Obnoxious customers one deals with working retail

[skygazer]

Say what you will about retail workers - at least when you're shopping, you're there by choice. Also, if someone tees you off, you can be snippy without getting fired. We, on the other hand, are stuck there and have to put up with an incredible amount of crap, all with a smile plastered on our minimum wage earning faces.

There are the people like the lady I ran into today. I was with a customer, helping her find a particular liquor she was looking for, we were talking and this lady (and I use the term loosely) walks up and says, "ExCUSE me, where are your chips?" - this stated aggressively and accompanied by an aggravated expression as if to say, "how dare you not be fawning at my feet - can't you see I want to ask you something?"

Then there was the guy who wanted slivered green beans or some such thing - "I'm sorry, sir, we don't carry them." "Well, why not?" he demands belligerently. "I don't know," I shrug. "Perhaps you can find them at _____ (the other store)" "Well, I don't want to go there. I'm here. Why in the world don't you carry them?!" I want to reply, "Wait right here, sir, and I'll pull some out of my ass" but I can't do that.

We have customers who will snap their fingers for assistance (those get ignored, I'm afraid) and those who blah, blah, blah on their cell phone while I'm ringing them up, ignoring me when I tell them what they owe me, holding up the line, glaring because I've dared to interrupt them.

Then there are the people who ask you where everything on their (long) list is. Take them to one item and they ask you another. Take them to that one and they ask for the next. Essentially, they want you to do their shopping for them.

I've had people walk up to the express lane and dump $400 worth of groceries on the belt and tell me, "You WILL ring this up - I'm in a hurry!" (If you're in such a fucking hurry, why are you buying so much and why didn't you start earlier?) When that happened one day, I simply signed off the checkstand, said "no, I'm not" and walked away. Luckily my boss got a kick out of it).

[A-Schwarzenegger]

1. "Wait right here, sir, and I'll pull some out of my ass"

If you ever do decide to say that, please video it.
If you want to see people at their worst, don't go
to war, just work in retail a while.

[BlueJazz]

8. I understand...I used to be the Manager of a Home Depot store...

(Which I won't talk about.AGGG!)..anyway, I've had people bring back a light-bulb and swear that it was new..(it had rust and dirt all over it.

And the paint Dept..Oh the paint Dept,..."Is this color fine?...Oh Yes!!"..I find it in the aisle 3 hours later.

Ah..Miss..This is all the wallpaper we have in this pattern and it's been discontinued so buy enough to finish your job >>>>>(2 weeks later)>>>"What!..You don't have any more??..You have to!!!..I'm short!..AGGGGGG!@!

I've had more than one Sales-person tell me that when it came to paint, they would rather wait on 5 men than one woman....(sorry Ladies..but that IS the truth)

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[grace0418]

45. AMEN Sister!

If you read my post below, you know I've lived through my share of retail hell. And because of that, I am very, very aware of my behavior in stores and restaurants. I'm an excellent tipper. I don't go into stores that are too busy, or if I must I am exceedingly patient. I don't waste employee's time or expect them to be my personal shopper. I don't ask a million questions, in fact, I generally try mightily to find what I need before I bother an employee. I don't walk into a store 10 minutes before it closes and expect to shop for an hour. The list goes on...

Anyway, the reason why I gave you that background is because I have to say that Home Depot is almost always the worst shopping experience ever. EVER.

I am not a nightmare customer by a long shot. Nor am I an idiot. Yes, I am a woman but I also built frames for a living for years, and I am a sculptor as well as a homeowner. I know my way around hand-tools and power tools. I know how to measure things. I know how to fix things. So when I walk into a Home Depot and I am A) ignored or B) treated like I am an idiot, I get just a little peeved.

Like one time I wanted to get some shelves cut down for a project I was doing (I would've done them at home but they wouldn't fit in my car). I took the shelves over to the saw where they cut the shelves and no one was there. So I asked an employee to send someone over. They said they would but no one came. I left to ask again and they told me that someone came but I wasn't there (bullshit). So I went back and waited. And waited. I eventually CALLED THE STORE on my cell phone and had someone paged to where I was. When he finally showed up he acted like I was the idiot for waiting at the wrong saw. I followed him to the "correct" saw but LO AND BEHOLD I was right all along. He saw the shelves I had in my cart, yet he was going to try to cut them down with the wire cutters used to cut down the metal closet shelving? Genius.

When I can get someone to acknowledge me, nine times out of ten they have no idea what I'm talking about. Like the time I asked three different people (one at the customer service desk with a computer) for unfinished fireplace mantels after looking for them in all the logical places, and NO ONE knew what I was talking about. They kept directing me to the wood-burning stoves. When I showed them a picture of what I wanted they claimed Home Depot didn't carry them. Oddly enough, about ten minutes later I found a whole section of them in a really illogical place. I actually went back to customer service and told them exactly where they were.

Oh and should I ever find what I want in a timely fashion and hope to get in and out of store in a reasonable amount of time, THAT'S the cruelest joke of all. No matter what time of day I go, whether the store is crowded or not, there seems to be about 3 fewer registers open than what is needed. If the store is relatively empty, then only one register is open. And then it seems the one cashier never knows how to use the "quantity" button. So they will sit there and individually swipe all 30 packages of the same item somebody bought. I've been at Home Depot at all hours of the day and night and I don't think I've ever made it through the line in less than 20 minutes.

So you may hate your female shoppers Home Depot (which is fairly obvious) but believe me they hate Home Depot ten times more. It's just that you squeezed out all the competition so they have no choice in where to go. These days I'll drive out of my way to avoid Home Depot.

[Patiod]

53. I always try my local HW store first (lucky that I have one)

We have a Lowe's and Home Depot, and thank God they haven't driven off all the local guys (although most are gone). I'd go nuts if I were in your situation and had only Big Box stores available.

Every time I go to the local people, they are incredibly helpful, make sure I buy the right thing. No problems, ever. Every time I go to Home Depot, it seems like there's some problem -- usually understaffed check-out lines.

[northzax]

55. it's a wharehouse store

why are you expecting service of any kind? If you want service at a hardware store, go to your local ACE, or a lumber yard, not Home Depot.

It's like complaining about the service at Costco, why, exactly, do you think they are cheaper? no service.

[grace0418]

56. Home Depot BILLS itself as "You can do it, WE can help."

They advertise how friendly their staff is, and that they have expert advice. All bullshit. And yes, I do expect decent service no matter what. Not a personal shopper, not someone to carry me around in a litter, just basic knowledge of the store, politeness, and just a shread of helpfulness. I don't care what store it is. The warehouse stores are supposed to be cheaper because they don't have a lot of frills. I don't consider good basic service a frill.

And Home Depot is NOT cheaper, warehouse or not. I get better deals at Menards and other smaller places. If you had read my post I said I go out of my way not to shop at Home Depot, but it's difficult because they've destroyed all the competition in the area (including most Ace Hardwares).

But ultimately what I was responding to was the Home Depot manager who complained how awful female customers were. Besides being completely sexist, it's also untrue. Or if it is true, it's probably because every woman who shops there is treated like shit or ignored so she gets a little cranky.

And by the way, I get excellent service at Costco. The people there are very nice and know where stuff is, and when it gets busy they open up a new register. That's all I'm asking for in a store.

[northzax]

57. wal mart advertises their people too

I haven't been in a home depot in five years so I wouldn't know how it is there these days.

[grace0418]

59. And if the person to whom I was responding were a Walmart manager

and said that the female customers at Walmart were the worst, I would've talked about how shitty Walmart is to customers. Luckily, it's easy to avoid shopping at Walmart. Not as easy to avoid Home Depot.

[northzax]

61. for you perhaps

it's easier to avoid wal mart than home depot. personally, I have no problem avoiding either one of them. I don't even have to do it conciously, I just never think of going to home depot, just as I never think of going to Wal Mart (luckily, I have other options for both) or never think of paying the crack whore down the block $50. but then I'm lucky, I guess.

[Zenlitened]

47. CompUSA used to be tops on my "worst" list.

I haven't set foot in one in years, but there was a time when I seriously considered just walking out with what I wanted, to see if I'd suddenly become visible to the human eye. :D

[BuelahWitch]

70. I had the same experience with them

Even when I bought my first computer system with monitor and printer 10 years ago (and spend about $800). If you're a female alone you're invisible.

[Texasgal]

2. Ummm...

It sounds like you are extremely unhappy with your job. Maybe you should look for something else that dosen't make you so unhappy.

You said that atleast people shopping have a choice.... well, so do you buddy, no one is forcing you to be in a job that you don't like. I canot imagine that every person that you deal with is crappy and rude. I shop all of the time and never act like that.

I think you need to move on...

[grace0418]

4. Maybe they don't have a choice right now. Maybe they just need to vent.

Believe me, I've been there. I worked retail for years while in grad school and beyond. Sometimes you can't just move on, or maybe you can but the only other options are there are also retail. The devil you know and all that...

Anyway, I'm just saying maybe the OP just wants to rant a little bit.

[Texasgal]

6. Ranting is fine...

I rant all of the time... but from the sounds of things, he/she sounds really unhappy... just saying.

[skygazer]

7. I deal with hundreds of customers every day

In this post, I chose to talk about some of the obnoxious ones (seemed apropos since the topic in question was "obnoxious customers"). Perhaps you could teach me how to rant properly - I'm obviously not doing it to your standards (or you could go read some thread that suits you better).

[skygazer]

5. Actually, I like my job very much

And I would say 98% of the people I deal with on a daily basis are nice, pleasant, regular folks. I have a lot of regular customers who I enjoy seeing and I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing my job. I am also completely professional and unfailingly polite (even when I do something like leave the checkstand when some idiot comes up to express with a full cart).

Just where in my post did I say that every person I deal with is crappy and rude? And what makes you think I have much of a choice? Jobs falling off trees now, are they?

Never had a bad day? Never needed to let off a little steam? Never read a rant before? Just because I feel like bitching about some of the rude people I deal with doesn't mean I'm perpetually cranky.

Move on yourself, "buddy."

[Texasgal]

11. I'm sorry..

I didn't mean to hit a nerve. It just seemed that you feel unhappy with your job... sorry. :)

Oh, and it's not "professional" to leave the checkstand while a customer is waiting. Sorry... but that's just UN-professional. No matter what people are doing or saying, that's why I felt the need to say something about you being unhappy. If this is the typical behavior at your place of employement I would be pissed off too....

Just another annoying DU opinion. I do apologize if I upset you however.

Peace?

[skygazer]

13. Oh, we're cool

And I appreciate the apology - classy of you. :toast:

But I disagree with you on the unprofessional thing - the customer is not always right and this one was way out of line. I'd politely told her that I could not check her out and that there were several regular checkstands open - she was nasty and insistent and the only real way to deal with it was to close off and leave her there. My manager actually agreed and told her we no longer wanted her business.

There's a professional way to do almost anything - even be rude! :hi:

[Redneck Socialist]

16. Maybe not professional, but

certainly appropriate, at least as described in the OP.

[blondeatlast]

43. If you've never worked retail on your way up, sorry, but the OP

is entitled to rant, IMHO.

People often think one is only there in otrder to spill their anger to.

I'm a paraprofessional with a great career now, but I paid my dues, and retail is the WORST.

My heart goes out to those who pay their dues in retail.

[Kathleen04]

3. I empathize

The worst thing with me is that it sometimes seems that nothing in the store I work in is accurately priced! So I get customers complaining "this was on the 75% rack!!!" and I have to walk over and look and see if I can find what they've brought to me and half the time they're right. And sometimes the store puts up the sale signs days in advance and none of them are in the computer, so I have to manually change them just like that the whole time.

The other day I had a couple of customers who were flabbergasted at the prices of the name-brand designed clothes they brought to me. Almost all of it was 65% off but it was expensive to begin with. Their reaction was as though I had done the pricing..

[Richardo]

9. I want someone to invent a device that incapacitates cel phones within 20'

...of a cash register.

You come up to my register, get off the damn phone. It's rude.

The real kicker: Those who wait to actually PLACE the call when they're at the register. :grr:

BTW: I really like my retail (2nd) job, too. It's just the 2% that make it miserable.

[blondeatlast]

44. Those of us on the other end of the cash wrap get effing annoyed with

that craop too--how utterly rude while conducting business!

When I've been waiting behind one of these totally obnoxious dolts, I've made a general apology to the salesperson on the other side--often having fellow customers echo my sentiments.

BTW< Richardo, it happens in the library biz, too--I've had people ask me for detailed reference help while simultaneously planning a hot night out at a concert.

:mad::mad::mad:

[Mutley]

10. I feel you.

I worked at a retail store for several years. I had all sorts of rude customers but the worst was the woman (toy store at Christmas, BAD TIMES) who actually said, "People like you are born to serve people like me." I just walked off the register.

I had another woman once who was being super rude, and when she shifted her purse around in her hand a CRACK PIPE flew out (Again, in a TOY STORE, with CHILDREN all over the place).

I could NOT work in a grocery store. I can't imagine how much that must suck.

[skygazer]

12. Wow, she actually said that?

I know some of the people I deal with think it but to say it - wow.

I don't really mind the grocery store - some of it is kind of fun and I don't check regularly. I manage the wine and liquor department which is a fun and interesting department to run. If I checked full time, I'd soon be in a rubber room.

[Mutley]

19. Yeah, she said it.

I actually heard the shocked gasps of the other customers and cashiers as I walked away. The store was in an area known have many rich and stuck-up residents.

I didn't check full time, but when they were short on cashiers I filled in. It is enough to make you nuts.

[skygazer]

21. Sounds like my area

Very wealthy, many snooty people. As I said in another post, the majority of my customers I like but it's the obnoxious ones you really notice and remember!

[hfojvt]

62. Don't you forget about me. Don't. Don't. Don't.

Sad that obnoxiousness gets remembered. Not sure that is always true. I used to be able to go into the local Godfather's pizza and order "the usual".

"Remember yesterday - walking hand in hand
Love letters in the sand - I remember you
Through the sleepless nights and every endless day
I'd wanna hear you say - I remember you"

[ronnykmarshall]

40. Sounds like a Bush voter.

Having worked in retail, a waiter and a bank teller I really relate to these stories.

One time I was in line at the bank,it was a friday and very busy. Or course there was a good sized line. This woman turn around and said in a pretty loud voice to the rest of us in line .. "Wells Fargo is advertising if you wait more than 10 minutes you get $10" ... I replied, "Well girlfriend if you leave now you can make it time to open an account".

[CBHagman]

52. Everybody here needs to read "The Santaland Diaries."

If you don't have a copy of David Sedaris's "Barrel Fever" or "Holidays on Ice" (at least I think it's in "Holidays on Ice"), go out and locate a copy well before Christmas. I have yet to meet a person in retail that didn't appreciate Sedaris's descriptions of working as an elf (yes, an elf) in Macy's Santaland. Make sure you're not drinking anything when you read it.

By the way, I've worked in retail for many years and find there are sins on both sides of the register. My standards for customer service and routine checking out are much higher due to my work in retail. That said, as the author of this thread noted, 98 percent of the people are just fine. It's the rude and/or aggressive ones that stick in your mind.

[grace0418]

60. Fantastic story. So funny!

I laughed myself sick when I read it. Have you ever heard David read it on the radio? Even better.

[CBHagman]

66. I literally screamed with laughter when they had it on NPR.

The best part is that they ran excerpts from "The Santaland Diaries" on Morning Edition as I was preparing to go to work at my retail job. Very much in the spirit of things.

And there's nothing like hearing the words in David Sedaris's voice. Perfect.

[flamingyouth]

15. Argh - I feel for you.

I know you and I have talked here before about our retail experiences. I try really hard to let it all roll off my back, but sometimes... ya gotta vent. :hug:

[Redneck Socialist]

17. I feel your pain

Nothing like retail to make you hate humanity.

[WI_DEM]

18. as somebody who spent several years in retail

I concur. The customer always thinks they are right but usually they aren't--especially the ones who insist they are. But you gotta smile and take their superior attitudes.

[bliss_eternal]

20. I'm still shocked I didn't get fired for this one...

When I was waitressing. People seemed to inevitably start demanding items before I even put their food down. With my arms completely full of THEIR food, they started saying where's this or that..(one other item, I just didn't have the arm or hand space for.

After the zillionth person doing this, one day I replied,"I'm so sorry I don't have that with me right now, the mechanical arm that comes out of my ass, isn't working right now...."

Luckily for me, the entire table erupted in laughter, and they apologized for not acknowledging all that I had with me, and that I could only bring so much at one time...

Whew...lol.

Thankfully, I don't do that anymore...

[Witchy_Dem]

50. Yeah but do you remember what TIP you received? LOL

Great story to remember and damn lucky it turned out as well as it did. I had a lady follow me into the kitchen to continue to give me shit one time. My manager laughed his ass off and thought she was a loon. No tip for me that time.

[bliss_eternal]

64. Oh no, what was she so upset about that she felt

the need to follow you through the restaurant? What a 'tard!

Again, thankfully the group I said that to had a great sense of humour--they tipped me well. We got along fine after that, not that we weren't getting along before--but you know what I mean.

I stopped waitressing for many reasons. One of the biggies was I noticed the shift in patron attitudes over the years. We live in such a fast, get it yesterday society now. No one wants to wait for anything--people have no patience anymore. Fax, cell phones, e-mail, etc. No one HAS TO wait for things anymore. If they do have to wait, they will punish you for it.

For some, sitting and waiting for food is an exercise in torture and they feel justified in taking it out on their server, that their food didn't take 5 nanoseconds to get to their table. :eyes: They take any and every little thing out of the tip.

[Jokerman]

22. My favorite story from "retail hell":

As a store manager for a video rental chain I got to deal with all sorts of crazies but one racist asshole stands out so well that I remember him clearly even after several years.

The store I managed was in an older suburb that was progressing from being all white to racially integrated. Although a large part of my customer base was black, the town still had a number of very vocal racists.

I was already having a bad day considering it was the Fourth of July weekend, it was raining cats & dogs, and all of my help had either called in sick or failed to show. I was running the only register with customers lined up nearly to the back of the store when a customer whom I'll call "dipshit" drops his returns on the counter and proclaims loudly that he won't leave until he gets a receipt for the returns because I had "screwed him out of late fees before and he wouldn't let it happen again".

I had just finished checking out videos for a middle aged white woman accompanied by two small, black children. As she was leaving, dipshit asks loudly enough for the entire store to hear "where does a white women get two n***** kids? I was stunned by this but I tried to get the next person checked out as quickly as possible so I can check dipshit's rentals in, print a receipt and get him on his way.

Before I could give him his receipt, dipshit repeats his racist question word for word. Finally, I have his receipt in hand as he starts to repeat this drivel for a third time. Before he gets to the offending word I SLAM the receipt down on the counter and say "Here's your receipt. I don't share your views and I am offended by your language, get the hell out of my store and DON'T COME BACK!"

Dipshit opens his mouth to reply but is stopped short by applause and shouts of support from the other customers. His face turns a deep shade of crimson before he quickly exits.

Dipshit wrote a letter to the district office about me but fortunately his complaint was overshadowed by the thank you letters from other customers who were glad that I stood up to dipshit and threw him out.

[skygazer]

23. "We have the right to refuse service..."

Yup, hardly ever used in my store but that would certainly be grounds. Good for you - no one needs that sort of business.

[tigereye]

28. yay for you!

:thumbsup:

I wish more people would call folks like that on their rude and racist behaviors!

[grace0418]

24. OMG I sooooooo know what you're talking about skygazer!

I worked in retail for years and it was a nightmare. I always would say that everyone should have to work in retail or as a waiter/waitress for 2 years, people might start behaving more civilly if they knew what it was like.

Anyway here is a run-down of my retail nightmare jobs. I'm not counting my high school jobs, just the full-time jobs that I needed to pay the rent.

-A grocery story deli in a far-flung Illinois suburb. People would butt in line, demand service no matter if you were helping someone else or not, and freak out if their meat slices were 1/32 of an inch to thick or too thin. The customers treated me like I was sub-human and the other employees called me "college girl" and wouldn't talk to me for the first month. After that they figured out that I'm a really good person and were nicer. The customers never changed, though.


-The Art Institute of Chicago gift shop. Worst. Job. Ever. First of all, they have Walmart-esque hiring practices. You're considered full-time but you don't work more than 35 hours a week. Plus you're always temporary. They have almost no permanent employees. So you get no benefits, no job security and no respect. You had to wear dress clothes and makeup and stand on your feet all day with the barest minimum of breaks.

The hoards of people that swarmed into the shop every day were absolutely awful. There were school groups with out-of-control kids grabbing everything in sight and leaving behind gum, candy wrappers, boogers, etc. And people on vacation who had to unfold every t-shirt, unbox every boxed item and unroll every poster before dumping it all on the floor and demanding we find them one that wasn't all trashed (uh, moron, YOU trashed it, remember?). Oh but the WORST were the nouveau riche, bitter ladies who bought a $40 membership to the museum and thought that entitled them to to a personal slave while they shopped. If they had to wait in line for more than 10 seconds they'd huff "But I'm a MEMBER!" and demand immediate attention. Nevermind that they decided to come into the shop during the busiest time when every register was running and every cashier moving as fast as humanly possible.


-The Great Frame Up. Second worst job ever. It's one of those stores where you can have things custom framed or you can frame it yourself with instructions. What a nightmare. First of all, people were constantly calling and demanding that we tell them exactly how much we would charge to frame something. No dimensions, no idea what kind of frame or mat they wanted, but dammit they wanted an estimate. Then they'd come in and bitch incessantly about the prices. Well, clearly all the people working in the store did not make up the prices, so either get over it and decide what you want or stop wasting everyone's time. Framing is expensive, but it is not a necessity in life. If money is that tight for you, then you should probably not be framing the giant Monet poster you just bought (from the Art Institute gift shop, where you were probably also a pain in the ass). Then they'd decided to "do-it-themselves" to save money but would basically demand that we do each step for them. So they pretty much got on-the-spot custom framing with free labor. Sometimes people were so annoying that we would do it just to get them to leave, but sometimes we just let them screw up their project royally.


-American Science and Surplus. My last experience in retail hell. I was hired as the manager of their largest store. But the place was such a mess when I got there that there was no way to dig out without hiring about ten more people or just torching the place. If you've never heard of this store, it's a giant store full of weird, quirky surplus stuff from all over, plus joke toys, military surplus, scientific equipment, telescopes, magnets, you name it. We were constantly getting shipments of boxes full of random junk, which we then had to figure out what it was, how to price it and where to put it. This in addition to shipments of the more standard retail items. When I started there were entire rooms full of the random junk boxes, and I had no idea what was what. It was a great place to shop but not to work. Most of the customers were okay, but there were a few creepy people like guys into military stuff that looked like they might be the next Unibomber. Or the drug-addicts who came to buy stuff for their meth labs. Still the worst were the mothers of kids who came in to buy stuff for science projects and whatnot. They couldn't wrap their minds around the concept of the store and would demand that we "re-order" items that were clearly surplus and could not be replenished. Even after we explained it. I only lasted there about 5 months. That was it for me and retail.



Anyway, sorry to hijack your rant skygazer. That felt good though. Reminds me to be thankful for weekends and job benefits, even though my job sucks in general.

[skygazer]

26. No apologies needed

I got such a good chuckle out of your post, I feel a hundred percent better (particularly the bit about the Monet they bought at the Art Institute gift shop).

At least I get a lot of free bottles of booze from my wine reps - since the job has turned me into an alcoholic! :silly:

[grace0418]

48. Good! Yeah, hearing someone else's stories makes you

feel like at least someone else understands.

[friesianrider]

31. You are SO right-on, grace.

"I always would say that everyone should have to work in retail or as a waiter/waitress for 2 years, people might start behaving more civilly if they knew what it was like."

This is exactly what I think too. I believe that most of these assholes never worked in retail or as a waitress, and have no friggin clue what it is like to put up with so much shit for such shitty pay (and shitty tips).

[grace0418]

Thanks. I really believe that. It would be like mandatory military service

only really appropriate for our consumer culture. I'm sure some people would be horrible no matter what but I bet actually having to endure retail or waiting tables would give most people some much-needed perspective.

[sendero]

25. I recently ..

... began a new life as a car dealer after 20+ years programming computers. Hey I wanted to do something compeltely different :)

I noticed that the folks I mentored with were often less than polite to the customers. I confronted one guy, he said "give it time, you'll see".

I see all right. People (not all, but too many)are so effing rude and basically treat sales people like shit. I've been lied to, made all kinds of bogus promises, asked to go out of my way to meet folks who never show up, the whole bit.

Now, I'm nice as long as they are - when the bullshit starts they find I can dish that stuff too. And since I am a one man show, I don't have to answer to anyone, I handle it however I deem appropriate.

I can't stand folks who treat people who work at stores/restaurants/etc like crap BECAUSE THEY CAN. I see these people now and then and I just want to smack em. They're like people who kick dogs and cats.

[skygazer]

27. I used to sell snowmobiles

I like selling vehicles - for one thing, it's not a hard sell job. People who come in have pretty much decided to buy, you just have to help them get into something.

Even though I bitch about retail, there's a lot I enjoy about it, mostly the schmoozing with people. That's what I enjoyed the most about selling snowmobiles because you have more time to devote to one customer than you do in a grocery store. But I agree, working it certainly gives you insight into how you treat other service people.

[friesianrider]

29. I hear ya, skygazer.

I didn't work in retail for a long time, but it was damn sure plenty of time.

FWIW, that 3-month retail experience has left me with overwhelming gratitude for anyone who helps me when I'm shopping/eating out/whatever. I always give good tips and try to be as polite and courteous as possible. Treat others as you'd want to be treated.

My guess is people like this have never worked such jobs, or if they have they've forgotten what it is like. Mostly, it is just self-centeredness and selfihsness. "Why, what do you MEAN the world doesn't revolve around me?! How dare you!"

[applegrove]

30. Often they can be "talked down" back to adulthood if you just be very

& empathetic.

[skygazer]

33. That's sometimes true

But I don't get paid nearly enough to mollycoddle every pissy person I meet.

[applegrove]

35. Think of it like teaching them something. Think of it as self-discipline.

Think of it as a battle with your own self to be a better communicator.

[skygazer]

36. Have you ever worked retail?

I work in a very busy grocery store. I don't have time to talk people into being sane. I'm unfailingly polite and professional, don't get me wrong but I'm not going to kill myself to teach people the manners they should have learned at home.

And I have plenty of self-discipline - how do you think I've survived for 6 1/2 years in this job without killing a customer. O8)

[applegrove]

37. Sorry - sounds like you don't have the time. If you are swamped then

yes - forget about it. Just be polite and let them walk home in the mood they are in. They deserve it if they see you are busy and insist on bitching.

Ignore me.

[skygazer]

38. I'm not going to ignore you!

This is my happy place, after all! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[applegrove]

41. Yes - tis a shelter of sorts. You are kind.

:yourock:

[jmm]

32. I can't work in retail anymore because I would

say stuff like that to people. Like once when a woman called to ask about a toy she had bought a week earlier. It looked like a crystal ball only it was gel filled. I had some on my counter and it has a warning label clearly stating intended for adult use only. Don't let children under five use it. So why was she calling about it? She bought it for her 3 year old and her daughter who liked to suck on it. About a half an hour ago her kid broke it and started to drink the liquid in it. She started to wonder if she should take her child to the hospital and wanted my opinion. It took her five minutes to say this and I swear she sounded like she was on some type of depressant. I pretty much said, "What are you doing calling me when you think your child needs medical attention? I'm not a doctor or a nurse, I work in a toy store. If you had bothered to read the big warning on the outside of the package you wouldn't have bought it for her. If you had bothered to read the info inside the box you would know not to let this child, who shouldn't have had the toy in the first place, use it as a chew toy and you would also know it's non-toxic so you probably have nothing to worry about. But again you should not be calling toy store cashier for medical advice. If you have any doubts take her to the hospital immediately. Get some help for the both of you."

I've had customers come in drunk, act like I was their babysitter, and then there were the men with lame pick up lines like "if the whole store is on sale how much can I buy you for?" and be really proud of themselves as if they were the first man to come up with that clever line. I told them all where to go and what to do to themselves once they got there. Luckily I was a good sales person so I was never fired.

[uhhuh]

34. Don't forget to go to this fine site

After working with customers all day, it is good for a laugh:

www.customerssuck.com

[ronnykmarshall]

39. I love the express lane story.

I worked in retail and as a waiter during high school. I know what you're saying.

The finger snapping is my fave. You can snap them things down to a fuckin' nub honey, I'm not responding.

[grace0418]

46. Oooo, yeah, the finger snapping. That is unbelievable.

Where do some people get off? I've seen people do this in restaurants, too. Don't they know that all it's going to get them is some toilet water in their soup or rolls that have been dropped on the floor?

[blondeatlast]

42. Rampaging Republican lady who REFUSED to let anyone check the sig

on her AmEx card under ANY circumstances.

God help anyone who tried--and the store I worked for refused to back any employee who dared to sdo what AmeEx asked up.

She was big as a house, and a Mary Kay lady in her pink Cadillac.

WHATTA BITCH--and I have said that about precious, precious few.

You have my sympathies...

Edit: This was the Reagan era and yeah, she had one of those stickers on that hideous pink Caddy.

Ugh.

[Dastard Stepchild]

49. ooohhhh.... how about the evils of food service....

I think an equally intolerable pain. My favorite, favorite horrible customer was the lady that ordered a muffin from me at this coffee shop I was working at. It was a huge bran/carrot/raisin muffin. She takes this and a mega cup of coffee back to her seat and I don't see her for a while. About 20 minutes later, she comes up to the counter with her little white plate filled with all these half-nibbled, spit-out raisins. She tells me, "I hate raisins. I hated this muffin. I want a refund." I actually just started laughing out loud because it caught me off guard and was kinda ridiculous. She got really testy and started yelling about her unholy dissatisfaction. I ended up giving her two free chocolate chip cookies, and that seemed to placate her enough to let her sit down and finish her cup o' joe.

[TK421]

51. Oh, the stories I have and how I can understand what you're saying

I worked retail for a total of eight years (two department stores) and believe me,I can relate. The problem with some people is they will walk into the frigging store with a chip on their shoulder and expect to be waited on hand-and-foot. I used to have dirtbags return, no joke, dirty underwear, shirts with buttons torn off, and stained jeans with holes in the knees. I worked in a liquor store for about a year....what a bunch of derelicts. By the way, don't you love the reasoning that if it bothers you that much,find another job? Well...sure I will:eyes: Because,after all...you are the problem,not the jackass customer!

[jane_pippin]

54. Here's one I witnessed:

A few years ago my roommate and I were drunk/stoned and decided it would be a good idea to go get some items to make crafts with. (paper, markers, bass fishing magazines, whatever we could find.) The only place open at 1am was the grocery store, so we went.

The lines were pretty long and they only had 2 lanes open. We didn't really care but the guy behind us was PISSED. He kept mumbling stuff like "fuck this shit" and so on under his breath. When we were done and he got his turn he said something to the clerk about how pissed he was, and he wasn't polite about it either.

Well. We get outside and start walking home and we see the angry customer running full speed to his car. I thought he was going to get a gun or something and we'd be in the middle of some horrible incident.

Turns out Mr. This Line Isn't Moving Fast Enough at 1am forgot his wallet in the car and ended up holding up the entire line.

[Dora]

63. I never LOL, and I'm LOLing!!! n/t

[skygazer]

65. I love people who are pissed about waiting at 1 am

Do they think we keep the store fully staffed with checkers just for the ten people who come in between 10 pm and 6 am? But of course they do - they have no conception of the reality because they've never worked retail. :eyes:

[jane_pippin]

69. Don't you just love people sometimes?

I just don't get how people can be rude to retail folks for no reason whatsoever. I go out of my way to be polite/nice to them, but then I've worked retail too.

That guy was a piece of work.

[nini]

58. This is why when I'm shopping I let rude customers have it

I feel it is my duty to let someone have it when they're treating a worker like that. They can't do anything to me because I don't work there. :evilgrin:

I've been thanked more than once by a worker who had to smile and take that crap.

[JimmyJazz]

67. I DO THE SAME THING! I worked in retail for too many years not to

speak up! :yourock:

:hi:

[skygazer]

68. And we appreciate it!

I always love it when that happens - I had a guy tell a very rude customer to back off and apologise one day and that was great. I also had a whole line of people burst into applause when I told a pain in the ass customer to get out of my line (she had to dispute the price on every damn thing she bought - this was in the express lane - and then when I finally finished the transaction, she said, "oh, I forgot to get cigarettes". I told her, "well, I'm sorry but you'll have to go to another register" - I'd had it and evidently everyone waiting had, too).

[nini]

73. I heard a lady compare the clerk to Nazi Prison Guards once

because she told the woman she had to ask for ID for a check.

The woman refused to show her ID, so the clerk pointing to a sign saying it was required and she had to ask as part of her job.
The customer said the nazis also did what they were told :shrug:

That was my favorite all time smack down. How dare she trivialize what happened in those camps to needing to show an ID when writing a personal check! She kept arguing until I told her she was dismissed and had to leave now as no one wanted to hear her stupidity. The girl working there was dumbounded at the exchange. LOL God, I was pissed at that woman.

:D

[Gormy Cuss]

74. I've never worked retail, and I do it too.

Not raised by wolves, I guess.:bounce:

[prole_for_peace]

71. i worked in food service a long time ago and it is hazy

but i DO remember the table of 4 that bought a large pizza with everything and, after eating every last bite and maybe licking the pan, said that they weren't paying because the was mushrooms on it. or the table that purchased one salad bar but each of them got up to take their turn. they were pissed that i added it to their bill but thats the ways it is. or the dirty old men that would make inappropriate comments to me.

things i have witnessed: a couple brought back a chainsaw box that they said they had purchased the day before. and when they got home and opened it up, low and behold, it was full of bricks and no chainsaw. i was in the line behind them and almost said "bullshit" out loud. this box was NOT new and you know how you can sometimes just tell when people are full of shit? well my meter was in the red.

then at office max the other day, i was in line at the register and there was one person in front being rung up. this b walks in, straight to the register, and starts asking the cashier 20 questions about something. when she was finally done and walked off, the three of us burst out laughing. missy sure didn't look happy at that.

[LisaM]

72. My sister once had a guy throw hot dogs and ice at her manager

because she asked him for ID when he was buying beer at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. He got really angry with her and called her a "slitty eyed bitch" (Note: she has large ROUND greenish eyes) and her manager told the guy to leave and instead he jumped over the counter and started grabbing hot dogs off those little spits they roast them on and ice out of the pop dispenser and went amok throwing them! The manager chased him out of the store, when they crashed into some of the art exhibits.

I've had weird things happen when I worked in a bookstore ("I need this book for a class. It's green!" or once someone wanted a book called "Adventures in Ethiopia".....it sounded vaguely familiar so I puzzled it out - the real title was "Kibbutz: A Venture in UTOPIA") but nothing like the hot dog ice throwing guy.

I did once accidentally get into an express lane with two extra items and the giant fat guy behind me buying three pre-made sandwiches went berserk! The express lane sign was parallel to the register and about 30 feet up in the air. I apologized profusely, but I didn't have that much stuff and one of the items was quite large and besides they'd already started ringing it up. The sandwich guy started yelling, "SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU! AND SHAME ON KENNY (cashier) FOR WAITING ON YOU!" Kenny got so flustered he accidentally rang me up in Canadian money, but he didn't make me move. What a jerk that guy was.

[skygazer]

75. Two extra items in express is not a hanging offense

What I love are the people who come through with 130 items but feel they can do so because "they're all the same item". Hello, moran, we still have to bag them all so it holds up the EXPRESS line!!!! :banghead:

One of our assistant managers once got attacked in the checkstand - the customer was drunk, I think, and took a swing at him (I've forgotten why - there was no real reason). He picked the wrong guy because Tim ducked his punch and nailed him right in the kisser - it was beautiful because of course it was what all of us had wanted to do so many times. O8)

[A HERETIC I AM]

76. I worked at the first Bloomingdales built south of the DC area......

back in the 80's, in South Florida. Because S. Fl has so many transplanted New Yorkers, Charter busses were hired to bring little old ladies and their hubby's all the way down from as far as West Palm Beach to shop at "Bloomies".
One of the neat little boutiques in that store was a perfumery that sold expensive, vintage French perfume that was kept in large decanters and sold by the ounce and into a sprayer of your own or a nice, decorative, cut glass one that you could buy in the boutique. Now, any woman on this board that has a perfume sprayer on her vanity counter will tell you that they are NOT meant to be laid down and are not necessarily portable. Some tend to LEAK if turned over. One time there was this lady who wanted to make a special mix for herself with this VERY expensive perfume. (The mix reeked because the perfumes were very subtle and really not meant to be blended.) Anyway, she bought this sprayer, filled it with about $400.00 worth of this godawdawful mix and went on her merry way. As it turned out, she REMOVED THE SPRAYER FROM THE BOX AND BAG she was given that allowed it to be carried upright and PUT IT IN HER DAMNED PURSE! where it proceeded to leak all over. She comes back about an hour later pitching an absolute FIT and demanded another sprayer and ANOTHER $400.00 worth of her smelly mix.
"Ma'am, we gave the sprayer to you in the box with a handle bag so it could be carried upright. It is NOT meant to be laid down."
"But you didnt TEL ME THAT"

Do you think anything we said to her after that made any difference?

At the end of it the Asst. Store manager became involved after she got so fucking loud (And she HAD to have been in her later 60's at least) that he heard her upstairs and thus had no choice and finally pulled me aside and told me to do what i had to do, "Just get rid of her!" Another $100 plus sprayer refilled for FREE and off she went. BTW, she kept the 1st one which was still 2/3s full.

It made me aware that in an upscale department store, all you have to do to get your way is start yelling!