Comments on: Why customers and retail employees hate each other

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:27:24 +0000

I have been working in retail for a couple of years. It is my first job in the US. I absolutely hate it. I did not know what I was getting into. A retail job is very hard job, physically and emotionally, they expect so much from you in return for those coins they are paying. When I see my paycheck, I want to laugh. If I were single, I would not be able to survive with what they are paying me. I work at the discount store, our sales are up (last year was the best year in the history of our company), consumer’s traffic increased, but our hours are down, they schedule as few employees as they can. There are never enough cashiers, the store is always mess, there is never enough people to recover it properly. They do not care about working condition. I agree it is a minimum wage slavery, you work hard for nothing. It is a dead end job!

By: Ivy

Ivy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:18:19 +0000

You, my friend are an angel. You actually understand us retail people. You’re one of the nice ones =D Some of the rudest things customers do you are completely against.

Clerk: “Hi, how are you?”
Customer: *pays no attention to the clerk, and continued yapping away on his phone, tossing his merchandise at the employee*

Clerk: His how are you?
Customer: *glares and doesn’s answer like some idiot*

By: ruby

ruby — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:31:07 +0000

I was a stay home mom for the last ten years, now that the kids are older I have decided to go back to work part-time, at first I was so excited to bring some extra money home maybe make some friends, now after 1 year I have become a sad person I hate customers, I don’t smile anymore, working in retail was one of my biggest mistakes. I hate my job, I can not understand how people are so rude and disrespectful to other people coming from South America makes it even harder to understand that phrase that the customer is always right (how come)in my country if you are not nice to the employees in a store they will not serve you,you are in their hands because you need the service.

By: Sears Jobs

Sears Jobs — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:22:02 +0000

Growing up in retail I learned from my Father that the customer was not always right but they were the customer and that you just had to look past things now and then.

By: Carl

Carl — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:32:42 +0000

I worked retail for a couple years. When I was assisting a customer and a rude customer would interrupt with a request or question I would tell them I would be right with them. I did not stop assisting the customer who was there first! However, when I am shopping and this happens, the customer service person starts ignoring me and helping the rude customer. I never let a rude customer intimidate me into being rude to the customer I was assisting. What’s the deal?

By: Brit

Brit — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:38:46 +0000

I’ve been working retail for close to eight years. Half of that time I have been a cashier. It annoys the crap out of me when I have to deal with a customer that is yakking away on the cell phone. I know of a few companies that have signs stating that you will be served when you are done with your phone converstation. I wish more places would adopt that practice. It is hard for us to properly serve you when you are ignoring us. In fact, I do take that as an insult.

The thing that bothers me about customers is when some of them return items, they wait until they are out of the return policy to be able to return said items. (Oh, I was just cleaning out my garage and I found some things I didn’t need…) If you end up not needing the item after purchasing it and taking it home to see if it works with your plan, please promptly bring it back. It will make it easier and less stressful for everyone. If we don’t take the items back because they are out of the statutes and limitations of the return policy, don’t get bitter and say you’re going to go to our next biggest competitor. You had ample time to bring it in. Sorry.

It also bothers me when people try to return items that we don’t sell or when people try to rip us off. Bringing back a set of door knobs that are mismatched (one side nickel and the other side brass) when the package says “100% brass” makes me want to bop that customer on the head. I sure as heck did not take the door knobs back since we don’t sell sets like that. Retail places hate being ripped off just as much as the customer hates being ripped off.

Retail stores are not banks. Please go to a bank if you want change for your $100.00 bill or better yet, ask for smaller bills while you are at the bank.

When I shop, I am nice to the employees and I try to be as specific as possible when asking for help. I am not on my phone when I am asking for help or when I am at the register. I also try and do research before I go shopping to make everyone’s job a little bit easier. If a store doesn’t have an item and I was going there on a guess, I don’t get bitter and complain about them not having the item. I either go somewhere else or try and find it online. If an employee is slacking off and refuses to be of much help, I will either find someone else to help me or shop somewhere else.

By: James

James — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:06:18 +0000

You lot read into this way too much… I’m 21, and worked in retail for 5 years now (In England) for a well known store, ever since I was 16, to pay my way through college and university.

The problems are both the company and the customer from a workers perspective. We do get paid pittence, and as I have been working at the company they expect so much off of me… but still paying me the same rate as a new worker. Basically they are taking the piss.

Customers don’t half make it hard though. I am a model customer when I go shopping as I know how hard it is, always please and thank yous. And if there is a problem, I try to be understanding and say no problem.

But I would say 40-60% of customers are rude ******s! slamming there money on the counter, ignoring you. never saying please. Interupting you whilst serving another customer. Kicking (I mean actual kicking and shouting) the door at 8:55am when you don’t open until 9am. Yes I have dealt with some of the most bizarre people around. But it makes me realise, that I was brought up with manners, and not dragged up like a fair few.

By: kate

kate — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 02:10:53 +0000

i can tell you without hesitation that retail employees hate their customers solely based upon the way the customers treat the employees. It doesn’t matter if you live in the same area as the customer or have kids at the same school… There is something about the retail countertop that changes the entire interaction and – for whatever reason – most customers are so incredibly rude to the “help.” They bitch at employees, call them names, insult them, and berate them to the point of tears – and never apologize. THAT is why retail employees hate customers. Because employees are people, living human beings, who have feelings. That’s the simple truth.

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:49:42 +0000

Well, I’ve never worked in retail, but when I was bartending at college I often really disliked the customers at my bars and could have given you a ten-point treatise as to why. Now I’m in consulting, most of my clients are architects, and I’ve caught myself and colleagues saying a few times “God I hate architects”. It’s human nature – architects are the ones calling me up with fires to put out or outrageous requests and timelines or are the ones paying their bills late. It’s just letting off steam, often a good thing.

By: vh

vh — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:38:07 +0000

Some people are extraordinarily good at working with the public, and they actually love jobs in retail, teaching, restaurants, hotels, health care, and the like.

But because our economy has shifted toward the service sector, there aren’t enough jobs to go around for those of us who aren’t good at dealing with strangers every day, hour after hour. And so a lot of retail jobs are occupied by people who aren’t very well suited for that kind of work. Add to that basic factor the low wages and the tiring nature of the job, and you get the picture. Is it any wonder that the retail industry is populated with people who hate their jobs and, by extension, hate their customers?

As a customer, my response to this situation is as follows:

1. I try to be polite to the clerks and check-out staff. How hard is it to smile and say hello? Do you really have to yap on the phone while the checker is adding up your purchases? Surely you can manage to make eye contact and tell the person her hair or her jewelry or her manicure looks nice! Maybe you could even thank the person for waiting on you.

2. If a store clerk or manager is rude to me OR TO ANYONE ELSE while I’m there, I never shop there again (for example, after watching a manager abuse a hapless clerk, I do not shop at Bed Bath & Beyond–I drive a couple of extra miles to go to Linens & Things).

3. I shop only at stores that allow me to return unwanted or bad goods, and whose staff accept returns politely.

4. I never patronize businesses known to treat their employees badly. Period. It doesn’t matter how much I might “save” on their bargains–we don’t need to save a few bucks on someone else’s back. I think you know which megacorporation I mean.

5. I try to shop at locally owned stores to the extent possible.

This strategy seems to help. I hardly ever run into rude clerks any more, and when I do, they and their company’s stockholders never see another of my dollars again.