Customers’ behaviour has made colleagues leave

[Hmlp]

This year had:
. Colleague A left because he was grabbed by the wrist and told to FO
. Colleague B said to me that she will work another Christmas and retire after that. She mentioned this in Jan. Three months later she left
. Colleague C has worked for company for 45 years - first 5 years at a different store. She handed in her retirement notice as she is getting fed up with customers’ behaviour. She came home on Thursday in tears - the first time in 45 years. She is not retiring until next month.
. Colleague D had two weeks off sick and handed in her notice as customers have upsetted her.

These colleagues will not be replaced as according to head office we are 320 hours over a month!

We are stressed. We can’t cope as it is. No idea how HQ say we are 320 hours over when it feels 320 hours under!

Customers need to understand that shouting at retail and hospitality workers is bullying and totally unacceptable. What happened to treat others as you wanted to be treated yourself? Ie don’t talk down to retail workers like they are piece of dog shit on your shoe.

We can’t say to customers that we are 320 hours over. They will go ballistic.

Any ideas on how to stop customers being rude and bullying

I think you need to find another job.

Your attitude is appalling and no doubt translates to your behaviour on the shop floor.

I've lost a bit of sympathy for you too. You have no idea what these elderly customers do all week. Just because they are retired doesn't mean they are not busy. They could look after grandchildren e.g. Even if they do fuck all all week they can shop whenever they like. You definitely need to look for something else.

I wonder if my local Tesco has exceptionally good management? The staff are nearly all friendly and helpful, and some of them have been working there for decades. One left to work for another supermarket that paid better, and was back within a couple of months because they weren't treated anywhere near as well.

I still hate going shopping, but they make it a lot more tolerable. The man shelf-filling at the wine aisle the other day was so apologetic that my favourite wine was out of stock you'd have thought it was his fault.

OP I was totally with you and sympathetic until your posts became fixed on when the elderly do their shopping. They are not your problem. Your problem is ignorant, rude members of the public (some of whom might of course be elderly) and management who are not protecting their staff.

There are all manner of reasons why elderly people might choose to shop on a Saturday; I could list at least a dozen. But I won’t because it does not matter what their reason is. They do not have to have a reason. This “othering” of a certain demographic is really deeply unpleasant and does not reflect well on you at all.

I am sorry that your work has caused you to be depressed and suffer panic attacks. That is horrible for you. I would probably put your mental health first and seek a different type of employment.

I'm a bit surprised at the OPs disapproval of 'old people' shopping at the weekend. Our town has Saturday markets so I think that draws a lot of people in.
I always think it's crazy when whole families go shopping on Saturdays. Two parents and kids. You'd think one parent could do the shopping and the other could do something fun with the kids.

@LakieLady to be fair I think that's the impression most staff would give to customers. I know the person who I live with who works for Tesco absolutely gives that feeling. But he doesn't get sick pay, their rotas go against the European time directive, he never gets his breaks and gets called in overnight for alarms for no extra pay. He is not the manager. Just a store worker. The fact that your local team give a good impression to customers says a lot about who they are as people rather than being an indication as to what the company are like in the way they treat their staff.

Book the delivery slot the week before, when there’s plenty of availability. Save it with a few expensive items to take it to minimum amount, then re-do the order the day before. We can always get a Saturday or Sunday morning delivery if we book before mid week. And we can generally get a click and collect slot a couple of days before.

Oh wow, you want to stop eldery people shopping on a Saturday? WTAF.

See all people who think that are entitlted. Workers are entitledvto shop on a Saturday, those who dont work can't. But here's the rub, the elderly can shop when they like cos its a free country!

Deal with the AHs causing the upset, ban them from the shop. Stop making victims out of the innocent.

I take my 85yo mum shopping when Im not working. If you dont like it you can swivel. YABU blaming the eldery.
YANBU that some people we can all do without.
YANBU that not replacing staff is irresponsible esp given how much the big four have made in profits....

Why? You can express your dissatisfaction without being rude to people.

When my MIL was younger and working, she used to moan about old people getting in her way when she only had Saturdays free. Now she’s retired and has become one of those old people who used to piss her off 🙄 She says she’s too busy but what she means is that she’s inflexible. I think she likes it though.

Problem is, some retail staff will construe “expressing dissatisfaction” as “rudeness” even when there genuinely isn’t any rudeness. Any criticism, however much it is deserved or not even aimed at the person the customer is speaking to, is taken as “abuse” in some quarters.

If retail staff can’t understand why a customer might be unhappy and cope with it then they’re in the wrong job. The same goes for the OP’s issue of being “x hours over” and not understanding that an operational issue isn’t the customer’s business or concern.

I work on stalls and don't experience the level of nastiness you describe from the public but maybe it's because of the fact Supermarkets are the everyday experience for everyone but can't the most difficult customers be banned?
I know theives are banned and can't return to the shopping centres that I work in for a time period of a year or more.

To not get breaks or pay for attending alarms is disgraceful, as is being required to work hours in breach of the law. And someone upthread posted that staff are being paid less than NMW.

These staff need to join their union (USDAW) and get themselves organised. You can join online.

I've truly never seen staff being treated badly by customers in my local Tesco or Waitrose. (I can't speak for Aldi, I rarely go in there as it's so cramped and crowded it does my head in.)

I understand OP. I worked in retail at uni and college. Holy hell some people speak to you like you are a literal turd on their shoe.

It is HELL. I hate humans.

If most of your business walks in at a fairly predictable time it would be sensible and not difficult to have enough staff to give those customers a good service. Simples!

Does the managment step up and intervene or support workers?
Someone older of 45yrs i would imgagine being horrified of todays customer antics and language.
How is difficut situations dealt with?
It can not be a very supportive workplace.

Yeah 100% agree, but the comment I replied to said that the customer understood why other customers were being rude in the particular instance they were describing. So the rudeness was from the customer's POV rather than the staff. I do agree that some people do see any expression of dissatisfaction as rudeness though, but I'd say that is a question of training.

I do agree that operational issues are not the customer's concern, but they are also not the concern of staff who are paid minimum wage who have no say over the levels of staffing and recruitment. Obviously it is ok for a customer to say 'I am unhappy as I have been waiting for ages to be served' and staff to say 'I'm sorry for your wait we are short staffed' and that should be the end of it!

I can think of several reasons for a short notice cancellation that could not have been foreseen but I appreciate it helps working in the industry.

There's still no excuse for people being rude to the staff though. Do you really think they are the ones making the decisions?

I'm dismayed that conditions for Tesco staff are so bad.

Like LakieLady I find* *the staff at my branch pleasant and helpful. I've also never seen instances of customer rudeness, although of course I accept they happen.

As an older person though, I never shop on a Saturday, or Wednesday mornings, so I'm also doing my bit. And I always have my payment card ready!

We had a supervisor assulted by shop lifters, who wouldnt make chargers because of the court process time off and a regular occurance.
One afternoon they walked back in from chasing a customer bleeding and hurt...i was horrified.
The regular alcholic walked past a trolley and lifted someones bottle of wine and bolted... which lead to the attack.
Do they have security in Uk supermarkets?

Same happened to me last week. Kids, elderly people and a lady in a wheelchair, all of us left to fight our way onto overcrowded trains with no guidance or help whatsoever.

I saw one guy screaming abusively at another passenger, the tension and pressure was just unbearable.

Also my doctors surgery has a long recorded message about how they won't tolerate abuse of staff which they only need now that it's so utterly frustrating trying to see a doctor.

I'm not saying abuse of staff is acceptable, but people do get very pissed off when things that should be straightforward get turned into an utter shit show by faceless managers who never need to account for themselves.

Do you also think that women who get hit by their partners are asking for it by making them angry? Older people don’t need to understand anything they can shop when they like. I cannot fathom how you are frothing about this more than you are about you and colleagues being assaulted.

People have got more inpatient and more needy.
Things working in retail I can't do anything about as a shop assistant so please don't threaten me for it.
●You not having your id
●You wanting to buy more then 2 packs of paracetamol
●That your to drunk to buy alcohol
●That we don't do cashback
●That your card is declined
●That you got caught shoplifting
●That prices have gone up
●That we haven't got something in stock
●That there isn't enough staff to fill the checkouts
●That I'm serving another customer so you have to wait your turn
●That you're going to be late for an appointment or bus because you didn't plan your time better
●That you have to pay for a bag
● That if you click your fingers at me or whistle I'm going to ignore you also please stop ramming your trolley into staff to get their attention or grabbing them they don't like it 😁
● That we close at 4 on a Sunday we have homes to go to and you've had all week to shop.

Totally agree, the company I work for doesn’t want to hire enough staff to do a good job but won’t turn any work down so we’re all working way over capacity and the demands for customers just keep coming and the company expects us to ‘go above and beyond’ for customers but won’t allow us any (paid) overtime.

I get, well, a tiny bit irritated when I see my 80 year old next door neighbour stay in all week and then go do her shopping on Saturday, comes back and complain about how busy it was.

I've told her, "there is nothing in the shops on Saturday that you can't get in the week, why don't you go then?" but like a pp said, she just looked at me in bewilderment. It doesn't just make the shop busy, it makes the car park busy too.