Teaandtoday5

Dunno if they're still going, but WHSmith used to do that all the time.

Shard

Sports Direct always try to sell a £1 bag with the purchase, I feel sorry for the clerks as I am pretty sure they get commission on it (they are so eager to sell). Not sorry enough to buy one, however.

BristolUK

That's one quandary I'm spared from.

scrubbedexpat091

Easiest upselling I ever had to do was at an airline and first class upgrades which at the time was 50 to 150 day of departure at check in.

People did not seem to mind being asked that.

Ditto in hotels when we offer a better room for a higher rate of say 15 more per night.

BristolUK

I thought hotels only asked you if you wanted some 'company'

dave_j

It's hidden upselling that borders on stealing that gets me upset.

How often have you taken your car to a garage, you go to reception, ask how much, pay the bill and leave. Only later do you find an unwanted bottle of something in a door pocket, eg some lubricant that on detailed inspection of the bill, under some non-descrpt heading you find that you've been charged for. Daylight robbery and intentional deception is what I call it and garages are experts at it.

Piff Poff

I'll give you the minimum wage workers pint of view here:
In Retail - yes you have to greet the customer, yes you have to tell them the deal, yes you have to recheck the customer, yes you have to offer them the extra doohicky at the till and yes you have to say have a nice day and yes it is completely annoying and soul destroying. But, by acknowledging the customer - the customer tends to browse a little longer, by checking back, you are letting the customer know you are there and you will probably see them put that sweater up their skirt so they should just leave it where it is unless they are going to pay for it, by offering the thingy at the till - well if you sell enough of them then you will get more shifts over the one that sells none

In Fast Food - How is the person on the till supposed to know what you want, so many people have no idea, so the till person has to confirm the order. For us we upsell the proteins, chicken, egg, quinoa, prawns, tuna, salmon is all an extra, we tend to ask 'Do you want chicken?' then the customer goes oh yea, prawns please. We then have to ask about drinks, Oh yeah, I'll have a drink, now the conscientious staff members (not me) will then go on to ask about soups and cookies, we are supposed to day have a nice day, but to me the till isn't the last contact, being given your food is, that's when the thanks for coming in should happen.

We get secret shoppers and audited to make sure we are covering all these steps. It's really crappy.

Shard

I very much doubt someone like Bryson would actually give a shop clerk grief in real life. It's comedic fiction. I find he can get a bit folksy at times, but I liked this passage, and many others in the book.

Pulaski

I have never noticed that, but my experience of brick and mortar retailers is almost entirely confined to Lowe's and our local groceries - where I almost exclusively use "self scan", so retailers have very little opportunity to push their promotional products on me.