Retail stores and retarded customers . .

[daveyj27]

Who bets the meal an discount came out the waitresses wages/tips?

We thought of that, and left a good tip under my empty plate, just in case.

 

[Scania]

I hate customers.

pretty much sums up retail in this country tbh.

 

[Luke15]

How is it irrelevent? You say that it is just *tough* if staff get abuse?
Seems to me that you lack the ability to form a proper reply.

You claim that "there is no room for your feelings in retail"...... Bwahahahahaha. So sonny just take my **** and abuse and put up with it, I am the customer so deal with it and do what I want. What utter arrogance.
Shop staff do not deserve to be treated like scum just because they are easy targets for weak minded power tripping morons.
Your post seems to suggest that it is their job to be abused in such a fashion. If that is your fetish go pay someone in a seedy brothel to act it out for you.

Well put I think Ex-RoNiN may be one of those weak minded people who prey on easy targets to make themselves feel bigger than they actually are.

 

[Tefal]

Thought you had the right to work in an environment where you aren't threatened or abused?


If so ****** customers should be glad they get anything other than escorting out.

On a nicer note when speaking to the bank on the phone earlier had very good service (i was nice an polite an she even explained the long legal babble i dint understand for me )

I'm a happy bunny.

 

[platypus]

Why can't people just treat people with respect? It's not just people that work in retail, it's in every day life. It has become the norm in society to be rude and disrespectful.

In specific regards to the topic, I expect to be treated with respect. Not because I'm well off or earn more then the shop assistant, but because I go into that shop with the intention of buying something, or perusing, whilst being polite to anyone I encounter. What I cannot stand, and what is sadly the norm these days, is those shop assistants who are surly, rude and short tempered with me before I even get a chance to potentially offend them - because I always try to be polite!

 

[tom_e]

Heh regular day in retail then.

Used to work as p/t Section Manager for very well known Department Store few years back whilst at Uni. Best one i recall was some fat middle aged guy in height of the Xmas rush; he was blocking the way of a member of staff who was trying to reach a lady in need of some assistance with heavy item. So the assistant politely asked him to move aside, he told the girl to "**** off and find another way round". I heard this so walked over, grabbed the guy & marched him out the store. Not exactly protocal to man handle customers granted, felt dam good though since he was mighty embarrised + other customers applauded my actions.

He complained to H/O even but nothing came of it.

Your very lucky head office didnt mind you assaulting their customers but I wouldnt try your luck again, next time someone may not like being manhandled and belt you

 

[wordy]

The attitude of some people is amazing.

Yourself included.

But the customers are screaming and swearing at me, you might say? Well, yes, they do. It has nothing to do with you, however. Just for a minute, take the chip off your shoulder and consider this: what does their swearing have to do with your job function? Remember, your job function is to provide satisfactory service to your customer. Nowhere in your contract does it state that you can adjust the level of service based on the customer's behaviour.

Of course it does. Your employers are required by law to to provide you with a safe working environment and if customers are using verbal abuse and threatening physical abuse you have every right to refuse to serve them and havce them removed

By allowing yourselves to respond to the customer's behaviour in some of the ways mentioned, you are breaching your employment contract and are failing in doing your job. You are being unprofessional and are letting yourselves down. The sad thing is that most of you think you are in the right, that an abusive/annoying customer "deserves" the treatment they receive.

I bet if you were to contact any reputable high street retailer they would put their employees well being in front of making a sale to an abuse/threatening customer. And would rightly support their retailers if they felt they justified in refusing to server an abusive customer.

No matter how much abuse you get, this has no impact on your job function - providing satisfactory customer service. The customer will not be swearing at you for no apparent reason. The customer will be in this negative mood as the customer thinks he has been wronged. The customer, through paying for an item, pays for your wages and your service also. By acting smug/arrogant/threatening, you are committing theft as you are not doing what you received money for. So, going back to the original definition of your job, providing satisfactory customer service, maybe instead of taking things personal and acting like a ****, you might want to consider doing your job instead and aim to provide customer service and help the customer resolve his issue.

Of course it does, by being abusive/threatening a customer is directly affecting the service they receive by placing a lot of stress on the retailer trying to serve them. The employees have every right to work while not feeling threatened by abusive customers. I reckon their company directors would agree aswell.

There is no room for you and your feelings in such an environment. Do what you are paid to do. If you are treated like dirt, tough. Who are you to tarnish your company's image by your arrogant behaviour? This is a sign of very little professionalism on your part and it speaks lengths about the state of the UK "service" industry that most people approve your behaviour; not that I am surprised, mind.

People are people and all have feelings, it's only human. a lot of people have posted on here employees should not have to be subjected to abuse of any kind while carrying out their duties.

Refusing to serve a threatening customer would do nothing to tarnish a companies image in my view. It would show that they value their employees service and wouldn't want them to be threatened.

 

[V4NT0M]

In reference the OP, I could'nt deal with customer of this type in person, I would either completely lose my cool or just walk away. I work in customer service for an ISP, on the complaints department, so I speak to a lot of disgruntled people over the phone.

It's funny how ignorant people are as to the difference between what they agreed to and what they expect from the service/product. As the OP said, I don't see the point in getting all bent out of shape over a few pounds.

And for example; it is consumer broadband we offer and do not offer business support, it clearly states in our T&C that we cannot provide a fault free service and agrees to no specific SLA. Yet people yell, swear, throw personal insults around, go on for 10 minutes about how they're losing thousands of pounds because they've been offline for 12 hours and are trying to run a business on a consumer BB connection. Yelling they're going to ofcom, watchdog, the local papers, telling everyone they know orange is crap etc...

I just don't get it... If you're stupid enough to run a business from a home connection why blame someone else?

 

[Dave85]

The attitude of some people is amazing.

You are EXACTLY the type of customer who gives others a bad name, treat people like dirt you deserve a good beating. Disgusting attidude, come down of your horse.

Skyfall, same here. But when they say there running a buisness and going to sue us Yada Yada. I get them to confirm it again. its Recorded then I politly cancel there service right there for breaking the terms and conditions.

 

[Ex-RoNiN]

Yourself included.



Of course it does. Your employers are required by law to to provide you with a safe working environment and if customers are using verbal abuse and threatening physical abuse you have every right to refuse to serve them and havce them removed



I bet if you were to contact any reputable high street retailer they would put their employees well being in front of making a sale to an abuse/threatening customer. And would rightly support their retailers if they felt they justified in refusing to server an abusive customer.



Of course it does, by being abusive/threatening a customer is directly affecting the service they receive by placing a lot of stress on the retailer trying to serve them. The employees have every right to work while not feeling threatened by abusive customers. I reckon their company directors would agree aswell.



People are people and all have feelings, it's only human. a lot of people have posted on here employees should not have to be subjected to abuse of any kind while carrying out their duties.

Refusing to serve a threatening customer would do nothing to tarnish a companies image in my view. It would show that they value their employees service and wouldn't want them to be threatened.

Nobody is talking about threatening behaviour, the emphasis is on rude behaviour, which in sales assistant speak is actually "people insisting on their rights without being polite", ie the so-called abuse doesn't actually exist per se, its people being annoying and the sales assistants then proceeding to square up to people and manhandle them.

Spare me the tale of the poor little sales assistant angel getting a whole load of swearword abuse for no reason at all, its a myth where normal people are concerned (chavs apart) - most people will, impolitely, insist on their rights or insist that their view is right. Sales assistants tend to make it look bigger than it seems and go on about "abuse" and take it as a justification that will justify their rudeness and non-professionalism towards customers.

It was said earlier in the thread that "I hate customers" sums up retail in the UK - that is spot on, there is very little professionalism in that area and the McDonalds lad is the rare shining light in the long line up of former boxers, man handlers, sarcasm producers and plain incompetent good for nothings.

That's my observation after 4 yrs behind the counter. Apart from chavs, I have seen no abuse from anyone. Impolite people, rude people, abrupt people, yes. But nothing that warrants the sort of response that people consider justified in this thread.

 

[Ex-RoNiN]

You are EXACTLY the type of customer who gives others a bad name, treat people like dirt you deserve a good beating. Disgusting attidude, come down of your horse.

Yes, beating customers up is a great example of customer service and professionalism

 

[furnace]

It's all about respect in my opinion, Ex-RoNiN.

I don't care who I'm working for or what my job title is... the fact is, I am a person. And when another person talks to me, they need to talk to me like I am a person.

I'm a really polite guy until someone's rude to me, and fair enough I have had some angry people come in when I was working in retail, and the ones that calmed down when I started helping them are okay. It's okay to be angry at the product that broke, or the fact it's more expensive here than over there. But being angry at me, or treating me like dirt, isn't okay.

The ones that don't calm down are the problem. They get wound up and treat the person behind the counter as if they're not a person, and it isn't fair. You might have some kind of iron wall between yourself and your emotions when you're at work, but a lot of people don't - and the last thing these people need is an idiot customer with no respect!

I've taken plenty of things back to shops before now, and not once have I got angry, and not once have I had a bad experience with rude staff - most likely because I'm not an angry customer, even when things break. I treat them with the respect I expect to be treated with, as should everyone.

 

[Six6siX]

snip

Umm, its been about rude and threatening behavior from the beginning. You say you've worked behind the counter for 4 years, then surely you know exactly what is being referred to. What sort of counter was this?

We are not talking about people simply 'insisting on their rights', we are talking about people being downright rude and in some cases threatening towards staff whilst doing it. And here you are saying that such behaviour is acceptable? Unbelievable.

I was once threatened by a customer whilst on a till. I believe his words were "look at me like that again and I'll knock you the **** out"

I'm supposed to take crap like that from people and carry on giving you a service? Come off it.

Everyone I've worked with would simply not be unnecessary hostile towards someone else unless otherwise provoked.

 

[Ex-RoNiN]

It's all about respect in my opinion, Ex-RoNiN.

I don't care who I'm working for or what my job title is... the fact is, I am a person. And when another person talks to me, they need to talk to me like I am a person.

I'm a really polite guy until someone's rude to me, and fair enough I have had some angry people come in when I was working in retail, and the ones that calmed down when I started helping them are okay. It's okay to be angry at the product that broke, or the fact it's more expensive here than over there. But being angry at me, or treating me like dirt, isn't okay.

The ones that don't calm down are the problem. They get wound up and treat the person behind the counter as if they're not a person, and it isn't fair. You might have some kind of iron wall between yourself and your emotions when you're at work, but a lot of people don't - and the last thing these people need is an idiot customer with no respect!

I've taken plenty of things back to shops before now, and not once have I got angry, and not once have I had a bad experience with rude staff - most likely because I'm not an angry customer, even when things break. I treat them with the respect I expect to be treated with, as should everyone.

Look, I know exactly what you mean, what I'm trying to say is that some perspective must be had. You mention people that calm down when you start helping them - that is a good point and many people in this thread would never have found this out since they went at odds straight away.

You mention people that won't calm down - are those chavs? Then you can dismiss them straight away, as they don't know how to speak any other way. Are they normal people? If they are normal people again look at it from a perspective - are they abusing you with the worst possible swear words? Or are they being rude and impolite and abrupt? Abuse and lack of manners are two very different things in my opinion and I find a lot of people actually do not know how to draw a line between the two. Lack of manners is no excuse to square up to a customer or to manhandle them or to be sarcastic to them.

You might have some kind of iron wall between yourself and your emotions when you're at work, but a lot of people don't

True, some find it easier than others to detach themselves, but at the least, do your job. Fine, somebody is annoying you by their behaviour, so you will obviously not bend over backwards from them, you will do the minimum you need to do as is expected by your boss and work ethics. I reckon that minimum is more than what was mentioned in the thread.

I don't know if something is getting lost in translation here, but all I am saying is that a customer being rude and not well mannered is no reason to not treat him like a customer. Squaring up to them, manhandling, sarcasm are not to be condoned under any circumstance. If they get abusive (and there's a big fat line between badly mannered and abusive) then fine, don't serve them. But don't act like a bouncer And as for people that get worked up about chavs (I bet those few incidents that did include abusive people were mostly chavs anyway), just why Its obvious that they can't communicate on any other level...

 

[Ex-RoNiN]

Umm, its been about rude and threatening behavior from the beginning. You say you've worked behind the counter for 4 years, then surely you know exactly what is being referred to. What sort of counter was this?

We are not talking about people simply 'insisting on their rights', we are talking about people being downright rude and in some cases threatening towards staff whilst doing it. And here you are saying that such behaviour is acceptable? Unbelievable.

I was once threatened by a customer whilst on a till. I believe his words were "look at me like that again and I'll knock you the **** out"

I'm supposed to take crap like that from people and carry on giving you a service? Come off it.

Everyone I've worked with would simply not be unnecessary hostile towards someone else unless otherwise provoked.

Supermarkets and also town centre retail shop. In my experience, 90% of the time the other staff would make things seem worse than they were, e.g. somebody raising his voice and insisting he was right would be classed as "abuse." I'm sorry, that is not abuse to me. Talking loudly about your rights is not abuse. None of this warrants squaring up, being sarcy or man handling.

The sort of threatening abuse that you refer to, I simply refuse to believe this is an every day thing as I have witnessed such behaviour just twice in the 4 years, and that was from chavs, so its not valid in my mind as this is the only way they know to communicate - obviously they did not receive anything but a "please get out" and that is a totally different situation.

 

[SK07]

Worst ones are the asians, come in with there grubby hands stinkin up my day then they get to the reduced section in a flash as if they just went houndini, now theres a crowd, me thinking it's a field day out for them once the reduced stuff goes out, they buy it all then they chase you shouting for this, that and the next thing to be reduced even more.

Pay at the counter, total bill for around 40 items that are reduced heavily and ready to be sold in there fraudulent stores for around double the price, total bill around £5.60. Hand in pocket out comes more cash than Natwest's vault. 20's, 50's, 100's in a fat block.

Rest my case, think yourself lucky you work in a DIY store and not a food store.

 

[Sean_UK]

Your very lucky head office didnt mind you assaulting their customers but I wouldnt try your luck again, next time someone may not like being manhandled and belt you

Oh please...assualt and trying my luck, get off your soap box. Simply held firmly and removed from store, by me or security either way would have been same end result.

 

[Luke15]

Worst ones are the asians, come in with there grubby hands stinkin up my day then they get to the reduced section in a flash as if they just went houndini, now theres a crowd, me thinking it's a field day out for them once the reduced stuff goes out, they buy it all then they chase you shouting for this, that and the next thing to be reduced even more.

Pay at the counter, total bill for around 40 items that are reduced heavily and ready to be sold in there fraudulent stores for around double the price, total bill around £5.60. Hand in pocket out comes more cash than Natwest's vault. 20's, 50's, 100's in a fat block.

Rest my case, think yourself lucky you work in a DIY store and not a food store.

Although this post is on the borderline if you know what i mean, i have agree with most of what he says.

Apart from the huge wade of notes, usually they gave me handfulls of change.

 

[SK07]

Although this post is on the borderline if you know what i mean, i have agree with most of what he says.

Apart from the huge wade of notes, usually they gave me handfulls of change.

Not for me, they have pennies and what not but it's as if they show off, they pull out some loose change then they put it back in there pocket and whip out the monopoly.

 

[Bry]

I work at Tesco and some of the abuse you get is quite frankly troublesome.
I can relate either directly or indirectly via my colleagues to almost every situation mentioned in this thread.

People that treat shop workers rubbish will rarely get what they want, we just aint piad enough to put up with abuse and to bend over backwards to help.

Even our managers say if a customer is rude or abusive to not help them. Infact i had this just today, i was working on the shop floor with a cage next to me on the side with plenty of room for people to get past on the side. And this man came up with the trolley and just pushed the cage very hard with his trolley out of his way, he didnt even stop once. (the cage almost hit another customer in this process)
I turn around and raise my voice slightly and go excuse me? And he goes you was in my way you should have moved.
I go no, i was parked here working there was plenty of room to get around and if you needed one of the products i was blocking (which he didnt) I would have gladly moved if you said excuse me. He stormed off in a right huff and i could barely hold in my laughter.
Especailly since my manager was nearby came up to me and went well done, don't take that kind of rudeness