Customers swearing at retailers today

[chocolateworshipper]

AIBU to hope that customers who shouted swore at retailers today feel BLOODY ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. Did you SERIOUSLY believe that the teenager behind the till was responsible for your Visa card not working?

swimlyn I quite clearly did not use the word all, I said the general public, anyone not trying to nit pick & start an argument knows that this is a term used as a generalisation and does not refer to every single customer I have ever met.

I worked in retail and it was awful. Was given a black eye, threatened and told i was thick and you have to be polite... I was always polite and professional whilst hoping they got run over by a bus made of shit!

One old lady crowed at me ‘I bet you wish you’d stuck in at the school and you wouldn’t be here’ I said ‘oh this is part time? I graduate with a first class honours degree next week, what was your degree in?’ Obviously I assumed she had a degree since she had the gall to insinuate someone was in retail for not working hard. When she said she didn’t have a degree I thought ‘ah well pity YOU didn’t stick in at school you stupid old bag!’ Whilst smiling at her!

Oh and swimlyn when you copied my post why did you leave out the part about the customer calling me a cunt?

I worked in retail for years and we had some lovely customers. There are always some though that are just plain horrible, I will now say something if I hear someone being rude when it’s not the sales persons fault. But to be fair even if they have accidentally done something wrong there is no need to be rude! I did speak up recently in the bank when someone was being extremely rude about the staff.
I hope your DD is ok, it does leave an effect on you, a customer once reduced my college to tears and then offered the manager outside.

Oh yes bring calked ‘cunt, arsehole, slag, silly cow, fucking idiot, ugly bint, shit, fucker, oi specky, retard.....’ it really gains your respect!

Ds had two people shouting at him earlier, even the cash machines were out apparently

Sparklesocks
But that’s not what was stated.

So quite a few of you feel that ALL customers are arseholes? This could be a clue as to why you cop it in return.

Clearly The general public have always been arseholes to retail staff can’t be a correct statement, as otherwise (engaging one’s brain for a moment) when you leave work and pop into another retail establishment on your way home, that would make YOU the arsehole?

I have worked in several retail/till jobs by the way…

nancy75
Oh and swimlyn when you copied my post why did you leave out the part about the customer calling me a cunt?

Because there are no syntax errors in the rest of your post.

I was out all afternoon, and saw NO-ONE screaming, swearing, and shouting at shop staff!

@swimlyn, quite obviously it's a general statement and doesn't mean ALL customers. And no it's certainly not a clue as to why people cop it. Quite frankly it is something that has got worse and worse over the years and no matter how polite you are (and the vast majority of retail workers are very polite) there are always plenty of rude customers. It can be as small as not saying please or thank you, it can be swearing, spitting, physical violence or that oh so common one of talking on he phone whilst someone is trying to serve you

And you can add to the list the chancers who think they can con you out of some money by threatening to go to social media if they don't get the outcome they want. The ones who find some crisps out of date in the cupboard bring them back and tell you how their precious little one ate 2 and is currently being violently ill. Yes so ill instead of caring for them you are in the supermarket trying to get a free packet of crisps and a £20 gift voucher which will magically make your child feel better.

But swimlyn I’m a member of the general public and I’m not offended by the statement because I know it doesn’t apply to me. I know I’m decent to service staff so this particular general statement doesn’t mean me. Why are you taking it so personally?

It’s like if you say ‘ugh, men’ if a friend is going through a break up and a bloke pipes up to say ‘um not ALL men are like that!!’

Of course they aren’t. A generalisation isn’t necesarily an attack on all individuals.

sweeneytoddsrazor
You're quite right, it's a general statement, and it's a general statement that is not true.

Are you this nitpicky in real life swimlyn? 😂 Anyone with a brain can understand what was meant!

Fucking hell, the general public are arseholes. I literally thought that people that treated retail and food service staff poorly were a very small minority?

I’m pretty disgusted to know that this kind of stuff goes on ... fairly often it seems!

I literally thought that people that treated retail and food service staff poorly were a very small minority?

Sadly not. Of course there are some lovely customers, and some perfectly polite customers that come and go with no chit chat other than please and thank you, but there are some pretty unpleasant ones out there as well. As I said I cannot remember the last day I worked when I wasn't sworn at.

Anyone with a brain can understand what was meant!
Nice SmashedMug! Respect to you.

I’m not offended, and I’m not taking it personally. A generalisation involving the word ‘arsehole’ should probably be proof-read though. Then there was a stubborn refusal to rephrase it.

Gosh. There’s a four-letter word for this.

It’s SOME.

SOME customers are arseholes.
In my experience, a very small minority.

As I said before, respect works both ways. However, it’s late and I will leave (some of) you to your customer hate-fest.

Sweeneytoddsrazor- really sorry to hear that, infact that was one of the things that upset me on this thread, so you go to work every day expecting to be abused in some way or another? That is awful. I’m sorry that people are so nasty.

Thank you @hungryhippo 90.

Yes I do expect to be abused everyday sadly, however it isn't all bad we do have some lovely customers and apart from the abuse I do genuinely love the job, it's just a shame the abuse has gone from a rare occurrence to an everyday one,

The thing is that customers being arseholes is rather like sexual assault .

Not all men assault woman but all women have been assaulted.

And it’s like that with customers and retail staff.
Not all customers are rude and insulting to retail staff but all retail staff get abuse on almost a daily basis.
It is almost never the fault of the member of staff.
I’ve have people walk in and swear at me before I’ve had a chance to even open my mouth. To say that ‘respect works both ways’ and that perhaps the person complaining is the arsehole is victim blaming.

Fwiw I’ve had full time retail and hospitality jobs as well as a stream of part time hospitality jobs in the past. We had our fair share of rude people and cheeky fuckery, but never do I recall being called a cunt or anything. Seems, from this thread, that I’m in the fortunate minority though!

Took me 4 attempts to pay for fuel. What would have happened if it hadn’t gone through? I had no cash and was nowhere near a cash machine. Not even local so couldn’t have easily gone back.

Once upon a time, you could have written a cheque, but the banks decided we didn't need that option any more.

Unacceptable behaviour.

The VISA failure is one reason that cash should never be completely eliminated. It's actually the second this year- there was one in February but it was in the middle of the night, so many people would have been unaffected.

Lakielady - cheques still exist! I use cheques to pay my window cleaner. We still receive cheques at work, as payment from clients and to pay the window cleaner. It's big retailers who decided they won't accept them!

DS and DD have both worked part time at major supermarkets and were regularly talked down to by customers. DD used to work in the bakery, making the store's own goods.

Never acceptable to swear at or abuse public facing staff. They are not responsible for the rules they have to enforce.