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?

Got some more from today

First a seasonal one - moaning that the exact egg you want isn't there. Not just moaning, but how 'disgraceful and disgusting it is, and how the company should stock more.' Bit my tongue but felt like saying we do stock more - from January onwards. If you're going to leave it til late to do your shopping, knowing how overboard the great British public go with EVERYTHING, do yourself a favour and make sure you're not too fussy on what you get

Why on earth customers feel the need to put a dress and shoes (obviously unwanted) in the meat aisle is beyond me

When I'm serving a disabled gentleman do not get huffy and ask me to hurry up. He is a valued customer, and I will chat and help him as much as he needs. If you don't like it, bugger off. Said disabled gentleman got a bit worried about holding up the queue then and I had to reassure him about 10 times before he stopped saying sorry. He has as much right to be here as you do. Next time I see you approaching I might just tell you my till is closed and slope off to the loo for 5 minutes

Customers being surprised we are closed on Easter Sunday

Customers thinking it's 'stupid' that we are open reduced hours on Easter Monday

Customers getting annoyed at me having the audacity to do a till lift when it's busy. I have to do it as the pod is only insured to hold a thousand pounds.

We have a 'think 16' policy on energy drinks. I personally think it's ridiculous, and I also remember serving you a month ago so I wouldn't be doing your brain cells further damage. But it's company policy, so I need to implement it.

Quite a short list of annoyances for one day customers must have been behaving themselves!

"All you miserable sales people are why internet shopping’s on the rise"

Spot the person who has never worked in retail

Ah I don't miss my student days of customer facing roles.

So much to say, but my number 1 bugbear was people trotting out the same 'hilarious' lines and laughing their heads off as if you'd never heard it before.

"If it doesn't scan do I get it for free?"

"Do you come with the meal?"

"Do you sell ribbons by any chance?"

east I'm not miserable. I like most customers. I've had awards for customer service. But there is something about supermarkets that turn normal adults into demanding, rude children with the manners and etiquette of a dung beetle. The attitudes of people towards the elderly/vulnerable in particular because they have to wait a few minutes more than usual, is disgusting. Internet shopping is on the rise as it's easier - funny though, despite my stores internet shopping department being v busy, so are the checkouts, who have recently hired more staff. So our 'attitude' isn't having that much of an effect. Tell you what, rather than come on here saying we basically should skip into work every moaning and beam at every single customer, instead of that - try a work working in a big supermarket. See how you feel at the end of it.

Rant over

Thankfully I only deal with them by phone (not call centre) but it pisses me off when they call and I need to access their information on our system and when I ask for name and date of birth, they get huffy about it! I need to document the call ffs and need the details.

Or I'll ask who's calling and their date of birth, reply will be "Sharon." Ah yes, of course. Sharon. I totally know who you are now! Then I'll ask what their surname is, "Smith," brilliant, still need the date of birth, " 01/01" and what fucking year exactly! It's like getting blood out of a stone trying to get information out of people at times!

People who call to get a balance. Fine, no problem, I give them the balance. “Oh hang on let me get a pen.” You rang to get a balance. Didn’t you think a pen might be a good idea before hand?

Ditto people calling to arrange a withdrawal and being amazed that I ask for their bank details. I mean, I can make up a random set if you like but that won’t get your money into your bank account will it?

Anyone who presses the buttons on their phone with their face. The beeeep beeeep beeeep goes right through me and gives me rage.

People who are in a mad rush. Especially when they feel the need to repeatedly inform me of how busy and rushed they are. You called me ffs! Nothing I do is so vital that it can’t wait until you have a free ten minutes. I once had a conversation with a woman that shouldve taken about 3 minutes. But she spent so long telling me how rushed she was and not listening to me that it took 10 minutes.

People who lie about why they won’t do the customer survey. Nobody believes that you’re about to go out/someone at the door/about to catch a plane because if you were then why would you have picked that moment to phone about the very unimportant thing we just discussed. Just politely say no.

east I never show that I’m pissed off with a customer. Because I’m actually good at my job. I’m confident that most of the people posting here are equally good at hiding their frustration.

I was a home care worker through college. Didn’t drive for health reasons. I had one woman who would ring my office to find out where I was if I was TWO MINUTES LATE. Despite the fact, I had a twenty minute bus ride from my last call to her’s and we were allowed to be up 15 minutes late. The same woman also wanted me there at a certain timefor her bed call. Despite it being scheduled for later and me explaining it was physically impossible for me to get there at that time as that was the time my previous call finished. I had one woman try and use me as a skivvy to clean her kitchen at every call despite it not being in her care plan to the point I had to start lying about having another call miles away after her (I didn’t, she was my last call but it was my only hope of getting home by 10) and several people would tell me the same story five times in the space of a half hour call...

Just customers at all really... I'm often told I should get a new job! Luckily I'd cost too much to get rid of

All you miserable sales people are why internet shopping’s on the rise.

Lots of reasons why I sometimes shop online. Actually, one main reason is that Argos has moved out of the town centre, so I can't get to that easily. There's still a hardware shop that stocks loads of things, so always a good place to check for things. No idea how that shop is still surviving, given the level of commercial rates. (Loads of posh restaurants, though.)

My food shopping is Tesco, or M&S, or Sainsbury. I try to be as fast as I can, because there's a chance that there's someone back in the line huffing and puffing. The customer is always right, yeah? Even if they're huffing and puffing and being mouthy with it.

Sometimes people resort to online shopping to actually get what they want or for convenience. And sometimes it's to avoid people in the queue who think that sales staff are "miserable". Sales staff don't set out to be miserable, indeed they're expected to be cheerful, no matter what gets thrown at them. It would be nice if all the people who think that sales staff are miserable would do all their shopping online. Less hassle for me and the staff.

When I lived above a post office I popped down one day as I was friendly with the staff and a man came in and asked if they sold stamps. I'll never forget the look on the post office owner's face. I had to leave the shop because I got uncontrollable giggles.
I've been in retail myself for nearly 3 decades. Yes the line of 'well if it's not priced it must be free' really does get more and more hilarious. Or the wanting discount for cash.
I've also had people ask for discounts for their 'bulk buying' eg 2 or 3 of the same item no Maureen, you'd need 400

Clients etc who phone up, I introduce myself as "Elizabeth (not real name), so and so's secretary, and they start the conversation by saying "Hello Liz....". I've never spoken to you before, I've given you my name, why do you think it's okay to shorten it? Very trivial I know.....😁

I work in a supermarket too

I like those who do half their shopping at the till

Faff about getting their card out to pay as if it's a big surprise

Ignore me when I greet them

Moan about me going too fast or slowly

Bark 'where are the crackers' on the shopfloor. No excuse me or please.

Have a massive tantrum when their product is out of stock

Insist we have something I know we don't stock and claim they got it here 2 wks ago. It's always 2 weeks.

Walk straight into me.

Ask me to.move out of the way while I m restocking then stand reading all the packets for 15 minutes.

Shove their trolley right up against mine so I can't reach the stock

Stand on the middle of an aisle at an angle

Sending me upstairs for stock then buggering off home.

Walking v slowly in front of me stopping to look every 30 second

Great thread!

I love the patients but they can be trying. Patient says that they think they are getting side effects from one of their tablets. Which one? The small round white one

A patient once rang reception stating that she had an appointment time marked on her calendar but had not written what it was for. Reception quickly established that there was no GP appointment booked for her that day/ time. She asked them what it was for then dentist, hairdresser, vet, how are reception going to know, you wrote it down!

That reminds me of a woman who came in wantind a specific type of cereal bar but couldn't remember what it was called. I took her to various parts of the shop and showed her some 'is it this one?' 'No' etc etc then got really angry I didn't carry a list of what we did with pictures. My boss said she couldn't have liked them yhat much if she couldn't remember

@NoIsACompleteAnswer

I ask for scratch cards by number after doing the divvy tapping and pointing a few times and realising maybe those numbers were there for a reason

I used to work in a call centre. My biggest bugbear was asking for a name and getting a reply like 'Jones' and i'd ask for a full name and they'd reply 'Mrs Jones'

I see your

All you miserable sales people are why internet shopping’s on the rise.

And raise you

All the customers who bark orders, demand the totally impossible, demand staff to break the law or company policies because they want something, treat fellow people like skivvys, refuse to use even basic manners or at times even think for themselves and blame the 'shop floor' staff for everything from the weather hampering deliveries or stock levels to the prices, are the reason staff working in these positions become miserable! Try being treated like that day in day out for 8 hours a day, for 20 years and being told by management who hide behind you, and throw you to the wolves at any available opportunity, that it's to be expected and that's what happens. Let's see the effect on YOU and how happy you are eh?!

Wish we had a like button beer

it's probably been there since the station was first built.

No, it's not been there since the station was built.

And it would be really good if there was a clear route to get messages to the decision makers - then you wouldn't have people using you as their only channel of communication.

Patient facing role:

The ones who arrive saying they have an appointment for xyz time. Check the computer , none booked.
They don't have their card/letter but insist they were told this time (usually an appointment time that doesn't exist) and it is written on their card.
I always ask "Is there any chance the appointment is with someone else? Your GP or Practice Nurse"? They ask me to check and seem that my computer doesn't link with the GP/Hospital/their Dentist.

"Oh a long time" is the stock answer to "How long since..your last appointment/has this been here"
The ones who come to clinic to book (they need to go through Central Booking) . Either citing "I've been coming here for years" like it gives them priority (it doesn't) or saying its been 4 months (and it turns out to be two years so they need to get reffered again)

The using my first name is ok, but not the shortening. Think "Maureen" on my badge , "Well Mo , its this"

And in a Health Centre with maybe 12 departments, just because I wear a white tunic does not mean I know when the Midwives are here , why would I? If I say "I;m sorry I can't help you , have you asked at Reception" that's because I don't know (and no, I'm not going to go over and find out) . I;m on my way to the printer.

"I'm not very good at filling in forms" It only asks name, address, DOB etc.
When told they have to complete a form, "I suffer from depression" - that's exactly why there IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE a stigma around depression because even though I suffer myself it is really frustrating trying to help someone who tries to get out of something they don't want to do by shoving their depression in my face. You still have to complete a form!

@fixme85 I used to find that some of the people who “forgot their glasses” or weren’t very good at forms, actually couldn’t read. Sad.

I like the ones who ask if if you 'work here' when you are in full uniform. I one laughed and said that I didn't. I just had poor dress sense

Reading some of these ignite the rage in me!!
I work in retail and love going to work and chatting to the nice, polite customers. But, after a good few years some little things start to get on your nerves!!

• Not saying please or thank you.
• Customers dumping fresh foods in a freezer, making them unfit for sale?? Dumping frozen things, out of the freezer to defrost/ melt!!
• Not putting things back in the right place.
• Telling me they bought something from the store 2 weeks ago. Never sold it. Tell them that, but nope, im wrong
• This shouldnt annoy me as much as it does, but arghh it really does. '' Wheres the sugar?'' It right infront of you

Also, dont stick your bloody face in mine when asking me a question. (Your breath bloody reeks) Last one, i could go on for a while though. Dumping empty wrappers, bottles, half eaten snacks and fruit peels/skins on shelves. Its stealing aswell!! Ahh, i feel better getting that of my chest.