Customer Service: An Anthropological Study, pt. 1

Greetings all. This being my first ever blog, I thought I would share with you my thoughts on an aspect of my life which has brought me no shortage of ire, aggravation, irritation and general emotional anguish. I speak, of course, about my current employment working in customer service at a local store. I know what you're thinking; many people have ranted about the stupidity of customers on the internet, but my blog will do one thing different from all of these. Mine will be written from an anthropological perspective.

At first glance, this may seem like an odd way to approach such a commonly-accepted nuisance as this, but hear me out. Quite often, Anthropologists study groups of people by immersing themselves in their society and learning about it as active participants. This type of research is known as "participant observation," and its the method best suited to my blog because, since my job involves dealing with the subjects and processing their transactions at cash, I essentially already AM doing this.

Before I continue, I should make it clear that I have no formal background in anthropology. I took one class on the subject in my first year of university and, though I found it really interesting, have not taken any more since. Nevertheless, I HAVE done alot of reading on the subject, and I have friends who are anthropologists-in-training, so I feel that I have a good support system in place to help with this blog. What will follow today are simply a few preliminary observations about customer patterns and behaviour.

Observation 1: The Collective Subconscious of Mankind

• This one is the strangest one to wrap one's head around. Basically, through my observations, I've come to believe that humans have a collective subconscious mind that links all our minds together on a level we aren't aware of. I notice this all the time in my "subjects" at work: one of us will be busy trying to stock the pop fridge, get merchandise prepped to be put out, go on break, etc. and just as we're about to succeed, a lineup forms to impede our progress. I'm not talking about just one customer either--one will come to cash, and then almost as if by magic, others will spontaniously decide that now is the perfect time to cash out and so line up as well. Ergo, collective subconscious. The Borg in Star Trek have it...hell even ants have it...so why not humans too?

Observation 2: Illogic around fees.

• This is a strange one. In observing my subjects, I have often found that they will dispute when fees are applied to a current order. This may seem reasonable, given western civilization's value of money, but it is in its application that this seems strange. Simply put, often customers will not question large late fees on movies which our store rents, but yet will snap angrily at the smallest other fee. For example, Subject A has a $60 charge for a movie, while Subject B only owes a small $2 fine. Subject A, in my observations, will often take responsibility for his/her mistake and gladly pay $60. Subject B, on the other hand, will become defensive, arguing their own superiority over the system in place and deny any fault, all because of a small $2 fee. Based on the amount of money in each case, the opposite should hold true. More analysis is required.

Observation 3: Alpha Male status in male/female mate pairings at check-out

• Part of any retail job is upselling the customer. In this case, my observations are also interesting. Often times, one of the hardest sales to get is the young dating couple, especially where the male is of the jock subspecies. Generally, when asked if they know about the current in-store promotion, the male will often be the first to speak, attempting to silence me before his mate has even had a chance to say a single word. This is classic alpha male behaviour--the male, in an effort to demonstrate his position as dominant in the current situation and to secure exclusive mating rights with his partner, demonstrates an aggressive posture, though is quickly undercut by the female mate, who is intent on letting me speak and explain the deal. In all likelyhood, the male is aware of the equal, if not superior, status of the female in the mating relationship, but in the interest being accepted by the tribe as a whole, must engage in demonstrating his alpha behaviour so that he fills the traditional gender role of the male. Often, though not always, a successful sale ensues.
  

Conclusion:

These are but a few of my observations, though already the research seems promising. I intend to update this blog on a regular basis, sharing my findings with you. Hopefully, we can come to a better understanding of the nature of customers and thus better understand how to deal with them from a cultural standpoint. That...plus its just too much fun to write research like this and it will make my shifts seem less long :)