Impolite employees

[romulus]

^^ I think I know what you mean.

All this customer is always right stuff, I have never actually seen.

My first job was @ Wendy's. Customer was not always right. And the managers/supervisors liked the employees who knew how to tell a customer no. It sucks for them to have to leave what they are doing because some noob does not know the rules or is to afraid to tell and convince the customer that they can't get a refund or what ever.

Worked at a hospital kitchen too, we couldn't always give a patient what they wanted and we would look incompetent always having to call a nurse/supervisor to convince the patient that we couldn't give them that.

Helpdesk, definitely no. You wouldn't last long either if you where always calling the supervisor because you couldn't convince the customer that their warranty didn't cover this or that.

I don't even remember a supervisor telling me anything like "the customer is always right" is that a retail thing? Because if it is, I never experienced it as a customer. Maybe I should of yelled and bitched. Although the times I did see other people do that they didn't necessarily get what they want.

They don't always great and treat me "nice" (talking about management) ether. Condescending bastards with fake smiles (if that) where sometimes worse than the employees people are talking about here.

It's like people are talking about some idealized world that I have never seen.

What's next, when I was a kid I had to walk to school through the snow....

 

[The Sneeze Police]

To the best of my recollection, I am unfailingly polite and I wish more retail establishments would get a handle on their employees. Fortunately I do feel like I am in a position to choose which retail establisments benefit from my patronage. If I get treated rudely, I do not go back. I go somewhere else or buy on-line. I appreciate retail establishments which recognize poor customer service by having a manager intervene without being asked.

Frankly I see more customers getting treated poorly than vice versa. On a daily basis, I am treated to indifferent service (which is bearable), but I also see employees who chew (rather smack) gum, can't seem to disconnect from their cell phones, who are irritable about addressing basic inquiries, who would rather chat with a co-worker than assist a customer, etc. I've seen them argue (and I mean argue when getting a manager would be appropriate).

I worked in a department store chain for about three years. I was taught to be a successful employee, and I think I managed to do a reasonably good job for the store & the customer. My life wasn't the happiest at the time, but it never occurred to me to take it out on a random customer.

As a person who does treat employees in a respectful manner, I wish I were treated as though the customer is right until I have given a reason why I should be treated in such a rude and indifferent manner.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

I don't even remember a supervisor telling me anything like "the customer is always right" is that a retail thing? Because if it is, I never experienced it as a customer. Maybe I should of yelled and bitched. Although the times I did see other people do that they didn't necessarily get what they want.

Yes, it's a retail thing. I've worked in retail for a little while. While there were always rules (don't return products that we can no longer sell due to a destroyed packaging), we were told to always, always bend over backwards to help a customer. And if a customer was friendly, these rules could sometimes be bent. If the customer was rude, he could shout and cuss all he wanted, but the rules would suddenly prove utterly rigid. Still, we tried to help as much as we could.

As such, we invented other ways to subtly tell the most irritating ones to get lost.

For example, once, there was a customer who bought a few toys. We charged € 0,20 for a large, plastic bag. We also had small, cheap plastic bags, like you get in the supermarket for your vegetables. If a customer was nice, we'd forgo charging them for the large bags, but only if the customer was nice because if we'd do it too often, we'd be called to the supervisor. Now, this customer was moaning and bitching the whole way; while standing in line ("get on with it!" "he has to use money -- use a debit card, dick! it's faster!") and when it was her turn, she was still moaning ("can't you wrap that in faster?!"). Of course, I couldn't tell her to simply do it herself, unfortunately. Fortunately, she also refused to pay 20 cents for a bag. She said "Put in in the free bags!". So, that's what I did; I put every single toy in a free bag. A different one. She went home with 21 bags dangling to the side, pricking into her thighs at every single step.

Another irritating thing were customers with only large bills, who bought something very cheap, simply to make their banknotes smaller. It was irritating for us, for it meant that we'd run out of small bills and had to do get our supervisor to get more money for us. Usually, we didn't mind that much. Most customers gave an apologetic smile, after all; they knew it was irritating for us. There were times, however, when customers would not smile at all, would demand (not ask) to be payed back in certain banknotes and were quite rude the whole time. A fake apology was quickly made: "sorry, we don't have any € 20, € 10 or € 5 bills left", and they would go home with 2 kilos of the smallest coins in our drawer.

It was all about being reasonably friendly; if you were civil in tone, we'd bend over backwards for you. You were the customer, and the customer was king. Unless you were rude; we'd still bend over backwards but we'd get you back in other, subtler ways. There's no reason, after all, to be utterly rude to an employee who's only trying to help you.

 

[freak]

A shoplifter isn't a customer. But a paying customer is a paying customer. Of course people should treat each other with basic respect, which is to say, keep their personal problems from spilling into interactions with innocent people who have nothing at all to do with it, except happening to be in the line of fire and existing.

Here's a reality - however a worker justifies being less than respectful to any customer, they had better hope it's worth losing the job over - because all it takes is one little loss of control to lose the job. I know - I've seen it happen. People angry for being in the weeds, angry for being exploited by a tricky manager, angry for being duped and regarded as a fool, angry for any reason - and when pushed, push back. Either by freaking out or walking out.

The attitude of superiority that some employees have for customers is wrong, though. It's immature. Just because someone comes into the place of purveyance to make a purchase doesn't give any employee the right to judge them personally. That is biting the hand that feeds you. And yes, another cold reality is that given the choice between a customer and an employee, most companies will choose the customer. Management just does not care if people can't hold onto their jobs.

Freak, I'm sorry that being yelled at made you cry. But it was not personal, not your fault, you just happened to step into someone's bad day. It was a perfectly reasonable thing to say about the quarters, and even if you had been a total @#$% about it, the moment the employee raised her voice, is the moment she stepped over the cliff.

I remember once I managed an employee who always avoided her tasks, and had an excuse, who never let me finish a sentence about it without firing off ten reasons why (it wasn't going to happen), and if I persisted, would then interrupt me with a little breakdown skit and crocodile tears; I simply told her that no one would force her to do anything she didn't want to do. It was entirely her choice. She could do the tasks outlined in the job description, or she could go home. Her choice. She grew up pretty quick in that regard.

I gave good service, and I want good service. End of story.

I think that day I just happened to have been in the line of her fire. When I talked to another lady who had knee surgery recently, she said that this lady is getting married soon and I think she's been really stressed out about it. But does that make it right or justified to take it out on an innocent customer? I certainly don't think so. In a way, two wrongs never made a right. And she was justified in saying that she had no easy answers for me too. I was having a crappy day that day as well and maybe my body language told her to get lost or something? Mom couldn't believe that she was that way to me..she said the more she thought about it the angrier she got. I told her: well we can't do anything about it now. But I can tell you this, next time I'm not going in her aisle to get checked out! I'll take it someplace else.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I worked in retail for about 6 months, it was a children's charity shop 2nd hand clothing store, and I loved it there. I only left due to moving house.

Anyway, when I was there I tried to keep the mindset of an actor in a role. Sure it didn't always work but there were many times when even though I was having an off day, my "character" of "helpful sales assistant #1" didn't suffer. Or at least I don't think it did.

So, um, what was the point of this post? Oh yeah!

It may help retail staff with issues of customer relations if they think of their jobs as theatrical roles, due to dealing with the public constantly.

Although saying that, it's entirely possible my own experiences were good because I already loved my job, if you're in a job you don't enjoy then it may be a lot harder to pretend to be having a good day all the time.

You've actually summed up the approach I take to my own job--I think of myself not just as a manager and salesperson, but as an actor. And I actually take a good degree of pride in my self-control, that I can stay in my role even when someone else is being an ass. If I can get through a situation and I don't break character, then I win.

Now, I WILL say something about a comment I saw upthread. There DOES come a point--at least with my own store and my company--where if someone crosses the line into race-baiting or other VERY offensive remarks, my manager can and will boot people. If there's anything to suggest that they might come to blows, they're damn well leaving. Short of that, if they're not showing signs of being dangerously unstable, then no, we can't do much other than take it--but if someone DOES seem like they present a danger, we have every right, both for the sake of our employees and other customers, to give them the boot.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I went to a laundrymat place to wash my cloths. I needed to make change ,but there was no change machine, or it was out-of-order as I recall.

I stood there for over five minutes, looking at the unkempt lady behind hte counter as she spoke spanish to someone. She never looked at me, she never tried to help.

I had overbleeched a shirt and it reeked of bleech, badly. I threw it in the trash for her to smell, reached aroudn the counter when she left and got a phone book. I looked up another laundry place and went there. And I left the phone book on the counter too instead of putting it back.

 

[hellsgate]

From the retail side....do us all a favor...do as you're f'ing told!!!

• If we're mopping/sweeping and we ask you to stop where you are (as we're trying to clean-up a spill or get into a specific aisle,) BACK THE FUCK UP! Refrain from indulging the impulse to shoehorn yourselves like sardines in a can into an area as soon as you see a mop/bucket leave the cooler/loading dock in the back or turn a corner into a certain aisle. What? You think there will be no produce left after I'm done three or four seconds later?
• Attention shit-heels that INSIST on running in front of my loaded-down handtruck at closing-time, playing "Beat The Train".
• Attention knob-gobblers that INSIST on coming in RIGHT at closing-time, and wondering why there's extremely slim pickings or why everything's already boxed-up & put away in the cooler? The reason for this is that my supervisor ABSOLUTELY ~*demands*~ that we leave out the strawberries, sweet bell peppers, & grapes until the absolute LAST POSSIBLE SECOND. But, three or four heartbeats after I'm done putting it all away.....there's almost always that one braindead git that comes in, heads STRAIGHT for me as I'm headed for the button to lower the front garage-style door & asks "Can I have some strawberries, please?"
• The frustrating closing-time turd-nuggets, "that just want one or two little things. PLEASE?!"
• At closing time, just so you know....credit cards and debit cards are no longer accepted as the interac system is closed. You are expected to have CASH ONLY.

• Attention Inconsiderate/Hynotised Assholes:
  
  When was the last time you figured out what the english language is about & learned to read labels all by yourself? You're ~how old~ now? Do you need a personal translator? Go to Best Buy or Future Shop.
  
  You're in North America -- in Canada you have the choice of French or English. In my workplace, its an Asian Market. You have Mandarin/Korean/Japanese/English, Deal with it.
• Or, here's a nifty idea ---- bring the fucking magazine with you with a picture of whatever produce you're looking for. Chances are, if its the first time you've heard of something (ie: hybrid / "specialty item" fruits/vegetables) its likely the first time we've heard of it, too.
  
• Furthermore, We don't pack around notebook computers with INSTANT access to google on the internet to look shit up to confirm anything, to compare images of what we've got and compare them to what you're looking for. Go talk to the Manager, as chances are, its The Head Office that officially deals with all decisions about when & what comes in.

• When was the last time you drooling special needs-cases learned to wear your contact lenses or glasses or do you need someone trailling after you like a Kindergarten teacher to remind you?
  
• We Stockpeople REALLY REALLY REALLY love it when you stand there in our blindspots, expecting us to have eyes in the backs of our heads, behind our VERY loaded-down carts, gawking at us as though there's no other means of getting around a store and acting as though we've initiated an International Incident by making you wait a few moments until we're done, while trying to awkwardly shove by us.

 

[freak]

Wow, hellsgate. You sure do have lots of bitterness bottled up inside you that is just DYING to get out!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wow, hellsgate. You sure do have lots of bitterness bottled up inside you that is just DYING to get out!

Most people do.

 

[Wrongway Janeway]

^ Especially if they have to work with the public!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Especially if they have to work with the public!

Don't I know it... This is why the best thing to do at my store is work in accounting. That way I can sit in a little office all day and not have to deal with people. It's win-win, I tell you!

 

[Captain Ice]

In retail that's why there's a Home Office.
Situations a manager can't handle or needs advice in handling can be refered to them. A privately own restaurant is a completely different situation which is why your point of view is very different from my training and experance in retail management. In retail, the reasons I gave are the reasons you are given on why the customer is always right.

Actually, it was a small national chain (200 units in 11 states under three brands). Previous management had been giving a free meal plus a gift certificate to anyone who complained about anything period. To the point where this unit had been losing $8000 - $14000 every month for a lengthy period. Depending on the month of the year, this could be better than 10% of gross sales. It had also garnered a fairly bad reputation in the community for the crowd it had attracted as a result. We were asked to limit the damage and see what we could do to correct this, knowing full well that if we didn't do something drastic, that unit would be closed in 6 months.

It was all about being reasonably friendly; if you were civil in tone, we'd bend over backwards for you. You were the customer, and the customer was king. Unless you were rude; we'd still bend over backwards but we'd get you back in other, subtler ways. There's no reason, after all, to be utterly rude to an employee who's only trying to help you.

Precisely.

 

[Aragorn]

Aragorn: i'd list them as persistant. Get credit card phone calls selling you junk again too huh? I HATE telemarketers!!! I could NEVER work as a telemarketer..that's one job I wouldn't have!

Not telemarketers. Try video game-only stores.

No, I don't want your membership card. No, I don't need it. No, I don't buy enough games to justify the savings versus the cost of the membership. Your membership would only cover my tax and I can get games for cheaper online. I just came in to buy this one game and nothing else. No, I don't want insurance. I never scratch my games. No, I just want to buy this game. No, I don't want to buy it used either.

 

[Captain Ice]

^or Barnes&Noble/Borders with their $25 10% discount member cards......

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Wow, hellsgate. You sure do have lots of bitterness bottled up inside you that is just DYING to get out!

And see, while I would normally not do any of the things he mentioned, I would intentionally do them to a clerk that demonstrated that attitude. Ya give what ya get.

 

[Kira Nerys]

The woman could have been having a bad day,nevertheless one thing in retail or anywhere you don't take it out on a customer .Good customer service went out with the poodle skirt .

 

[hellsgate]

Freak & Other Interested Parties: No, not so much bitterness, but a frustrated retail worker that wishes my clients would get their act together and use their heads for more than wearing designer sunglasses.

You (The Client) live nearby, so you have a general idea that my store is not a 24 hour 7-11. If you work, send a friend so you're not there five seconds before/after I've rolled down the door. Or, You (The Client) driving by, rolling down your window & asking me stupid questions about the mall hours I'm obviously not the slightest bit interested in caring about, as I'm bringing in the umbrellas. Go find the neighborhood information center.

Send someone somewhat younger than a century old with an IQ bigger than their "teacup" dog's droppings with a specific idea of what's required at lunch/dinner-time, that can see beyond the end of their nose, speaks/reads/understands English & how to operate an Interac PIN-pad. Get in the store, get your shit & stay the fuck out of my way with HUGE carts from other stores in a ~*tiny*~ Asian Fruit/Vegetable Market barely bigger than a condominium's walk-in closet.

From All Retail Workers To All Stunned Prospective Asshole Clients.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

I'm glad I'll never have to walk into your store.

 

[Drogo]

The best way to help out an "Impolite Employee" is to ask to see thier supervisor.

 

[James Bond]

The best way to help out an "Impolite Employee" is to ask to see thier supervisor.

Or not be a complete fucking moron.