probably wouldn't get too many people to want to visit the store in question

Exactly.

I don't know why a company would spend money on a commercial that doesn't depict everything about them - including their service employees - in the best possible light.

My Big Mac always looks crappy compared to the pictures. But that's also not terribly surprising. Everyone knows that advertisements are misleading.

[ExRetailDrone]

Everyone knows that advertisements are misleading.

Everyone except the SCs, sadly. It just gives them an 'excuse' to act more like a douchebag.

I understand why companies portray everything of theirs in commercials the way they do. Advertising is meant to keep return customers coming back and to bring new customers in, but as someone who was stepped all over in the service industry, it still annoys me to see these ads

[Peppergirl]

I agree, CC.

Those Wal Mart 'Match It!' commercials are particularly galling.

[bainsidhe]

The ones I hate are the ones where the customer is being an obnoxious douchebag and asking all these questions like "Will I still get the deal if hell freezes over?" ect. I don't even work in service and it annoys me!

This! I can deal with super-uber-cheery-fake employees in commercials, I'll just roll my eyes and move on. But to have a commercial encourage EWism just frosts me. Worse is when the super-uber-cheery-fake employees then accept the douchey behavior with a tee hee. Those script writers are assholes.

[ExRetailDrone]

Reading about all these types of commercials makes me extra happy I haven't had cable in almost a year and a half. Not like I really paid much attention to them when we did still subscribe.

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

Oh, I hate those too! A couple of perfect examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdbbOABQODU

http://vimeo.com/20000351