Is it just me or are customers treated without any kind of respect nowadays

[treehousesgal]

Recently I was looking to have some beauty treatments done and read through some of the therapists terms and conditions and the tone was just absolutely awful.

In addition to the appalling and aggressive tone of the terms and conditions, the cancellation policy was also just so extreme.

The therapist says that there is absolutely no exception at all when you cancel an appointment with less than 14 days notice... in that case, you would need to pay for the entire cost of treatment and if you had not yet decided which treatment to get on the day- you would have to pay for the most expensive type of treatment. Needless to say, I chose not to have the treatment.

Then I enquired about a different treatment with someone else, where I was also asked to provide bank details. I didn't read it properly and thought you needed to enter the details within 24 hours of the appointment. ( my mistake ) and I got a pretty rude message saying my appointment is being cancelled unless I pay immediately. I don't disagree with the fact that I needed to pay to hold the appointment, but it could have been asked in a more polite way. Rather than ' we are cancelling your appointment immediately unless you pay '.

I work with clients in my job every day and I would never ever speak to someone this way. I need to ' lay down the law ' frequently. Clients frequently forget stuff or don't read things properly and I have to chase them on things and always stay extremely polite. ' you may have missed my last message, but this is a gentle reminder that due to many bookings we will need you to accept with your card details within X time frame, otherwise we can't guarantee your appointment '.

Just a simple example. I don't understand why people think they need to be so rude to their clients ? I think it's really unprofessional.

Has anyone else noticed this ? Or just me ?

I worked in a department store 20 years ago. It was absolutely drummed into us that the custmer was to be treated with the utmost respect; even little things, like if we were coming down a tight aisle with a rail of clothes to be hung up and a customer was coming the other way, we should back up and give them right of way. Nowadays I'm regulalrly knocked off my feet by staff racing around and getting in front of me. I realise though that this is due to a combination of fewer staff members and higher targets. I also think that we were a bit too extreme in the "old days". A happy medium would be nice.

One thing that does get my goat though, and really shows off my age 😂is paying at a checkout. I remember when the staff member would fold your clothes, pack your bags, swipe your card etc - now we do our own folding, packing and swiping which would be absolutely fine if it wasn't for the fact that many staff then stand back staring at you, rolling eyes and tutting that you are taking too long. I don't think I take excessively long in doing this, and I've seen it happen to others too, so it's not just me but there does seem to be an attitude of whenever the cashier's part of the job is done, they expect the transaction to be over and move straight to the next one. There's especially no understanding if you are juggling multiple bags, children, elderly parent in a wheelchair etc.

Agressively worded t&cs also annoy me and would put me off a place. I understand the need for small businesses (and large ones) to protect themselves but there is a way of wording things and a tone to use which is often lost. I recently tried to book a retaurant for DH and I, only to be met with a pop up saying "your table is available for 1 hour 20 minutes only. You must vacate before 1 hours 20 minutes and will be refused service beyond this point". I'm used to seated sessions for dinner but two hours used to be the norm - 1 hour 20 seems a bit rushed and takes away the sense of occassion (going out for food doesn't happen for us so often these days so we want to enjoy it) and again, the tone was unneccessarily gruff - no "thank yu for your booking, we regret that in the current climate we can only offer short dinner sessions..." Needless to say, we did not book that restaurant.

I totally agree with you on the restaurant and aggressive way in general places are writing their Ts and Cs and how they communicate.

' and will be refused service beyond this point '

This is so aggressive and unnecessary. It can be said it a much nicer way. It's like they already loathe their customers, before they've even come in.

I would not eat there either.

@DesignforLife even if they just said ' your dinner booking is for 1 hour 20 minutes. ' that would be sufficient wouldn't it. They don't need to add the last part. It's so hostile.

@bloodyplanes I don’t mean to single you out, and I don’t know your DD’s age or experience, but I do find that attitude a bit off. A young person, starting out, likely with little to no experience, being trained and learning on the job, gaining experience, references and generally gaining an insight into ‘work’, doesn’t really bring much to the table to warrant increased wages.

Working, and learning to work is valuable experience, and I think it has been forgotten that doing a job is usually a stepping stone to another, better (or more highly paid) job, and it’s the experience and skills the worker brings that they are paid for.

(sorry not picking on you in particular, just your comment)

Can't say I've noticed. Customers, on the other hand are very rude. I thankfully don't work in a customer facing role anymore but I still hear customers being rude and aggressive.
Some of the examples above are silly. Scanning too fast? Staff are timed on how fast they scan and get in trouble if they're too slow. Didn't carry drinks? They aren't your slave. Charge for the moss expensive treatment? Well they need to know how many other customers they can fit in that day.

@DesignforLife I completely agree, especially re supermarkets and packing bags etc. I have been trying to wrestle children, pack a bag and pay, all at the same time, while someone who could actually help me, sits there with their arms folded.

surely you’d just help out of decency or even to get rid of me quicker!

Me again… the absolute WORST, has been the introduction of these headsets where all the members of staff now talk to each other, constantly. Ignoring customers (but more importantly, completely confusing us as to who the actual fuck they are talking to!)

@Myeyeballsareonfire I have to say, this has not been my experience at all in supermarkets.

I was at tesco the other day with two screaming children at the till. A shop worker came over and helped me pack and we had a laugh together at how tricky it all was. All the people in the queue were also lovely at trying to distract my kids and calm them down. At no point was I left to try and sort it all out alone. All the staff and customers were really kind, including the cashier.

I have official feedback as I was treated so well.

@Myeyeballsareonfire I completely get what you are saying. I probably should have explained better! My dd is 18 and this was actually last year when she was working at a theme park for the summer ( while not at college). She was treated awfully by both her employer and the customers! Think long hour's doing awful jobs and being screamed and shouted at by irate customers because they had spent an awful lot of money for a below par experience. Incompetent management and awful working conditions. She came home in tears more than once! She adopted the attitude of minimum wage equals minimum effort because she wasn't being paid enough to tolerate that! She is now training in a field she enjoys and is again on minimum wage but appreciates that everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up. She is happy going to work and has never come home in tears!

I worked in retail, I have offered to help people pack so many times only to get aggressive unpleasant replies. Or they accept then proceed to moan at how I'm doing it tut etc. Eventually I just stopped offering.

@bloodyplanes she sounds great! I hope she does really well in her new field!

(that old job sounds dreadful and I can see why, in those circumstances, she was pissed off!)

Didn't carry drinks? They aren't your slave

Helping a burdened customer carry drinks is surely part of the job of working in a cafe - or even of being a decent human being.

It's hardly "being a slave", but demonstrates the attitude the OP is talking about.

Working for minimum wage with no appreciation doesn't make you want to help. It also means customers feel they can moan if you don't help. As we all know people who work with customers aren't real people. There were also quite likely a lot of other things for the worker to get on with. No other customer doesn't equal no more work, especially in thar kind of job
And while it technically shouldn't matter you don't know how many shitty customers she'd already dealt with (because it always seems it's okay for customers to take their bad mood out on staff) or what else is going on. Plus I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's some ridiculous safety rule about her carrying drinks around the cafe. Probably get sued if she accidentally spills it on a customer.
As the poster said she could have asked, so just ask and they either would have helped or explained why they couldn't.

Doesn't seem rude IMO, seems like the result of people not paying or cancelling at short notice resulting in (presumably self employed) young (mostly women) losing money.

So no, this wouldn't upset me.

I have always worked in customer service and I'd say what you're seeing is the result of behaviour from the customers side. I've always booked nails and hair appointments online, sometimes asked for a small deposit. These people are now seeing such an increase in no shows and people just not caring about their income. Last minute cancellations mean that they have nobody to fill that space so no income.

As far as general customer service the "customer is always right" has lead to some incredible levels of entitlement from people who now feel like they can treat employees with no respect and they just have to sit there and take it. In my experience treating staff with the same level of courtesy you would like to receive is broadly successful.

This! I don’t go as far as not paying but I’ve stopped saying ‘thank you’ myself at the end of a transaction if no pleases/thank yous have been forthcoming from the other side. It’s extremely petty (and hard to do) but better than the passive aggressive cheery ‘thank you!’ I’m tempted by…

They're not allowed to help, they're instructed by their employer not to.

I don't think it helps if you become rude yourself.

Pretty poor to let the other person set your standards.

Try being out with a teènage boy in a wheelchair. Popped into primark as he needs more cĺothes and the lifts broken, the staff shrugged their shoulders. I started bringing clothes downstairs to show my son but he hated the fuss and wanted to leave. So many clothes shops have the male clothes upstairs, and the complete lack of understanding that my son might want to pick his own clothes.

Beyond dropping the please and thank you I’m not actively rude; tone etc remains pleasant

Tbf I was a retail trainer in my 20s so I make the blighters talk to me.
I think companies don't invest in customer service training or product knowledge like they use to. When I go in store for my beauty brands I take a fortune. I love selling and helping people. I have even done it for minimum wage in a charity shop after a career break.
When I retire from being a big cheese I am off to work in a shop again.

In addition to the appalling and aggressive tone of the terms and conditions, the cancellation policy was also just so extreme.

Do you have an example of a company that have got the tone of their T&C right?

I've noticed this also. I broke down the other day and the RAC bloke was the rudest most hostile bloke you had ever met. He basically just shrugged his shoulders and said, what am I going to do with the car. I had to problem solve the situation for him. I'm considering giving some feedback but am nervous to do so.

@Commonsensitivity - please give feedback. My workplace deal with RAC all the time in a professional capacity, and they're a consistent nightmare.

@BeautyGoesToBenidorm wonder what's happened to them? Didn't they used to be good?