My DD is 16. After months of looking for work, she was lucky to get a part time job at a well known retail store a few months ago (hardly any jobs available for 16 year olds in our area). It is not the highest of pay, just £6.40 ph but it gives her a little bit of money whilst she studies at college full time.
However, she really does not like the job. She finds the work ok and gets on really well with colleagues but it's the customers, some are so nasty for no real reason. Some are down right creepy.
A few recent examples of what she has to endure:-
On several occasions now she has had grown men (some old guys as well) ask her out whilst she's served them at the till, another cornered her whilst she was stacking shelves wanting her to go over to the far end of the store with her (apparently he wanted help looking for shoe polish) and when she pointed to where it was but said she couldn't leave her current work (she said this because she instantly found him creepy) he became angry and wanted to know why she was working such a shit job, why she wasn't at uni and that she obviously had zero ambitions in life/was going nowhere, he was constantly calling her by her name (they have to wear name tags which I personally disagree with for this very reason). Luckily a colleague witnessed this and called her over to customer services to get her away from the situation. When he left the store he shouted goodbye to her across the shop floor (again, calling her by her name).
A few weeks ago she had a woman come back into the store shouting at DD because the £1 box of eggs had a 10% sticker on and DD hadn't seen it so had failed to give the discount. She was demanding she gave her the discount and wanted to know why she had been so stupid as to miss it off (it was DD first week).
She has messaged me today, on her break, really upset saying a woman has screamed at her today firstly demanding to know why the queue was so long and then when dd totalled up the woman's goods she said "that'll be £90", the woman then refused to pay until DD said please, which obviously DD did and so she agreed to pay (ironically when DD asked if she wanted a paper receipt the woman just snapped yesterday, no please from her!). She then said she thought everyone who worked in the store were all thoroughly rude and that she worked in customer services and is never that rude at work, Mmmmm!?
The actual incident hasn't upset DD too much but what has is the fact this woman has automatically written an online review stating my DD's name and really running her down.
She's so upset. It's her first job, she earns peanuts. She is doing her best. Thankfully, she does have lots of nice customers too and some bring in their dogs (store allows pets in) so she has a little cuddle with those which makes her day a bit more bearable but it's these horrible, nasty customers which are really putting her off the job.
I know it's character building. I worked in retail in my younger days and know that some people can be as rude as fuck but why do they have to be such arsehole? Are their lives so tragic and sad that they get their kicks by belittling young people just starting out in the working world. Are they so old and hardened by the world that they can't remember what it was like being young and starting out in life?
Anyhow if, on the very odd chance that last customer is reading this......I very much hope your next poo is an extra large pine cone!