The people who work at GNC are either paid solely on commission or waterboarded for weak sales. Every time I go to one of these stores, the clerks are about as subtle as Army recruiters or gypsies. Half the time they'll follow you around making overly personal chit-chat about your body type. They always throw in a few mentions of their "superior" multivitamins, too (total bullshit -- buy a generic multivitamin and save 15 bucks). Like true carnies, they try to rope the customer into spending way more than necessary with a variety of low-grade scare tactics ("Well, that powder is okay, I guess, but if you want REAL results, you'll get the one for $59.99 instead because it has more of the essential amino acids and blah-blah-blah...")
Um. Excuse me. If the less expensive product is somehow inferior, then why the hell are you guys selling it in the first place?
Huh?
That's why I usually order supplements off the Internet. However, one night around Thanksgiving, I needed to replenish my stash and didn't feel like waiting around for a week to get it shipped. I stopped at this GNC on the way home from work and am pleased to report that these guys got it right. The kid working there was polite and didn't creep me out by calling me "guy" or "buddy" and making unsolicited comments about my arms. He simply let me buy the product I requested and wished me a good evening.
That's all it takes to get five stars these days: Boundaries, Respect and Courtesy.
Note to everyone in retail management - stop forcing your employees to stall customers and use other poorly masked carnie tactics. Just repeat after me: Boundaries, Respect and Courtesy.
Follow this mantra and you will survive the scourge of Internet sales. read more