Rude Customers

[CF'er]

My DSil is a cashier at a local supermarket that has the discount cards. Her biggest pet peeve are people shoving the cards in her face before she can even finish checking the current person out. She said some have nearly put her eye out shoving them at her.

She starts her new job in a school cafe at the beginning of the new school year.

 

[sleepydog25]

I have to vent. I work as a cashier at a store in my town, and I have to vent about certain customers.

1) If we need your phone number on a check, don't rufude, if it's "unlisted." We still need it, and your just wasting time. It's our stores policy to refuse checks if there's no phone number.

2) If you have expired coupons, don't get mad at the cashier for not accepting them, just because "the other cashiers don't check." Don't yell at me for doing my job. (I've been complained about for not accepting expired coupons.)

3) Don't get mad at me for not starting to ring up your order, when the order before your's is still being bagged.

4) Don't cut in front of employees in a check-out line, (usually self-checkout,) just because they work there. (Usually the employees are on break and only have a few minutes to eat.)

5) Don't complain about the cashiers being incompetent if they can't actually do something. I.E. - Check gift card balances, which is only available at customer service. Example -
Lady - Can you check the balance on this.
Cashier #1 - Only if you buy something, but they can check at customer service.
Lady - But I don't want to buy anything.
Cashier #1 - You don't have to, they can check at customer service.
Lady walks to a different register, has same conversation with the next cashier, then goes to customer service, complains, then leaves the store, I'm not sure if she ever checked the balance.

6) If a store is busy, don't try to get into a closed line. Yesterday I was closed, and was finishing the last order I had. A man came up with a basket.
Me - I'm sorry sir, I'm closed. (The lights off and everything.)
Man - Well I only have a few things.
Me - I'm sorry, I'm closed.
Man - The other lines are all long, you don't have a line, and I'm in a hurry.
You can all see how this is going. He ended up going through a different line. If a lines closed, it's closed. I was in a hurry to, since I had other things to do after work.

7) If you decide you don't want something, especially frozen or other cold foods, give it to an employee instead of just putting it in some random spot. It's annoying when we find boxes or cans in aisles they don't belong, but it's down right rude to leave food in a spot where it will go bad. A few days ago there was a box of popsicles out, and by the time we saw it, it had melted, and was no fun to clean.

8) Don't drink half a bottle of soda, and then leave the other half just because you don't want to pay for it.

I know all you DIS'ers don't do anything like this, at least I hope not, but I just had a looong day at work and wanted to vent. Thanks for listening.

Having worked retail many years in the past, I feel your pain. And as a compassionate shopper/customer, I never take out my frustrations or stupidity on a cashier, bagger, manager, etc. That's just rude. HOWEVER, I will say that requiring a phone number on a check doesn't pass the common sense test. If I wanted to cheat someone with a bad check, I'm not giving out my real number, anyway. Now, when asked I do provide my true cell phone number just to not stir the pot. But, it's just not ever made sense to require a phone number. The first thing the company is going to do is NOT call my home number, anyway; they're going to contact the bank who will send a nasty gram. . .phone number or not. Still, I want to offer my sincerest thanks for putting up with the occasional dud like myself.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

LisalovesPooh, our registers will block the sale automatically as soon as it hits the restricted time and we have no way to over ride the system, it makes it so much easier.

I think ours did that too.

However, it doesn't stop them from trying and then thinking it is *my* fault.

 

[MzDiz]

I was working at Pier 1 around Christmas many years back and a woman came in looking for a "creche". I had NO idea what that was. She asked me over and over, the exact same way - "Do you have a creche?" I asked her what it was and all she would say, while raising her hands up in the air, frustrated, was "a creche!" I asked my manager and he was clueless too. She finally declared us all idiots and stormed out of the store.
I went home and looked it up that night. Had she only said "nativity set" or "manger set" I would have been able to answer her.
At least I know what a creche is now... even if I've never heard anyone else use that word.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

My biggest pet peeve, parent's who turn us into the villians. Please, please, please, do not tell your uncontrollable child that the "mean" sales lady will yell at you. I'm not paid enough, nor is it my job to discipline your child.

What's even better is when you are the "mean" lady that want to babysit their kids while they shop. I once had a woman leave a young child, probably about 3, at the front of the store with me. She actually said "Stay here. This lady will look after you while I shop." Excuse me!? I am not your babysitter.
Well about a week later we started getting in these metal cages that could lock to hold pricey overstocked items. They were about 6ft tall and you could easily fit two people in them. One manager was so annoyed at all the little kids she wanted to leave the cages on the floor, empty, and tell the kids that if they misbehave they are going in the cages! I know she was only joking, but at the time it was pretty funny.

I agree with everything said on this thread. I was in retail for 5 years. That is 5 holiday seasons, 5 prom seasons, 5 dance recital seasons, and so on. (I worked in a beauty supply retail store.) Another type of customer that annoyed me was the ones who thought you were their personal shopper. I once had a lady call and ask if we carried some item. I said yes and I could hold one at the register for her to come in later. Then of course she read me off a list of things she wanted me to hold for her. I think not lady.

I remember once when our stores customer bathroom was out of service. Someone actually BROKE the toilet! Don't ask me how, I'd rather not know. Some lady asked for the bathroom & an employee told her how it was out of service. She straight out told us that she didn't care and she is going to use the employee bathroom then! It was in the backroom so she couldn't get to it. There were cameras back there, if corporate saw we would have been in serious trouble. Then this crazy lady actually tried to push open the backroom door! Oh my what a crazy lady.

 

[almacdonald]

I worked in a computer department while getting my Geology degree (important later in story 2). 2 conversations stand out in my mind...

(1)
Man (holding up 2 Cat5 cables): What's the difference between these?
Me: 4 feet. (one was 6' the other 10')
Man: No, they're different, one is grey the other is blue, they do different things, what is the difference?
Me: 4' and the color, they do exactly the same thing.
Man: No, there is a difference. Is there a GUY a could speak to about this?
Me: Sure, you can speak to Sheamus, he sells furniture.

(2)
Woman: I need something to put labels on cd's and make a printout for the cd cover.
Me (showing her a CD stomping kit): This kit will let you print cd labels and inserts for your CD cases.
Woman: How many lines of text will fit on the cd cover?
Me: Well, it depends on the font size you choose.
Woman: You mean you can't tell me how many lines of text i can put on the cd cover?!
Me: It depends on the font size you choose, bigger writing means fewer lines of text.
Woman: Well, i'm going to Radio Shack then.
Me: I can show you the manufacturer's website and we can contact them to get an exact number of lines of text.
Woman (loudly): You're saying that because you work in retail you're allowed to be stupid and know nothing about your products. I do data entry for an oil & gas company you know. I'm going to Radio Shack!
Me: The door is that way (pointing to the door)

Just who does she think she is treating me like garbage, thinking she's so much better cause she does data entry for an oil and gas company and i'm just "stupid retail"?! I was putting myself through university so that in 2 months I can give her data to enter. Seriously. What's wrong with people? I agree with the notion that every human being should have to work retail before being allowed in public! I have total respect for people who have the people skills to work in reatil and i'm thankful that those people do.

 

[Nancy]

hey, I once had a young man tell me I needed to go back to school and get a real job. (all because I refused him his alcohol sale cause he had no ID)

At this time I was already late 30's, and sorry but this is my real job, it pays my bills and feeds the kids.


My response back to him was that he needed to go back to school and learn some manners.

 

[MsLeFever]

Me: Yes.
Lady: (after I had scooped out the small chocolate) I'll just take the strawberry. How much will that be?

I was ready to scream by that point. LOL.

hahaha! Hey Simba where are you working?

 

[Planogirl]

You get rude people on the phone too.

I work for a huge firm that has to follow the law to the letter and I can't begin to count the number of people who tell me their interpretation of laws and how we are totally wrong. They also blame me for the company's policies as if I'm the one who personally decides these things.

A lady today was upset because the format of a report had changed. The data was exactly the same but the layout was different and she just knew that we were up to something. Bleh.

 

[MsLeFever]

Mom always said you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

I spent the day talking to transmissions companies. Not fun and I was stressed. But when I could take a deep breath, make a joke and get them on my side they were all willing to talk to me and make suggestions.

Ditto the LandsEnd web site which rocks. The on-line live chat guy helped me to look up an order from 2 years ago (I wanted the same size and couldn't remember what I'd ordered....) and I made sure to say thanks more than once.

My husband is a crabby type and yet constantly surprised when I get such good customer service!

 

[Meezers]

FYI...this doesn't just happen in retail.

I am actually a 9-1-1 operator and dispatcher.

Calls I have gotten....

"No I don't have the number for Pizza Hut..."

"No I can't tell you how to get to Virginia Beach (this is the metro Atlanta area)"

"No I don't know the price of that item at Walmart"

"No I am not faxing that paperwork for you"

"Ma'am I just gave you a map with detailed instructions....I am not going to read the map to you"

"No you may not shoot off fireworks in the city owned park (can you say liability?)"

"That area is not our jurisdiction....no...we can't make an exception"

"I realize it has been 30 minutes since your phone call....had you given me a valid phone number or answered your cell phone I could have told you the officers would be delayed due to an motor vehicle accident with a fatality...which takes precedence over your barking dog call..."

Yes...every day...we see and hear stupid people....help us all please....

 

[nja33]

There is one thing I hate more is when a customer is complaining about company POLICY and I finally get fed up or they ask for a manager and the manager comes over and makes YOU look like the idiot.

I had this happen to me on my last day at my most recent job (didn't know it was my last day but that's another thread). A lady came in and wanted to exchange something so I ask for the receipt. She doesn't have it because the shoes were ordered online and are the incorrect size. We rent the name of our store from the corporation so we can not take back things from the internet. It's policy. I had it drilled into my head from the moment I started working there. Anyway, the conversation goes a little something like this:

[Me]- I'm sorry we can't take do exchanges with internet items.
[Her]- But I just want to exchange for size.
[Me]- I understand that but it's company policy. We can't do exchanges with things from the internet.
[Her]- Well what if I say I just don't have a receipt?
[Me]- But you just showed me your internet receipt.
[Her]- *Continues to argue*
[Me]- I'm sorry but we rent the name. yada yada.

At this point I get tired of arguing so I call the manager over and explain the situation.

[Manager]- *looks over the boxes, nodding* We can do this. Just like a return without a receipt.

I also hate when I tell someone I'm closed when I'm about to go on break or leave for the night and they get an attitude about it. Especially when it's not busy. There is at least one other person open and they either don't have anyone or one other person so it's not like I'm sending you to wait 20 minutes.

And this post has taken me entirely too long to write because I keep getting distracted so just want to say I completely agree!

 

[Free4Life11]

2) If you have expired coupons, don't get mad at the cashier for not accepting them, just because "the other cashiers don't check." Don't yell at me for doing my job. (I've been complained about for not accepting expired coupons.)

Yesterday two girls handed me two coupons that expired on 10/27/05. I said "Oh I'm sorry, these expired" and pointed out the date. Then the girl glared at me and said in the rudest voice "Niiice, those were our Christmas presents."

Last week I watched a lady open a bag of cookies, pass one to each of her kids to see if they liked it, and when they nixed it she put the open bag back on the shelf. WTH?

WTH is right!

 

[disykat]

At least I know what a creche is now... even if I've never heard anyone else use that word.

LOL - I've always known nativity scenes as a "creche" because my mom called them that, but I ran into the same problem with "serviette" (sp?) once. I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about and neither did any of the gals I was working with. She finally rolled her eyes at us and told us "napkins", but had to make a big point about what idiots we were.

I had a friend who worked in a drug store in high school and her standard line when she didn't know what something was was "what are they used for?" She only made that mistake once with the word "prophylactic".

I think everyone should work retail or food service at least once in their lives.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I so agree with everything the OP said. I am cashier at Publix and totally know what you mean. People can be so rude, I hate when people make comments in line about me not knowing what I am doing just because the register is not working properly. I am sorry if things arent working properly... if they were... i would know what i am doing..lol! Retail can be crazy but I still look forward to going to work everyday.

Matt

 

[Kteacher]

Okay, I'll add one- If you write CHECK ID in the signature spot on the back of your credit card don't get mad at me when I ask to see your ID!

 

[tuckerkeys]

we have a sign shop. it scares me how many people out there are such morons! we smile and go out of our way to help them, but sometimes it's just so hard to just let it go when someone has been so rude to us for no reason! we just chalk it up to them having a bad day. i have learned A LOT from these rude and mean people, that i NEVER want to be like them, and i treat everyone i deal with with respect. I don't understand peoples reasonings though, if you come into my shop wanting something in a rush and are mean and rude to me, do you seriously think i want to actually help you in your situation??? we do, but i'd go so much more out of my way to help you if you were kind to me instead of rude & nasty..... i just don't get nasty people......

 

[Blondy876]

I worked in retail and customer service for just over 2 years. If I wasn't getting hit on I was getting yelled at. Not the right job for me. I don't know how you guys do it. I try to be as polite as possible or at least neutral. I just don't understand people who yell or curse etc. I guess that's just not my style.

 

[Tina]

I worked in a grocery store for 3 years when I was younger, so I'm totally feeling this thread. A large percentage of the general public are pretty horrible people.

I've had a grown man bring me (18 year old girl at the time) to tears over the beer on sale being out of stock. Hello? I'm just the new cashier fresh out of high school! I don't place the beer orders. He got so angry that I really thought he was going to hit me. Luckily, my manager heard him screaming at me and came rushing to the front of the store.

I hated when I was scheduled for 'leveling.' This is when all you do is straighten up the shelves, pull things to the front of the shelf, redistribute misplaced items, etc. You start at one end of the store and you're finished when you reach the other. At my store, it took about 6 hours to do this. The person scheduled to do this also got stuck cleaning up all of the messes left behind by inconsiderate customers - like the person that tosses a box of popsicles in a magazine rack. Who does this crap and why? Not only do the popsicles melt, but they destroy all of the magazines under them. Or they toss a bag of deli meat in with bars of soap. That can't be salvaged. I can't even tell you how many people 'sample' the foods and put them back on the shelves - cookies, bread, cheese, salad dressings, etc. I once found a block of Velveeta cheese on the shelf where someone had taken a sharp knife or box cutter and cut a perfect rectangle out of the side of the box, leaving the cheese exposed. They knew there was a coupon printed on the inside of the box. They actually planned ahead!!

I was so happy when I was promoted to dairy clerk. When the store would get crazy busy at the checkouts, I would get a milk crate and sit in my cooler where I couldn't hear them page me for help!! Whoops! Sorry, didn't hear the page. I must've been in the cooler.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I've worked in various retail for about 7 years, and in bridal retail for the past three. Why is it that customers are so much more stupid when it comes to buying a wedding gown?? Yes, I understand it's a special day for them, but it's a business like any other business. If you come in and something is on sale and you want the sale price, you should buy it when it is on sale!! Do not come back later and demand we give you the sale price because, while it isn't on sale now, it was the first time you saw it! Could you do this in any other retail store? Of course not! But for some reason we are expected to because we sell bridal gowns! Sheesh!

I could go on and on, but I have to go to work now