To think it is rude of shop assistants to say ...

[rosiecam]

... to say "Thank you for waiting" in a loud voice to next customer when previous customer who has been slow for whatever reason is still very obviously within hearing?

To me it means "I'm annoyed with you for holding up the queue, and I want you to know it, but I'm not allowed to say it, so I'll pretend I'm being polite to the next customer"

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

"Thank you for waiting" isn't rude.
"Sorry you had SUCH A LONG wait" would be.
But they didn't say that, did they.

[pontificationcentral]

HI there, sorry for the wait.
No worries.
How's your day going?
Pretty good thanks.
Is this a squash?
Yup, butternut squash.
Is this a rutabaga (swede) or a turnip?
Er, um. Rutabaga
Thanks, have you got a loyalty card today?

How would you like to pay?
Debit please.
Thank you. There you go! Enjoy the rest of your day!
You too!



It's just normal life, isn't it? Why would you be offended?
It weirds me out if I get a silent checkout clerk.

Our local store has a couple of bag packers with learning disabilities. There is one chap who will talk your ears off as he packs your bags. He often slows down the checkout and the clerk gets a bit flustered as she is supposed to be keeping it moving along smoothly. I have never seen any customer be short, rude or upset that they have to have a conversation about while they wait for their bags to be packed. Thank goodness.

[Bigfatnope]

We should start a thread for retail or ex retail workers and some of the awful things we've had said to us by customers

[mirime]

Awful, creepy or just plain odd things. And the people who overshare! So glad I'm not in retail anymore.

[user1471734618]

tell you waht i cannot stand -
'Are you OK'?' and
'Are you OK/alright there?'

IF anyone says this to me, I either say ' yes thank you, are u?' and watch their confused little faces

or simply leave the shop

[Obviouspretzel]

All the people on here who seem to be unable to exchange a few polite words with a shop assistant or waiter without being irritated or 'given the rage'.

[Susiesoap7]

I really don't mind what they say except Are you alright!!! I just want to no I'm not grrrr

[kali110]

How about people on here realise that workers don't want to say 'how are you' etc all day everyday but have to as you know, they have mortgages to pay...

[PuppyMonkey]

Next time I get this I'm going to harrumph: "Did you mean to be so rude?" That'll show em.

[Nanny0gg]

I hate the 'thank you for waiting' line. I do appreciate shop assistants are told to say it, but when you're waiting for a refund then you have to bloomin well wait so there's no point in being thanked for it.

I would far rather more staff were employed (M&S I mean you. I hate standing there watching the two sales assistants carefully hang every returned garment whilst the queue snakes around the department. Get someone else to clear the returns!)

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I actually kind of love it when they do make it passive-aggressive.

It's really rude to take up the person on the till's time dithering on, chatting to them, etc. They're trying to do a job! They have to be polite to you, but there are limits.

Mind you, I am the sort of person who used to cringe when my mate came back saying she'd had 'such a lovely chat' with the shop assistant about x, y and z. You could just tell what she meant was, she'd bent some poor bloke's ear wittering on, while everyone behind her in the queue got murderous.

[Ragwort]

I work in retail and enjoy chatting to customers; what I don't like, as a customer, is our local building society which seems to have a set phrase along the lines of 'what are your plans for today' .......... that, I think, is more than just being polite and friendly, I always want to answer really rudely - saying something like 'getting pissed and doing a bit of shop lifting' but of course I am far too polite to do that .

Regarding the original question, it can be difficult as where I work some of our customers are painfully slowly and clearly love having a chat, if we aren't too busy we will always have a chat but it is not easy when a queue builds up.

[Montalf]

Most shop assistants are cringing inside as they go through the 'script' that they have to with each customer regardless, the hello how are you, sorry for your wait, would you like a bag (yes we HAVE to ask that even if you have bought half the shop and have no other visible means of carrying it....we know it's ridiculous too) would you like any of the offers on the counter today....reels off this weeks offers and then hand each and every customer some kind of voucher that they usually don't want........
We have percentages to meet and to not meet these has consequences. I'd rather use my own judgement and if I sense a customer is in a rush or not that interested then leave the spiel, if they appear to not be then I'd go for it, however I am not allowed to use my own judgement, I am not allowed to make decisions on my own (despite the fact I am an educated grown up) therefore I must follow the rules to make sure my percentages are somewhere near what is demanded, to make sure any loitering manager hears me saying the script and any mystery shopper is treated like visiting royalty.
Then add to this the constant sarcastic comments and sometime down right rudeness of some people when in shops and faced with the management designed spiel spoken by shop assistants and society wonders why some retail workers appear disinterested in their work........they're more likely totally demoralised and know what ever they do they will get earache from someone.

[YesIlikePinaColadas]

hormentale I actually had a customer go ballistic at me once for saying "sorry for your wait" as she thought I meant that. I was horrified as it had never crossed my mind before - I am now very very careful to say "sorry for the wait" instead for that very reason!

And yes as others have said, there's a script and we are mystery shopped on it:

Ours is something along the lines of:
Greet customer
Apologise for the wait
Ask them if they want help packing
Choose something to chat about based on what they're buying
Ask if there's anything else you can help with
Say goodbye to the customer in a friendly manner.

However, having worked in retail for years it is very easy to know what kind of customer you're dealing with instantly. If it's a chatty customer I'll have a chat with them, but similarly if it's a customer who would rather just be in and out I'll be polite but I don't follow the script.

And yes, I'm also guilty for being rude to customers who really don't deserve it in the past by not being at all chatty/smiley if I've had an awful day or been dealing with an awful customer prior to that.

I think if you haven't worked in retail it's really hard to bear in mind that the assistants could be going through any number of things. I work with a few people who've had to come in the day after their husbands have left them, for example, because they can't afford not to. And it is really upsetting to have abuse hurled unnecessarily at you and it's hard to be smiley on those occasions. I know in an ideal world it would be pushed aside for the sake of the job but we're only human and it takes a while to develop the thick skin needed in retail!

[spindletree]

limited
Fantastic post. I'm glad you are like that.
probably because l am too

[bertsdinner]

I think retail bosses should let shop assistants use their own judgement with all the chatting stuff. Some people like it and others dont, its not difficult to pick up on who doesn't want to speak and it would be better all round.

My local Coop seems to let them do this, theres an older woman and a young guy with learning disabilities, both of whom can talk the hind leg off a donkey, and an older man who is a bit of a misery and doesn't speak, apart from the necessities.
I personally dont like chatting at the till, I'm not rude about it though. I used to feel sorry for Post Office staff and those endless hard sell questions they had to ask, they seem to have dropped that now though.

[0pti0na1]

General comments about the weather etc. are fine. I don't really want to be quizzed on anything by someone I've never met, and who isn't even actually interested.

"How are you?" and "What are you doing today?" won't be appealing questions for those who don't wish to disclose their current medical problem or the fact that today's job is confronting the work bully and unblocking the toilet. I agree with acasualobserver that "How are you?" isn't something for a stranger to ask you.

I do agree with previous posters that customers can frequently be very rude though. You can tell a lot about people by how they behave in shops.

[StrawberrySquash]

I dislike it as it has become a standard thing. Apologising for a long wait as a one off: that's good customer service. But 'Thank you for waiting' gets trotted out when there's not even a queue. It's rude because it's fake and insincere and makes the shop assistants sound as though they can't think for themselves.
I worked in retail and we were encouraged to use our initiative and treat customers as individuals. So if we had a long queue I would apologise for the wait and that would defuse the situation.
It's the shop equivalent of 'Your call is important to us'.

[pictish]

Snotnose - chill out. I might think, "What the bloody fuck has it got to do with you?" but I certainly don't say it! I'm not a raving lunatic who would say such a thing out loud and nor am I ever rude or aggressive!

I know exactly why I am being asked intrusive bloody questions and I respond in a pleasant and friendly manner like any decent person. You can stop beseeching me because your loved ones hate their job. It's not my personal doing. What I think and what I do are quite different in this scenario.

[pictish]

""How are you?" and "What are you doing today?" won't be appealing questions for those who don't wish to disclose their current medical problem or the fact that today's job is confronting the work bully and unblocking the toilet. I agree with acasualobserver that "How are you?" isn't something for a stranger to ask you."

Agreed.

[kali110]

I used to hate having to ask 'how are you',' thankyou for the/your wait' (even if people hadn't had a wait) but i also didn't want to lose my job...

Really though how is asking 'how are you today' a terrible thing?
I'm asked it frequently in shops and simply say 'im fine' or i'm having a long day'
They don't want your life story, they're simply being polite.

[justinelibertine]

I love going to the supermarket on tuesdays because the check out staff are nice to me and it is my only adult conversation of the day. I am so lonely that I don't care if they are being paid to be nice.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

I know they're told to say it sonInwould never blame the staff, but I find it intensely irritating. What was I going to do instead - leave my shopping and walk out?

What they should say, IMO, is 'Sorry to keep you waiting,' which is what I always said when I worked in the library and had to keep people waiting.

But they won't be allowed to say that, because the psychobabble 'experts' will argue that it will sound negative, as if the shop is at fault. Which it very likely is, for not having enough staff.

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

I will say it.... don't care about the consensus of mumsnet

Because you know what I see all the time!? Customers moving along the line, pushing their stuff along as they go.... watching it be scanned and then..... the total is announced and they are oh sooooo surprised!!!!

It's only at this point they realise they might need to do something like pay! So then they blindly fumble around for their card/cash.... dropping it/ searching for loyalty cards/asking how much items were...... all the eyes in the queue behind, on them.

Just be ready!! You will need to pay, why is it a surprise!?

[0pti0na1]

They don't want your life story, they're simply being polite.

How is it "polite" to ask someone how they are, when the only correct answer is "fine"?