One power play I’ve recently witnessed was at a retail store. While I was shopping, I saw this customer going through a pile of shirts looking for her size. A sales associate immediately approaches to ask if she needs assistance. She then tells the sales associate to find her size. As she walked away with the shirt, the sales associate went back to fold that pile of shirts. There was another time, I saw a sales associate picking up a pile of shirts in the fitting room, those of which left on the floor by the customer. This is a power play because sales associates need to satisfy customers’ needs and they cannot complain but clean up the mess by the customers.
4 Responses to Assignment #3
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I think anyone who has worked in retail has faced something similar to the scene you described in your post. I used to work at a cosmetics store and I always had to clean up after the customers. And since it was cosmetics, the products were smeared on a lot of items, so it was necessary for the workers to clean up the area nicely. My co-workers and I could never go up to a customer and tell them straight up that they were being messy because that’s what we got paid to do.
This observation that you have seen is similar to the relationship between a student and a teacher. The students would have to satisfy the teacher most of the time to get a decent grade. The methods are usually participating in the work that the teacher has given. A teacher’s question is equal to a customer’s need of assistance. There is an expected response from the other person. It is kind of different in a way that students do not have to clean up the mess of a teacher.
Yancey Ko
I totally empathize with the sales associate in this situation. I also work in retail and I know how frustrating it may be. I work in watches and jewelry, so I am lucky in the sense that I don’t fold clothes. As irritating as it can be at times, it is part of the job to recover the floor. There is just one bit that I feel very strongly about. Indeed, a sales associate’s job is to provide excellent customer service. However, sometimes I feel as if respect is compromised in certain situations. I go to work with it in mind that I have to be respectful and positive. I’m not expecting customers to always be friendly, but just as a basic right, is it bad to expect the same amount of respect from customers?
The entire retail industry can be claimed to be based off power play. Retail shops are so successful not just for producing well made and fashionable clothing but for meeting their customer’s expectations and always being willing to satisfy any demands. Similarly, to hospitality, it is a business that runs on appeasing the customers. Sales associates must suffer the brunt of it though as they are the ones responsible for delivering customer satisfaction. Managers hold the authority but the corporate sector, is what truly runs the business.