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Bad Employee Zapper

A system of direct reward and punishment at the point of sale.
  (+3, -4)
(+3, -4)
  [vote for,
against]

I think that every point of service/sale should have a little console, right next to where you scan your debit card. The console has a smiley face button and a frowny face button, and you, the customer, have the right to push one of the buttons.
I have thought of all manner of ideas for what would happen if you push the buttons. It could be as simple as a report printed out at the end of the day saying how many customers where made happy or unhappy by this employee. It could be as rediculous as a candy treat-pellet dropping into a cup for the employee to eat for a "smiley", and a zap to the head from their electric shock collar for a "frowny".
Or perhaps a small percentage of the worth of your purchase/transaction would be added to or debited from the employee's paycheck for that week. Or maybe we could just have a big sunday edition New York Times on a chain next to each workstation so that customers can just beat the ever livin' daylights out of some of these living proofs that the gene pool needs more chlorine.
I have worked fast food and retail, and the hours were awful, the pay was ok (if you were a Hungarian peasant living in a cardboard box behind the store), so I do empathize with the fact that on minimum wage there is very little incentive to do more than show up with your uniform shirt/hat/apron (hopefully) on right side out.
(Sorry, I had this idea while waiting for 15 minutes in line at my bank. Total # of people in line? Two. Me and one other person.)

Anyway, I'd just like the technology to exist and be implemented to create direct accountability. I am not trying to re-bake the comment card, because all the comment cards I have both given and received seemed to float off into file 13 and never be seen again.


Even when I did get a ton of great comment cards while working in (insert bookstore chain name here), I still didn't get a raise or any tangible benefits. That meant that I worked twice as hard to go out of my way to make people happy and give them what they needed as the surly pimple-habitat at the register next to me, but we got paid the same.



I learned my lesson quite quickly, and reset my effort dial to "minimum" and my brain to "power save" mode. Chances are, though, if I'd been directly paid for every good comment card, I would have kept trying. Many fellow bakers will probably tell me to just go into commission sales (I tried and I was bad at it), but not everyone can do that.

To explore one more aspect of the idea; sometimes the fact that you have been waiting in line for 2 hours is the store's fault for not hiring/scheduling enough people. There should also be a "smiley" and a "frowny" for the STORE as a whole, as well.
And, finally, Zeno's desire for paragraphs is granted. ;-)

submitinkmonkey, Mar 16 2005

[link]






       Yeah, pretty good. But can you create paragraphs?
zeno, Mar 16 2005
  

       (pushes :-( button - store catches on fire) These people take customer service seriously.   

       (pushes the :-) button for this idea) Today, you live.
Worldgineer, Mar 16 2005
  

       It is possible to edit one's submission (for example, to add paragraph breaks) after the fact. No one will think less of you if you do this. FYI.   

       As for the idea, as a store manager, especially of a fast-food chain, for example, I'd find it hard to take the output of the readings seriously, given the capricious nature of low-end retail clientele.
Soterios, Mar 16 2005
  

       Sure but if you need to fire someone and you have an employee with a 2% satisfaction rating compared to the normal 3%, then you'd still probably fire the one that won't sleep with you.
Worldgineer, Mar 16 2005
  

       I pressed the frowny vote button on this one.
waugsqueke, Mar 17 2005
  

       Who would work here? And who would actually push the + button, besides nuns and perhaps jehovah's witnesses?
RayfordSteele, Mar 17 2005
  

       Um, I posted the idea because I would push the ;-) button, my dear [RayfordSteele]. Have a happy shiny smiley day!
submitinkmonkey, Mar 21 2005
  

       Sympathies for the frustrations of poor service, but there needs to be a similar system to zap needlessly rude customers. One button for the employee to use if appropriate, and a couple more for people in line to use when they see this behavior.   

       "I can help the next - OUCH !"
"That oughtta show you, you little - OUCH !"
"Leave him alone, he's just doing his job."
normzone, Mar 21 2005
  

       I think you're setting up a dangerously unstable feedback loop, [norm]. (this concept worked out quite humorously in one of the first Simpsons episodes)
Worldgineer, Mar 22 2005
  
      
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