To think that gen Z is completely disengaged in service industry

Not read the full thread but I’ve been thinking about this. I’m half “it doesn’t take much to be polite” and half. “Why should they perform emotions on such shite wages”

I was bloody brilliant at customer service, if I do say so myself. But I knew my wages were paying for my clothes, treats and nights out at the end of the week on top of my rent. Friday was a great day with excitement at the end of it. As was Saturday!

I feel like a lot of posters expect a certain amount of deference simply because they're the ones spending money. And a lot of people don't feel like they have much power so the minute they get a sniff of it, they want to wield it and make sure the person on the other end knows their place. And they get terrifically offended if the other person couldn't give a shit.

Absolutely spot on.

Blimey, people really don't like the idea that there isn't an endless supply of serfs willing to serve them for poor pay and conditions while being treated badly and told by society they're too lazy/uninspired/thick to do anything else.

We've got the service we've cultivated as a society. We've devalued service by devaluing the people doing it and placing no worth in it or on them, while worshipping those raking in the high salaries as aspirational. And then get all offended and surprised when people don't want to do the jobs and service levels drop.

They were certainly a thing in literature all through the twentieth century. In the fifties they sported such horrors as "painted nails" and listened to unpalatable music. In the twenties they might have "brassy hair" and their minds on their sweethearts. Young people have usually managed to pretend a polite interest in their elders as required, but always with the odd lapse ...

If employers trained and paid employees better we wouldn’t be in this situation. They usually push any teenager on min wage out on the shop floor and hope for the best.

If the people at the top don’t care then why should staff at the bottom care?

The woman in Clarks who knows her stuff and is running around trying to help is probably paid the same as the teen who shrugs her shoulders. Why do more than you need to?

Sullen teen/early 20s employees in crap service/retail jobs have been a thing for my entire lifetime. If you really think it's unique to Gen Z, I would wonder if you were perhaps going a bit senile and had forgotten the '00s, the '90s or the '80s.

I also assume anyone who fixates on whether retail staff are performing emotional labour to a high enough standard is actively looking to find fault. How much interaction do you even have with them on a daily/weekly basis? 99% of my interactions with staff in shops are brief and perfunctory - I ask a simple question and they answer, or I pay for my shopping and leave. And 99% of those interactions are fine, neither memorably bad nor good.

I feel like a lot of posters expect a certain amount of deference simply because they're the ones spending money. And a lot of people don't feel like they have much power so the minute they get a sniff of it, they want to wield it and make sure the person on the other end knows their place. And they get terrifically offended if the other person couldn't give a shit.

I actually find that young people are ok. Yes, they don’t know all answers sometimes but they are approachable and polite.
I think there is a big difference between generations nowadays in terms of life experiences, it wasn’t so huge 30 years ago. So young people’s outlook and experiences are very different and that’s why sometimes they struggle with customer’s questions.

Here to defend the younger generation a bit. When I was young I was a crap bartender, crap barista and crap waitress. They were all summer jobs and I had almost no training. I also hadn't been to bars, coffee shops or restaurants enough to instinctively know what good service looked like (genuinely).

I was always polite and put the effort in but my god these jobs could grind you down. Some customers just love to have that little bit of power over you and treat you with utter disdain. Sometimes you just feel like a number on a payroll, no one cares who you are as long as you turn up and don't complain.

Hospitality/retail jobs can be great when they're lovely little independents but my experience working for big corporates was awful. I really don't blame young people for not being enthusiastic about that.

My DD busts her chops in a fast food restaurant for less than £10 an hour at weekends, being sworn at, picking up bottles of piss that men leave outside and cleaning up after kids who aren't being supervised by their parents, who are probably busy making posts like this.

Somehow she keeps smiling...

I am on the cusp of Boomer/Gen X. I can't decide if I am distracted and bored or a drain on society who needs to hurry up and die.

My kids are all GenZ.
I could write at length about how they all go above and beyond in their jobs, 2 are working daily in low wage high-customer-service jobs, one does PT work in that sector... They get objective feedback about being "so nice" and "great rapport with clients".

Bad retail service is annoying, fair enough. I've had it from every age possible in all sorts of situations. As an American who lived in UK since early 90s, I would like to say that customer service in England has broadly hugely improved in that time.

My DCs are early 20s now, one finally in a professional job having graduated. Between them thay have covered a fair range of jobs during 6th form/uni over the last 5 years or so. Things have definitely changed since covid.

I think the problem with many service sector jobs is that there isn't anyone senior there willing to train the new starters. I know both mine have at various times come home after shifts they've struggled through saying they couldn't do something and have asked for advice/assistance etc and no one has had the time to help. Everywhere is operating on shoestring budgets, and are generally understaffed. Job satisfaction for many is poor and consequently there is a constant turnover of staff, so there is a general lack of experience. They haven't been allowed their phones on the shop floor in any of their jobs - retail, coffee shop, pub, tourist attraction - so I don't think all youngsters are being distracted by their phones. However, they have had to use company systems that are phone or tablet based for ordering, stock checking etc.

I’m GenX. I was born distracted and bored.

I think this "well if you pay nmw you can't expect better" is crap. It's a job, which you have chosen to take on. Bloody do it with manners, good grace and some pride in yourself. I'm a salaried professional now, but have done shop work, bar work, whatever in the past and I showed up to them all, from age 16, with a professional manner, helpful attitude and an understanding that there are such things as standards. If I didn't know something I asked and if I needed showing a system, ditto. Guess who taught me that? My parents. And I'm teaching my two young teens the same. Not surprised there's a problem with some workers of ALL ages if the inherited attitude is one of "why should l?".

How do you know that the majority of Gen Z are distracted and bored?

Seriously. I know it’s easy to mock but it’s going to be so much easier to get ahead if the majority of your peers are distracted and bored.

Most days, whatever the subject, we get blamed for something. 😂

My DD still has flashbacks from her brief stint working for Clarks after A levels 3 years ago. She applied for loads of jobs - high street, hospitality etc. Clarks was the only one that even replied. She was put on minimum wage which for a 17yo is not a lot. She had to do training she wasn't paid for. She got minimal price of when she was working - no extra money for weekend/late night.
The targets she had for sales and up selling were unbelievable. She was continually harassed for not meeting them - it was a ridiculously hot period when no one was taking kids shopping for a hool shoes. You can't sell shoes if there are no customers! There was hardly ever a manager around. She was bullied by the assistant manager.

She lasted 2 weeks, and even then felt guilty handing in her notice.

She is a hard worker. Has had many jobs since and does volunteering too. Clarks are just a terrible employer. It works both ways - employers need to train their staff properly, and manage them properly.

@Hocuspoc I mean they are given devices on which to check information.

Too scared to moan about "young people today" because it makes you sound like an old bore, so dress it up in "generation" bullshit and you think it makes you sound clever.

In capitals for the thickos at the back: IT'S ALL MADE UP. THERE ARE NO DISCRETE GENERATIONS. IT'S A CONTINUUM. THEY ALL BLUR INTO EACH OTHER.

I did plenty of service jobs when I was younger, mostly shops and pubs. I was always hard working and polite. The only customers who went out of their way to be vile were those aged 50+. Shouting at me because the air conditioning was broken, they didn't like the food, their credit card didn't work which must be my fault, the sooner this shop closes down the better. One woman SCREAMED at me "it wouldn't hurt you to say sorry!!" when I said unfortunately we don't have a customer loo. I ran out to the car park once to return a credit card to a woman who'd left it at the till, she glared at me, snatched it and walked off.

Add in the fact most shops want to cut costs and do so by leaving one person on the shop floor/behind the bar when ideally they need 2 or 3. So a lot of customer facing staff are running around like blue arsed flies doing 3 people's jobs at once whilst being insulted on a daily basis.

The service industry is absolutely horrendous.

TBF, if you pay people minimum wage, expect minimum effort. Even paying slightly more than the legal minimum amount you can get away with shows you give a shit about your employees.

OP, I don't know what you're hope was with this thread. Are you wanting people to join in and just whing about youths or are you wanting to hear other opinions and ideas?

Personally I find that the younger staff members are less confident and drawn in, mainly because they've had fuck all training and expected to keep up with the staff who've been there for years. Older staff on minimum wage I find much more hard work. 9/10 they'll be chatting to a 'regular' about nothing or have blinkered vision and can only see the person in front of them, everyone else is a distraction or nuisance. I was told off in John Lewis once for looking at the same stand she was showing to someone doing a bridal undy shop. Apparently I was in the way.

You realise this is the fault of phones?

You can’t raise a generation on screens, give wee Lily an iPhone at 12 years old (cos all her friends have one!) and then cry about the outcome?