The posher the shop, the grouchier the staff?

[LEMtheoriginal]

So last week we were shopping in fenwick - woman jad to be asked to serve DP by her manager who had been talking to her previously. Highly made up woman continues to inspect her nails begore grudgingly helping DP with hus purchase. I just said to DP "I'm going to walk away now" and walked off. DP felt an inconvenience.

Today we were in M&S which im not sure even qualifies as posh these days. Was queing to buy Dd's a couple of bras. There is an old lady struggling to complete her transaction (a younger man, her son? was helping her) telling her to swipe her card. No engagement from the dragon behind the till. Just stoney faced, rolling her eyes and waiting until the poor old dear had paid to offer a bag "well they're 5p" so little old lady now fiddling around for 5p. No smile no engagement from cashier.

Exactly the same with us - stoney faced, mechanical. Looking like the quintessential M&S dragon.

(Our local M&S food however has really nice friendly staff)

So twice in department type stores we have felt an inconvenience to staff.

We then popped into Wilkinsons for some bits. Young guy behing the till "hello, how are you?" Please thankyou have a nice day!

Bet he isnt paid as well as department store harridans who are clearly only working to fund their make up bills!

I would not class M & S or New Look as posh by any means.

Even though it is not the customer's fault, the attitude is indicative of employers treating their employees poorly, national minimum wage and zero hours contracts.

I think we are in a declining cycle. The more we are treated like this, the more people will shop online, so physical stores will be cutting corners all over the place to offset losses and rents and wages etc which will see a further deterioration in employee's terms and conditions, and then the service will dip again.

You do get some individuals giving good service. If I do I go on the company's Twitter account and praise the individual. We are quick to complain but less likely to praise.

Yes Zara very rude. Stopped going in there actually.

I was lurking on a recent thread about working in retail (I don’t).

One poster said that the shop she works for had recently undergone a re-branding process and they had been told to change their attitude to customers. Old attitude was “welcome to our shop!”. New attitude was “consider yourself lucky to be allowed to have the chance to buy our stuff”

Pretty sure it wasn’t M&S though!

I think it does depend on the person that serves you, or how good the manager is at motivating staff. As a rule I've found that the most engaged staff are either from the high end boutiques and department stores, or budget retailers. Often the middle of the road, high street shops, give the most blah service.

EL where I am staff are super friendly!!!

Not snooty but I made a complaint about a MnS member of staff, I could hear her talking and laughing about how an old lady wet her self in the shop- she was walking round with another colleague speaking about it so loudly I was so angry! Told her how disgusting she was and made a formal complaint. Still makes me mad now

@nettletheelf totally agree about make-up counters. Nothing else in the shop has the price left as a mystery. I like to browse across brands (say look at lots of different eye creams) and hate having to ask for prices or go without. It also encourages a sales pitch and I want to browse in peace.

I went to fortnum and mason recently and the staff were so friendly. I was even called madam and the doorman opened the door for me! Very posh, well if it's good enough for Her Majesty then it's good enough for me!

I was in Debenhams , first the till rang up full price for something discounted .When I said it wasn;t right (price was on the item) the salesperson wasn't in the least bit bothered . Paid with a gift card , it wouldn;t go through, again they were very unhelpful.

In a mens' clothshop ( snazzy young mens clothes ) I was going through the sales process , the clothes had a 25% off display but it didn't ring up. When I questioned they were really arsey that these ones obviously^ aren't included in the sale Madam" ( no explanation about the sign but obviously I was fibbing) .
I said "ok , I;ll leave it then" and walked off leaving the salesman holding the item futilely.

Oh, and in Mac (where I was outnumbered by staff) the other customers were mainly young teens.
I was completely ignored .

I was buying something for DD friend , it is not a shop I would chose . But after a while of looking and trying to catch someones attention I thought 'forget it'

If I worked retail earning minimum wage, doing a soul-destroying job and dealing with bullying managers and rude customers I don’t think I would be super enthused either.

Polarbear - i earn just above minimum wage doing a job where i very often have to deal with peopke who because they are upset/stressed can be quite difficult fucking rude. I always give 100% and make a point of being friendly and welcoming.

The staff in home bargains always have a smile, co op staff are generally bonkers and end up on first name terms. Its the snotty cahs in department stores who i think are trained that customers are one of the down sidesof the job!

LEMtheoriginal - good for you.

Many people in low paid jobs are only able to survive because they claim tax credits. We’ve created a society where workers barely making a living are expected to use emotional labour constantly.

The cashier in Waitrose today had a 20 year pin on her apron. She wasn’t the most cheerful individual! No wonder, manning a till for 20 years!

But I don’t need my self-esteem validated by minimum wage retail workers smiling inanely and asking how my day is going.

no but the kids who work in Pandora seem to think they are guarding the Crown Jewels. I went in before Xmas to buy dd a ring and I’ve had less drama buying a ring with an extra couple of zeros on the price tag!!

The staff in Selfridges and Harvey Nicks in Manchester and Leeds are lovely though

A guy in Flannels looked positively angry when my dd tried on some Vivian Westwood shoes back in September.
I ended up buying them and he couldn't even bring himself to tell me he had left them at the till for me, he just stomped off.
I'd just been and bought some pens and bits for the girls pencil cases (back to school) so think my Poundland carrier bag tipped him over the edge 😂.

Reminds me of

The staff in the local Wilkinson’s are all monosyllabic and seem quite - nervous? Cowed ? I have wondered if it is something about the local management style. Lots of criticism of Zara on here but I have only ever found them charming and helpful. Mad dash to Ikea, quite late, and we both noticed how cheerful the checkout staff were - much more pleasant than I would have been in a draughty spot with overtired/overexcited children running about.

It swings both ways. You get some really snobby customers who turn there nose up at you or some really rude customers who decide to take there mood out on the sales assistant

My local Waitrose has some appallingly bad staff. It really puts me off going there. Haven't come across this with any other branch I've been in

I wouldn’t say so. I went into the watches of Switzerland store on regent street a couple of years ago, wearing jeans, a hoodie and trainers and they were nice as pie to me as soon as I came through the door, which was pleasantly surprising! (And yes I did buy a watch!)

I've been to Selfridges in bond street recently and the security was staring at me weirdly like I shouldn't be there...
Walking out with 4 Selfridges bags...

Those people who are paid to serve the public should remember exactly who they are. They are not no consequence in comparison to the customer. I really do hope their less than perfect people skills are due to being a bit short on grey matter.

of no consequence

Sparklesocks

Me too- I was about to say the same!