Customers expect us to know if other shops in the area sell certain items

That sounds very unlikely.

No @YaMuvva , i dont know anywhere in my city centre that now sells tents. I knew of places years ago that did but they have all shut down. So i have no knowledge of anywhere thats opened up recently that sells tents, mainly because i dont buy tents and also because i tend to go straight to work then back home again, like most folk, and not do a detour round all the cities shops so i can answer daft questions from people that are being stupid. If they ask where sells tents and i say im sorry i dont know, the places i knew are closed now, we might have a chat about how bad it is so many shops have closed and agree its difficult to find things these days, but if they ask where sells tents and i say im sorry i dont know, the places i knew are closed now and they huff and puff in my face and are pissed off i dont know anywhere, they can fuck off and take their moods elsewhere.

It would seem that the OP of this thread has form for complaining about customers, so I am taking what she says with a large grain of salt. That said, I do agree that politeness and respect go two ways. I am always very friendly and polite to shop staff and café staff, and go out of my way to be pleasant. I find that that pays off, I often get freebies from local cafes and shop staff tend to be lovely to me because you get back what energy you give.

Saying to people you might get it in asda or tesco is too vague for them, they expect you to know where exactly sells the product they want. That youve never bought, but should know where its sold anyway.
And as i said im not talking about a small local area, im expected to know in depth what shops sell in the city i work in, just because i work in a shop.

I dont know whats so hard to grasp here.

Unless they’re asking for a green unicorn, you really don’t know any shops on the area that could sell, for example, tents?

I just don’t get this total hatred people have of being spoken to or being expected to be helpful to another human. It’s very odd and totally foreign to me

I quite like it. We're a supermarket in a very small rural location in a tourist area. We find ourselves acting as tourist information centre, vet, doctor as well as supermarket (we get a LOT of tourists who come in after hours needing medicines or things for pets which we don't sell and we work hard to advise on alternatives until they can get to the proper doctor or vet). A lot of 'where's the best place to go to eat/for children/to swim' etc, and I really enjoy chatting with the customers about things to do in the locality.

I will always try to tell them where they can get things they need if we don't stock it, but they often express extreme surprise and doubt when I tell them it will be a sixty mile round drive away.

Yep. When I worked in ASDA they would often ask things like that.

They'd ask if we sold X, I'd say "no, you could try Tesco/Sainsburys" and they'd ask where it was etc. Fairly standard imo.

I mean i just dont get it. I work in a department selling small electricals and people ask me where can i buy a tent and am shocked when i dont know?? Ive never bought a tent!!

I really don't know why you think that's such an outrageous question?

I worked in a small shop for years and always had people coming in and asking me things like that - where's the bus stop, is there a bank nearby, do you sell x, do you know where I can find a map etc.

Most people who work in a certain area have some kind of awareness of what's available around them and what other shops exist.

You say local area, thats maybe say a handful of shops. I work in a large city centre and people still get huffy when i dont know what shops in other areas, ive never been in, sell.

Explain that one!!!

Do customers ask in tesco if asda sell something they cant get in tesco???

Thats whats going on, you are expected to know what other shops sell, just because you work in a shop.

People are fucking nuts.

I don’t see the problem TBH.
It’s not affecting your business because you can’t sell them what they need, they COULD ask someone in the street for example but seeing as they’re already chatting to you they’re asking you.
I always remember the shops that are helpful and I shop there again, I couldn’t be arsed with someone being huffy over a question about the local area.

Oh god i get this. I work in a shop in town, customers come in and ask me for something, i say im sorry but we dont sell that. So customer says where can i buy it then? I say im sorry i dont know. Customer huffs in my face and walks away from me.

Now i work part time and if im not working i dont go near the shops. I earn minimum wage, retail is poorly paid. How would i know what every other shop in town sells?

Would these types of customers go into a doctor's and say where can i get a certain pair of glasses? Or into a hotel and say where can i buy vegan cheese??

I mean i just dont get it. I work in a department selling small electricals and people ask me where can i buy a tent and am shocked when i dont know?? Ive never bought a tent!!

Whats wrong with these stupid buggers???

Shouldn't swear, but a "so sorry that my time off for an important surgery has caused you inconvenience😊" would've been good and if the twat customer complained to a supervisor you could just say it was a genuine explanation for your time off and an apology for the inconvenience.

Then the customer goes and asks someone else in another part of the shop if it's in stock. Then other staff member comes and ask me because I know what's there because it's my department, followed by the customer. I always used to love saying sure I told you we didn't have it and it will be in tomorrow!

Service levels have dropped and prices have gone up since COVID too, which may have some bearing on this.

(And yes, I’ve worked in retail).

But so many customers don't see why they should have to do anything for themselves with they have a thick skivvy to do it for them.

I have never ever walked into a shop and asked immediately where such and such is because I am not that lazy or entitled. If I can find said item I will ask and I guess if I was in a tearing hurry I would likely ask but I very much doubt that all the customers that asked me where an item was as they stepped one foot in the door were in a tearing hurry

Just say yes, they aren't going to be bothered to come back and yell at you, and if they ever did just say you must have made a mistake.

I used to do the same thing when dog walking, people would stop and ask me for directions for somewhere that was several miles away (I lived in the suburbs and didn't drive, but any route would have been difficult for them to follow anyway because it was all random minor roads with lots of turns for ages that they'd never have remembered) and they'd get mad if I said I didn't know so I just sent them in a random direction.

Someone got really mad once because they insisted there was a Laura Ashley on the retail park and I was lying to them that there wasn't. There wasn't one for miles, and there had never been one on the retail park.

My favourite one was when I was walking home from B&Q down a B road carrying just a large strawberry plant and just wearing jeans and normal t shirt and a car stopped me for directions just saying "Are you local?" (I'm mixed race). I felt like saying, "No, I just got off a small boat in the middle of an industrial park hours away from the coast and thought the best and only thing to bring with me from the middle east was a large B&Q plant."

Why people don't just look it up before they leave somewhere or put it in GPS I don't know. Or just get the passenger to use their phone. Jeez.

There is a big difference between being able to tell a customer that there is a bakery or a pharmacy in your town and being able to tell the customer every item that those other shops sell.

God I never recommend competitors at all, unless they're other small businesses that need a leg up. They'll just go to M&S every time in future without even thinking about you.

I don't think that with flowers and a local shop it matters if you're as cheap as M&S or not. I'd buy because I'm passing and it's convenient, I'm not going to price match daffs to the nearest quid or two. I get it if it takes up shop space you don't really have and could sell more high margin stuff at though.

The other day I was in a newsagent and someone asked what time semi- chem in the town opened . After the customer left I had a laugh with the shop worker about it and she said it’s so common people seem to think I’m Google !

My view is possibly coloured by the experience of 19 year old me trying to be helpful and make a suggestion of where a customer could get something, only to have a middle aged man come back into our store, find me and berate me (puce faced, finger jabs, spittle flying) because the other place I'd suggested was out of stock of what he wanted and I was 'a little bitch that was just wasting his time'

I’d love it if you could give me one example of my poor customer service skills. Please scroll through my posts and see what applies to me personally.

Also I work in a medical clinic so the training my staff have is governed by a regulatory body. This ranges from GDPR - infection control - to delivery of bad news.

Believe it or not my customer satisfaction is brilliant as reflected in our 5 star Google reviews and our client retention is impressive - once we have them 9/10 they wont go anywhere else. We have very good game faces ( but also genuinely care about the service users)

My team work incredibly hard to keep our service users safe. We really do climb through hoops behind the scenes - not that anyone of our clients would tell.

But it’s understandable for us to get fed up sometimes when clients expect more than what is being offered within our services or what we are able to mentally do.

No I don’t want to stay on the phone and guide you in if you’re lost. I’m busy dealing with other clients

No I don’t want to direct you to another clinic for different services because you can’t be arsed googling ( but I do on some occasions)

No I don’t think you are the most important person to come in my clinic today - but I’ll pretend you are if that keeps you and your little ego happy!

I’m sorry that you’ve had some dickish customers.

I worked at a supermarket and had people like that who tutted when I used a handheld scanner to find out which aisle had their product. I knew where products in my section were but I don’t know if the item they want is amongst the tens of thousands of others.

A good shop assistant tries to be helpful. If you don't stock a certain product and they ask if you know anywhere that does then its basic politeness to spend 10 seconds thinking and make a suggestion of somewhere that might

Or the customer could engage their own brain for 10 seconds and think of somewhere else that might.

Another moaning-about-customer thread from @Auburngal for whom retail is life 😂😂😂 have we had her casual ageism yet?