Abusing minimum wage workers is beyond pointless!

[CarrotCakeCrumbs]

There is a video circulating facebook of a man throwing a tantrum, tearing the coverings off clothes in a supermarket in Wales because the government has said that non-essential are not to be sold. AIBU to think that regardless of anyones opinions on this rule, whether they think clothes should be classed as essential or not, it is not the staff making these decisions and so behaving like a child in a shop is going to achieve nothing.

I've also heard pub staff being referred to as 'little hitlers' because they are asking customers to follow the guidelines by wearing a mask/social distancing/doing what they have to do to remain open. I work in a customer facing role and have been given abuse for not taking cash - a decision made by head office that I have no say in at all, I've been shouted at for not letting someone inside the shop rather than collecting outside (as is the policy at the moment) and many more customers being rude to me because they disagree with rules that I have no control over.

I have responsibilities I can't simply refuse to follow the rules, there are millions of people willing to take my job if I don't do it - upper management wouldn't give a second thought to replacing the lowest paid members of their workforce. I can't even afford to take a sick day, let alone lose my job completley and I know that their are thousands of other staff in the same position as me. I know people are frustrated, I don't necessarily agree with every guideline I have to enforce, but whether or not I agree with it I still have to do my job. Do people really think shouting at us is going to change anything, or is it ok to use us as verbal punching bags because we are so unimportant?

YANBU. It shows the contempt some people have for those in the service industry. They should be charged.

Yes I think people forget that the people they’re shouting at most likely didn’t put the policies/rules in place that they’re angry at. I’m guessing a lot of retail workers in Wales disagree with covering up the homeware/book sections of the big supermarkets, but it’s still their job to follow what has come from above.

But then I think if you’re the type to shout and abuse service staff then you’re probably not going to care, you just want someone to receive the frustration you’re feeling. Personally I’m a bit concerned about people who become so furiously angry over things like that, as it suggests they’re unable to manage their emotions. We all get a bit wound up from time to time but there’s a difference between being annoyed and outright screaming at someone.

I think it's understandable that abuse is directed at front line staff - they are the person enforcing the rules and they are the person in front of you.

Remember that employees are people too - they are not perfect, just like the customer isn't. I don't abuse members of staff myself usually, I have a high tolerance level for rudeness and incompetence, but there are times when this tolerance is pushed to its limits! For instance I made an honest mistake with the one-way system in Tesco, because I don't go round staring at the floor, and was shouted out rather rudely by the shelf-stacker. I was probably the hundredth person who'd walked the wrong way round the shop that he'd shouted at that day, but for me, it was the first time I'd "offended" and it was an honest mistake, therefore the rude tone wasn't very nice.

I didn't abuse the cunt but had to drop my basket and walk out because I could feel myself getting a little riled! The point is, a lot of the abuse staff get is justified to some degree. The customer dishing out the abuse has some grievance or other, and the staff need to be sympathetic to this and diffuse the situation, rather than aggravating it.

It is completely pointless, except that it makes the person doing it feel better to lash out at someone that effectively because of their role, do anything back.
It's always been this way over things like licensing laws and such, but it's been thrown sharply into focus now because of covid and the restrictions.
No doubt someone on this thread at some point will mention 'common sense' and a lack of it in such workers because they're not willing to break laws/company policies to appease customers.
Ultimately the companies are to blame and I think something needs to be done do instead of apologising and quite often giving away free stuff in compensation to people behaving like this they need to be unceremoniously kicked out and barred, but companies are too scared to do so unless it's really bad or high profile.
Let's face it, most people wouldn't dare talk to someone else the way they do in the street or where that person may actually be able to retaliate, but they feel safe doing it to someone in a shop or a pub because it's highly unlikely there'll be any come back on them at all and society backs this in the name of 'customer service'.
Another recent thread a comment basically said that 'its all part of the job' and to be expected in customer facing roles.
No one's job should include being abused, no matter what it is.

"The point is, a lot of the abuse staff get is justified to some degree"

No it isn't.

It’s never justified to abuse staff! And I can’t believe a PP is claiming it is!

It’s justified to be annoyed by the stupid rules but the people in front of you are not responsible. In this case it’s not even the company they work for who is responsible, it’s the welsh government.

@contrmary but for instance when I am telling a customer I am very sorry but I can't take cash at the moment, I don't expect them to then get angry at me and shout at me telling me that I am choosing not to take cash and I'm just being a bitch, and that they are sure I can take cash I just can't be bothered. I haven't made the decision to go cashless, there are signs up all over the place warning the customer that we are cashless at the moment, we have no money in the tills and the computer system won't allow us to put through any cash payments because we aren't supposed to be taking them at the moment. There is of course no excuse for an employee to be rude to the customer either, honest mistakes do happen and we should all be understanding of that, but in my experience there often isn't any provocation from the employee before the customer has decided to vent their anger on us.

Yanbu. Totally pointless and unfair on staff.

You can understand why people are frustrated. But we all have to take responsibility for ourselves and our behaviour and not take things out on staff.

I didn't abuse the cunt but had to drop my basket and walk out because I could feel myself getting a little riled! The point is, a lot of the abuse staff get is justified to some degree. The customer dishing out the abuse has some grievance or other, and the staff need to be sympathetic to this and diffuse the situation, rather than aggravating it.

He’s a ‘cunt’ for doing his job @contrmary ?The staff are not there to be counsellors and and nurse you through your ‘grievance’ and be sympathetic, they’re doing their job. You messed up, and what worse is you made even more work for staff by dropping a basket of stuff that they had to put away.

CarrotCakeCrumbs - I don't get your title.

Abuse of shop / pub staff or any other staff is wrong. It really does not matter if they get paid £8.72 or 100.- / hour.

Its completely unwarranted.
But being cashless is appalling, my 90 year old grandfather is currently unable to go and buy his paper from the corner shop like he has done everyday for well over 60 years because they are now cashless and he has never had a debit card.
I thank goodness he lives close enough to the family for people to be able to shop for him.

@Ylvamoon But many people feel they have the right to abuse staff BECAUSE they’re on minimum wage.

@ylvamoon of course nobody should be getting abuse no matter what their pay grade is, but my point was that the people making the decisions will be getting paid a hell of a lot more than the staff who are having to deal with the backlash of those decisions. £8.72 per hour (and even Lee's for my much younger co-workers) is really not enough to be putting with the vile behaviour that some people are directing at us.

[quote Cadent]@Ylvamoon But many people feel they have the right to abuse staff BECAUSE they’re on minimum wage.[/quote]
Exactly.
We're thick, can't do any better, don't use common sense, not worth any more.......

Yet also expected to never make a mistake ever, absorb the frustrations and anger of every Tom Dick and Harry whenever and generally be above reproach ever.

Why would you expect that from people who are seen as the first paragraph?

I work in retail and the abuse you get sometimes is shocking . I defy these people to speak to me like that on the street because I wouldn't take it politely and would probably get arrested for retaliating .. the public are really vile sometimes!

Abusing staff isn't on, but I don't see any issues with picking up "prohibited" items if you can. Tearing plastic off things is not very sensible though, because they will just replace it, which means more plastic waste.

One of the reasons I am disgusted with the supermarkets for going along with this nonsense is because they must know their staff will be even more open to abuse than usual.

They should say that they will not ask staff to police the aisles and if people pick things up and pay for them they will accept payment.

They have been behaving like this to the police for years - exactly the same scenario in that they dont make the law they just enforce it. They get spat at, sworn at, kicked and bitten on a daily basis and a basic PC's wage is under 20k now.

No one should be rude or abusive to anyone who is just trying to do the job as dictated by their manager.
It's irrelevant now stressed you are or what the situation is, they're not there to be abused.
I'm pretty sure that the abusers wouldn't appreciate a random stranger turning up at their workplace and hurling abuse at them for simply doing their job.
They're nothing more than self important bullies.

@cologne4711

Abusing staff isn't on, but I don't see any issues with picking up "prohibited" items if you can. Tearing plastic off things is not very sensible though, because they will just replace it, which means more plastic waste.

One of the reasons I am disgusted with the supermarkets for going along with this nonsense is because they must know their staff will be even more open to abuse than usual.

They should say that they will not ask staff to police the aisles and if people pick things up and pay for them they will accept payment.

That’s not how business works. Would you also tell supermarkets to ignore Sunday trading laws and stay open?

YANBU. Contrary to what people think, service staff aren’t robots.

‘ I didn't abuse the cunt but had to drop my basket and walk out because I could feel myself getting a little riled! The point is, a lot of the abuse staff get is justified to some degree’.

How lovely @contrmary
Are you one of those people who posted ‘be kind‘ and ‘my door is always open’ bollocks?
It’s never justified.

I doubt most abuse is justified. Yes, some shop assistants can be rude but they don’t make the rules.

The point is, a lot of the abuse staff get is justified to some degree.

DFOD.

YANBU but it’s not just minimum wage employees tbh. I’ve currently got an email in my inbox waiting for me where the sender wants to discuss something I’ve already told him I have no power over. I’ve already been off a week, got another week off next week and have no plans to respond until I return as I don’t wish to set a precedent. Literally all I’ll do is reiterate I have no power and re-refer her to the more senior person. I know she had said person’s email as they have spoken plenty of times before

Agree @EmbarrassedUser