to think that 'You what?' is not polite enough towards customers?

[LovePGtipsMonkey]

or is this now a normal speak for younger customer service workers?
This was at a post ofice, a new girl I think, early 20s. When she didn't hear what I said, she went 'you what? sorry?' in a calm (not agressive) manner but I thought it wasn't appropriate/bordering on rude? I mean, didn't hear from anyone else recently (in shops).

she wouldn't win an award for etiquette, but you say yourself she didn't say it aggressively so not sure what the issue is really.

You can't win on mumsnet at the moment .... someone complaining about every aspect of customer service from greeters to the way people speak...

What, sorry? is a perfectly acceptable thing to say if you didn't hear what somebody said.

It sounds fine to me. She wasn't being rude

I think that normally "You what?" would be an inappropriate way to ask someone to repeat themselves and I don't think this is now the norm. But it didn't sound as though it was intended to be rude. Just sounds irksome ;)

I was always told that "what?" (instead of pardon) was rude. I still say "pardon?" but "what?" Seems to be the norm now.

When I worked in retail I was sick and tired of rude customers on mobile phones and not even making eye contact.

She's not going to win any customer service awards but it's obviously her figure of speech and it doesn't sound like she meant to be rude...can't see why you're bothered tbh.

YANBU, it's abrupt.

It's not polite, no.

How does it even matter?

I'm not much bothered and it's not a big issue! I'm curious whether it's seen as polite now - but you don't hear it often to be fair.
It's not 'what?' that I think is not polite (though can be abrupr if said in an unfriendly way' , it's 'You what?' just not very respectful - it was never used in shops in the past at any rate. And yes I don't like it personally, maybe because many other people use it a bit aggressively. But no, not a serious issue, obv.

and obviously many posters agree - good to know I'm not out of touch with 'modern' etiquette.