Customer facing jobs, what winds you up?

[BigPinkBall]

I just need a bit of a rant

I work in a call centre and part of my job is to ask for customers sort code and account number, and 99 our of 100 people will give me it in that order, but there’s always one who says the account number first without giving me time to move to the box further down the page where that goes, and says the number really fast then gets annoyed when you ask them to repeat it.

Also the people who fail the security questions and say well what have you got for my address/date of birth? It wouldn’t be very secure if I told you, would it?

Customers that won't give their details because "it's private, I'm not telling you that!"

Ok well I can't help you then, genius

I have the same with ‘house number & postcode’ - that’s what I need, in that order! Not full postal address, not postcode first, not phone number So glad I’m out of retail now, small irritants become painful after a few years

I work giving quotes for a specialist insurance. Hence no two quotes are the same. Ridiculous amount of people who insist (after I tell them this) "just give me a rough price" and get so rude too!

I end up telling them our true range of prices, which is anything from £7 a month to £250 a month... but I can't guarantee it'll be between those figures as there is potential for it to go either side!

Also yes to sort code and account number. I only ask for sort code first and then ask for account number after they've given it. Still get the long card number half the time 🤦‍♀️

People who ring up on there partners behalf and rant off when you can't tell them anything due to data protection pad the phone to them they can authorize you on the account no! I'm suing you for harassment

People who want your help but can’t answer your questions... “sort of” isn’t an answer. Neither is “I don’t really know”.

People who say 'You're messing!' when told something is out of stock/unavailable/store is closing for reasons beyond our control.

Er...no.

I worked in a craft shop, had a lady come in convinced she had got a certain fabric from us a couple of months ago... I recognised every single fabric we had- several thousand- gently suggested we didn't stock the one she was after and she said we must have sold out

Customers don't always know best

@abbsisspartacus yes, this! Can you just tell me the balance on my dads account? He’s got dementia so he can’t check himself! Right, but if you haven’t got power of attorney how am I supposed to know he’s got dementia?

When i give passengers directions and they say "well cant i go this way instead"

If you already know why are you asking?!

I used to be a waitress and would get wound up by the amount of non-food crap that people would leave on tables for me to clear away. I was paid to clear dishes, not to clear rubbish, tissues full of snot, or dirty nappies (after mum had changed the baby on the table, and I would have to disinfect everything before the next customer).

I was more annoyed at ones you introduced yourself to, email from your email address with your name in it then call you to discuss email still saying name completely wrong.

At one point 20 odd other people ended up putting through calls where a name was mentioned and was never the name of someone who worked for the company. It was always for me.
To clarify, I do not have an unusual name at all.

@Cirrys that is grim!

When people complain about the bill! Look- I just work here, I'm not the boss, I don't set the price!!!! If you don't want it, don't get it!!!

Call centre here, too:

"Have you got any Asian in you?"
"No."
"Do you want some?"

No wonder i got frequently told off for hanging up on customers

And countless "Can i see the fishes?" from people who thought the Channel Tunnel was made of glass and went through water!

People who look at me like I’m a piece of shit. Or rather not looking at me at all, just shoving a tray of dirty plates in my direction.

welshsoph I had this once when I worked as a dental nurse.
"I've broke a tooth will you see me now?"
"Are you a registered patient with us?"
"No my dentist is in (next town over) but I was doing my shopping here today and the wee girl in the shop said you'd definitely see me and I wouldn't have to wait"

Ok. Go ask the checkout girl to fix your tooth mate, we have a full waiting room of our own patients here...

Not phones but supermarket and I have lots (rubs hand in glee)

'you didn't scan that twice did you?' erm no I know what I'm doing
'that's too expensive!' (shouted) - please fuck off
'why's there no stock on the shelves' - use your brain and think what snow and panic buying means
Saying my card machine isn't working when you've sent it flying
Shouting at me to hurry up then going at a snails pace yourself
Sorry can I leave this behind - passes over 10 items - if you don't want it, why pick it up
Leering/staring at young female cashiers
Shouting when asked for id/refused sale of too many paracetamol products
Tapping your fingers impatiently when I open my till up and take 2 minutes settling myself down - you try doing it in less
Trying to barge past/ talk to me over old ladies (Or older people in general, usually ladies). Bugger off. They are slower, and I will match their speed, and chat to them. I will ignore you until your turn. If you don't like that, please feel free to go to self serve or the basket tills
Allowing your child to graze pick and mix in the queue, not from the barcoded pot but the bag I have to weigh. It is technically stealing (if only a few pence)
Thrusting your child's wet apple core at me to dispose
Try to pull a fast one and leave item in trolley without paying, or ask for cash back and try to confuse me into giving you more. It doesn't work, but it will make me more suspicious as a rule
Talking on your phone the entire transaction and not saying so much as a please or thanks
The one that really gets my goat - we have a token/charity scheme where we give tokens to customers to vote for a charity, and the shop gives money to charity. We have a pot of tokens next to our screens. Some children reach over and grab a handful - they are only small and parents usually intervene and I smile and say its OK. I hate hate hate adults themselves reaching over and grabbing a handful. It's my space. I will give you a token, if you ask I will give you a few. I haven't even rang up your shopping yet so you've not even given me a chance. It is very bad manners and you look greedy and impatient.

@Elend that made me laugh. Literally a fiver every time that happened and it would have paid my GDC registration fee!!

People who ring up to order flowers ( I'm a florist):

"I'd like to send some flowers to my mum"
"No problem. Let me take the details. What's her name?"
"Mum."

Then a bit later " What's the address?"
" Hang on, let me go and get my address book."

Five minutes later:

"Ok that's great. If I could just take your credit or debit card details?"
" Hang on, I'll just go and get my purse. " < puts phone down>

ALL FUCKING DAY.

"Why should I have to pay 5p for a bag?" - you'll have to discuss that with the government. Also, this isn't something new, you badly organised loser.

"Any discount for cash?" - wow, we're so impressed with you having enough cash for a £29.99 purchase that we will treat you like a high roller. (We don't actually want lots of cash, it's a nuisance to bank.)

I work in a small local supermarket and people will walk in, clock me and bark at me 'where's the milk' or 'where's the bread'. Oh yes, hello to you too. How about, considering it's a small local shop, you have a gander for the milk? You never know, you might manage to find it all by yourself. People are so rude. I will gladly help but I hate being spoken to like I'm literally a servant.
They also complain to me about prices and bemoan they are higher than the large stores. Go to a larger store then.
The newspaper as the worst though for rudeness. God forbid we run out of the daily fail. It's obviously all our fault and I've actually been sworn at because of it.

I am ex retail and will never go back. Not even if the wolf is at the door. Heck, he'd have to be into the hall and admiring the wallpaper before I'd even consider it.
We had a customer threaten to call the police on us. He was ranting and raving (so loud you could hear him over the whole shop) due to the fact something was incorrectly priced. It was a large picture frame, retailing at over £20 if I recall correctly. Basically, someone had picked them up to look at them and had put them back down in the wrong place. He was insisting it was his right to pay the lower price.
Actually, he was wrong. It's entirely up to the retailer. We can say that you either pay the higher price or we don't sell the item. Now, we do have some discretion and have sometimes let the customer pay the lower price as it's good for our reputation.
However, this good will is rescinded when customers get very shouty and start making threats. The poor cashier had simply said "I need to check with my manager about the price..." and the customer just went off on one.
Finally - do you know what the price difference was?
50p.
Wanker.

When someone leaves me a really long message on my answer machine then gabbles their phone number so fast I can’t write it down. I have spent 10 minutes plus sometimes listening to rambling messages then trying to decipher a number

I worked in the complaints dept for a bank. I got shouted and screamed at a lot.
You might be surprised to hear that the bank was on the whole not at fault.

Amazing how many people just want to scream and shout and when you say 'What can we do to put this right for you?' they don't actually know.