I think I may be done working retail...........

[novajeanjellybean]

I work in customer service for a bank. I have no problem with complaints about fees and other legitimate things. But the ridiculous things like the color of the website I have no patience for. I have a really good solution to screaming.....I put you on hold.....keep on screaming.....you will sit there till you can speak rationally or you can call back. We get the crazies all the time. They never cease to amaze me with the things they come up with

I am also a waitress so I literally deal with people all day everyday. I totally understand

 

[DisMN]

I work in customer service for a bank. I have no problem with complaints about fees and other legitimate things. But the ridiculous things like the color of the website I have no patience for. I have a really good solution to screaming.....I put you on hold.....keep on screaming.....you will sit there till you can speak rationally or you can call back. We get the crazies all the time. They never cease to amaze me with the things they come up with

I am also a waitress so I literally deal with people all day everyday. I totally understand

Would be great to be able to put a screamer on hold!

With my screamer I just kept eye contact with him....and made a big effort to show absolutetly NO EMOTION whatsoever and let him rant. I think I hoped to freak him out with the no reaction, no emotion bit but I probably just ended up looking insane.

 

[MrsPete]

Yesterday was probably the worst day I've ever worked in 30 plus years of retailWe were mobbed, so lines were long. I lost track of how many people stopped at the jewelry counter just to yell at me about the long lines at the other registersOne lovely customer even called me stupid for not leaving jewelry customers to ring him up in the men's dept.
I know people get frustrated and want to vent, but I don't think I would ever berate a sales associate, especially if their only fault was that they were the first convenient person to yell at.
I ended up going to Target on my lunch break. I purchased 3 pags of mini chocolate bars and 2 containers. I put the chocolate filled containers on my counters hoping that customers wouldn't be able to scream at me if they were eating chocolate.
This has probably been the worst holiday season I've ever worked

That's all horrible. I blame it on a couple things, all working together to create an awful new mentality among the general public:

1. People have less money, and they're stressed about it. Here at Christmas, they think they should be able to spend like they've done in the past -- to continue to over-blow everything for the holidays -- even though on a different level, they know they shouldn't spend this way, they feel pressured to continue. And they take this out on other people.

2. Same argument for time. Even with all our time saving devices, we're busier than previous generations, and it's making us stressed -- and we're taking it out on other people.

3. People are becoming used to saying whatever they please online without reprecussions, and that's spilling over into everyday life. Sociologists say that people today have fewer close real-life relationships than people did a decade or two ago, and it shows in our collective people skills. We as a society just aren't as "nice" as we used to be.

4. So many heros/movie stars/etc. are admired for their "do your own thing" attitude: Don't let anyone get the better of you, don't let anyone else have the last word, you should always get your way, it doesn't matter if you play by the rules or ignore the rules of common courtesy. Hey, people, 24 is a TV show -- you shouldn't act like Jack Bauer in real life. When George Lopez zings people with one-liners, it's a sit-com. When you do it to a stranger, it's just plain rude.

5. Too many kids (who are now adults) have never been told no by their parents, and they think they're entitled to anything they want now. These people seem to think that anyone who's working in a store, etc. is a servant -- even a slave -- to them. Yes, retail workers are there to help you, but that doesn't mean you can abuse them.

None of these things make it okay to mistreat others, but I do think these are some of the reasons behind the collective increase in rudeness in our society.

 

[novajeanjellybean]

Would be great to be able to put a screamer on hold!

With my screamer I just kept eye contact with him....and made a big effort to show absolutetly NO EMOTION whatsoever and let him rant. I think I hoped to freak him out with the no reaction, no emotion bit but I probably just ended up looking insane.

Yes silence works very well also. I do that too. "Sir I'm still here, I was just quietly listening"

 

[Buckalew11]

I don't work retail but I do work with people everyday. If someone yells at me, it better be after the cut when my scissors are put down, lol.

No, once I had a lady yell at me. And she did it before a cut and color. She was a client of at least 20 years.

And guess what she was mad about?? I was going to WDW to see my parents...my dad, who was dying of cancer. And she was mad because I had not told her. I'd just made my reservations the night before. I was leaving the next day (after her appointment) and returning the day before her next one (which was a week later as she was a *friday lady*) And she had the nerve to yell and scream at me for this.

I did her cut and color and did them just as well as ever. But I told her to never come back and to find someone else to do her hair from then on. She begged me to just put it behind us and go on...uh, no, for 2 hours I heard hateful things from her about the trip. no thanks. The door was opened and I was running through it.

People are rude and crazy sometimes.
And in retail they do not care because they have no type of relationship with you for the most part. In hospitals they are just usually stressed out and scared and entitled too, I'm sure. At least, for the most part, people are really nice to me. But I'm armed with sharp scissors and hot irons. LOL

 

[John VN]

DW and I had a retail/service business years ago back north and she has now been in retail here in SW Fl. for the past 20+ years.

According to her, customers this year have been the nastiest of all times.

 

[Kteacher]

I just don't understand how anyone could be so mean to a virtual stranger for no reason.This has definitely been the absolute worst I've ever seen customers treat us. I'll stick it out through the holidays because I've worked at this store for 15 years, and I'm friendly with mgt. I wouldn't leave them with just 3 weeks to go before Christmas. I guess I'm going to need to buy more chocolate

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have been blessed that my retail gigs were only during the summer.

Bless all of you working this holiday season.

I had interesting customers in the summer and one really unique return attempt, but otherwise, aside from their crankiness from the humidity, they weren't all that bad.

 

[cepmom]

Sorry you had a rough day. I've worked retail on and off for about 10 years. People can be such jerks. The only thing worse was when I worked at a bank as a teller. I'll never do that again.

I used to work at a big baby store. We had a woman come in one day with a broken stroller. She had bought it almost two years before, and she said she bought it at our store. Apparently she had taken it over a curb, and a piece broke off, and her kid almost fell out of the stroller. She wanted us to replace it with a new stroller of her choosing.

Okay,

A.) Seriously? You bought it almost two years ago! We didn't take returns without a receipt, and nothing over 90 days. WTH makes you think we're going to give you a new stroller just because you say so?

B.) There's a buckle. Granted, it's a two year old (cheap) stroller, so it's only a 3 point harness, but it's there. If your kid was buckled in the stroller he shouldn't fall out of it. That's why there's a buckle.

C.) Remember how I said it was a cheap stroller? There's a reason it's cheaper than the expensive strollers. It's not going to hold up as well over time. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

D.) How do we know you haven't done something to break the piece yourself? Like slam the trunk of your car on it?

We told her we would be happy to provide her with the manufacturer's information so that she could take it up with them. She proceeded to have a SCREAMING fit in the store. We tried to kill her baby! What were we thinking?! This was the worst customer service she'd ever received! We were all idiots! Our store manager came out and tried to talk to her. It got worse, and she finally asked the lady to leave. This was the only time I've ever seen that happen at this store. We usually bent over backwards to keep people happy.

Well, she called the district manager, who actually sided with our store manager. Then she called corporate and complained to them. She told them how mean we were, how awful it was, how she was just a victim in all of this (bull). They made us give her a new stroller of her choosing. We were so angry that they didn't stand up for us! This woman was a tyrant! All of the employees kept their cool, smiled through their gritted teeth and put up with her raging at us over something that was not our fault! We followed the rules that the store provided us with. And they sided with her?! Jerks.

When she came back to get her replacement, you could smell the smug on her. We gave her the stupid stroller. I carried it to her car. I wanted to hit her over the head with it.

lilybrooke
let me guess.... Babies R Us?? I work there now and could have told your story myself We get people like this all the time. retail sucks.....I am so done with working retail and getting paid squat to put up with nasty, entitled, rude people

 

[Maleficent13]

I always say that everyone should be required to work one year in retail. I guarantee everyone would be a lot nicer in general.

I always loved Macy's jewelry counter at about 4:30pm Christmas Eve. Good times, good times.

Hugs to those still in the trenches.

 

[bumbershoot]

When George Lopez zings people with one-liners, it's a sit-com. When you do it to a stranger, it's just plain rude.

My mom was fairly sure that the nastiness in the show Friends was a sign of bad things on the horizon. And she was NOT one of those "the world was better back then" types...she had story after story of how crappy the world was in the 50s and 60s, and of course she knew I'd read the Jungle about the time in this country before that, etc etc. But something about the way the "friends" talked to each other in Friends just really really bugged her. So she likely would have agreed with you on that one.



The receipts JCP gives have a code to take a survey, which are linked to your transaction. The associates have urged me to fill out the surveys and they put their names down (though in the survey there's no place to mention their names!) so I've figured they get kudos through the surveys?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I haven't worked in retail, but I have worked as a waitress and as a theme park employee (at Disney and Worlds of Fun.) This summer was my first time working rides with a height requirement because when I did attractions at Disney it was all in Fantasyland. Man was that an eye opener.

My favorite was the guy whose kid was a good 6 inches too short. Yeah, I think we should staff a greeter at the entrance of any ride with a height requirement, but we don't have the staffing for it. I'm sorry you waited in line, but come on, there is a huge sign out side with the height requirement. It was obvious from square one your kid was too short. He got really pissy with me, screaming how the kid should get to ride because they waited in line. Sorry, but waiting in line does not make safe for your kid. He literally told me I was doing a "terrible thing" and when I tried to apologize he told me to "shut the **** up." I found out later I could have kicked him off the ride. I really should have.

Another one that was awful was at Disney. Guy had a GAC that said use standard wheelchair entrance. I was working FP return at Philhar, so I pointed him to the next line over. NOTE: The wait was 15, so the wait for one show. It would have been the same wait regardless of line. He would not accept that he could not come in FP. I told him if he felt it was not an appropriate accommodation he could go to GR and get it fixed, but this is what they said. (I will sometimes let it slide if I think there is a genuine need, this was not one of htose cases.) He literally stood out there in the cold and rain for 20 minutes trying to stare me down while his poor wife sat in the wheelchair. The girl at standby asked me why I didn't just let him in. I told her he was doing that because he had learned bullying gets him his way and if I give in he will continue to do this at every ride. About half an hour after this started, he asks me to call my coordinator who backed me up. We sent him to GR and called ahead, so they did nothing for him. What was crazy is he could have ridden the ride twice by the time he finally left the entrance. It was nice to be backed up by GR as that does not always happen.

It just never ceases to amaze me people's attitudes. Yelling at the CM does not make the ride safe for your kid who is too short, or the ride work when it is broken. No, I will not run Dumbo in the lightning just because you pitched a hissy. Working with the public requires a backbone and some degree of insanity.

 

[Minnie]

Years ago I worked customer service so yep I have a "few" ummm read many stories of fun customers....

But when shopping in Ambercombie this weekend the so called "rules" were rediculous! I picked up the two shirts DS wanted for Xmas and got in the line that was nearly thru the store If the store wasn't 1.5hrs away I would haven't even gotten in line They had 2 registers open with 4 other people working in the store. I asked one about opening another register and was told that company policy required "x" # of people in line.... well I think we'd been lined outside for it to be any longer He asked the manager who laughed and said wait for it "NO"

Seriously it was more important for all 4 to restack clothes rather than open another register???? Customers can be demanding but store "rules" can be rediculous too.... Heck he wouldn't even let the employee fold and place the dang clothes in the bag to speed up the process.... WTH!

 

[bumbershoot]

He asked the manager who laughed and said wait for it "NO"

He did the "wait for it" thing? Ugh!

 

[wowsmom]

OP! I'm there with ya!!! We haven't gotten to that point yet, but I can feel it coming.

I work @ HMV (which is like FYE, but smaller), and sometimes the people that some in looking for stuff are downright horrible!! a lot of the time people come in asking me if we have some obscure bands CD and when we don't have it they somehow think it's MY fault and flip their lids on ME.
It makes me laugh how shoppers always think it's the sales associates fault when something is sold out or unavailable

i used to work at a movie theatre as well, i got berated on a regular basis if a movie was sold out, if the theatre was too crowded for someone's liking, if the popcorn was too salty/not salty enough....you name it, someone yelled at me for it.

i'm sure there are issues like that with pretty much every job where you have to deal with the general public.

I used to work at a movie theater as well and remember when Rambo came out (yes, it was a long time ago!). This couple showed up about 5 minutes before showtime. I told them it was sold out. "What do you mean sold out?" I said "it's sold out...there are no seats available". "What do you mean sold out?" So I said "Sir, there are 452 seats in the theater and there are 452 butts in those 452 seats!"

I also worked retail for many years - at my parents' store, growing up, but also as an adult. I'm very glad I'm not in retail any more and I always try to be really really nice to an employee who is having a bad day or has had a rude customer yelling at them. Same with waiters.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I know exactly how you feel. Yesterday I got yelled at by a customer, because she didn't want to wait in line, and there was only one person in front of her.

Some people just have no patience.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

And to customers like you - THANK YOU. For you I would bend over backwards & change the rules to make you happy.

ITA. If you are rude to me, I will do the bare minimum I am required to do to serve you, whereas I will be extra helpful to those that are nice and treat me with respect.

Something else I hate, and I've only read through the second page, so I don't know if it's been mentioned yet. Cell phones. I think it's extremey rude for someone to be on the phone while being waited on.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

i'm sorry, OP, that you had to go thru that.

i hate customer service in general. people are just rude, in general. idk what happened but it seems within the last 15-20 years people have just gotten more and more rude to one another.