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AIBU?

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Original poster

Customer facing jobs, what winds you up?

200 replies

BigPinkBall · 26/03/2018 18:41

I just need a bit of a rant Blush

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?

OP posts:
Rememory · 26/03/2018 20:25

Shite - I call people by their names if they have a badge because I reckoned they spent most of the day being talked at. Now your saying it's creepy, I'm really not but I'll stop now.

checkingforballoons · 26/03/2018 20:25

Most of my customers are brilliant. The one thing that really, really winds me up is people standing in entirely the wrong place and expecting me to serve them. You see that line of ten people, that I am interacting with on a one by one basis? And how after each one is dealt with they move away, and more people join the back of the line? That's how it works! Not loitering at the side of the till, sighing and waving a bottle of juice at me. Your stupidity doesn't give you priority. GO TO THE BACK OF THE LINE AND WAIT.
And whilst I'm at it, the lady that tries to queue jump every bloody time because she 'only wants a coffee and a brownie'. You and everyone else. WAIT.

pumpkinmamma · 26/03/2018 20:25

My personal favourites are “I bought this last week/month/year, why don’t you have any?” when in actual fact we haven’t sold that item for 5+ years, and “They give me discount in so can I have discount here?”. No they probably don’t and no you cannot because I will get fired. On the whole I love my retail job & have made it a career but some customers are a challenge!

foxyknoxy30 · 26/03/2018 20:25

When I ask if there is anything else I can help you with, and they reply if you can give me the lottery numbers 😓😓not funny after hearing for about the tenth time that week

NoIsACompleteAnswerSometimes · 26/03/2018 20:27

shit/madein we have the tokens too, and a certain customer used to come in, go to the till, take one before he'd even said hello and go put it in the box. No please, thank you or kiss my arse. We got wise to it so when he came in and one of us saw him, we'd all take the token pots and put them under the till til he'd gone. Arsehole.

checkingforballoons · 26/03/2018 20:28

Sorry, one more. No, you can't order food for six people three minutes before we close. That's why we have a cut off time for ordering. Because our kitchen isn't in the past.

uncoolnn · 26/03/2018 20:33

The one thing that gives me the rage more than anything else is when customers read your name from your name badge and then proceed to use your name in conversation as if they know you personally. Just no Angry

curious86 · 26/03/2018 20:36

I'm a barber and I'll ask a customer what they would like to have done then they say "a haircut" and give me a shocked look.
I can't read your mind and I don't no what haircut you have, it may sound stupid but when you hear it constantly it's annoying

Eminybob · 26/03/2018 20:45

Customers who think they know my job better then I do.
I have a qualification, 15 years experience and letters after my name, believe me I know what I’m doing!

tigercub50 · 26/03/2018 20:47

I love my job on checkouts ( not a supermarket) and all of life is most definitely there. The majority of customers are lovely and I tend to be extra nice to any rude ones to try to take the wind out of their sails. There was one guy who wasn’t rude to me but I couldn’t bear how he was treating his wife. Gave me shivers. I was then extra nice to her. I once had a £10 note thrown at me & the guy hadn’t spoken a word all through the transaction. No need for that.

angryburd · 26/03/2018 20:47

I think there should be some kind of retail national service. Everybody should have to work some thankless job dealing with the public at least once in their lives.

LadyOfTheCanyon · 26/03/2018 20:52

Curious that made me laugh. My friend's grandad, a very proper type, had to go to a hairdressers when his regular barber shut down. When the young girl asked him how he wanted his hair cut he barked "In silence!"

thecatsarecrazy · 26/03/2018 21:08

People who put their shopping basket and a carrier bag in front of me and stand there staring at me or playing with their phone. Not " could you pack for me?" Its just expected

thecatsarecrazy · 26/03/2018 21:10

Oh yes i hate the name badge thing too. I feel like saying you don't know me!

madein1995 · 26/03/2018 21:13

shit I think so, those tokens are a joy to give to children (who love them - a token has the magic power of stopping a tantrumming toddler 😂) but adults must get a grip

Once had someone try to push my till Gate open with their trolley. Said 'excuse me, I AM closed' and turned away, their face was a picture!

Quite like customers calling me by my name but depends who it is - old Mr Jones who likes a chat, fine. Older (but not old) man who leers and talks to my breasts - not fine.

Despite my annoyances I do like most of my customers. But if I took a bottle of cider in for my shift and started a drinking game based on the experiences on this thread - I'd be falling off my chair drunk 45 minutes into my shift, max 😂

Original poster
BigPinkBall · 26/03/2018 21:18

I think there should be some kind of retail national service. Everybody should have to work some thankless job dealing with the public at least once in their lives.

Yes, brilliant idea!

OP posts:
madein1995 · 26/03/2018 21:26

angry completely agree. If customers were to spend some time on the other side of the till they might just learn some manners and appreciate.us more

Glumglowworm · 26/03/2018 21:38

Omg how could i forget the lottery numbers ones! Or “you could give me more money ha ha”. I did once have a lovely old chap who was calling about his sadly deceased wife answer “you could make me stop crying” Sad I genuinely wish I could have

And “well I did that thing you say you don’t do last time!” Usually no they bloody didn’t because we’ve not done that for years! Or ok maybe you did but that was 10 years ago and we don’t do that anymore.

Customer: I want X
Me: ok you can get that by doing Y or Z
Customer: but I don’t want to do Y or Z
Me: ok but those are the only ways to get X
Customer: but I don’t want to do that
Me: well then you can’t have X
Customer: but I want X!
Me: then you have to do Y or Z
Customer: but I don’t want to!
Honestly, are you three years old?!

Wrong number calls are occasionally amusing, when they’re for entirely different companies. Bonus points if the company you’re trying to call is not remotely in the same industry. “No I can’t send a taxi to Mrs Jones at number 7.... because I sell travel insurance... I’m pretty sure you dialled the wrong number... no we’ve never been a taxi company... yeah that’s not our number... I don’t think that can be the number you dialled because you’re through to travel insurance company not taxi company”

Original poster
BigPinkBall · 26/03/2018 21:46

@Glumglowworm haha, today I had to listen to the woman next to say, on a loop for about 5 minutes, “we can’t help you with that, you should get legal advice. Ok but we can’t help you with that, that’s not something we offer” you do try to be understanding but sometimes it’s like talking to a brick wall

OP posts:
Beerwench · 26/03/2018 21:51

Have many working in hospitality for years with a foray into retail!

  • regular customers that know what time you open, rock up 20 mins early and moan because nothing is set up so they have to wait until, you know, opening time.
  • those who think because you're female and behind a bar, you're fair game to be hit on
  • regulars who think because they are alcoholic there more than me, I should drop serving the person I am to serve them.
  • moaning about the price - if I were high enough in this company to have any say whatsoever on the prices, I certainly wouldn't be serving a twat like you!
  • the sheer mess that some people leave behind
  • dumping a handful of change on the bar and demanding I 'sort out what I need' usually on a very busy lunch time.
  • free range children
  • those who moan about the length of wait to be served, then wander off half way through the order they've given me one drink at a time, to find out what Doris wants, have a 5 minute chat and then wander back, and then wander off to get their money from coat or bag at the end of the round!
  • ignoring me the 4 times I ask if you want ice and then snarling at me that there's no ice in the drink. Your own fault cunt lugs, shouldn't have thought you were too high and mighty to listen to what I was asking.
  • ppl who come up to the bar and ask for a pint. Go on then, give us a clue, pint of what?!

I changed jobs a while ago. Writing that has reminded me why!

NoIsACompleteAnswerSometimes · 26/03/2018 22:07

beerwench something similar! People coming up to ask for a lottery ticket. Give us a clue, love, which one? There's the euro, regular, thunder ball etc on different days.
What's really annoying is we sell scratchcards, marked on the customer side with numbers and marked the same on the back so we can see it. Bear in mind the display is full of scratchcards so therefore we can't see through it. The number of times that people stand in front of it and tap one of the displays and say "I'll have that one!" Again- Give us a bloody clue, that's what the numbers are there for.
And breathe.

AlexaAmbidextra · 26/03/2018 23:23

Patients who phone to make an appointment and when offered one tell me to hold on while they go and get their diary. Or those who make an appointment in person and then expect me to sit there for ages while they slowly try to work out how to get to the diary on their phone and enter the appointment details. I lose my patience and write it on an appointment card and suggest they transfer it to their phone in their own time.

SecretNutellaFix · 26/03/2018 23:34

Oh, how could I forget the wandering minstrels?

They ask you to see if you have X/Y/Z out the back. You go to check and when you return, 45 seconds later (the warehouse is too small to swing a sodding gerbil, let alone a cat) and they have fucked off. Whereto, you have no idea and there is no sign they have ever existed. You finally give up hunting and they reappear in front of you a full 5 minutes later demanding "Well?" by which time you'll have dealt with at least 2 other people and have forgotten who they are.

ForeverBubblegum · 26/03/2018 23:44

"I want the one I had last time" well give us a clue, I've met you once 3 months ago and serve about 100 people a day.

Why do people think they're so special that their pretty standard transaction is going to stand out in my mind.

Stefoscope · 26/03/2018 23:47

Flash backs to working tele banking and people repeatedly giving their long debit card number to me...no I asked for the the SIX digit sort code. Now I just get people trying to tell me where to find things in my own shop, which funnily enough I know because I put them there myself! Even after I politely make this point they still don't STFU. Also the good old 'it should come to about £12,' do you know what, I may just put the purchases through the till and get you to pay the correct amount because HMRC is a thing.