AIBU to think that retail customers are getting worse?

[TheMarbleFaun]

If you work in a retail or customer service role do you think that the behaviour of customers is getting worse?
I’ve had lies told about me, I’ve been verbally abused, I’ve had people tell me how clever they are and that they have plenty of money (I work in retail so the implication is that I’m stupid and penniless) all over things as petty as not getting discount off an item or not getting a refund.
I’ve been in retail around 10 years and definitely think the attitude towards anyone who works in a customer facing role is getting worse.
AIBU in thinking this is the case and if you think this sort of behaviour is acceptable can you outline why?

I think am awful lot of people these days just have an overblown sense of entitlement.

I agree with snappycamper. Customers have become more demanding and bad mannered but the level of service has gotten worse over the last ten-fifteen years too.
I started in retail 30-odd years ago, shops such as M&S were renowned for good service, they had strict rules for staff. Things have definitely changed in that respect.
It's absolutely not an excuse for retail staff to be sworn at or ill treated though.

Yes I do. I think expectations have risen, yet the resources put into meeting those expectations haven't kept up. Businesses cutting hours and staff, yet offering on the surface fantastic service and that's just impossible to actually deliver with the amount of staff available.
They then throw their staff under the bus, blame them, replace them etc and so the customers feel entitled to do the same. A lot of customer facing roles are crap in respect of pay, conditions and job benefits, they are not respected or valued by their employers and that is apparent, so customers follow suit.
If businesses actually stopped pandering to people who behave like that, and they were thrown out for abusing members of staff, then the tide would start to change. Right now there's no real concequences to behaving like an arsehole towards a service worker, and in fact a lot of the time a reward in the sense of something free as 'compensation'.
I've been lied about too, it happens far more regularly than you'd think, to make the complaint look worse than it actually is. My absolute pet hate is the punch line "The staff were rude" when it's not remotely true, but it's very hard to defend without calling the customer a liar, and they know it, so some will use it to gain from the situation.
I just refuse to engage with anyone being an arsehole now. Shout at me, swear at me, call me a name, threaten me and you'll be getting fuck all, and yes I'd be fighting any sacking with a tribunal if I were to get it because I'm sick to the back teeth of being abused by people and then them accusing me of being rude.

Yep, im a retail worker to, my colleague was serving a customer whos debit card declined twice, he accused her of breaking his card and punched her in the face. Absolutely shocking, was reported to the police and never heard anything since. The colleague has now quit.

And to add as well that many companies treat their staff like a necessary evil, like a burden rather than an asset, and sometimes the resentment towards them shows. Resentment works the other way too, because the staff know they're resented, they resent the company and don't care, therefore give the bare minimum.
Employers imo, are a lot of the problem.

It's not just retail, it's people everywhere. There are rude/aggressive people driving, walking and cycling - they just barge on completely ignoring others as if they've some God given right. Only today, I was barged into by a couple of women walking their dogs - they just "had to" walk side by side on a very narrow footpath and obviously too important to go into single file to get past me.

But, sadly, a lot of retail/hospitality staff are also pretty rude, ignoring customers whilst carrying on talking or looking at their phones, not saying please or thank you themselves, huffing and puffing and eye rolling when you point out mistakes (i.e. pricing errors or change given wrong), waitresses bringing the wrong order etc - as if it's the customer's fault. So, a bit of half a dozen of one and six of the other really.

If businesses actually stopped pandering to people who behave like that, and they were thrown out for abusing members of staff, then the tide would start to change. Right now there's no real concequences to behaving like an arsehole towards a service worker, and in fact a lot of the time a reward in the sense of something free as 'compensation
In my opinion this has a LOT to do with it

I work for the NHS as support staff. We get spoken to like shit and everything is our fault.

I greet people with a smile, help as much as I can and explain anything they need help with. But a patient who's left it too late in ordering meds/booking a appt for an injection/late for an appointment or forgot. That's our fault.

I got called awkward by a man because I couldnt do something because it would breech the rules if I did.

Then there are the young adults who still act like children. God help future generations who have that as their elders.

I have worked in a very personal service industry for 23 years.

I can honestly say I've noticed a massive decline in manners over the last few years and mainly from the over 50 ish age bracket.

Some are much more direct which isn't an issue for me normally as I'm fairly direct myself however direct and rude I don't like.

People feel more at ease commenting on weight,hair,make up personal taste etc etc and when told that's a bit direct they laugh it off and say with age they stop caring what they say!!!

Bloody shocking.

My dad can be a bit rude at times and when I call him out on it he alwYs says he's old now so can say what he likes😳
I alwAys tell him that's no excuse for rudeness.

I'm always polite and professional however the customer/client is NOT always right

I notice that many people seem to lack basic communication and social skills: they actually do not know how to deal with even minor difficulties except by confrontation.

I agree that the general public seems to be getting ruder, and that customer service staff bear the brunt of that.

But, sadly, a lot of retail/hospitality staff are also pretty rude, ignoring customers whilst carrying on talking or looking at their phones, not saying please or thank you themselves, huffing and puffing and eye rolling when you point out mistakes (i.e. pricing errors or change given wrong), waitresses bringing the wrong order etc - as if it's the customer's fault. So, a bit of half a dozen of one and six of the other really.

Also very true. I really enjoyed customer service when I worked in retail. A lot of staff (not all or not most) don't seem to enjoy their jobs and can be quite indifferent to customers, and sometimes rude., even when customers are being friendly. It might have to do with pay and conditions. After some very rude service at Debenhams, I went to House of Fraser next and mentioned the poor service. The asstant there said she had a friend at Debenhams who said conditions are bad there and that her friend was trying to move to another department store asap. Still no excuse to take it out on customers.

I work in the retail industry not on the shop floor. However recently I thought it would be fun to help out during the Christmas and sales period. It’s been 20 years since I last worked on the floor and I’m shocked and disgusted by people’s attitude. I was called a cunt today because we didn’t have a different colour in a dress. The person who called me this was def over 80. I find it’s the older generation who treat u badly

YANBU
The entitlement culture is alive and kicking with some people.

Before Christmas I had to stand in a queue in a clothing shop whilst a rude woman laid into a shop worker for not giving her a refund for a multipack that she had opened and returned incomplete without a receipt. The poor girls on the till were no older than 19 and were doing really well. Multiple other customers were rolling their eyes at the woman in solidarity and smoking at the girls on the till.

It was really horrible. They opened another till to ease the queue and everyone who went up to the till after made a point of making a loud comment about how lovely they are and how they deserve a drink after that outburst. Arsey woman wasn't impressed.

It seems very odd if you’re coming across the sorts of things you’ve described on a regular basis, as opposed to very occasionally

I think a lot of the problem is that people are glued to their mobiles, and the abrupt nature of the messaging/texting clearly affects their judgement. .
I was in Aldi the other day behind a lady with a full trolley who was behind another with 2 items. 2 item (young) lady just stood at the end of the (mostly empty) conveyor belt on her phone while the people in front were processed, thus stopping the full trolley lady from emptying her trolley onto it, so when a new till was opened, full trolley lady whipped off to the new conveyor belt and started unloading her booty. 2 item lady said to her 'oh can I go in front I've only 2 items' (no please, mind you I'd have pulled her up on grammar and said you can but I'm not going to let you, she should have said 'please may I'!) Full trolley lady said yes (I heard her clearly although she had her back to me), and carried on discharging her trolley to the conveyor at speed. 2 item lady still tapping on her phone obviously didn't hear so she asked again, I think she annoyed full trolley day , what with hogging the mile of empty conveyor at the other till point, so FT lady said loudly 'I SAID YES but maybe I should have messaged you on your phone!' only to get a load of verbal off the 2 item lady, who then faffed about STILL on her phone while the new checkout person installed herself and was trying to get 2 item lady through the till and get payment out of her. Felt a bit sorry for full trolley lady who was clearly flustered trying to keep up with conveyor belt filling as she dropped her purse and money went everywhere when she finally got to the till.

SO rude to be on the phone texting or whatever while at a till,. I think it's plain bad manners and shops should stand up to it by saying no phones other than for payment at tills.

I think it makes it worse that people/companies pander to this behaviour. In retail, it's generally those who shout the loudest and kick up a fuss that get what they want. Not just retail, everywhere in fact. I'm a nurse and some members of the general public are just horrible, demanding and nothing is ever good enough for them. They get rude and abusive when the red carpet isn't rolled out for them. The people who act this way tend to end up getting the better treatment ie seen quicker etc.

When I was a student, I worked part time in a call centre for a national supermarket chain. People used to call up and give us dogs abuse, which we were forced to take, we weren't allowed to terminate the call and these people generally got what they wanted ie they'd call and scream about a delivery that was 2 mins late and get given 10 quid off their shop and a free delivery.

If there were consequences for bad behaviour then it might help prevent it ie if you are rude and abusive to staff then you are told that your business is not welcome. Or if you go into a hospital and are abusive to staff then you are removed from receiving NHS treatment for a set period of time. Until these behaviours start being challenged, as opposed to rewarded which they currently are, they are not going to go away and are only going to get worse.

Not sure how new the decline in manners is but almost twenty years ago I said Excuse me to a pupil blocking a doorway and her reply was Why, wotyerdun? I took this further in the school's disciplinary procedure but the mother complained about me, I had been rude to her child in asking her to unblock the door, it was her right to stand where she wanted.
In another incident I told a pupil to pick up a crisp packet she'd thrown down, her reply was No, that's what cleaners are for, I'm keeping them in work! Again, her breeder supported this obnoxious specimen, her darling was quote right about job creation schemes.
I've often wondered where they are now.

I notice that many people seem to lack basic communication and social skills: they actually do not know how to deal with even minor difficulties except by confrontation
I think this is true I’ve had customers leave the shop & go outside to phone me so they can have a ten minute (anonymous) rant

Reading the checkout stories reminds me of the time I stood behind a woman with just a basket, there was someone with a trolleyload going through. After a few minutes the woman with the basket said to me, She's with me, let her through, about another woman with a loaded trolley who was just approaching the checkout. The basket woman was furious that I wouldn't let her friend through but it wasn't a matter of a minute, she'd been nowhere near the checkout with the trolley.

Previously working in retail, I’ve been subjected to threats, sexist comments, generally spoken to like a piece of shit on the shoe of that particular gift to humanity. The general public can be despicable arseholes.
I don’t know if it got worse but I’ve worked in a variety of different retail environments and they all seem to attract their own special breed of arsehole. Happy to now be in a back office with lovely colleagues and not having to deal with any of this crap anymore.

and in my lived experience, the 50+ demographics are by far the worry for being rude, aggressive and entitled.

It’s rather foolish to bring age into it because for every example of an over 50 you can give, I can give an example of someone under 30 being rude. Unfortunately rudeness and lack of manners can come at any age.

I think a rushed and often anonymous pace of life has a lot to do with it. Aggravated by it being unprofessional in most settings to call people out on rudeness and bad attitudes whether it's a service such as a shop or restaurant or a public service such as a school or hospital.

Maybe the answer is empowering workers in whatever setting to stand their ground and actually support them.

There's also a lot of unpleasant behaviour and role modelling on soaps and celebrity reality TV.

After spending a few years in retail, I feel sorry for all retail workers, especially in December.
Besides from the general rudeness and being sworn at, I had someone full on spit in my face - I don't even know why, it was grim. I'm normally quite a hardy person but that did upset me a lot, I left that job shortly after.

Working in education is almost as bad.

Society does seem awful, I think people are reluctant to get involved and challenge the bad behaviour, through fear for their own safety.

People in general have got worse. I think it’s directly linked to social media and how “me me me” everyone has become.

Agree with others about social media and also think reality TV plays a role in it. Viewers and the papers love a good arguement, some incidents are spoken about for days on end that some people think this is a normal way to behave.