To hate customers

[rahjama]

Somewhat lighthearted.

Working in hospitality/retail, what things do customers do that really, really annoy you when you're working? I'll start

• Booking for 6 people and then saying "Hope it's okay we're now a party of 194"

• Paying in cash but they're 1-20p short. "Can you cover it?" No I cannot

• Sitting on tables that are dirty/unset/in the process of being cleaned when there are clean and set tables literally next to them. Then complaining about the lack of cutlery.

• Buying the cheapest pint, saying it's flat/doesn't taste right, then swapping for the most expensive pint.

• Picking up an allergen menu and then saying "is this all you do?" No that's all we do GLUTEN FREE it says at the top!!!!!!!!!

Parents telling their children who are being annoying or naughty or both: “stop that or the lady (me) will tell you off”

No I won’t. If I did, you’d probably kick off at me. Parent your own bloody children. One of the reasons I haven’t quit my job by now is because it gives me a few hours off each shift from parenting my own kids.

Ah, see now I used to hate the people wasting my time having a fucking conversation with me when there was a queue three deep at the bar.

“Hi, lovely weather today isn’t it, must be great for business, blah blah blah”

What. Do. You. Want. To. Drink?

I worked in Tesco
I've had people screaming at me, flinging their shopping at me.
I didn't serve her.
The lowest point was being 8 months pregnant and refusing an alcohol sale to someone who was obviously underage.

Their df came in and threaten to kick the baby out of me.

Also pharmacy or going out for food is hard.
I'm deaf and sometimes I find it hard to gauge when to talk.

Which is why I'm never rude to staff.
It's a hard job.

This was CLEARLY a sicko. Omg the horror at having to stay in there trapped for 40 mins

Anyone who’s ever worked in pharmacy will understand these.

I saw my Gp 5 minutes ago, can I have my prescription please.
It’ll be about 15 minutes.
How fucking long? It’s literally a piece of paper coming from upstairs to here.
Well it’s in a queue along with the other 1000 prescriptions we’ve already received this week.
I don’t give a fuck
sir if you use that kind of language then I’ll return your prescription to the spine and you can go elsewhere.
Just get my prescription ready now.
It’ll be 15 minutes.
How long can it take to stick a label on a box.
I’m dispensing medicine sir not chocolate digestives to go with your cuppa
Just hurry up, can’t one of the other people behind their do it?
No each member of staff is doing a specific job to make the pharmacy run efficiently.
Humph
Whats the address, here’s your medication
I'm never using this pharmacy again
Two weeks later they’re back, rinse and repeat.

OR

This pharmacy is shit
Other pharmacies are available sir but they’re all under pressure so feel free to use an alternative one.

OR

It’s closing time on a Friday.
How can I help
I need my prescription for antibiotics urgently
When was it sent
Last Friday morning
Well that not urgent is it, come back tomorrow
But, but, but
No it was urgent last Friday, now a week later it’s not urgent.

OR

I forgot to collect my prescription can I have it now
When was it sent
In January
It’s April
Yeah and…
We’ve taken your prescription off the shelf and undone it
Why did you do that
We’re a pharmacy not a storage facility
Can I have it
Well technically you can because a prescription is valid for 6 months but it’s going to be a couple of hours
HOW LONG
2 hours
Why, it’s just putting a sticker on a box
Woukd you like me to wrongly dispense your medication and then pray it’s checked correctly?
No and Yes
It’ll be two hours
Humph

I could go on.

It’s one bloody onion. Often you can’t tell until you cut it open. Secondly the cost of the onion is tuppence. The phone call probably cost more.

@MrsToothyBitch post of the thread so far...

I agree. Leaving a few quid doesn’t excuse leaving a huge mess.

Sorry complete sidetrack but don't your patients get sent to the pharmacy with the prescription from the Dr then and there? We see the Dr, they diagnose, advise treatment and print out thr prescription and we take it to the pharmacy

@@AskingforaBaskin most prescriptions are electronic so need downloading, green prescriptions are far less common these days.E-scripts are far easier to track.

So you sit there gazing mournfully at your coffee as it goes cold while you wait for your cake? I like to get the coffee first, then I can start drinking that otherwise it gets too cold while I’m eating the cake.

I ha e never worked in retail (thank goodness, it’s in everyone’s interests!)

But I can imagine so many of those complaining, especially those in hospitality, work for big chains and ultimately don’t give a flying fig about their jobs. If I have ever eaten in one of these places, the odd Ruby in the dust sticks out but the rest wander around, avoiding eye contact, looking like they’d rather be anywhere but there. Doesn’t make for the best service

This reminds me of when I worked in a petrol station at a service area on a main trunk road - a lady pulled up in her car which had smoke coming out of the bonnet, left it right next to the pumps, and ran in the shop panicking and going "My car's on fire!" then ran back out again - I could see her cowering behind the shop on the CCTV as though waiting for the explosion which I'm not sure the tiny shop would have protected her from had the fuel tanks ignited.

And people still complained when I switched the pumps off 😅

The latest complaints (there's been so many!) is that prices have gone up. I know, everything has, rarely goes down etc etc, sympathetic reply the first time.

Yes but it's gone up a lot. Yes, that's true, second reply.
But why? (Sympathetic responses now finished!)
Yes but the pricing strategy of ** is not my responsibility, what do you expect me to do? I work on a till, so if head office put 10p on the price of potatoes they don't ring me and ask if that's ok!

And and and, getting this a lot lately- I'm on the till, don't come and ask me if we've got this that or the other in stock, I'm not a miracle worker!

Isn't that attempted upselling? If the customer finishes their drink before the food comes out hopefully they'll buy another one?

That's probably because of the way they're treated, companies treat them badly and allow customers to do the same - you're never going to get the best out of people by treating them like second class citizens and idiots a lot of the time.

This observation isn't a dig at you personally but,
people are engaged when they're recognised and appreciated, and they deal with the stroppy people better.
What's the point in being engaged and trying your best in every situation when you still get shouted at, verbally (and sometimes physically) abused, called stupid and all manner of things, have people use you as an example of what not to become employment wise as it makes you 'less' and generally treated like you're not even a fellow human being? And then paid a low wage, with no benefits and bollocked by your company for the privilege?

For a lot of people they're experiencing low level bullying on a daily basis and told 'It's all part of the job' - it's hardly surprising that people don't want to engage to get treated like that.
Companies need to start recognising that if they treat and support their staff well, their staff will keep their customers happy, and refuse to bend to the shouty and abusive customers and reward their crap behaviour with apologies and free stuff, and some customers need to stop thinking that they're buying a piece of someone's soul when paying for a product or service and that then entitles them to treat the people serving them however they please. People do it because they feel they have a bit of power, they can say and do pretty much anything and won't get anything negative back, and sometimes gain from it.

Another thing I recall from my retail days was customers coming in with several shopping bags and asking if I would mind them whilst they browsed the shop. They would be quite indignant when I said no!

Hmmm, in my example about the care home though it's not so much the question as the response when I ask "Who is mum?" and the shitty attitude that goes with the response to that question.
I'm not there for people to take their frustration out on, whatever the cause of that may be. I'll always be polite when asking that question and sometimes people are polite back and maybe even have a bit of a laugh because they had a brain fart - no problem at all, some just say the name, no problem at all, but get shitty with me because you feel I've done something wrong by not being a mind reader and I'm not interested in why you've decided that I'm the one you can take your frustration out on, I'm not the public's whipping boy, it's not my fault you're struggling with whatever you're struggling with. If you are upset and talk to me, I will have every sympathy I can with you, but give me shit and I'll give you the bare minimum in return, and yes, I'm allowed to complain about being treated like that.

I did ten years in retail and I would never, ever go back!

My most memorable customers are:

• the man who yelled at me because we'd run out of breaded ham on a busy Saturday afternoon for the third week on the trot. Apparently it was my fault we didn't have any and he demanded he speak to my manager - who said exactly the same thing as me - he shouted at her too 🙄imagine being that irate over a pack of ham, lol.
• the man who kicked off because I wouldn't refund his failed waterproof - that was over 15 years old when he tried to return it.
• the customers who always came in two minutes before closing, insisted on browsing for half an hour (my managers' policy was we couldn't kick people out at closing 😡) and then didn't buy anything.
• customers who rang the shop before it opened and then complained because nobody answered the phone.
• people getting sweaty cash out of their bras and expecting me to be happy to handle it
• when I worked in outdoor retail - people coming in after a long day walking so they were covered in sweat, wanting to try stuff on 😷

@squashyhat in my coffeeshop your drink would come at the same time as your cake or scone, but definitely before any food that needed to be made for you, and I would never guarantee bringing a hot drink at the same time as a hot meal although we would try to if you asked