To think you don't talk to anyone this way?

[BreakfastAtLitanies]

I work in retail. Customer asked me if I could leave my till to go out into the aisles and get an item for him (he was picking up a collection type item). I said I couldn't leave my till but would get someone to meet him up there to show him. His reply? "You're a fucking useless cunt" and storming off!

AIBU to think you don't talk to anyone, much less a stranger trying to do their job, this way?!

I'm pretty sure I'm not BU, but it really shocked me

He WBTU. And should be chucked out of the store for speaking to you that way.

Of course you're right. Nobody should talk to another like that and certainly not a stranger doing their job.

So sorry that happened to you . No way you should have to put up with that. Did you escalate it to your manager?

Dealing with people sucks. I work in hospitality, everything's table service so when a man enters and demands a beer from my bar staff, they politely tell him he needs to wait for a host or a waitress for a table, he gets angsty - I go over and explain it's all table service, to choose a seat and I'll get him a beer, to which he looks me up and down in disgust tells me not to f-ing bother and what a disgrace. For a beer. That he could've had. smile and wave boys, smile and wave.

I had an older lady tell me last week I was useless because I couldn't understand what type of earrings she was on about , she didn't have her glasses so couldn't show me in our catalogue and then told me to "go get someone who knows what they are on about " ...
Our jewellery person heard this and came to help and she couldn't understand her either so then she told us we were both a waste of time .
Her poor husband had walked out the store because he was embarrassed and she had told him to piss off , very loudly !!! He shrugged his shoulders and mouthed sorry to me.

She stormed out the store . I suspect mental issues there though because she was so angry.

I've been told I need to do my job properly , when customers have had to wait for stock to be sent from upstairs and a favourite of customers is to ask if there's more staff out the back , go get someone to serve us ... Erm no there really isn't any more staff !!!

Way of the times , customers have got used to not having to wait in stores , more tills being put on and staff everywhere to help but sadly it's not like that anymore . Our store is run on the bare minimum staff and if we get tied up with customers we get abuse for not doing our jobs ... It's not our fault !

No staff out the back? You're saying they don't magically appear when a customer demands you open a till? Madness.

They do truly expect you to have an endless amount of available staff. Think the beer story is disgusting - I had a similar incident and the lady behind in the queue congratulated me on staying calm. Some people act like they're entitled to personal shoppers in every store they walk in to!

Kindness goes such a long way in retail.

Never understand this- surely they should realise that if thy are nice about things then people will be more likely to help?! If someone is rude to me I don't feel as inclined to try to help them

There are nasty people out there!
I used to get some awful customers over the phone and in person in my job but it didn't bother me. I prefer to think they must be unhappy people or they are going through some stress or something.
I never take it personally.

Dreadful person, I've never heard anything like it.

Ah, customer facing roles. My job is the reason I'm so fucking cheery.

No, you weren't next at the bar. Yes, I'm sure. No, calling me a fat bitch won't make me serve you quicker.

I used to go on a site called notalwaysright where people shared these stories. It’s depressi common.

For some it’s a power trip, shouting at someone who can’t react for fear of losing their livelihood.

100% agree with all of the above. My company have a "treat" scheme where we get given a budget a week to treat customers to a little something or to discount if we feel they deserve it. Often can be a birthday or anniversary, but sometimes staff ask permission to treat purely because the child was so polite and lovely, or because they connected with a customer and had a good chat and they were complimentary of us as a store. Good things come back to you as my mother would say. I can't stand people who're snarky or rude and aim for discount of some sort - my only higher ground is knowing myself if they were nice they'd probably get a higher discount

I used to waitress and while the majority of people were lovely, the cruelty some people would display to someone they perceived to be in a weaker position than them was astounding. I am sorry you got spoken to that way, OP, it really stays with you.

Thank you all for your replies. It is shocking how some people treat others.

Today I am handing my notice in to my job! Poor support from higher management in instances like this has led me to just go in there and do it. I quite like retail too, it's just the total lack of support at this company I hate! Onwards and upwards now

Everyone should be made to do a customer facing job at some point in their life.

I worked in a shop as a teenager and customers said the most outrageous things to me, lied about the service I’d given them, threatened me when their cards didn’t clear and one even picked a product off a shelf and threw it at me (the manager threw him out)

The experience made me particularly polite and forbearing towards all customer service staff, wait staff and retail staff. I mostly just assume their last ten customers were arseholes (because they probably were) and try to be nice.

Of course you're not being unreasonable. It's a bit worrying you had to ask.

Personally I think that level of verbal abuse means he should be barred from your shop - did you mention it to a line manager?

DD2 waitresses most nights in a restaurant (table service only) and at least once a week comes home with awful stories about her customers.

She’s been called a fat cunt (she’s a size 6) for not being able to serve alcohol (she’s only 17) and having to get a colleague to take wine to the table, been abused because the order was ‘wrong’ when she brought it to the table (it wasn’t they’d just changed their minds and not told her) and the worst one was when she told a customer to keep his hands to himself when he tried to grope her and she got called a ‘frigid bitch (he was literally thrown out by the head chef and instantly barred).

The only reason I let her keep working there is that the owners are fantastic and remove any customers that are causing problems or take over the table service if they are making the waiting staff uncomfortable.