...to wonder why some people treat sales assistants badly?

[98percentchocolate]

I've worked in retail for about 10 years off and on (through uni) and now work a couple of hours a week whilst I'm a SAHM.

I'm always polite and friendly, and most people are lovely, but occasionally I have some...memorable... Moments.

This week somebody threw something at my face because they tried to queue jump and I wouldn't serve them first. I was very nice about it and very apologetic but still had something thrown at me.

I've also been called "stupid" and "thick" (I'm really not), have had people refuse to speak to me AT ALL (happens very often actually), snatching, snapping...

I'm not alone either, it happens very often. I've seen people physically assault my colleagues before over the smallest things.

So really, I'm just wondering what sparks it? I'm sure nobody will actually admit to being somebody that would throw something at a sales assistant, but I'm just really interested in the psychology behind it.

I also want to stick up for people who work in posh shops.

It's Pretty Woman Syndrome.

I'm sick and tired of MN threads where people wank on about the alleged rudeness of people who work in high-end shops and how they showed 'em when it's they who have the attitude problem, not the salesperson.

I've learned from DH: it doesn't matter where you work, you just want to sell.

It's your job. Customers might have a bit of an attitude problem.

cherrybakewelltart that happens every year! Always a shortage of bags at peak!

After a particularly horrendous day working behind the counter at a bank I heard my colleague say to a customer,

"Are you that rude to everyone you meet, or is you picking on me because I is Welsh". In a perfect Ali G accent instead of her usual strong Swansea one.

Because they are twats.

I'm always polite to shop assistants, waiting staff etc.

My first Saturday job was in a dry cleaners. We had some disgusting customers. Clothes and soft furnishings covered in vomit, poo and blood. One blood soaked rug resulted in the police being called and a customer arrested.
We also had a policeman that would regularly hand in jizz stained uniform.

I now work part time in a naice store and I would say most customers are lovely or just having a bad day. However, I have seen/had: abuse shouted at me by men who want to come into the ladies changing room with their wives and I've refused them, seen a stiletto thrown at a colleague as the shoe didn't come in half sizes, a customer throw a leather jacket at the manager as she refused to accept it back as it stank of smoke, seen customers smirk after shouting at the young Saturday girls and making them cry.

I mean I did feel sorry for the people who had bought multiple items and couldn't get them home but it really wasn't my fault! It's not like I hid the bags for fun . So much abuse was hurled at me that day I thought fuck it and quit.

My grandmother used to treat with contempt everyone she considered beneath her; shop assistants, waiters, cleaners... She was so bad that literally no one other than my granddad would venture into a shop or restaurant with her. It was mortifying.

Some of these stories are bloody awful. Loving those of you who have been able to answer back though. I just smile, ignore, and thank my lucky stars I'm not going home with them.

Sunny67 - I've had that before too. I know someone who actually served the customer because she was so aggressive he didn't know what else to do. He didn't even work in the store.

Yy to the pp who said they've worked with really influential people. Most sales assistants I've worked with have degrees at least. I've worked with several people who have PHDs so not thick by any stretch of the imagination!

And the ruined Christmas thing is so common I mentally roll my eyes now. Really not my fault.

It really is a "beneath them" thing, isn't it? I find the worst people are lower middle class men and women with families. (Obviously not all of them, but seems to be the pattern)

My patience and tolerance for incompetent / lazy / arsey / pushy customer 'service' is more limied than it once was. As I have got older, I admit that I have become someone who does not suffer fools gladly.

I woud never actually have a go at a shop assistant, however. I would always speak to the person in charge instead. It's their responsibility to sort out their useless staff, not mine.

Just out of interest (and to make sure I don't do it myself!) what would you constitute pushy Jessym?
I ask because everywhere I have worked (several chains) give you personal targets (email signups, layalty card signups, store card signups) and if you don't meet these then you are given a disciplinary or are dismissed. I, and all of my colleagues, hate doing these as it feels pushy, but have to do so to keep our jobs. I'm just wondering if this is partly why things are bad?

Pre baby I used to work as a cafe manager, and lady once kicked off because on the last day of the week 10 min before closing we had only full fat or skimmed milk, no semi skim...

I used to work in a video shop (retro) and used to hate doing those promos. We were supposed to pre-sell films that were coming out and mention them to everyone who came in. So you'd have a 20 year old lad renting some slasher flick on a Saturday night and I was supposed to brightly say "we have some amazing special offers on Snow White and the seven dwarves!"

jessy

I've worked in customer services for years and I really do think it's a case of people wanting to feel important and talk down to someone. A colleague was threatened by a customer that he would bring a baseball bat into her branch to 'sort it out' and when I closed all his accounts and told him to take his business elsewhere (that gave me a lot of pleasure and despite going to his MP he couldn't get them opened again) he claimed that we 'couldn't take a joke'. Most staff are competent and it's easy to politely speak with another colleague if you are getting poor service.

In Scotland we have had the no carrier bags unless you pay 5p for them law since October....never been shouted at so much. It is calming down now and people are getting used to taking bags with them -but we still get grumbles and rude comments nearly a year on. I agree with them that it is annoying, explain that we can get a 3k fine if we give away a carrier and explain that it is the law and not the shops own stance! That normally keeps them quiet!

98%,

Electrical retailers are a good example of irritating pushiness. They try to sell you a £250 extended warranty to go with with your £600 TV. Fair enough, they are paid to sell stuff.

You poitely decline on the basis that similar warranties are available elsewhere for a fraction of the price. They ignore your response and continue trying to sell you something you have told them you don't want and explained why you don't want it.

That, to me, is both pushy and rude.

Jessy
It's already been explained to you that the staff are forced to sell and push.
The staff are not useless, the shop policies are. If you feel that strongly, don't torment the poor minimum wage shop staff. Sent head office an email.
Oh. And with that kind of attitude, trust me, they are all smiles on the outside, but in the warehouse, you're "that stupid bitch on the counter" you won't be getting anywhere near the level of service you think you are. I'm guessing in restaurants you often get side orders of bodily fluids in your meals too.
Be nice. It helps.

I'm disgusted that someone is trying to justify being abusive to staff in public facing roles.

I have always been as polite and as helpful if I can yet in the past I've been sworn at regularly, even assaulted (once for saying Good morning) and saw a colleague hospitalised. But that's ok isn't it because we deserved it, nice! Makes so much more motivated about going to work, know I not only run the risk of being abused and assaulted but I deserve it an there are people taking delight in it. Aren't the human race so delightful? No wonder the world's fucked.

I think, reading this, that things have got worse. I had several jobs in retail when I was a student and I can't remember people being rude.

It is easy enough to just politely refuse anything the sales assistant is pushing at you- it is what they are expected to do.

My favourite is the man with his son at the supermarket checkout and the man said to his son 'this is where you will end up, if you don't work hard at school' to which the lad in the checkout said 'you mean with 3 As and a place at Cambridge?'.

Can I add receptionists to the list? I'm a telephone receptionist. I get called stupid on a daily basis, have people wondering aloud why these companies don't employ intelligent people, I get mouthfuls of abuse if someone's line is busy and I can't put the call through, and sometimes I just get people calling up because they're angry at a company (which I don't even work for) and they take it all out on me, expect me to fix it, and when I suggest a way to fix it they go mad.

I have a first class degree and am working while I save up for my masters. Chances are I'm a hell of a lot more qualified and intelligent than half the idiots we get calling.

People forget that you're still talking a human even if it's over the phone. Massive chip on their shoulder.

"3 As and a place at Cambridge"

And I am nodding along to all the stories about Christmas. I worked in a posh chocolate shop during university vacations, in the university city. It was typical for us to be a "fuck it, that'll do" option for men who left all their shopping until Christmas Eve and would wander round town for an hour or so before coming to us and buying presents for all the women and children in their life at eye watering expense.

Anyway, one Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday so we closed at 4 pm (we probably fell within the square footage for staying open but the manager hadn't authorised longer shifts so we were going home). People were hammering on the door screaming abuse. Didn't we know we were ruining Christmas?!

Anybody would think that the date of Christmas was a closely guarded secret, revealed only a couple of days in advance

I don't work in retail nowadays but my time there has made me a good shopper, I hope. You can always tell whether something you dislike is down to one incompetent assistant or management bullshit.

For example - and do tell me if this was wrong - I got very frustrated in a clothes shop that had lots of stock on display, but only one size of anything. For example, every pair of school PE shorts was age 10-11 and every single bra had a 38" band. When I paid I was cordial to the assistant but asked to speak to a manager about stock control. I explained what I'd experienced and said I wanted to feed back. She thanked me, explaining that head office had changed stock/warehouse/delivery procedures and it was causing a nightmare on the floor. I offered to be a named customer complaining, to back up their complaints to head office. The entire conversation was carried out at the volume and in the tone you'd use to have a chat with a friend.

Anybody would think that the date of Christmas was a closely guarded secret, revealed only a couple of days in advance

MrsHathaway

I used to work in retail, one shop I worked in was a naice middle class shop and i found those customers to be the worst!!

We had one regular customer who would always find something to complain about, but she wouldn't just complain, she would go completely nato!! She would only be served by myself or my manager so when she came in, our colleagues would warn us so we could hide so she would leave.....eventually she stopped coming in!

We had another woman who used to bang on the front door at least once a week screaming to be let in, telling everyone that walked past she was going to complain as we were late opening. This was always at 9.15 when it clearly stated we opened at 9.30