Rude customers!!

[skimask]

I'm just wondering if any of you have ever been unnecessarily rude to a staff member in a shop or if you've intentionally loudly complained about a price or if you've been the staff member in a situation like that?

I work at a charity shop as an assistant manager and the amount of rude customers we have/customers asking for money off/people saying we're a rip off is crazy!!

Also people coming in 5mins before close and then ignoring us when we say we're closing, is my town just full of rude people or are there people everyone that are so ignorant and rude!!!!!

Rant over lmao

I’ve worked in customer service for years, and it’s true that people can be vile.
The smug ones who truly do think they are better than you.
And the ones who want to take their general life frustrations out on someone they know can’t answer back.

People are quite largely awful.

When I was cabin crew and commuting to and from work via train, random people would try and interact with me. Complaints about XYZ Airways losing their baggage 30 years ago.

I used to take off my name badge, ID pass and scarf and put my headphones in. People do expect customer service staff to be constantly “on” and entertaining them. It’s weird.

I wonder if retail staff wearing a shop uniform shirt get bothered on the bus home?

I used to work at Topshop and was placing a dress back where it belongs when a woman rammed into me with her pram. She then stood still, staring at me intensely for a minute or so in an attempt to get me to apologise to her. When she noticed my (manager) lanyard she then started ranting about wanting compensation then scuttled out of the store.

Some people - she rammed into me quite hard and somehow tried to make it my fault? I certainly wasn’t apologising for anything, there was plenty of room for her to move around me as it was an open area and there’s no way she couldn’t have seen me - she probably hit me on purpose.

When I was younger (maybe 14 or 15) I was waiting on in a pub of a family friend. I'd worked there since I was 11 (I know, I know, illegal but I was good at my job and liked having pocket money!)
I'd had loads of different customers walk through the doors but "pot bellied suited dickhead" was the rudest piece of work ever. I think he was trying to impress the person who he was with because he acted like our cosy little pub was a five star fine dining experience and that he was paying hundreds and not the £12.50 3 course early flyer dinner or whatever we offered. He kept snapping his fingers at me. Said things like "You! Girl! Take these away and bring us some decent CLOTH napkins!" And "You! I'll have a brandy and make it quick!"

My boss, the family friend, however was the meanest piece of work you could come across. He gave no fucks and made Gordon Ramsay in full rant mode look like a harmless little kitten.

He told me to stay where I was and under no circumstances to approach the table.

He walked over to the man and said, "Sir, I see you trying to get your waitress's attention? Might I try?"

He turned to me and clicked his fingers. I stayed put. He slapped his thighs and said, "Come on girl, come here!" As if calling a dog. He even whistled. Then he turned to the bloke and basically told him off for acting like a dick and trying to treat his waitress like a dog by clicking his fingers at her. Of course the fella stormed out. Boss didn't give a shit though. He regularly yelled at bad customers. Thankfully it was the days before non dial up internet and internet social media.

@Polarbearflavour I would take my lanyard off when outside of work or on break to stop random people from approaching me!

At best you’ll get people asking you for directions like you’re a tour guide; at worst you’ll have people ranting at you about your company or refund issues etc. When BHS was sold for £1, I had a woman start shouting at me about Phillip Green and that I should be ‘ashamed’ of myself - as if mere store staff had anything to do with that!

There are lots of reasons why people swap round on or hop on and off tills to serve. Occasionally it involves staff invoking their right not to serve people who've previously treated them like shit.

Customer indignation at us not being robots is quite jaw dropping. We'd usually start gently closing up round stragglers and would gently let them know that we were closing shortly. One woman who walked in at 5 min to close on bank holiday and was daintily wafting about, trying to look fragile accused us of making her feel unwelcome. People see lights on & assume that means you're open. Are the locked doors and signs saying an opening time in 20min not hints enough? We would be doing late night set up for sales and get people banging on doors and demanding to come in & shop despite it clearly being a bomb site and staff only. We had an unofficial policy that doorsteppers would not be rewarded.

Someone screamed at me through the door once for putting a "come in we're open despite a closed door" sign up 5 min before the advertised opening time in a cold snap. Whilst it wasn't ideal it was policy in that situation and I had been asked to put it up ready before we forgot during busy Saturday trade. No one else complained. One aggressive looking man arrived an hour before opening on a Sunday and proceeded to state in at me arranging a big display. When he realised I wasn't going to let him in, he went to get a coffee, came back and stood across the street staring in at me. He tried to follow one of the staff in, too.

I never say "love" or anything like that to customers as a lot of people don't like it, and I can see why it irritates. I served someone so aggressively rude once that she really flustered me. I don't know where it came from but I replied to her thanking me before she left with "That's alright, my love". I think it was relief and to try and lighten up. Anyway, her eyes lit with fury and she let rip. How DARE I call her that. I was cheapening the word, the very meaning and the very CONCEPT of love, cheapening the love of her partner and reducing her to a CHATTEL. I do see her point but having a tantrum massively backfired as I got sympathy and she got told that having paid, she should fuck off leave now! Sometimes after awful customers the next people in the queue do check that you're ok and reassure you that you were polite, reasonable and sane. I like those customers!

@Polarbearflavour- someone once tried to make me serve them in a different shop I didn't work in! They recognised me but got very confused as I was in a different shop to normal and on a day off.

People also love acosting us when we're off duty, trying to leave etc, like the lady I mentioned upthread trying to put clothes in my arms when I was carrying a bag and a coffee cup and wearing all my outdoor gear. One of my friends got stopped on her way out of a shift at Sainsburys, with her coat on over her uniform , clearly trying to get out the door by someone who said "ah I know you work here, you can help me" and tried to make her fetch a load of different things they wanted. She needed to leave to get to her other job with us. It's hard to say no in those situations, people are really entitled and you're worried they'll complain about your "rudeness" if you decline/stick up for yourself.

My MIL is a serial complainer. It gets pretty embarrassing but she'll not be told. Once however, I really wish she had been with us on a day trip. Good Lord she would have shined.
There was a staff member who was really, really snarky with us. Actually snapped at my poor dad placing his order (he asked for the "fish and chips deal with a roll and the cup of tea please") and she yelled at him because she was "not taking drinks orders yet!" He wanted a black tea, he got it milky.
I asked for a smoked sausage and chips and she argued that I hadn't ordered it (customer behind corrected her). Every order for our group of 7 was sighed or tutted at. Clearly she was in a mood but had it not been pouring down and little options to go elsewhere I would have channeled my inner MIL and given her what for.
Sadly all I could do was review it online later on Facebook and tripadvisor etc.

notalwaysright.com/

This websites full of them, mostly US but some British on there too

I think I must sometimes give the impression I work somewhere when I don't, especially if I'm in smartish work uniform which is plain black shirt and trousers, and I'm still in 'work mode' smiling and greeting people as I go round, often get asked where stuff is in the supermarket!
Have also been told there I'm useless because I didn't know where something was!
I don't know about other people who work in this type of job, but I do sometimes stand up for staff when I'm somewhere and something kicks off, usually only when it's one of those customers that tries to incite other customers into joining in though, I'll normally call it as I see it and tell them they're being unreasonable and rude. Funnily enough most just huff and ignore me then.

Yes. Worked in a supermarket as a teenager, put into a night manager role that I was given zero training for. The area had very rude, very affluent people and sometimes it was just utterly laughable how horrible they could be (being called an "idiot" because I cut 102gms cheese not 100gms, getting my arm dragged over the counter by an amorous man, one old man used to come in with a walking stick and hit us round the legs if he wasn't pleased with how we served him (he got banned). Oh, so much more.

Oh, and the old "smile love" chestnut from men. Always hated that one.

The entitlement of people is awful. They think the would owes them,
Exactly this ^

I think the thing that narks me the most in my role is that I am in a male orientated environment and the customers (some are actual cuNtomers!) often will dismiss my answers/response because I'm female. I get a lot of - ''I've been doing this for 40 years, what do you know'' etc... My area manager is often kicking around and in my shop, visible and known to customers so I also get - ''I want to speak to the manager''
I'll reply ''I am the manager!''
C- ''no love! THE manager, he'll sort me out''
me to one customer in particular - '' I do apologise for not having a penis but unfortunately it's me you'll have to deal with as the shop manager''
because my job involves money, often very large sums - when customers don't get their own way shit turns nasty fast.
At the end of the day, we have strict policies and procedures as well as a lot of discretion as a manager but how a customer initially responds to me or my staff, then dictates how the rest will go.
Shouty, sweary or cunty results in me not being willing to 'help' as much as I maybe could/can do.

My own peeves as a customer -
When staff continue a conversation while you're at the till, as if you're not there. or continue a phone conversation while serving without acknowledging you're there.
I never do either, It's highly unprofessional and down right rude imo.

There are several different subreddits that involve retail stories, but I do like r/IDontWorkHereLady

There's also r/TalesFromRetail and probably loads more if I ever have hours to waste going through them all.

Customer came in ‘just looking’ five minutes before closing. It was Christmas Eve and the shop sold crockery.

Doing my shopping (in uniform) after work. Pushing a trolley, bag over my shoulder, earphones in listening to music, reaching for something on a shelf. Customer comes storming round the corner screeching about lawnmowers. Pulled out a earphone and politely explained that I was off duty and also I didn’t actually work on that section so I didn’t know if we had any in stock. Suggested she try customer service who could check the stock and get the appropriate member of staff to help. She went off like a rocket, yelling that she needed someone to help her complete with swear words. I fetched someone else to deal with her and walked off.

Had a customer complain because I wouldn’t sell her a hot chicken at reduced price after she walked around the shop for an hour then put it back on the shelf. Hot food has to be a certain temperature by law to be sold and this chicken was 10 degrees under the legal requirement. Refused the sale and explained my reasoning to the manager who backed me up.

Now I work in a pharmacy and Lord! The volume and profanity produced when a doctor fails to write a prescription correctly or we have to refuse a sale. We’re not being unreasonable we’re doing what is required of us by law. Sorry but we’re not about to break the law and end up with a fine or a prison sentence just because you want to buy six months worth of paracetamol.

I could go on!

I have worked in retail, and as a nurse, and thankfully have never experienced anything really terrible - though, as a Saturday girl in Woolworths, I did have to deal with a customer who wanted to buy a lot of stuff, that came to more than the limit that we could put on his credit card (if I recall correctly, back then - in the Olden days, lol - there was a £50 limit on credit cards in Woollies). He was very cross about this - and my manager saw what was going on, and went and hid in the office, leaving me and the other Saturday girl to cope. In the end, we had to split up the transaction, and put through two or three credit card slips, which we were not really supposed to do - but it got him his goods, and got him out of the shop!

I do my best always to be polite when I am dealing with customer-facing staff, either in person or on the phone, and I hope that, if I saw another customer abusing a member of staff, I would intervene.

Some charity shops do take the piss though, I found a pretty little beaded bag in one with a tag attached saying 'Vintage - £8'. I opened it to examine the interior for mildew, etc and found a MATALAN label stitched inside

I wonder if some other CF customer has swapped price tags and gone off with a vintage bag for a quid or something?

I manage a charity shop and must be very lucky because I have only ever encountered one mildly rude customer, but at the charity I work for we can set our own prices and I am always happy to have some friendly banter with customers & if something hasn’t sold for a couple of weeks I will offer a small discount.

I do find some sales assistants can be quite rude and I often wonder why some people take customer facing roles if they don’t enjoy helping people, the number of shops you can go into & no one bothers to say ‘good morning’ or even a friendly acknowledgment is really quite shocking.

The thing with rude customers is they generally don't think they are rude, they think they are right and entitled.
Thankfully I don't have to see rude customers, I have to listen to them rant, unless it is extremely aggressive, I usually just pull faces while I apologies for the inconvenience.
The majority of customers are lovely so it levels out.

When BHS was sold for £1, I had a woman start shouting at me about Phillip Green and that I should be ‘ashamed’ of myself - as if mere store staff had anything to do with that!

And as if most of you hadn't lost your pensions!

Talk about adding insult to injury!