I just needed some room to vent a little about today. It was It was very busy. I had an older man (around 60) curse me out, and yell at me about how he was going to take his business elsewhere because I wasn’t helping him.
I was at the cash register, ringing through a customer, he was at the side at the about ten feet away from the end of the counter. There was a lady who was in line and there before he was. I told him that I would check the price for him, once I was finished dealing with the lady who was ahead of him. So yeah he just curses me out (don’t you wish sometimes you could just curse someone right back out…I really wanted to). I don’t know, if there is a line-up of people, and you are not in line, or even by the cash counter, how do I know that you need help? If I went away from the line and helped you, a person who wasn’t in line, I would have about ten people complaining to management about me.
Next thing, we get to take a 30 minute break within a 6+ hr shift. I heard about some of the good deals downstairs in the shoe department. So I take off my name take and all that, put on my large red outside coat (our uniforms are all black) and go to the the shoe department. I am looking around at the shoes and about to try on a pair, when I feel these eyes burning through me. I look and about 8 or 9 feet away is this lady staring at me.
She finally says “Do you work here?” (said in a snarky way)
Me: “Yes, but I am on break.”
She: huffs and huffs.
Me: Besides I don’t even work in this department of the store and its my lunch hour.
She: well don’t you know anyone that can help me.
Me: I don’t know, how about trying by the cash register, over there with the shoe salesman( about twenty feet away from her).
When you work in retail do you have an air about you that you must work here. Seriously, I just wanted to spend my break in a little bit of peace, it was a very busy day. I took the time to remove anything resembling the uniform, and I put on a bright red coat…our uniforms are all black. I don’t care if I was saucy. I don’t get paid for my breaks, so it is therefore my time. You can huff all you want, when I am obviously not working, as I am not in uniform, is it really that much effort to walk another ten feet to the person wearing a uniform.
I probably should have said I didn’t work there, but my brain was dead by that time, I was tired, after coming to work for a full shift after a 3 hr class. And really, if I saw my doctor in the mall, I wouldn’t ask her to check on a rash for me. I’d say hi and that would be about it.
Anyways, its only a minor suck, the whole day just bothered me. It was very busy and no matter how nice I was, people kept getting saucy with me.
I had one woman argue with me about an $11 stocking that she decided should be marked down because it was the only one left. I called the manager even to ask him about it, there was nothing that I could do. Just why do people have to get so snarky. The price was on the item, there were no sales signs around it, so therefore the price is what is on the stocking, I can’t magically change things.
Grr, working in a higher end retail store, I should get paid more to deal with idiots.
I cannot wait to get my degree so I can at least get more than minimum wage.
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2008.
i am also one of those younger workers and like most of us, the only jobs i can get are customer service based jobs. i’ve worked a number of them by now, i’ve had customers so mean they’ve made me cry. and i’ve had customers so rude i want to wash their mouths out with soap! i’ve greeted you with a smile and a cheery hello (even if it is fake), i’ve asked if you needed any assistance and have shown you respect, not because i am paid to respect you…but because you are a person.contrary to popular belief i am not dirt under your shoe, nor am i your bitch…go ahead and fucking complain.and thank you for writing this bitch…this type of thing has been eating at me for a while now. i hope you’ve had some better customers since the nasty ones…the good ones make the day worth it.
Some shoppers are stupid – and rude and ignorant and full of self-entitlement. For some reason, there are people who take great delight in demeaning someone who can’t answer back. All you can do is keep your cool & ring your supervisor to deal with these cunts. And don’t ever admit you’re on break to any one other than your boss or coworker.
yes this is why working in customer service sucks. it doesn’t matter how rude or unreasonable the customer is, you have yo plaster a smile on your face and do whatever you can help them. but it doesn’t matter if “the customer is always right” or “it’s your job,” it still hurts to have to take that bullshit and just somehow let it wash over you.the pathetic thing about people like that is that many customer service people so appreciate being treated like a human being, that if, as a customer, you DO treat them like a real person, you will often receive really good customer service. far better than what you would receive if you decide to get all red-faced and demanding. that’s been my experience. then again most of the people like that have never worked in customer service jobs, so they don’t have a clue. all they know if they want their shit NOW….fucking babies.
I find it is generally people of the older persuasion who act this way. Of course that is not to say young people can’t be rude, but of all the demeaning expereinces I had as a teenager working in retail, the ones that have stuck with me have always been at the hands of people over 40. They think that because you’re young, they can be rude to you … newsflash, we’re not in China and this isn’t a Confucist society. Earn your fucking respect. The craziest thing that ever happened to me was when I was around 18, I was browsing (wearing a purse, jacket, etc.) in a store WHICH I DID NOT and have NEVER woked for, and this bitchy old lady was like “Ummm, can you PASS me one of those?” (pointing to a high shelf of sweaters, I am pretty tall). I just kind of laughed and said I didn’t work there but I did pass it to her and she took it without humour or acknowledgment. Unbelievable!
Hellakitty, agreed she was still rude but I doubt she thought you worked at the store. She just needed someone tall enough to reach something for her.
This is one major reason why I don’t now, and will never again, work any customer service job like retail, or any minimum wage job. You get absolutely no respect from half the people out there. And as Mole Rat put it, you have to keep smiling and let it wash over you, and that just sucks. Some people just don’t deserve good service, or a smile or anything for that matter. I can sympathize with you. Customer service sucks ass.