To wonder why customer service is so awful?

[PlomBear]

Is it just me or is customer service in the UK crap?

In a department store - huge queue, two cashiers. I appreciate that it’s management who roster staff. Waited ages to pay. I said a cheery “hello” and the woman just pursed her lips at me. She only spoke to say the transaction amount. I said “thanks” and she just looked at me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

On a train, the conductor checking tickets. Showed him my ticket “need your railcard too, you need to have that ready for me you know.” I smiled and said sorry, he proceeded to ask me why I was entitled to that railcard! And yes, it was my railcard and in date with my photo. Then just kind of grunted at me and walked off.

Post office - posting a dozen cards, some overseas. The clerk actually shouted at me that it wasn’t her job to stick the stamps on, I didn’t even ask her to! Considering there was nobody behind me in the empty store I thought it was a bit weird. She wouldn’t let me stand there to put the stamps on. I had to take them home, figure out which one was which (different countries needing a different number of stamps) and then go out again in the rain to post them.

I have worked retail many moons ago. I get that it’s minimum wage and that customers can be rude. But I really am always smiley and polite. Yet I am often met with downright hostility from staff. Everybody (staff and customers) seem so miserable.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.theodysseyonline.com/31-things-customers-say-and-do-that-drive-cashiers-crazy.amp

There are loads of things similar to this posted on line, of course its done a bit in jest, but if there is that many it's because frankly it can be utterly exhausting dealing with customers. You can't keep them all happy. Some want a cheery service others want it swift but professional others want the extra mile. There needs demands and expectations are all different to the point where sometimes well....i dont know which way to go. you just can't please everyone do you just crack on and just do your job and hope you don't get it wrong.
Some want the small talk others hate it, some like helpful staff to others this feel a bit ott.

Try dealing with high volumes of customers for many years and you will understand that customers service isn't an exact science and its easy to unintentionally get it wrong.

So what do cashiers want from customers?

Maybe I should start using the self checkout more.

It’s definitely getting worse. I’m only 30 yet i notice it so much. Problem is I now work on the NHS on a frontline role and some of the general public are horrific too. So demanding and rude. Can’t win anywhere these days

The woman in the department store. She doesn’t know if you’re a chatty type. You’ve already said that there’s a huge queue. She doesn’t want to engage you in a conversation for the queue to grow even more and have you telling her about your cat while customers are waiting.

Train conductor - the announcement says to have tickets and railcards ready for inspection. Usually as they walk through the carriage they yell tickets and railcards please. So you not getting your railcard out, despite being told indirectly a few times, might indicate that you’re reluctant for him to see it for whatever reason. In that situation, I don’t think it’s rude for him to ask to see your railcard and then ask why you have it.

Post office - clearly you’ve never been in the post office just before Christmas in any sort of queue. I’ve waited for 20 minutes before and the post office staff were saying the same thing constantly. I could hear it in the queue but still people kept going up to the counter and expecting the staff to do everything for them. Chucking parcels at them and expecting the staff to know exactly where it’s going. It grows the queue and means that when customers actually get there they are more likely to be irritable. You didn’t have to go home to put the stamps on. You chose to do that.

It’s just before Christmas. Everyone is tired, fed up and stressed. I imagine all three of those people have already dealt with arsehole customers that day and aren’t even prepared to see if you aren’t an arsehole. I don’t blame staff for customer service decreasing at this time of year - people are putting in overtime, picking up extra shifts, nobody is saying thank you, everyone is yelling at them because things aren’t right and it’s going to ruin Christmas.

I have to agree with you OP even though I'm in the midlands.

Hospital receptionists yes yes. I had an appointment just the other day. Had to wait at the outpatients desk whilst the two lady's on it finished their personal conversation. Then had exactly the same scenario at the phlebotomy desk. I actually walked off to see if I could get a ticket number somewhere else, came back and they were still gossiping.

Some of it is crap policy of "good customer service" that no one wants like bloody add-ons at the till. Some of it is scant resourcing; long hours, skimping on legal requirements like breaks, and added extras like cleaning time that brings the job below minimum wage. Slow torture of countless weeks of looping Christmas music and months of Christmas stock. Sometimes poor training and supervision ( the assistants that don't interact with you and carry on their whole conversation through the entire transaction. It's annoying when you actually need some help and the only two people in the store are stuck behind the tills dealing with a lengthy queue.

I'm not criticising all assistants or indeed the majority, but there are some institutional problems which create poor service. Good, personal service is one of the major advantages of physical shops over online shopping and so many High St chains haven't adapted to create service that keeps customers in shops.

(And I did student work in shops and front facing NHS which was a valuable life experience and training for professional work)

Blitzen2
I think you have to have worked front line to understand why customer service is unpredictable. Like you say many members of the public can be so awful its impossible for the service provider to not let it effect the service you provide to others.
I have had try the service with a smile after some have left me actually shaking in fear and shock. Needless to say to say I didn't quite pull it off and then they complained about me. It was like a big kick in the nuts I had tried so hard to pull myself together and crack on.

Hmmm.
Most places are ok I think.
It's a very tough time of year too.
I tend to think that if you have problems everywhere you go, it's likely you are the issue.
Not saying that about you OP, since I can sort of see your points, but I think it's a general truth.

I work in customer service, but I’m usually pretty chatty and happy even when I’ve had 20 vile customers in a row or Simon the serial 1 star trustpilot reviewer.

In the 17 years of doing this job the general level of entitlement of people has changed vastly, that’s not my opinion that’s fact. It’s no wonder some are so miserable in all honesty.

It doesn't help that most retail workers are doing the job of more than one person which means the quite often isn't enough staff to make everyone happy.
I also dont think companies acknowledge compliments.
A few times I have emailed a company to compliment a member of staff not to even get a generic "thank you for you enquiry" reply it's off putting as I'm then 99% sure its not got back to the people who matter.

Keepingbees
I currently workin an environment where you would get that impression. The work I do is quite invisible to those sitting watching, waiting to bee sen etc. Actually there is more going on than is obvious you just don't see it.

It's a miserable job, minimum wage and you're treated like shit if you're less than perfect to every customer. I dont blame people for being grumpy.
And I am pretty sure you just dont notice when you get good customer service, because people expect that, people only notice when its subpar.

If you want to be nice to customer service people, fill out their surveys and give them top marks. Anything less counts as failure and they're reprimanded for it.

I've spent most of the day in a large shopping centre. Every member of staff I dealt with was happy and chatty.
You need to move to GLASGOW op.

CakeAndGin - I was sitting in the first seats by the door so didn’t have too much of a chance to get my card out. At no point was I rude or challenging. I did exactly what he said and apologised!

And the post office was empty.

Yet if I posted on Mumsnet that I hate my job, don’t put any effort in, shout at colleagues and stakeholders and grunt at them, I would be told I was BU. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I work in a busy, professional office job. If I got snippy and rude with clients, my manager would be having words! I deal with annoying, challenging people too. Surely we all do.

I work in a post office and can confirm we really arent allowed to put the stamps on your letter in case we use the wrong stamp or the stamp falls off. We obviously make exceptions if people are struggling.

As for customer service the counter clerk was probably just exhausted. Our workload has gone through the roof and its bloody hard work. I've just finished a 9hr shift, came home and cried. I've had customers screaming at me because they couldn't send parcels (dangerous goods) and I'm still expected to smile through it.

EhWhatPardon - poor you, I’m sorry that customers are horrible.

But I didn’t do anything wrong and the post office woman wasn’t very pleasant to me. In no way did I raise my voice or act rudely to her. Hence I gathered up my envelopes and went home. I hadn’t even asked her to stick the stamps on!

I have experienced occasional crap service, but I find it bit bizzare that people react to you like this that often with no apparent reason.

I second what others said about it being busy fucking ridiculous actuallynow. I don't expect smiling and cheery staff between 1st Dec and mid January tbh. I worked it. I had nightmares about fucking 5 Christmas carols the shop had on loop for over a month. God damn, people are dumber than usual in December too... And so so so rude.

I now quietly wait for cashiers to do their job, giving them a minute to breath between "OMG YOU ARE RUINING CHRISTMAS BY NOT HAVING X" and the super chatty "have you got all your shopping done? You must hurry hehe". That minute of silence used to save my sanity.

Back to your question. UK has generally really high standard of customer service. I often suffer abroad because they spoiled me here😁

Oh wow, totally in the side of OP here!
I recently went out for two big Sunday lunches with my extended family (8 adults + 5 kids).
The first time, we went to a local pub, calling them 30 minutes before to check there was room. Got there and our table was ready, our teenage wait staff was brilliant and I can remember his smiling face to this day. Went out last Sunday to a very nice hotel for Sunday lunch in December, had the opposite experience. Staff were miserable. Despite having booked the table weeks in advance, the table wasn't ready for 30 minutes. This was a'Christmas' party and the menu was Christmas themed, but the whole experience made us feel like we had darkened their day by turning up and it felt decisively un-christmassy. The whole atmosphere was flat, the wait staff didn't speak to us, couldn't even tell you what they looked like, they just plonked the food down and left, no smiles.
I used to be a waitress & bar maid (for 7 years!) so I know exactly what is like to deal with customers, but it was part of my job to put on my customer service face. I never took my bad day or a bad customer experience out on other customers, that's not an excuse. If you're that way inclined then customer-facing roles are not for you.

I'm with you on the hospital reception staff, some have been lovely and are excellent. But I walked into my local A&E at 10pm with my 9 month old DS, poorly with a fever and couldn't see where the out of hours GP was. The reception staff were not dealing with any other customers, just made me wait till they finished their conversion before looking up at me!

Shocked by your experience at the post office, I was there at the weekend and they sorted all the stamps and air mail stickers for me- and the queue was fairly busy. They've always done this, your experience was not the norm ☹️

I’m with you on this one OP!

I used to work for a large supermarket chain when I was younger and we got our butts kicked if we were rude or miserable looking, no matter how rude the customer was

I had to take them home, figure out which one was which (different countries needing a different number of stamps) and then go out again in the rain to post them. Really? Every Post Office I've been in has had a ledge or desk specifically for people to stick on stamps, address envelopes, fill in forms etc.

PlomBear I hear what you're saying, complety. I went into town after work a couple of weeks ago. Two small children with me. Two shops and the post office. All bad experiences.
Today I took one of my children to the Dr's. Waited ages for the receptionist to stop 'chatting' to her colleague (and it was personal stuff!) No apology when she finally got to us!
I then had to take my daughter to the hospital for a blood test and was expecting rudeness,. The phlebotomy team couldn't have been nicer and I felt guilty for expecting otherwise!

I forgot it was nearly Xmas, too.
That is the worst time of year to work in customer service. People turn into entitled monsters.

I'm sorry you had a bad few experiences OP, but overworked and underpaid staff not being happy to see you isn't a huge problem.
Give them a break.

@MereDintofPandiculation I write the amounts in the corner...but I do try and go the extra mile as I know we are all busy. The post office to encourage feedback and there will be a link to the survey thing in your receipt. Honestly do it, I've been on the receiving end of thought crap customer service that I do give good and bad feedback otherwise nothing changes!

Well it’s not most reacting to me, just quite a few. I generally work with nice people and have no issues with colleagues hating me. As I said, I never shout, get angry or say anything rude! Maybe I just have one of those faces.

Funny when paying for business class and nice hotels and eating out the staff are amazingly lovely. I guess that’s what money buys and I’m pretty laid back - they must have really demanding, rude, rich clients all the time. I had to wait an hour for my room to be ready recently. The staff were really apologetic. I just said “no problem” and enjoyed a free cocktail! Eating out, we got the wrong dish. Again, no problem at all!

Again, I don’t expect Mandarin Oriental service in M&S. Just not outright rudeness / apathy.