When I walk into a restaurant or store, I don’t want a canned greeting. Having workers yell “welcome to Moe’s,” or watching Texas Roadhouse waiters have to stop waiting on people to do a line dance makes me want to leave.
I like Jordan, the drive-through guy at my Starbucks, who does funny voices, but also actually has a real human interaction with me. I don’t, however, need him to write a message on my cup because it’s a corporate rule.
These forced sayings, routines, and interactions aim to boost brand consistency and create a distinctive and memorable experience, but that’s not always a positive.
“When they create scripts they’re essentially trying to mandate behavior — but it backfires more often than it doesn’t,” Experience Investigators CEO Jeannie Walters told Restaurant Dive. “It’s pretty obvious when somebody is not talking like a human would talk.”
It’s easy to understand why chains want friendly workers and shareable moments, but there’s a better way to make them happen, and Trader Joe’s may have found a better way.
Trader Joe’s doesn’t have to fake it
Retailers spend millions each year training associates on customer interactions because repeat shoppers are heavily influenced by service quality.
Many chains try to force their workers to be happy, or at least act like they’re happy, while Trader Joe’s workers seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs. The grocery store chain topped Forbes’ annual list of best employers in 2025.
Unlike Target’s new structured greeting policy, which mandates that its frontline workers interact with customers, Trader Joe’s has created working conditions where it happens naturally.
“Trader Joe’s hires people who are comfortable talking to customers. They hire people who are naturally warm,” Walters said.
When employees are naturally friendly and people-oriented, brands don’t need to give them scripts or routines. Instead, brands should provide their staff with guidance about the type of experience they need to deliver, she noted.
More Retail:
- Coca-Cola quietly hints at reinventing previously failed flavor
- Bath & Body Works quietly gains a competitive advantage
- Dollar General brings back old prices
“You’ve got to give them the principle, and then let them have some freedom in terms of how they express that,” CX Accelerator Executive Director Nate Brown told Restaurant Dive.
That creates natural interaction, something Target’s new policy might struggle to do.
Here’s how Target’s policy works
Target recently implemented a new 10-4 program, as USA Today reported.
Here’s how it works:
- Target employees who are within 10 feet of customers should smile, make eye contact, wave, and use welcoming body language.
- Target employees within 4 feet of customers should personally greet shoppers, smile, and offer to help.
“We know when our guests are greeted, feel welcomed, and get the help they need that translates to guest love and loyalty,” Adrienne Costanzo, Target’s executive vice president and chief stores officer, told the newspaper.
Walmart does not have a similar rule, and no longer employs greeters to welcome people to its stores.
That’s a change the chain made a few years ago.
“Walmart has been eliminating greeters and replacing them with ‘customer hosts,’ who have expanded responsibilities, such as taking care of security or assisting shoppers,” NPR reported in 2019.
Trader Joe’s keeps it real
Back in my days running Time Machine Hobby, a large toy store in Manchester, Conn., we practiced the Trader Joe’s model without knowing that we were doing that. Most of our employees were customers and the staff liked working there.
Customers were greeted because we liked most of them, and new shoppers were welcomed because we legitimately liked showing off the store. It wasn’t a policy of interaction, it was natural, and John Abraham, writing for the Arizona State University Center for Leadership, thinks that’s the correct approach.
“When customer experience standards become too rigid and scripted, interactions that should feel personal can lose their authenticity — leaving customers with an awkward feeling at best,” he shared.
He believes that you can’t predict what customers will need, so scripting an interaction actually makes it harder for employees to solve problems.
“When customer experience standards try too hard to script how an individual interaction should play out, they leave less flexibility for employees to deal with the nuances associated with each customer’s unique situation. You can’t predict every customer’s needs — and often, customers won’t distinguish between an employee who is not allowed to adapt their approach and one who is simply unwilling to help,” he added.
People also often know when they’re hearing a script.
“Customers in hotels and restaurants can quickly discern when an employee is following a service script,” according to a Cornell University research paper.
A study of 2,407 U.S. hospitality customers, done for the paper, found that many customers (almost half of the sample) focus on the treatment aspect of scripts—that is, how they are treated by the employee—and have a generally negative view of scripted services.
“Fake interest is not good customer service. Rote delivery of catch phrases is not good customer service,” according to Better Retailing. “The best retail employees are those who are authentically engaged with customers without spending too long to the disservice of other customers.”
Related: 143-year-old supermarket chain closing stores nationwide
