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Why being formal in SL as rl like staff. It is so rediculous


Linda Brynner
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Ok i have had it... formal greeters... and auto greetings with a sheer rain of drop down menus offering all kinds of unasked things. 

One of these days that i look at SL and think... this is becoming really bloody stupido. Why would anyone think it is a joy for visitors being so formal with rl staff like speech and a rain of menu's.

Being very exploring i seem to have bumped into many places lately with an official greeter, very forced upon dress codes... ugh, what a mess.

IM: Hello... i am ... how can i help you. Ughh that is so cold... I know i am here and i can find my way ty. I mean there are so many warm friendly ways to greet ppl, like. Hey how are you, thanks for coming here, have fun. Why being so chilly formal. They should be grateful i was coming since SL is so empty on many places, instead of playing 'sim god'.

This is SL.. have fun. Be spontaneous and be silly even. 

Why being so formal whilst being staff. To create a distance, formal play? Most silly...

I am very outspoken so i just respond how i feel about it. I don't very much care if anybody owns 100 sims and is on the showcase, or just has a parcel. In a case i was teleported home when i outspoke my annyance to the greeter, and asked him why being so formal. Dunno if i am banned or not, but no matter, that is SL, i don't mind.

I just don't understand why being chilly rl like formal and drop all kinds of things i don't want is supposed to be fun... 

Hm yes, we could say i am a bit annoyed today. But i am not at some official rl place, sjees. I was in SL.

 

 

 

 

 

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Linda, Linda!!  Careful you might become my hero! :matte-motes-big-grin:  I get so annoyed at all this attempt at customer service that so many shop or venue owners put forth.  Auto-greeters are the absolute worse.  They show me exactly how much the owner thinks of their customers and patrons......put some bot at the entrance to "Greet" everyone, give help directions, offer note cards (some even give notecards without even offering), or put "Join my group" in your face.  How is that, in any way, good customer service?  How does that show in any way how much you care about your customers?  It's nothing but laziness and, in many ways, contempt for your customers.  It's better service to have signs prominantly placed around with all that "useful" information.........at least they aren't taking you for a fool.

 

And on that same tact.  The real greeters (manned by someone actively interacting with customers and actually sitting at a computer somewhere out in Internetland) are not much better anymore.  They have the emotes, gestures, canned responses to questions.  No one is spontaneous anymore.  No one really cares (or, at least, they don't appear to care) if the person they are speaking to is helped or not.  The fun is going away quickly in SL.......it's all about "business" and not anything about fun.

 

When I came to SL dancing was the easiest and quickest way to earn Lindens for spending.  I was a dancer (and hostess, and even a manager) at various clubs in SL.  I made a boatload of Lindens just chatting.  Chatting about almost anything from politics to how crappy the weather was........even a little about what I was "supposed" to be chatting about.  I was free to ab-lib.  My job was to get people to have fun.  When they had fun they spent Lindens and my bosses where happy as pigs in sh**.............and I raked in the Lindens with tips.  I quit dancing about 4 years ago because all the clubs wanted me to "emote"..........wanted me to fake my chat. 

 

It's a shame.

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I have also worked dancing & other hostess type jobs... originality & sponteineity are two undervalued characteristics sought in employees at 'retail and/or commercial and/or entertainment' establishments. so, how fast can you fire off greeter emotes? ........... :-/ Working in SL ain't what it used to be, baby.... seriously tho.... makes me want to find my way back to sandboxes like a noob again... almost better to deal with a birage of griefers than chat auto robo spam.... at least the grifers entertain me >:)

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a simple "Hi Ceka Welcome" can go so much farther than actual contact with me on my way in..

people don't want to be disturbed on their way in..

i used to tell the dancers that worked for us to not IM the customers on the way in..give a nice welcome on the way in..because most times they are in IM's with people already before they got here..let them settle in ..if they want to get in IM's they will IM you..

still there were some that would stray..they woudl easily be caught because sooner or later some guy is going to say..will you tell your dancers to stop spamming me..

all i had to get was the names and then send them back to school for breaking the rules lol

i didn't tolerate irritating the customers with some common rule i asked of people working for us not to break..

people come to relax and enjoy themselves..not be spammed by some girl here for the lindens..

lindens are nice but if you are not working here for the experience as well and here to pund our customers..then you need to find the kabillion other places that promote that kind of thing..

ya greeters for us were training to make the stage..so it was part of answering questions when asked and to also make sure everyone had a nice welcome coming in..

any bot like cheapness things going on i found out about that were irritating the customers and they were sent back to day one of the school..

sometimes the simplest things can wreck  a place or make a place depending on how much detail is paid to them..

treating people like cattle is not gonna leave an impression.. them wanting to come back for more than just the music and entertainment can be a nice compliment..

i'm so tired of robotic flybynight cattle farming on the grid..

 

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Hey Linda,

I agree with you totally concerning auto-greeters/menus/group invites, etc.  It seems you can hardly visit a store without being bombarded with junk IM's. 

With regard to dress codes - well, I don't know what regions you are visiting but its definitely their (the land owner/renter) prerogative to specify a dress code that blends with the role-play going on - even if its role-play in the sense of a "formal ballroom" or "biker" or grunge" or "medieval". 

Many people find it fun and relaxing to dress up and dance around a ballroom all the while talking and treating others with more formal manners than are common today.  Really, can you fault them for that?  If you don't want to interact that way then go someplace else.

I agree, there are friendly ways to encourage patrons to participate and there are a lot of power tripping snots - I once showed up at Frank's Place (a well known ballroom dance place) as a Greenie in formal wear, they put up with me and my friend for a bit but eventually asked us to leave LOL.  SL is not so different than RL in that way - the land owners' rules still apply - you can argue all you want but it won't get you anywhere.

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formality is one sign of professionalism, but it's not the best one, and certainly not the only one.

that said, the way an auto greeter should work is greet you once and tell you where to get more information.... no dialogs, no inventory offers, just a simple welcome, and directions to an info board/kiosk if you need it...

and the stupid thing should at least TRY to remember if it already greeted me, and not message me every time I happen to walk by. in fact it shouldn't bother doing any of that until I actually enter.

 

these are not hard tasks for a script, and they show that you value your customers enough to not waste their time or pester them for attention.

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There are two different issues here... one I agree with, one I don't.

Yes, being bombarded by IMs, notecards, landmarks, group invitations and so on upon teleporting, is a bit too much, and many owners would do well to set up their landing area so that all those things are only offered on demand... I mean, even the newest of noobs know how to click a panel that says 'Click here to get our [whatever]'.

But formality, in and on itself, is another thing, and I confess to being more than a bit puzzled about your annoyance. See, if you arrived at a place and the staff didn't greet you at all, and continued to do so after you greeted them, and still did so even if you asked them something, or answered with just the barest mininum info... now, THAT would be coldness. But you get riled up about someone saying 'Hello, how can I help you?' Jeez.... I hope that was just an exaggeration, because if it wasn't, then I honestly think it's not the other person who has an attitude problem.

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there's a language barrier here I'm sure... I believe the actual complaint is against "formalism" (similar to the religious variety).... the idea that it's required to do certain things, even when they really aren't necessary

but the distinction is probably hard enough for native english speakers

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Hi Linda:  With regard to the avatar greeter (operated by a live person), you gave him immediate feedback.  That is perfect.  Different shops are managed and operated differently.  Some have live avatars greeting and assisting customers (when asked), others require their shop models to stand silently on pose stands.  The best feedback in a 'live' situation is immediate feedback.

The auto-greeters can be annoying particularly if they keep dropping down because you have not stepped away from the landing point.  Generally, one click gets rid of them and sometimes I do like the LM option if only because it obviates having to create one.

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Oh automated greeters are the worst... I find them super annoying too. The whole idea of a greeting is to be friendly & connect with another human -- make that person feel welcome. Spammy tinned recordings and automations definitely do not do it.

In regard to formal language, I think it is best to quickly adjust to the cadence of the person you are talking with... if they are behaving very business-like & serious, I can follow suit... if they act casual & human I'll naturally do the same, if they're talking like a lolcat well hai i can speek dat wai 2 =^-^=

I prefer to be fun & maybe even a bit silly in SL. Formal can sometimes be very appropriate here, say if you are contacted by an educator for a development contract or something, but for general purpose? Why carry a workplace atmosphere into a game environment where people are here to have some fun? Gotta learn to be appropriate to the situation.

 

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I agree about the automated "greeters". Sadly the grid is now filled with these atrocities. I hate getting bombed with dialogs, notecards, LMs, etc when I've barely had a chance to set foot inside the place, much less giving me enough time for everything to rez so I can determine if I even want to hang around.

I think it's become a cheap, lazy way for merchants to appear to offer customer service without actually doing so.

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We don't' use an auto greeter, I personally don't like them. But I do try to contact someone when they come on the sim, especially if they are in our shop. If they are within chat range I just talk to them in open chat. Like:  Hello, welcome to Kustom Klassics, is there anything I can help you with?". If I IM them I normally say " Hello, I am Vladi I work here at Kustom Klassics, is there anything I can help you with?".  If they say no, just looking I respond with "Ok, feel free to look around and if you have any questions feel free to contact me."

I fail to see what is wrong with trying to help someone that comes to your sim? If they are looking for something specific normally I can show them where its at or let them know we don't have it and suggest a place to look.

What drives me nuts is when someone just flat out ignores you. How hard is it to say "no thanks just looking". If I IM you or talk to you in open chat and get ignored a number of things enter my mind. You are here to grief us, steal something or you are bot of some type.

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....or you are currently busy in a conversation, or have a lot of group chat IMs coming in and did not even see the local chat or attempts to IM.

I miss IMs and local chat all the time.  I believe respectable account owners missing IMs and local chat are much more common than griefers, and copybotters or bots who visit shops.

 

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Auto-greeters are annoying 99% of the time. In places where they pop a dialog every freaking time I enter it's especially annoying. It's not hard to make them remember that I've already been spammed with pointless, useless dialog menus and refrain from doing so in the future.

The really bad thing is that you cannot block them without blocking the owner.

Human "greeters" are a different animal. Some of them are ok, most of them are not. It's akin to walking into a store and some random clerk asking whether I need help. If I'd need help, I'd ask. Since I didn't ask, I don't need help. A simple "Hi and welcome to..." in local is plenty sufficient. There's no need to get private.

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I personally prefer formal to informal.

I rarely use first names and hate total strangers or greeters talking to me like I'm an old friend or a 14 year old.

Even some people I have known for a long time will still be adressed by their last name.

I am the same in RL.

But I am rather old fashioned.

Either way, some people prefer formal, some informal.

It is impossible to make everyone happy.

If I visit a shop and a greeter or shopassistant says something like ; "Hey hello! Wassup!! Welcome to the shop, you cool?" followed by some annoying gestures or smilies, I am out of there.

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Linda!!! YAY!!!!!

I also really hate these things in longstanding businesses, but I often think the new merchant is just trying to be there 24/7 in some way. I would like to think that with enough time and customer complaints, they would adjust the way they say hi.

I personally like those pics on the wall that tell me if they are online or not. I'm assuming they can set them to give a false response if they want some peace. I hope so. That and a fast rezzing teleport map, signpost and wall of ads smack bang in front of me when I land and all is good.

 

 

 

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Never going to please everyone.  If I'm at my shop and I say "Hi, welcome, shout if you need anything", apparently someone will feel "bothered" and never visit again.  Say nothing and someone will feel ignored and not valued and never visit again.

When I use live shop staff who might use a gesture to say the same welcome, to save typing it over and over, they're accused of being impersonal, that visitor will feel undervalued and leave and never visit again.  If the shop staff ignore them, the visitor will feel undervalued, leave and never visit again.

When hosting, say hello to someone in IM, you're accused of spamming their inbox, they feel bothered, will leave and never visit again.  Ignore them and leave them in their cybersex with their partner and they feel undervalued as a guest, will leave and never visit again.

It seems obvious to me, that the declining numbers are nothing to do lag, object of what to do in SL, technology, or whatever else is the popular issue, the real problem is all these people getting bothered or undervalued and leaving and never returning again!

The solution is so obvious, remove all of the people from SL and that will stabilise everything, there will be no further decline in online concurrency. 

Aside from the obvious poke at humour there, mention of "it all should be written on signs" isn't  always the answer.  People don't always read, they don't always find it and it assumes that it is translated into their language.  Some of my shop staff are fluent in other languages, I am not.  Their ability to assist customers goes way beyond any sign I could ever put up.  Plus it offers the amusing moments like when one Portuguese customer was using a translator, assuming the member of staff to be English.  When it quickly became obvious she could help better if they both used their common native language.  In no way could a sign have created the immense sense of relief that customer experienced when she could talk through a configuration issue with someone in her own language.

One size doen't fit all.

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