AIBU to think customers need to learn some manners?

[shopworkersarenotworthless]

customers are so rude these days

there was a time when they would say please and thank you

now they click their fingers or shout oi you

they are also completely entitled and expect you to stop serving the person you are with to serve them

they never believe anything you say -if they ask you if you have any more in the back and you say no, they don't believe you, they seem to think that shops have huge quantities of stock in the back as their stock holiding is so high (as obviously this desn't require the company to be cash rich or anything)

they talk on their mobile phones while you are trying to serve them

if you offer them a bag you are wrong for asking as it will murder the environment
if you don't ask them if they want a bag then you are wrong because they don't want to be acused of shoplifting

and they complain that we don't have enough staff -because we obvioulsy enjoy working on half the hours we had 5 years ago -it really makes our day!

oh and I'm not an idiot, I am educated to degree level, and I do much much more than just stand on a till so please don't speak to me like you are something you have just stepped in

You think retail's bad you want to try working for an airline. If you didn't laugh you cry. I miss my colleagues, working around the aircraft, etc. the general public though, not so much.

I keep saying I'll write a book about it all oneday. One incident springs to mind having a tall middle aged bloke yelling at me because "because there's obviously no 'plane here is there?" Except it was parked behind him, you walked downstairs and under the pier to reach it.

"I'm also sad to know that I'm offending people by not asking about their qualifications! I assumed that it was none of my business."

No no noooooooooo.

Display qualifications on cash desk so that moronic cuntstomers know that I do have a brain in my skull. Many seem to assume that because you work in a shop, that you're a plank. No love, it fits in with school hours that's all.

Absolutely agree, some customers are appalling. I have a great amount of sympathy for anyone in any public facing role nowadays as manners seem to be a thing of the past for many.

I doubt they think that though. I certainly never give anyone's qualifications a thought.

Intellegence is shown by how you speak, think and behave. Sometimes by how you look. If you're articulate and sensible you'll come across as intelligent.

Good point, well made OP!

I have never in my life been treated the way I was when I was a shop manager, restaurant came a close second; call centre not exactly great either but at least they can't actually try and hit you there!

I genuinely don't know what gets into people when they're shopping I really don't. I would love to read and actual psychological study on it because it baffles the crap out of me.

Honestly, if you've never worked in retail you really can't understand. It's truly shocking.

Dh and I own a restaurant and yes, SOME customers are awful.
Although the ones that really loss me off are the ones that are rude while the think I am 'just a waitress' when it becomes obvious I am the owner (usually when tell them if they don't stop being offensive I will ask them to leave) they are all of a sudden the nicest people ever.

Do you reckon there are psychological studies into how people behave when shopping?

I watched a Poundland exposie thingie who said that when customers see a 'sale' sign it triggers the same emotion as when we have sex.

I might do some googling later and post up the results.

Unfortunately they really do think that. I've even been told that "i bet you wish you would have tried harder at school, you could have got a proper job"

Yeah, any muppet could run a shop with a turnover of £1.2m a week with 500 staff

The vast majority of people I've worked with are.just as bright as the average office worker, nurse, civil servant etc. They've chosen retail becsuse it fits with school hours, they enjoy the work, whatever. I get patronised almost daily.

We don't mind if people aren't chatty, I'm not when I go shopping. I always smile and sau hello and thank you though. Don't even get me started on people who just throw their money on the counter. Obviously not all customers are like this but its not a small minority either. I've been in retail for 18 years and it's definately got worse.

Bollocks does it matter how eloquent you are/how you look etc.

I speak quite naicely for a Black Country person, I dress well, I'm eloquent. None of that matters to the power-pissed twunts that frequent my place of work.

Yesterday I had a woman be so rude/aggressive to me that if she'd spoken to me like that on the street, I'd have probably belted her one. I was shaking with rage.

On the other side of the coin though, another lady was so nice to me yesterday that I could have wept. And she was returning clothes because she'd just found out she'd got a life-changing illness and she had no use for them anymore :(

crickey Bups

You certainly do meet all types and it is unfair to tar all customers with the same brush, but what eventually ground me down was the fact that it's the nice ones who stand out.

I think decent manners could be shown more all over the place not just in shops though. I work somewhere with customer services and sales (no cold calling) teams and the way they're treated is appalling. I think some people don't see a person on the other end of the phone and think they can act how they like!

It is the nice ones who stand out because they're so rare. I reckon about 60% of customers are neutral, 10% are lovely and 30% are utter arseholes.

I really think that some people fee better about themselves when they belittle others. About 10 years ago when there was still enough money in the budget to pay for bag packers I properly lost my temper with a customer and risked my job. The packer was a 75 year old lady who didn't want to retire. She was reduced to tears by a customer calling her 'fucking simpleton' because she wasn't packing to her standards. She was an articulate woman, well dressed, shopping with her dh. They both stood there, not lifting a finger to pack their own bags while berating the packer. I was called down by another member of staff when the packer started crying whole stil helping them and being insulted. I was fucking furious. This is an extreme example but sadly that attitude from the public is far from unusual.

Ok, so now do I namechange to callcentreworkersarebastards, then we can have another fred about a fred when someone ncs to callcentreworkersruleyouingrates?
This could run and run

Oh yes, you can get some right bastard customers. But you do get some lovely customers to, some go out of their way to pass on to managers how helpful you were or smile and say please and thank you, a few have even commented on how "lovely" i look even though I am in the most horrific uniform! But there you go :)

I do have a way of never letting rude customers leave with the upper hand, though. I have a talent in making them feel shitty about themselves, in a very naice way, obviously.

That's the way bubs make them feel shit but be so nice no complaint would upheld. That's how I always did it.

Some customers are extremely rude. But then again, some shop staff are too. It seems the norm now for till staff to stand around chatting to each other and not bothering to stop chatting just because a pesky customer wants serving. And a smile? Forget it. I worked in retail years ago and when I go back to the shop I used to work in I'm shocked at how rude and/or indifferent many if the staff are towards customers nowadays.

It works both ways,

I am a lovely customer, much to the annoyance of the person behind who is tutting under his/her breath that they are in a hurry.

yeah, i had v nice regular customers (worked in local convenience store for a few years) and also complete idiots on a daily basis.

i was quite a shy wee thing and found it quite hard to stand up for myself.

My current peeve is (some most) customer's response to me saying 'Good morning' or 'Good afternoon' when they come in to my tiny wee bakers. They generally glance at me and say 'Bread,' or 'Belgian Bun'. By the tenth time it's happened in half an hour I do feel like saying, 'I didn't ask what you wanted; I said hello'. But hey ho. No one works in retail because it's fun.

Aren't all shop assistants so rude. They talk to one another instead of treating me the way they should as a customer, they are rude when I ask them for something, they never look at me etc etc etc Not you???

Generalising is not a good thing ever. Some customers are rude, some assistants are rude ....personally I think it's just SOME people are rude.

I worked in a shop for a while. I was clearly not cut out for it as when a customer came in and said 'Show me where the 4' sheets are' I replied 'If you say please'-mum mode had kicked in.

Thankfully he was shamed in to doing so rather than angered in to complaining.

I had many more nice customers though and always described my job as selling nice things to nice people.

I do think that a first date should always be at a restaurant or shopping, because you can really judge a person by how they treat those serving them.

I am in a hurry every Wed and I do tut if the tills go slowly.

I'm sorry, I know it's not your fault there aren't enough tills open or that dancing leaves a tight shopping window.

I'm also sorry that my family ring my mobile despite being told to text. I feel very answering it in queues, but the DDs are only just being let wander round shops on their own.

I am in a hurry every Wed and I do tut if the tills go slowly.

Thats fine to do that, as long as you realise the staff and most customers will be thinking 'what a twat'.

Instead of tutting, why not email head office (if you don't have time to go see customer service) and tell them that this store does not have enough staff. Be proactive, instead of trying to make people who are doing their jobs feel shit.