There is nothing positive to achieve from being vile towards retail staff. Why act this way?

This is one of the main reasons I shop online. It's miserable going into many shops these days.

Yeah because it’s not like retail managers have bills to pay so want to keep their jobs.

We saw what happened to the Morrisons manager who tackled a regular shoplifter so why would any retail staff put their jobs on the line at a time when employment opportunities are so bad?

Although I absolutely agree with everything you said its really not the younger generation that are the problem customers. Maybe occasionally with ID issues but overall they come in get what they want go through self scan and leave.

People used to be brought up
to be obedient, respectful and even deferential. A society where the church/ Scouts/Guide still played a role meant people learned to think of others before themselves.
Now children are brought up that they are the centre of the universe, are indulged, gratified and learn no respect. In addition, life is fast-paced and stressful. This combination leads to impatience and rudeness.

Absolutely they wouldn't dare speak to you like that on the street so why are they suddenly Billy big balls when your at work

What’s your point. Repeating the same thing over and again doesn’t change it. The why is the important part. Understanding the why can help change it.

We also had a promotion . A free gift with purchase. The promo started on Saturday and we ran out of the gifts late on Monday. The amount of complaints and abuse we've had is another level !!
But a)the email to customers about the offer does say while stocks last and b) us on the shop floor have zero control over how many emails were sent to customers V how many gift products we were supplied with.

I have worked in retail for 20 + years and I think it has got worse. Staffing levels are half or less what they were 3 or 4 years ago and yet we're still expected to deliver exceptional customer service as well as deliver bigger and bigger sales targets. If we say we need more people to do that they say well why when you're not making target - yet if you manage to smash your target one week where you were absolutely run ragged,, it will be see you don't need more staff! It's a lose lose situation except for the CEOs of course!!
I always say to customers thank you for waiting , and smile. I won't say sorry for the wait as that implies it's my fault.

Honestly, staff should be allowed to stand up for themselves and give back as good as they get, then the problem would largely go away.

My aunt was incredibly rude so someone on the phone one day. She had a go at them and slammed the phone down. They were just trying to do their job. About two or three minuets later the phone rang, she answered it and this person said “ don’t slam the phone down on me you fucking old bag” then the phone went dead. If you could have seen her face, I haven’t laughed so much in years. She totally deserved it.

It’s got nothing to do with Covid or Brexit. It just poor manners and some peoples feelings of superiority.

I worked in retail as a student prior to 2008, where we had a lot of staff and there were no self checkouts and people were incredibly rude then. I think it’s a power thing and them taking out their bad mood on you as they know you can’t be rude back to them.

I work in the NHS now, the amount of patients that every time they’re in a bad mood or upset about something completely unrelated decide to get on the phone or come to an appointment and pick a fight with us over nothing, or something very very minimal/not our fault is unreal. Once I’ve managed to de-escalate the situation 9 times out of 10 they will tell me they’re stressed or upset about something in their personal life.

I’ve got one patient who has done this that many times that I just ask her what’s going on now. She called four times in one day recently to rant at various different staff members about how awful the service is and start another argument about a minor situation (something which was actually just a misunderstanding on her part not anything we did wrong) we had just spent an hour discussing and resolving together. Every time I thought the situation was resolved she would call back an hour or two later to argue and shout about it again, if we don’t listen to her for as long as she wants to rant at us she just goes to PALS and they email the ops managers who tell us to phone her again, so it’s very frustrating.

It’s surprising how many people will default to abusing someone they know can’t “fight back” when they’re upset or stressed.

Unfortunately, it does tend to be older patients who do this, younger ones just don’t bother engaging and turning up to appointments when they’re upset or stressed.

Why do people think it’s ok to act like this?

They behave like that because the shop lets them get away with it.

Most retail managers are spineless and end up taking the easy option and never stand up to customers.

Throw them out and ban them from coming back. See how many shops they try the same shit in again!

Gawd yes...sometimes there are queues at our local tip but so what...patience please everybody !. The workers there are probs on minimal wage too...worst of both worlds.

Right. Imagine being rude to Becky on a till because you're fed up with the electricity company.

And even when you explain to people why they keep getting the unexpected item in the bagging area they completely ignore you and keep doing it then start moaning how crap the machines are and how I need to get more tills open.

That’s how protest vote works.

Unhappiness with unrelated issues, compounded over time.

I think it shouldn't though. What I feel about how much it costs to fill my car with petrol has nothing to do with the person taking payment and it would be very wrong of me to be in any way rude towards them.

I think the public in general are becoming less patient, more entitled and more demanding.
Whats driving this? A combination of things probably. I don’t think we can underestimate the impact of cost of living rises. My stress levels are sky high every time I’m in the supermarket trying to keep my grocery shop cost down to a reasonable level. I’ve never been rude to staff but I can imagine people being more easily annoyed by small things and it escalating into rudeness and verbal abuse. More technology. As someone else said it’s making us less tolerant of things taking time and some people have become less able to wait in queues, wait for staff to get something for them, wait for anything really. The technology is also a source of stress. Those self service tills can test the patience of a saint. I also think that the internet is full of trolls and it’s too easy to bash someone on social media. Some people might literally be unlearning social skills because they are engaging in less face to face human interaction. Covid didn’t exactly help this.

I think there's a general feeling of the country isn't working well. And I do think the attitude from that tips into both how you vote and how you treat retail staff.

I agree. Of course we shouldn't abuse staff, and I don't, but the general level of customer service has declined. People shout at staff at least in part because they are frustrated. And I'm pretty fed up with the pre-emptive accusations about not abusing the staff. If anything I think it normalises the idea that everyone is being awful to the staff which is the last thing we want to encourage.

Supermarket shopping is very stressful for the reasons already described. Partially because of other customers, partially because of how the stores are run. There needs to be legislation to BAN self check-out and mandate how many staffed there needs to be at any one time. There should also be laws about people dithering and blocking aisles, it's ridiculous. People should not be able to allow their kids to mess about in the shop either. It should be a simple process to go in, walk round quickly selecting your needed goods and then leave and pay. For whatever reason it has become far more difficult in recent times.

But staff certainly do not deserve abuse. None of it is their fault.