Why is customer service so horrendous in shops nowadays?

[whyohwhymetoday]

No eye contact. Often chatting away to colleagues and looking disinterested at you whilst continuing their conversation as you hand over £££

Nobody to help on shop floor

Poor knowledge about returns and items sold in store

No interest in helping me choose. That type of thing

I recently went into a high street shop and held up two tops. I said to a nearby woman with a label on for that shop ''Oh I just can't choose! What do you think looks best, this or this? :D''

She sort of looked like I'd ask her to inspect my undercarriage and said 'it's up to you, they're both nice' and carried on with what she was doing

I know these (mostly women) aren't paid loads but come on, surely it feels better to do a good job?

Hats off to M&S, such lovely and understanding staff in there well, not the cafe. They all seem to be rude

Lady servicing me at No7 in Boots yesterday looked like she genuinely couldn't be less interested when I asked her what shade would work for me

My 2 local B&M stores have really nice staff, always helpful and make you feel like you're not disturbing them or being an inconvenience by wanting someone to scan your shop so you can pay

My local Waitrose has hideously grumpy women who appear to be taking up a job post retirement and feeling very bitter about it!

McDonald's always pleasant too!

Vue Cinema, awful

Amazon delivery men, amazing. Once again, proving why Amazon just works for a lot of stuff

Honestly, be warned High street, you'll all be gone within 10 years and bargain stores like B&M/Poundland will be there, alongside maybe Boots because it has a Pharmacy

I get that, so the alternative is you do your job to the best of your ability, not stand around being resentful and avoidant of the customers.

@soupfiend yep, I generally agree with you and I was never rude to customers. In fact, on the face of things I was good at my job and got several promotions.

But humans aren't perfect and if you put them in shit working conditions with very little chance of promotion, while they live in a society that constantly tells them they're useless or stupid - then, well, I don't think you can expect them to put in a great deal of effort, quite frankly.

It's really easy to stand there and say "you still need to do your best" but life isn't always that straightforward.

Not for long!

My local Waitrose has hideously grumpy women who appear to be taking up a job post retirement and feeling very bitter about it

I wonder if you live near me, same here!

They also employ a load of 17 year olds on Saturdays and put them on the cigarette counter. And then wonder why customers get frustrated about having to hang around at the counter for age-restricted products for someone to approve every purchase!

You could become Chancellor of the Exchequer with your knowledge of economics.

No they are not but they can still be polite and say "would u like to try them on, I can show u where the changing rooms are".

Or they both look lovely I would struggle to choose too,

or oh that one is really popular they are close to selling out,

Or just anything rather than not give a fk about the folk who are buying the product that keeps u in a job in the first place. No one asking them to gush all over every person who enters the store but if asked a question from a customer about a product no matter how u feel, get a bit of professionalism about urself and be bloody nice.

When you're constantly told you're wrong, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, when you're told repeatedly how crap you are as a person - how little you are worth - by society as a whole and individuals on a daily basis, by companies that threaten disciplinary or loss of a job over speaking up, when you're at risk of being abused to the point even the company who doesn't give a shit about their staff have to invest in things like body worn cameras for their staff because even they recognise that they have a duty of care under the law towards keeping them safe, then self worth is quickly eroded.

If customer service is so important then why are the people delivering it worth so little in society? That's the problem, it's become socially acceptable to treat those delivering it like they have little to no value, expected even. Yet now the service matches the expectations, people aren't happy.

There isn't an endless supply of people willing to be treated that way, and be grateful for the opportunity. I'd say it shows more self worth to not allow yourself to be treated like that, than just roll over and accept the place you've been dictated to.

If customer service is so important then why are the people delivering it worth so little in society?

This is the crux of it. It's the same with care jobs - they're apparently super valuable and important but they're paid the bare minimum and expected to work in god awful conditions.

The Assistant did say 'it's up to you,they are both nice' not sure what's wrong with that.

Anyway I can tell what sort of arsehole customer you are.

If customers don't enter your store you'll be out a job because the store will have closed!

Also on Mumsnet: "I don't see why so few autistic people have jobs. They could work in retail."

With no awareness of how autism precludes both the ability to make that kind of ad hoc smalltalk and the ability to work effectively at the process-based task of putting merchandise out when being constantly interrupted.

You forgot to include the rest of the quote

This. And if customer service is so important, how come retailers are Uberifying their shop floor staff with that YoungOnes app that then withholds the staff's pay for a month unless they give the app owner a cut?

PP posted this already: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/11/so-immoral-gig-economy-workers-forced-to-pay-fee-to-receive-their-wages

This is biblical, Jesus-flipping-tables, levels of ursury.

@Worriedmother1236 call centre staff are the most monitored
Our performance is visible to everyone on a giant board and statistics emailed out 10 times a day
Our breaks and lunches are timed
It's not just calls that are recorded but screens too
I can't log out 2 mins early or 2 mins late without being asked why or come back late from lunch

God, this brought back memories of being in retail and all our sales being put up on the noticeboard for everyone to see. It didn't take into account that Jane might have been in the stockroom half the week, or that Bob was doing the window display. If they sold less than X amount per week or had a poor average "items per transaction", they'd be hauled over the coals for it. Awful.

Have to say Aldi near me are brilliant
They were out gritting the front of the store and helping people in the snow

It's consistently well stocked to the point my dad walked in with me and went "wtf? Is this Aldi? Ours is nothing like this" He now travels 30 mins to shop at mine rather than his local
Has every special buy in you see advertised as well

There's never any empty boxes or shelves, I went today and got asked if I was ok as I'm usually there first thing and was late today

Err, how would you know what an elderly newsagent used to say to me 35 years ago @Flopsythebunny? I'm quoting him, not a retail truism.

It doesn't help that customers treat us like we are either children or idiots too half the time

Actual conversation (changed one bit for anonymity)
Customer rings up
"Hi, can you tell me when my car tax is due"
Me "yes sure, it's the 2nd Feb"
Customer "are you sure?"
Me "yes, the 2nd Feb"
Customer "can you give me that in writing?"

I mean what do you even answer to that. It's something they could have checked themselves but they've taken the time to wait in a 45 mins queue to ask that question then ask me if I'm sure
It's literally my job...

Why would you ask a complete stranger's opinion on which top to buy? Don't you know what suits you?

Similar happens on here:
Where can I get baked beans?
Tesco have them.
Could you give me a link please?

Even worse on Facebook Spotted:
Spivey. What time's bus inta tarn from Cherry Avenue?
The bus stop is outside your front door Spivey, go and look.
Spivey. Yeah well, it's quicker askin ere, innit.

That's completely different - it's a technical question, the OP was asking the shop assistant's opinion on which top suited her best which is odd.

I encountered really rude couldn't give a shit customer service at a cafe yesterday in a softplay. Clip n climb place. I was so annoyed and even more so when I went to pay the guy added up my items and didn't even tell me the total! I had to ask. I was fuming, no matter how I was feeling I would still at least be polite to a customer. so I sent in a feedback form about him 🤣

I asked an assistant a generic question and she looked at me as if I had two heads!
Some people can't communicate.

I've definitely found there are less staff on the floor these days in most shops I visit, especially noticeable when you need to ask for something (ie sports direct when you need the other shoe or size to try) .

Royal Mail Manual Data Entry is just as monitored, 30 seconds late back from the loo was a strike, three strikes and you were out. No customers, thankfully.

I cannot imagine the utter pressure cooker of having both customers and that level of monitoring.