Disclaimer - this is all personal opinion and has nothing to do with what happens in the stockroom, manager’s office, etc. This is only about what we see/hear on the floor and what I or other employees have complained to each other about. Please do not take offense if you have done any of these.
This will be broken up by several sections as there are a couple categories that everything falls into.
Questions - As an employee we get asked a million questions a day, that most of the time we are happy to answer, but sometimes.... sometimes we wonder why people ask us these questions.
"Can you sell the display?" - Plain and simple, no. No. No. No. Sometimes we have to do things to the display dolls/items to get them to pose or hold something or whatever and there may be hot glue or tape on it that actually ruins the doll. Plus, all dolls say display in Sharpie on it somewhere. The Truly Me dolls all have "Display doll #__" on their butts. Do NOT offer to pay extra for it. We cannot sell it. Don't try to guilt us into it either (I have had a lot of people try this tactic).
"Where is ______?" - If you legitimately cannot find something, of course, ask. But please try to find it yourself first. I have had a lot of customers walk right past what they're looking to get because they didn't even try to find it before asking an employee.
"Do you have ______?" when the sign says we are out of it. - The signs says right there "_______ is out of stock. We apologize for the inconvenience." 99 times out of 100, we truly are out of it.
"Do you work here?" - This is such a dumb question. I get asked all the time while I'm working. Obviously I work here. I'm fixing things, wearing all black, in an American Girl apron, with a name tag and an ID badge. Don't ask us. The worst that can happen is you ask another customer (and unless they magically have an AG apron and ID, they don't work here!). All AG workers get asked this and we just don't understand why. We are very identifiable and very uniform.
"Who is the new Girl of the Year (GOTY)?" before we release it. - We cannot answer this. It's a company secret. I know it gets leaked months in advanced but we can't tell you. The internet is usually right, Just google "GOTY [year]" and you'll get a pretty accurate answer. I knew who the 2015 GOTY was before we were told in December. Of course we know by December, but we will never be able to tell you. Even if it is released on Good Morning America or something like that, we are told not to say anything until January 1st.
Questions that can easily be answered online or by looking at something in the store. Questions like “How much are dolls?” You might want to know about the product you’re about to buy. “What year is Kit from?” Take a quick look above her display or look at her page on the AG website.
Thing People Do - People do a lot of things in our store, some are rude or annoying.
Leaving their trash wherever they want. There is a bistro on the top floor of the DC store and sometimes people take their drinks when they leave. Nothing unusual when the cups are plastic and transportable. What is unusual, however is the fact that people seem to think it is ok to leave their trash wherever they feel like. There are trashcans all over the store. There is NO reason that a customer could not find a trashcan and throw whatever away. I find the cups from the bistro in the most random places. My job is not to clean up after you.
People who leave the items on a different store level. The top floor and bottom floor have differently colored boxes. Employees can spot boxes from a different level a mile away. I understand not wanting to go back up/down a level to put something away but please hand it off to an employee and don't just throw it on another shelf for us to find.
People who leave boxes in a completely wrong area. The boxes having writing on them and anyone can read what the item is called. Leaving Caroline's Winter Coat and Cap in the stack of Kaya's Pow Wow Dress of Today is obvious. We notice. Really, we do. Every section has a different color scheme, even Bitty Baby and Bitty Twins have discernible colors that I can see from wherever I am. Again, give it to an employee instead of ditching it wherever you want.
People who bring their sick kids to the store. We understand that leaving kids at home isn't really an option, but when your child is coughing and sneezing all over the store and the other stuff anyone can touch, it's pretty gross. People can touch everything and it's a very germy practice of AG's. Please try keep your sick child's touching to a minimum (especially during cold and flu season). This may sound petty, but your sick child literally can make every employee sick if your child unnecessarily touches things in the store.
People who allow their child to have a meltdowns in the store, especially parents who don't try to stop or prevent it. Although that may be the only meltdown of your child that day, the employees have to hear multiple a day. No one likes to hear kids crying. We know kids will throw fits, but please exit the store. It's not fun for anyone and it makes other customers' trips unpleasant.
People who come up to employees and expect the employees to be servants. Customers come up, say something to the effect of "Hey, help me find this stuff." but when workers try to hand them their boxes, they walk away and expect the workers to follow them around with the stuff they want. One man made me follow him around, and when he was done, he turned to me and demanded while pointing at the register, "Now ring me up." Excuse me?? Bossing me around does not make me want to help you. It angers me and I fume about it after you leave. I won't change my demeanor or facial expression but I sure do not want to help you. Treat the employees with respect.
Customers who allow their kid(s) to wreck the store. It is amazing how badly parents allow their kids to act. Shelves look like they've kicked around when I've been gone for only a minute. I see so many kids knock stuff to the floor and don't pick it up. Even when parents see their child knock stuff over, they don't tell them to pick it up. What are you teaching your kids?? That it's ok to mess stuff up and not fix it? That it's someone else's job to clean up after them? Parents and kids who knock stuff over and make eye contact with me but still don't pick it up are the worst offenders. People never cease to amaze me.
Another thing is that we have the Bitty strollers and dolls that we allow the kids to play with and every so often I realize that one is missing so I go look for it. I find them in the strangest places. Sometimes kids take the dolls off of the stands and carry them around the store. This really is not ok. Leave it where you find it. We cannot risk your kid taking a doll from the store and we don't have time to waste, tracking down missing displays.
Being rude in general. I understand being disappointed that we don't have an item you want, especially if you've driven for hours to get to the store. It does NOT excuse being rude. The employees are humans who should be treated with respect. Some customers act like employees are garbage, uneducated, etc. Many of us have some kind of college degree or working to get one. People treat us like we're nothing and it drives us crazy. The child almost always takes the disappointment better than the parents.
People who are racist or try to make something into a race issue. (Did you expect this one?) One day a coworker told me that he offered to help someone and she replied with "I don't need your kind of help." Now, this is rude in general, but it was a white woman who responded like that to a black man (the employee). Racism is alive and well, unfortunately. I told someone we were out of Addy but there were other dolls that looked kind of like Addy downstairs and she replied angrily "Oh, so all the black dolls are downstairs??" Um, no. That is not what I said at all. Get over yourself and stop trying to make a problem where there isn't.
Also people who need to get over themselves are people who try to argue with employees over things related to AG. We work here, and most of us have a pretty vast knowledge of the company/items. People try to question things I say and it annoys me because I can nearly guarantee that I know a lot more than you do about AG. I have to be polite about you being wrong too, because I don’t want any manager to overhear me being rude to a customer, even if they deserve it. I personally despise that dumb saying “The customer is always right".
Customers who ask for something and walk away from where I left them. This is especially annoying and frustrating on the weekend and other busy days. I can see hundreds of people over the day, I don’t have the time, nor the ability, to memorize who asked what question. Stay where I leave you, because I am not going to run around trying to find you. Also, don’t ask for a manager and walk away. I told a lady who asked for a manager that it might take a minute or two for a manager to arrive because it was very busy and she rolled her eyes and walked away even though I had already called for a manager. I’m trying to help, don’t walk away/be rude. You waste everyone’s time when you do that.
Girl of the Year – Here are things, mostly questions, that relate to GOTY that get annoying.
Asking us who the new GOTY will be before she is released. As mentioned above, we CANNOT and WILL NOT tell you.
Asking us for previous GOTY items. I am constantly asked for Makenna and Saige. We don’t have their stuff and even if for some reason we did, we can’t sell it. We do, however, continue to sell both of their movies and books.
People who don’t understand the blasted Girl of the YEAR concept. YEAR, not yearS. One year. That is all. One year.January 1st - December 31st. 365 days and then she's gone forever (except for ebay or something like that).
People who wait until the last week to get the GOTY stuff. The items are all mostly gone and you’ll be left with nothing. American Girl stops producing stuff and sending it within the last two or so weeks.
On the flip-side of the late-comers, there are the people who storm the doors on January 1st, when they have over 300 other days to get the new GOTY. There is plenty of the GOTY to last. It isn't a one-day deal. Your kid doesn't have to get her the first day. It won’t make her a loser at school.
People who say the GOTY’s name wrong. Please know who you are talking about when you want to buy her.
So quite frankly, this was a bit of a rant. I am not exempt from asking stupid questions in stores, but those employees can write their own blog post about it ;)
