To think you can learn a lot about someone from the way they speak to waiters & shop assistants

[chatterbug22]

Or anyone they perceive to be lower than themselves

Nothing repulses me more than hearing people patronise waiting staff and people who work in retail. Slow timing them, being ‘assertive’ with them, demanding the nominal service charge for the table to be removed for literally no reason than ‘they shouldn’t have put it on the bill without asking me’.

Just think all of it is gross. Even if your new jumper has a snag in it or your food was cold, the person you are speaking with is almost always not to blame and they are at the bottom of the ladder just trying to earn an honest living.

I’ve been told previously that this opinion means I am virtue signalling but I really admire those working for minimum wage as often it’s jobs that have little thanks in exchange for a lot of manual effort.

AIBU?

Madam is old fashioned and degrading. Don’t call me anything.

As already stated there was one picture on the website. Not unreasonable of me to expect the item to be that very picture.

I don’t give a fuck if they’re on minimum wage and it’s not my problem, I would still expect them to not be snidey and rude and unhelpful. And plenty of places let you feed back through staff.

Was definitely not an arsehole - I just don’t simper and over-apologise to rude unhelpful people

I disagree with service charges which are added on (and I say this as someone who's worked in hospitality!) - it should be at the diner's discretion.
But I agree with everything else you've said

But presumably she did get what was in the picture she just misjudged the size? That’s v different to the situation I described above. I wasn’t complaining about the size, it was an entirely different product that was the problem

If you bought a pack of nappies, would you expect the baby used to illustrate them, to be in the pack too.
You need to read the product description alongside the imagery. I doubt Smyths have changed their website based on your interaction, you just haven't read it and want to blame someone else.

No, they had one picture, now they don’t and no probably not down to my interaction but I imagine I’m not the only one who had this complaint.

Nappy sizes are advertised in the title. Not a good analogy.

So did you or didn’t you send the item that was pictured?? If you did then that’s not at all like my situation.

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet

You don't like my opinion so you swear. You've been absolutely hideous to the poster @Kanaloa on this thread.
Your attitude & tone are vile.

I bet you get bad service everywhere you go.
I see you.

To address a few issues on this thread:

It's not unreasonable to ask for a service charge to be removed if you think the service hasn't warranted it.

If people don't know how to do something, they should ask. Nothing more annoying that staff in retail or other customer-facing roles who won't ask their managers/colleagues how to do something and then get it wrong or just don't do it. ASK!

If someone is a pig in private, there's no harm in their being charming in public. I am sure waiting staff would rather them be nice to them, even if it is a front!

But there is never any excuse for a customer to be rude (unless of course the staff are rude to them, in which case it's difficult to be nice back).

If you don’t like swearing maybe MN isn’t for you? I swore in my post, not AT you. Unless you’re a 10yo girl maybe grow a thicker skin.

I haven’t been ‘hideous’ to that poster I just don’t agree and the obtuse passive aggression was getting boring.

It’s also irritating when customers start giving you ‘feedback for Smyths’ as if it’s the customer service worker out there snapping photos and uploading them to the store website

Of course it isn't, if a customer gives you feedback about your employer, you pass it on! You may be unable to do anything about it yourself, but that doesn't mean that the feedback should not be provided to you.

Whether or not the powers that be take any notice of their staff is another matter, but that's a different issue entirely.

Nappy sizes are advertised in the title. Not a good analogy.
Wasn't talking about nappy sizes, I asked you do you expect the baby used to illustrate a pack of nappies to be included in your purchase ?
It's amazing how many customers trot out the stuff you are saying, who buy based on imagery or without reading the full product description.

Like I have said, that's ok some people are like that, but at least own the mistake and don't try to blame others for it.

Eh? My answer was completely valid - the size would be in the title.

If you said nappies, had a baby in nappies in the picture, then we’re sent a dummy then that would be a better analogy

And if he was handling click and collect orders it would not have been his responsibility to be on the shop floor doing picking of items that were already out for customers who don’t want to go and get them

This is exactly what's wrong with customer service. How long would it take to nip out and get it, or just say it's on aisle 8 if you would like to go and get one?

Same excuse when you are waiting in a queue to pay and three staff are giggling around a Christmas window display instead of actually serving customers who want to pay.

Customers come first.

As for it being the customer responsibility to read all the info, I am afraid that in law, if the disclaimers are not sufficiently brought to the customer's attention it is very much not their responsibility. Customer service staff also need to be taught consumer law properly.

It's amazing how many customers trot out the stuff you are saying, who buy based on imagery

So you can put any old picture on a sales page, send something completely different and say “Well stupid customer it’s YOUR fault for not reading the small print”.

That to me has scam written all over it.

Totally and perfectly reasonable to expect that the picture on a sales page is what you’d end up receiving. Only in the world of stupid people, scammers and people bad at customer service is it ridiculous to expect this.

Totally agree with you @lieselotte amd I think it’s a shame how many people allow people to get away with a piss poor standard of service. Like it would be so very hard to say “I’ll nip and get you the one you’re looking for” rather than “computer says no” response.

Yes and also people working in telephone customer service roles. My otherwise lovely DH can get really snippy with them and I don't like it. I've had that job in the past. They are just doing their jobs.

I completely agree OP.

I remember going on a date with this guy when I was about 22. He was very attractive but actually clicked his fingers at the waiter. And attraction died right there.

You see people being rude or deliberately obtuse. What do they gain by talking down to a 17 year old?!

Eh? My answer was completely valid - the size would be in the title.
If you said nappies, had a baby in nappies in the picture, then we’re sent a dummy then that would be a better analogy
You seem to be struggling to read properly what has been written.
I will repeat, do you expect a baby to be in the packaging when you buy a packet of nappies ?
If your attitude on here is anything to go by, I am not surprised you are getting bare minimum back.

I’m not being contrary or rude at all. You’re being incredibly rude. I just disagreed with you, and I still disagree. I think your attitude probably informs the customer service you get to be quite honest.

If the customer is rude they don’t come first to me. And as I’ve explained (even including a picture) they do bring it clearly to the customer’s attention. But if the customer refuses to read any of the product information and buys based solely on a picture then that’s their fault really.

So you can put any old picture on a sales page, send something completely different and say “Well stupid customer it’s YOUR fault for not reading the small print”.

Except they didn't put up random pictures, they used multiple related images that you haven't scrolled through and clearly outlined in the product description that the boxes vary, but you didn't notice. I guess if you don't notice, you don't notice.

@Kanaloa I can only see a check out page. As I said it's covered in the consumer act, but the image and the text must match the product.So if the image shows a Picachu and the text says it's a Picachu, that's what you have to sell - stating products may vary is insufficient. In your doll example you would need to have a picture of a pram alone and the words doll's pram, you can also include a picture of a doll in the pram, but you must include both.

I think that rude people exist both sides of the customer/assistant divide. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, (who knows what else is going on in anyone's life?) but I do think service has gone downhill. Even if you are a minimum paid assistant with no power, you are the the only person the customer can interact with and you are the representative of the company at that point.

I worked at a bank, you interact with all sorts and money is a highly stressful subject for all, so have been addressed very rudely so I'm not coming at this with no experience.

Regarding the Smyth's toy example, I'm afraid I'm team @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet here. It must be really annoying for Smyth's toys staff to deal with the same complaint day in, day out, but if you are getting the same issue over and over, perhaps that is an indication that the website is not clear? Not picturing multiple groupings to illustrate that more than one set exists is misleading. Putting the disclaimer about multipacks below the 'add to basket button' is just crap. If you are scrolling on a mobile and it's not visable why would you assume anything more of interest was below that button?

Yes, those design decisions are not the staff's fault but as long as the issue the customer was polite when raising their issues, it should be dealt with polietly, not with the attitude of 'not another one of those thickos who don't read the T&C's'. It's a toy FFS, not a mortgage, how many T&C's should there be?!?

The text underneath (again I’ve included a photo) specifically states that characters included may vary and you are not able to request a specific one. If a customer doesn’t want to read that then they don’t want to read it, but that’s what it clearly states.

*Regarding the Smyth's toy example, I'm afraid I'm team @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet here. It must be really annoying for Smyth's toys staff to deal with the same complaint day in, day out, but if you are getting the same issue over and over, perhaps that is an indication that the website is not clear? Not picturing multiple groupings to illustrate that more than one set exists is misleading. Putting the disclaimer about multipacks below the 'add to basket button' is just crap. If you are scrolling on a mobile and it's not visable why would you assume anything more of interest was below that button?

Yes, those design decisions are not the staff's fault but as long as the issue the customer was polite when raising their issues, it should be dealt with polietly, not with the attitude of 'not another one of those thickos who don't read the T&C's'. It's a toy FFS, not a mortgage, how many T&C's should there be?!?*

Judging by that poster’s attitude to someone politely disagreeing with her (calling me names, swearing, becoming quite aggressive) do you imagine this incident was dealt with politely? The poster also insists she comes up against rude/stroppy/sullen customer service regularly, which implies to me it isn’t literally everyone else’s fault, is it? But then, she’d rather deal with ‘rude dickheads’ than be sexually assaulted at work, so that’s apparently somehow relevant.

I think juduging tone on the internet is a tricky game, easy to get wrong, and we all should probably avoid extrapolating too much about a person based one thread on an internet forum.

In the early, heady days of my relationship with my now exDH, we went for lunch to an upmarket pub with my two best friends, whom he was meeting for the first time.

When bringing the food to the table, the waiter managed to knock a whole point of Guiness into exDH's lap and he unfortunately happened to be wearing light coloured trousers.

The waiter was obviously mortified and went into apology overdrive, but exDH reassured him that accidents happen, accepted a towel to lay over his lap and the deduction of the price of his meal from the bill, and said not a word more about it.

I decided then and there that he was an absolute keeper.

So it isn't always reliable.