Do you have a retail pet peeve? I’ll show you my list, if you show me yours…

The Word Detective, an online site for the derivation of phrases and idioms gives us this history: “The precise derivation of peevish is uncertain, but it may be related to the Latin perversus, meaning reversed, perverse. The original meaning of peevish was simply silly or foolish, but by about 1530 it had acquired the sense of irritable, ill-tempered or fretful. Surprisingly, it then took several hundred years to develop peeve as the word for the irritating agent or action. Pet peeve, meaning the one thing that annoys you more than anything else, first appeared around 1919.  The pet (in the sense of favorite) formulation probably owes its popularity, and longevity to its mild perversity (favorite annoyance is a bit oxymoronic) as well as its snappy alliteration."

The Pet Peeve Hall of Fame

1) Overly air conditioned stores: As in, I don’t want to feel like I’m shopping in Gristede’s frozen food aisle for a Ralph Lauren.

2)Directional signage that is unclear: As in, an exit is not a restroom, is not the men’s department…ahhh, how’d I get in Junior’s again?

3) Items that are not priced correctly: As in, this didn’t belong on the clearance rack, or it’s not 35 percent off, it’s just 10 percent off, sorry...deal with it!

4) Sloppy departments: As in, if your staff can’t pick it up off the floor, fold it or hang it correctly, I don’t pick up anyone else’s dirty socks either...no, you deal with it!

5) Spotlights that are not directed at merchandise: As in, the fortune that is invested in lighting only to have it aimed at the floor, or at an empty wall because someone moved a rack or a mannequin.

6) Having to ask for a box, tissue paper or gift bag: As in, it’s not our problem it’s a gift, thats what stationary stores are for.

7) Escalators that don’t work: As in, am I going up the downstairs? Which way is up?…ahhh how’d I get in Junior’s again, is this a scam?

8) Un-walkable aisles: As in, yeah we have tons of merchandise, but unless you have a machete, don’t even bother.

9) Messy dressing rooms: As in broken hangers, torn bits of paper and tags, cracked mirrors, broken latches and piles of unfolded merchandise do not a great customer make.

10) Bored staff: As in, I don’t really know if we have any of those, or where that is. Now a true life experience at Macy’s (FYI Macy’s has nine floors including their cellar.):
Me: “Pardon me; do you know where the hosiery department is?”
Employee: “Yeah, I think it’s somewhere upstairs.”

What are your pet peeves?

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger