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I've just stood in for my friend who is working a retail job at a small grocery shop in a relatively pleasant part of town.
I only worked a single shift before i decided that i would never ever do that again. I cannot understand how people can do it to be honest.
As a cable guy, i have that freedom to pick myself up and leave if a customer starts behaving in a bad way. Here, you must stand and take it. All day long. It's an affront to human dignity.
Anyone have any horror stories from working retail?
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I've thankfully been spared from anything too rough, though I was just cashiering at a convenience store on campus at college. I only had a few people scream at or berate me, so it was tolerable. (Every single one, without exception, was a middle aged white woman, btw. All the actual college students were very polite and well mannered. And the employees at all the other stores in the vicinity experienced the same demographic of douchy-ness.)
It was still awful, having to stand there for hours with unending lines of people and having to sometimes wait a long time for someone to cover to get even a bathroom break.
I did it for over 5 years through college and a while afterwards, I don't think I could ever do retail again, and my job was pretty low stress compared to other retail jobs.
Since I have nothing juicy to share, I'll instead contribute by leaving this post about horrible customers that I've had favorite for years.
I make sure to never yell at or mistreat people in customer service, and I have a pretty short temper so that's quite the accomplishment for me. Over half the stuff you might get mad about is the result of people much higher up and better paid who will never have to face your wrath, and the mistakes the customer service person makes are seldom a big deal at all and understandable given all the stress (in work, and out of work from the crap pay) they take.
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I work for the USPS, so I get yelled at by people pretty much every single day. The one I work at happens to be in an fairly affluent part of my city, which makes the rich people griping at me about the cost of a stamp even more sad.
As a result, I never complain to people working a counter, as I no exactly what they are going through. I do however lite into customers who I see unfairly yelling at those same people.
I once had to pressure wash a dumpster the size of a house that was filled to the brim with rotten pepper cores and other vegetables that had been baking in the South Carolinian summer sun for about 4 months while in a HAZMAT suit. I puked afterwards from the smell.
And you know what? I'd do that job over retail anytime of the year. No matter how nice you try to be to someone in that line of work, you still end up dealing with self-entitled customers and moronic supervisors that expect you to give some shred of politeness and demand respect for a job you wish would burn to the ground. My current job is more office/secretarial work so I do deal with whiny rich kids complaining about being ticketed for parking, but at least my coworkers and my bosses make the job enjoyable. Luckily for me, my boss did 30 years as a homicide detective and he has a pretty "take-no-s$!@" attitude from whiners.
You think retail is bad? You'd lose your mind doing food service. It's just like retail, but all your customers are hungry and crabby.
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I worked retail in a used record store for a decade. It was awesome.
Oh, some of the customers were douchebags. But I was usually pretty stoned, so I didn't care.
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Try call centre work, you have to ask to go to the toilet and they time you. Everybody thinks you are in India and the racist s%&+ you have to put up with because they think you are Indian is awful.
Luckily I am testing software now it's an okay job.
I work outdoor sales for satellite TV providers. I run into d- bag know it alls every day. They think they "are doing fine" even when they are paying over 100 dollars for basic TV. Morons! Lol. I usually say " well enjoy overpaying for your television services" smile and walk away lol
I didn't get work in retail last summer. I am still not sure if I am happy that it avoided me or angry that I am still without steady job.
Personally I try to be polite to people working in retail... Unless they are rude towards me or try to rip me off (once or twice). Even when I have an issue (error in product pricing) I am trying to solve the matter politely (despite being quite nervous).
I have a theory about a@%$&!& customers: I think they only act that way because no one ever calls them on their b+&~!%&&.
Been there, done that. It does not always works - often it even sparks even greater argument... But at least takes some of the heat off the poor worker. A few times I had to hold myself to avoid punching such egotistic a-hole.
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I've done both food service and retail. Luckily, I worked in the kitchens in food service and the backroom in retail. I actually find customers aren't hard to deal with. They know what they want most of the time, you just have to give it to them. And then they go happily on their way. But lazy coworkers and bad managers? Those are forever.
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Thanks Geistlinger. You just destroyed my productivity at work with those websites :p
Haven't looked on Not Always Right in ages (or about half a year since my old computer broke). I haven't seen Not Always Working before.
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In the long-long ago, I worked retail at a couple bookshops and at a pharmacy--all awesome, for retail.
I also worked at a Wal-Mart...for exactly one month (of pure, living Hell). Never, never again.
Luckily, I applied for and was granted a transfer to a distribution centre: no customers, no headaches, and I got a hell of a workout every day.
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As someone who spent 15+ years in retail, I can say that, like all jobs, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not.
Best part is killing the a**holes with kindness. Nothing p!sses them off more. :-)
Thanks Geistlinger. You just destroyed my productivity at work with those websites :p
My work here is done. >:D
I once had to pressure wash a dumpster the size of a house that was filled to the brim with rotten pepper cores and other vegetables that had been baking in the South Carolinian summer sun for about 4 months while in a HAZMAT suit. I puked afterwards from the smell.
And you know what? I'd do that job over retail anytime of the year. No matter how nice you try to be to someone in that line of work, you still end up dealing with self-entitled customers and moronic supervisors that expect you to give some shred of politeness and demand respect for a job you wish would burn to the ground. My current job is more office/secretarial work so I do deal with whiny rich kids complaining about being ticketed for parking, but at least my coworkers and my bosses make the job enjoyable. Luckily for me, my boss did 30 years as a homicide detective and he has a pretty "take-no-s~##" attitude from whiners.
South Carolina got pretty hot when I lived there, but I forgot that Florida is worse before I moved home a few months ago :(
To answer the OP: I've been in the service industry my entire working life, and its got its ups and downs. For me, its a lot more fun being the store manager, rather than being a minion, mostly because 95% of all service industry managers are lazy idiots.
I worked retail in the UK and Ireland for 18 years. I'm hoping I don't ever have to go back to it (I have a full-time writing gig coming up after Christmas, fingers crossed). As for horror stories:
I was working in a mobile phone shop in Ireland. A customer came in to say that he was no longer getting a signal six months into his contract, with twelve to go. I checked his address and it seemed fine. He then said he'd moved. I said fine and where to? He then reported that he'd moved to the Arran Islands. These are a group of small islands 25 miles off the coast of Ireland and, at that time, had no mobile coverage at all. I pointed this out and the customer got irate and demanded that we cancel his contract and refund the previous few weeks. I pointed out that he'd chosen to take out the contract and then move to the back of beyond, so it was on him. Also, he still worked in Galway, commuting back and forth every weekend and staying in the city for most of the week, so for 5 days a week his mobile phone was still fully operational and usable.
The bloke went nuts. As in, literally, he went crazy, yelling and screaming at us. He stormed out, came back five minutes later and threw the mobile phone at my head. Luckily it missed, hit the wall and smashed apart. So now he had no phone, the police interested in talking to him (we reported him for assault) and still had the rest of his contract to pay off (as our company refused to cancel it). Nutcase.
More recently, and this is what broke the camel's back, I worked as a store manager. Between dealing with truly stupid staffmembers (the guy who habitually came in 90 minutes late every Saturday and was genuinely astonished when I sacked him; the girl who came in severely hungover and got annoyed when I expected her to still put in a full's day work and effort) and even more moronic customers (the kids who trashed the front of the store, laughed at how we 'couldn't do anything about it' and then freaked out when the police walked in and arrested them) a lot of my residual interest in the job was lost. Obviously, 90% of people (staff and customers) were absolutely great, but both the percentage of numpties and their degree of numptyness (as both workers and customers) seems to have risen dramatically in the last two decades, to the point where I really don't want to work in the business any more.
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As a side note, I really like the word numpty now and will be using it more often.
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As someone who spent 15+ years in retail, I can say that, like all jobs, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not.
Best part is killing the a**holes with kindness. Nothing p!sses them off more. :-)
Agreed. I worked customer service in a call center for a while and got moved to tier 1 (the folks who were sent the escalated calls ... aka the jerks and folks who would not take no for an answer when they were trying to return a product with a 30 or 60 day return policy a year after purchase). Killing them with kindness was a favorite stress relieving tactic.
I am sooooo glad I don't do that anymore.
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I've been working at Walmart since 2007 and my complaints about management and how the company is run far outweigh the complaints I have about customers. The customers usually make it worthwhile. For every jerk customer I've had to deal with, there are dozens of nice customers.
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Spent...a long time...working at a gas station. Lots of good stories.
My favorite is the guy who threw a propane tank at me. I had checked and the tank was expired and needed certified, but he wanted me to just fill it up 'one last time'. When I declined, he became agitatd and left, taking a moment to throw the tank at me. Which, by the way, was completely empty. Nothing really bad happened, but I love to start the story off that way.
I've caught people having sex, twice. Once in the bathroom, once in the bushes behind the building. Nothing too bad there from their reactions. The bathroom couple came in and bought stuff even after I walked in on them. The other two just stopped, got into different cars and left.
Drunk people wanting to buy alcohol. Couldn't do it, but they thought they should have been allowed to buy it. I cannot count the sheer number of people I had to refuse to sell alcohol too because they had trouble walking to the beer cooler and back. And always belligerent about it. Oh, and before 8am on Sundays. Can't do that either. Oh, and one guy who came in, drove into the ditch in front of the station, then back out in front of the building, stumbled in and wanting to buy beer before leaving through the ditch, hitting the fire hydrant out front (thankfully not fast enough to damage it). He got a police call.
Gas drive offs. Grrrr. Especially the ones you could tell were planning it, and did what you could to get a plate number at least.
Oh, oh, Full Service Lane. People come in wanting you to check all the fluids, check the tire pressure, wash the windows, fill it up, no tip. That was expected and done. The ones who come in to have you check all fluids, check tire pressure, wash the windows, and then get 2.00 in gas with no tip. Grrrrr. Also cars where it's hard to access all the fluids (Dodge Intrepids come to mind on this).
Transient camps nearby. That was a hassle. I remember a time when a guy came in, used the payphone, went across the street and laid down. A few minutes later an ambulance showed up looking for the guy who collapsed by the road and called from our place. That was odd. And the guy who came in covered in mud from head to feet, his pants down to his ankles, completely trashed. Asked for the key to the restroom, told him it wasn't locked, and then proceeds to get angry with me for not giving him the key. That one almost got violent.
And every single person who ever came in asking how nice it must be to be so rich cause of the gas prices. Those were the people I'm glad I didn't have a taser, because I'd be going to jail.
Oh, I could probably go on.....
As a side note, I really like the word numpty now and will be using it more often.
Sorry, if you're not British you have to pay the Queen a licence fee of 17p ($425 in your colonial money*) every time you fire the word "Numpty" in anger.
* This reflects the exchange rate at the time of posting, which may differ dramatically to when other people check it.
As a side note, I really like the word numpty now and will be using it more often.Sorry, if you're not British you have to pay the Queen a licence fee of 17p ($425 in your colonial money*) every time you fire the word "Numpty" in anger.
* This reflects the exchange rate at the time of posting, which may differ dramatically to when other people check it.
Can us Scandinavians settle for not sacking Canterbury?
As a side note, I really like the word numpty now and will be using it more often.Sorry, if you're not British you have to pay the Queen a licence fee of 17p ($425 in your colonial money*) every time you fire the word "Numpty" in anger.
* This reflects the exchange rate at the time of posting, which may differ dramatically to when other people check it.
I can still use Numpty, muppet, pear shaped,frog & toad, trouble and strife, and all the other insults sayings and rhyming slang from the UK for free because Liz 2.0 is my Queen.... :-)
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As a side note, I really like the word numpty now and will be using it more often.Sorry, if you're not British you have to pay the Queen a licence fee of 17p ($425 in your colonial money*) every time you fire the word "Numpty" in anger.
* This reflects the exchange rate at the time of posting, which may differ dramatically to when other people check it.
I'm afraid all I have are electrum pieces. Please provide a conversion rate.
Heres what I do:
I'm nice to the poor sap behind the register, because I've been there.
And, every once in a while,
I'm behind somebody who isn't.
Somebody who is b+&$$ing the guy out behind the register because the gas pump doesn't take his f+%!ing credit card.
I say "do you think that guy behind the register has anything to do with that gas pump? Get the manager/owner's number and b*&&! them out, because if you're b*#%&ing the cashier out, you're just taking your frustrations out on a convenient punching bag. He has no power, and no say about that f%$#ing gas pump, man."
It's not much, but it's something.
Retail sucks, man.
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Another complaint from retail! Some argue this one with me, but the guy who comes in first thing when you open, knows you just opened, and pays for his $10 in gas with a $100 bill. I remember once having to give a guy 3 rolls of quarters as part of his change, and he was frustrated with ME because of it. Something I make sure not to do (of course I almost exclusively use my debit card to help me track purchases).
One thing I don't do well though is people who can't count change back. The only time I've ever worked somewhere where the machine did it for me was K-Mart, and that was one of my biggest complaints there. I find it hilarious when I go to the store and the person on the register, for whatever reason, can't use the register to give money back. It usually anymore takes FOREVER to count money back. I suppose that's a lost skill with modern convenience, but still a pet peeve of mine. Not that I'll hassle them (I actually try to help), but I do feel annoyed at least.
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I've been working at Walmart since 2007 and my complaints about management and how the company is run far outweigh the complaints I have about customers. The customers usually make it worthwhile. For every jerk customer I've had to deal with, there are dozens of nice customers.
I also worked in brick and mortar establishments, and I can state that folks tend to be much nicer when they have to look you in the face rather than speak to you over the phone.
Of course, being 6'3" may have also played a role in the difference in demeanor ...
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Another complaint from retail! Some argue this one with me, but the guy who comes in first thing when you open, knows you just opened, and pays for his $10 in gas with a $100 bill.
Oh yeah...I had a customer call the police, because I [b]couldn't[b] change his €100 bill for a can of pasta (yes, I did actually show him the almost empty cash tray) during a nightshift.
The police was not too amused with his call...
Returning from a nightshift at the gas station right now, I completely agree with the OP.
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This is why when i call customer service with a really bad problem i ask the front desk to forward me to someone being paid enough to be screamed and cursed at.
Usually gets you right to someone that can do something ...
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Another complaint from retail! Some argue this one with me, but the guy who comes in first thing when you open, knows you just opened, and pays for his $10 in gas with a $100 bill.Oh yeah...I had a customer call the police, because I [b]couldn't[b] change his €100 bill for a can of pasta (yes, I did actually show him the almost empty cash tray) during a nightshift.
The police was not too amused with his call...
Returning from a nightshift at the gas station right now, I completely agree with the OP.
I worked at an exchange office. A guy comes in, hands me a 500 euro bill and tells me to exchange 5. Aside from being dumbfounded by the sheer a*******ry of his request, i actually didn't have enough euro in my register to return him the difference. SO i was pretty happy when he walked out in a huff.
Yes, being a "difficult customer" does have its perks. One day, my broadband just didn't work. I checked everything within the apartment, with no problems, and then called the company. After checking the stuff they wanted, they told me (not kidding you) that they weren't going to do anything about it, because nobody else from my house had issued a complaint. This was a few years back, and most of the people in my house were older people, so it was almost to be expected that nobody else had found this stop.
I told her, very carefully avoiding everything threatening, what I thought of their policy. She tried to justify this with "but then we'd have to send people out for every single complaint" and "how can we know there really is a problem if it's just you reporting it"... Which is when I started screaming. Eventually, she forwarded me to the second-level help desk, who were very accomodating and immediately sent out someone to help me. Broadband started working just fine an hour or two after that.
Ever since, while I had that provider, I got immediately sent to the competent help, and never had any complaints about their help desk.
Makes one think, really... is it a good policy to reward bad customers with good help?
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Yes, being a "difficult customer" does have its perks. One day, my broadband just didn't work. I checked everything within the apartment, with no problems, and then called the company. After checking the stuff they wanted, they told me (not kidding you) that they weren't going to do anything about it, because nobody else from my house had issued a complaint. This was a few years back, and most of the people in my house were older people, so it was almost to be expected that nobody else had found this stop.
I told her, very carefully avoiding everything threatening, what I thought of their policy. She tried to justify this with "but then we'd have to send people out for every single complaint" and "how can we know there really is a problem if it's just you reporting it"... Which is when I started screaming. Eventually, she forwarded me to the second-level help desk, who were very accomodating and immediately sent out someone to help me. Broadband started working just fine an hour or two after that.
Ever since, while I had that provider, I got immediately sent to the competent help, and never had any complaints about their help desk.
Makes one think, really... is it a good policy to reward bad customers with good help?
Holy...wow...that sucks. I work for a cable company. As soon as there is a legitimate complaint, we forward it to one of our tech support teams who are always in the car and around, they get to it ASAP. We usually resolve complaints during the day or the day after at the latest.
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Yes, being a "difficult customer" does have its perks. One day, my broadband just didn't work. I checked everything within the apartment, with no problems, and then called the company. After checking the stuff they wanted, they told me (not kidding you) that they weren't going to do anything about it, because nobody else from my house had issued a complaint. This was a few years back, and most of the people in my house were older people, so it was almost to be expected that nobody else had found this stop.
I told her, very carefully avoiding everything threatening, what I thought of their policy. She tried to justify this with "but then we'd have to send people out for every single complaint" and "how can we know there really is a problem if it's just you reporting it"... Which is when I started screaming. Eventually, she forwarded me to the second-level help desk, who were very accomodating and immediately sent out someone to help me. Broadband started working just fine an hour or two after that.
Ever since, while I had that provider, I got immediately sent to the competent help, and never had any complaints about their help desk.
Makes one think, really... is it a good policy to reward bad customers with good help?
Wow. That policy is...well, idiotic is putting it mildly. What if you were living alone? Do they expect you to have multiple personality disorder?
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i work third shift in a gas station in a bigger city. It has taught me to hate humanity. So many drug abusers, amazing how sick this city got the day after "medical" pot got the ok. i grew up with bikers so i know you can smoke it without stinking bad enough to scare off a skunk. Nobody can afford to throw away money on energy drinks and snacks like the welfare abusers, and of course they can all afford cigarettes too. Rude, ignorant, i am watching the movie Idiocracy coming true in front of my eyes. Even the local cops joke about how likely it is for me to kill one of these trash any day.
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Heres what I do:
I'm nice to the poor sap behind the register, because I've been there.
And, every once in a while,
I'm behind somebody who isn't.Somebody who is b$~@#ing the guy out behind the register because the gas pump doesn't take his f+$%ing credit card.
I say "do you think that guy behind the register has anything to do with that gas pump? Get the manager/owner's number and b~%*@ them out, because if you're b~~$~ing the cashier out, you're just taking your frustrations out on a convenient punching bag. He has no power, and no say about that f@@!ing gas pump, man."
It's not much, but it's something.
Retail sucks, man.
That is why i used to make a hobby of picking fights at the local grocery store. any one being a dick to the cashier i would hassle and try to get them to go outside with me. these cowards want to go after someone that cannot even talk back, they sure as hell do not want the guy looking forward to punching back
I worked retail for a while.
They made me wear a necktie.
A NECKTIE, I tell you!
That's why I work in IT now, wearing a tie is a Health and Occupational Saftey issue and IT staff dont wear ties.
Not that I get my hands dirty I test software I haven't opened up a PC or printer in years.
I’ve worked retail for 6 years (same company as a matter of fact), as a front end employee. I have been screamed at (I have a bad habit of finding screaming people extremely funny, so well I always manage to retain a smile I occasionally have a hard time stifling laughter), I have been hit on in ways I didn’t think were possible, I’ve had my life threatened (including having weapons such as pistols and knives shown to me to reinforce their seriousness), I’ve been spat on, and I’ve been berated in so many different ways for so many different perceived shortcomings that I couldn’t even begin to list them all here. None of that bothers me, though. I don’t intend to, but could continue life in this sector for the rest of my working career. What ends up bothering me, though, is watching how it becomes the people who show basic human decency and courtesy who wind up becoming my coworker‘s and my highpoints. Sure those rare individuals who go above and beyond what would be expected of your basic human being are diamonds in the rough to be sure, but they are so rare and the scum so common that it comes down to the people who act and behave in manners consistent of what would be expected of your most basic human being who are deemed to “make the whole job worth it.”
In a setting outside of work passing someone on the street who pays you no more mind that to meet your eyes and smile briefly as they pass you by is something that is common, yet this same behavior at work from a customer is enough of a kind act to hear employees exclaim about how angels do walk among us. To further illustrate this point, we have a board in the break room of my work on which employees are encouraged to write a small note detailing a positive interaction with a customer. This board is filled with gems such as “a customer smiled at me,” and “a customer correctly remembered my name (we wear name tags, this is still a rare occurrence). Of course there is the occasional extraordinary ones, but far too common is the “a customer said thank you.”
Like I said before, I don’t mind the job, in fact I get a good deal of enjoyment out of my coworkers. I don’t mind the angry and irate customers (again, aggression aimed towards me tends to amuse me). I’m just bothered that through all of it I seem to search for, if not yearn for, mediocrity to brighten the day.
That is why i used to make a hobby of picking fights at the local grocery store. any one being a dick to the cashier i would hassle and try to get them to go outside with me. these cowards want to go after someone that cannot even talk back, they sure as hell do not want the guy looking forward to punching backHeres what I do:
I'm nice to the poor sap behind the register, because I've been there.
And, every once in a while,
I'm behind somebody who isn't.Somebody who is b$~@#ing the guy out behind the register because the gas pump doesn't take his f+$%ing credit card.
I say "do you think that guy behind the register has anything to do with that gas pump? Get the manager/owner's number and b~%*@ them out, because if you're b~~$~ing the cashier out, you're just taking your frustrations out on a convenient punching bag. He has no power, and no say about that f@@!ing gas pump, man."
It's not much, but it's something.
Retail sucks, man.
One time,......f#*&ing ages ago.....
I started doing Jules' "the path of the righteous man...." bit from Pulp Fiction on some a#@@!%% griefing the cashier ahead a me.There were these two girls behind me; they were laughing;
One says "woah.....he thought he was all bad..."
the other one says,
"yeah, til he thought he might get his ass kicked..."
I don't have any fun no more though.
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I worked retail for a while.
They made me wear a noose.
A NOOSE, I tell you!
FIFY.
I am not a big tie person (the only time you will see me wear a stylish noose is typically at weddings and funerals), although I did once have a tie that was an electron spectrograph of moon rock. Never had to wear it to work though ...
I worked retail for a while.
They made me wear a necktie.
A NECKTIE, I tell you!
Well, how the hell else are we supposed to defeat Communism?
I worked retail for a while.
They made me wear a noose.
A NOOSE, I tell you!
FIFY.
I am not a big tie person (the only time you will see me wear a stylish noose is typically at weddings and funerals), although I did once have a tie that was an electron spectrograph of moon rock. Never had to wear it to work though ...
Wish I could favorite this 1000 times.
I ****ing HATE ties! When I do have to wear one, like a job interview, I use a zipper tie, which still is a stupid noose hanging from your neck, but at least it has a hidden zipper on the back side to loosen it and take off. And I feel like every time I wear them and no one realizes it's a fake tie, I'm outsmarting them and making them fools with my deception. Serves them right for forcing me to wear a tie...
I can't believe some retail places force people to wear ties. No one should ever have to wear a tie for less than $20 per hour.