To get a bit annoyed when I walk into a shop and the staff are standing around...

[MrBloomsNursery]

...laughing and joking with one another really loudly?

I don't know why, but I find it really unprofessional and rude. Surely colleague bantering (at that noise level) should be left to the confines of the staff room?

Today I went to two shops where I witnessed customer assistants standing around joking with each other and laughing really loudly with customers walking by, or being served.

It makes me feel uncomfortable and I can't quite put my finger on why...

Seriously?

Yeah...seriously :)

you are right, they should stand like robots in one spot all day and only speak when they are spoken to by important customers.

Yanbu.
It is really rude when they hve conversations while serving you.
I was in a shop yesterday and 2 staff members were openly discussing/slating another colleague who wasn't there. Rude and unprofessional imo.

YANBU. I'm afraid I'm with Mary Portas on this one. I live in a small market town and on several occasions when asking something that would involve actually checking stock or such like, I have been told "What's on the shelf is all we have" before said assistant resumes their conversation.

I agree, there is a certain level of professionalism that you would expect in a shop, any shop really. Low level banter and happy staff is fine.. employees behaving like children in a playground is not acceptable unless you are in an environment where you would expect to see it.

Annoying when they do that INSTEAD OF serving customers.

I heard one conversation where one colleague was being practically bullied for wanting to go on a break by two others...

The other was about a colleague being blamed for swearing in a conversation...

YANBU. If there is a customer, you speak to the customer and only speak to another assistant if it is related to work (e.g. 'are there any more of those in the stock room?')

It is sooooo inappropriate to have a private conversation in front of customers.

Oh dear I so want to comment on this.

I have a laugh in work with my co workers.

I do not chat with co workers while I am serving a customer.

If I say we have no more stock in the stock room of a particular item that is a fact.

Customers can be quite rude sometimes as well........holding conversations with each other while I am serving them.

Talking on the their mobiles while I am serving them.

Telling me what is in the stock room.........[mmmm I know whats in there I work here]

Telling me when our next delivery is due......I could go on and on and on.

Some shop assistants are bad some are good.
Some customers are bad some are good.

And there are people agreeing with you?!

Okay, Sales Assistants ignoring you and having a conversation with each other instead, yes that's annoying and unprofessional I agree but customer assistants standing around joking with each other and laughing really loudly with customers walking by , no. I'm not a robot, I have to have some degree of pleasure in my work and generally I can't go have the conversation in the staffroom because for some reason it's seen as a Bad Thing when we all disappear off the sales floor at the same time.

Can't win really - either we're sullen and miserable or we're too damn cheerful

I used to work for Tesco if a customer asked for stock and I couldn't be fagged I would go out the back eat a doughnut then go back and tell the customer we didn't have it

YABU. If I couldn't chat with my co-workers at work I'd go out of my mind, and guess what, lots of my customers like to join in and chat too. There are limits to this- I don't think staff should be having conversations with each other when they are serving people or when there are customers who clearly need something. I also think that there are certain things that are out of bounds to discuss in front of customers; i.e. hang overs, sex life, there shouldn't be any swearing. I prefer to go into shops and other businesses where the staff seem happy and I don't feel like they're watching my every move, but that they are happy to help if I need them. If you don't like it, why don't you just take your custom somewhere a bit more draconian.

Obviously a bit of chatting and being happy at work is fine but I think ikwym MrB. What I hate is going into an empty shop and all the assistants are huddled together at one end having a laugh or whatever. I just feel like slinking out. It feels like I'm intruding on a private gathering

Pipkins, I'm sure some customers are rude. That doesn't make it ok to be discourteous on a sort of pre emptive basis. I have worked in shops and I respect others that do. I expect in return a little courtesy. If I don't receive it I take my custom elsewhere.

I am never rude to a customer in fact if they are rude to me I go overboard to be extra nice back. This either makes them feel guilty or annoys them even more.

I was just saying that most things cuts both ways.

Customers answering their mobiles while I am serving them is my pet hate.....

MrsDmitri - It's not about being cheerful or sullen. It's the fact that a shop is not just a shop, it is also a workplace. I find it unprofessional when shop assistants are having conversations, standing around doing nothing. They're not paid to broadcast their life to customers at the tills or around the shop floor.

BendyBob - you've hit the nail on the head with that one...I once went to a shop where they were all huddled around the till, and carried on talking about going to a nightclub whilst I was being served. I felt so out of place.

Arac I wouldn't brag so much if I were you!

OP did you make a complaint or ring head office?

Would you like to name the shop?

Yeah well that's fair enough Pipkins. I can't bear the mobile phone mid transaction conversation either. In fact, mobile phone manners are another subject entirely.......

No, I wouldn't go as far as complaining to the head office pipkins1968!! There were two shops, and I think they have hired extra staff for Christmas as there were alot more assistants walking around.

Newsflash......

Shop assistants are actual real people ,just like you

I don't mind sales assistants talking to each other and having a laugh, thats fine with me. I do mind the checkout staff who tell me things I don't want to know whilst making conversation....yes vintage Sainsburys lady who wouldn't mind Gok Wan coming to give you a makeover in an 'oooh young man' kind of way...how am I supposed to continue packing my shopping with a straight face when you are telling me how you would show him how you look good naked, nudge nudge wink wink.

Shop assistants are real people, that's true. But when you are in a shop enjoying yourself browsing a bit at nice things, the shop assistants are at work. They are actual real people at work, doing their job.

I have been a shop assistant and nobody had to tell me that it is inappropriate to be having a loud-with-snorting-laughter conversation with other assistants when there are customers within earshot.