to think behaviour of retail workers has got worse?

[todayday]

I do mystery shopping audits of retail stores. I have been doing it for quite a few years and have noticed the standards for shop workers has really slipped.

A lot of basic politeness is missing. If I ask where something is, often they say over there which is not very specific rather than taking me to the item. Other staff will not move so I can access an item if they are doing an online shopping order. People restocking often refused to move or sigh when asked politely.

Knowledge of accessibility is poor. Staff often look miserable and look like they don't really care. Others will be chatting away and ignoring customers.

There are great retail staff too who go out of their way to help and always have a kind word to say. In one store, the shop worker would not just assist people struggling with self scan but she would scan their entire shop for them.

YANBU.
All service got significantly worse.

I would agree, but I entirely blame the businesses. It's clear that most places are run with the bare minimum of staff nowadays, there's no capacity to take time to help people and no decent training. It's no wonder standards are dropping.

I particularly notice it in supermarkets. Shelf stacking is no longer done when the shop is closed/quiet - I popped in to get some milk after the school run this morning (probably their busiest time) and the milk was blocked by two giant crates. Everyone was queuing to squeeze in a gap to get their milk, no staff to be seen. One member of staff on the self-service till with three or four people waiting for help (because their useless tills don't work properly). Only two tills open, in a shop big enough to do a weekly shop. It's ridiculous.

I still get customers questioning the price if a carrier bag. They might spend £120 on a sweater but when you say the bag is 30p they run their eyes at you and shake their heads...as of course you are solely responsible for the price of carrier bags and that 30p clearly goes straight in your pocket..NOT

£120 for a quality sweater doesn't break the bank.
Shitty carrier bag ought to come with an item like that.

there has definitely been a deterioration in customer behaviour. I have been volunteering on the shop floor of a charity shop for five years and definitely a decrease in standard politeness: lack of please and thank you, huffing and puffing at me because we only allow assistance dogs, refusing to leave the store with said dogs, complaining that another volunteer was a bit stupid..

Yes I'm afraid I agree to a large extent with this.

Obviously it's not everyone- many people are polite, kind and helpful- but there has been a significant increase in entitlement and self-absorption.

Howdy fellow fast food worker

I'm told I'm good at my job-im friendly,helpful,chatty and will move mountains for anyone

95% of customers are amazing but 5% make you wonder why you bother

I've been assaulted so many times-a massive bloke once walked in-hed ordered an oj,got an oj but had changed his mind and wanted a diet coke
If he'd asked me nicely,I would have got him a diet coke but his way if asking was to bellow in my face and then punch me

A colleague had a real gun in his face at 3am

I've had grown men touch me up

Sworn at by a posh older lady who then grabbed my ponytail and yanked me to the ground (I think she'd ordered a plain ice cream but it had come with a hint of smartie-i had nothing to do with her order)

Had hot coffee thrown at me through the drive thou window

Some bloke had gone to the disabled loo,left the door wide open,and as I walked past,he aimed his piss at my feet

Endless men wanking away as they collect their order

More than one man watching child abuse videos ('child porn' I know there is no such thing but the closest I can get) as I've taken their orders to them

Men who 'accidentally' flash at you

One woman took to screaming abuse at me as we'd rang the police on her fella
He'd come up behind me and ground his hard penis into my back
He was arrested,it was all on camera but I was a liar and he ended up getting away with it (if she sees me in the street,I still get abuse)

Threatened with rape-i was so frightened walking home and nothing happened as he has 'mental health issues'

Followed home by one bloke and threatened and hit me on my own doorstep
My crime?
He'd waited 2 minutes for his filet-of-fish burger
He'd hung around for over 3 hours for me to leave work,and as shitty luck would have it,I'd walked home that day because dp was at work and he followed me

I think it's a combination of shitty training,lack of good management,lack of hours (mine have been slashed to the bone),police don't give a fuck (it took them two weeks to come out for the bloke who followed me home) and nothing happens if they do come out

The law says otherwise and we don't make the rules

I worked in M&S stores many years ago

It was no different, that's exactly what the job was then

And god help us if we weren't looking smart and being very polite and helpful

That was what you signed up for. We had difficult customers back then too.

So it's a bit chicken-and-egg

Jesus @Poppymeldrum , that's sooo bad

Well, the law is an ass.
I know you don't make the rules.
Then again, shopping online is the answer for most, for many reasons.
A sweater can hardly be sent to you "as is". 😂
See what happens when they start charging or implying fines for returns, if not too late.

Yes, that is why I always try to buy online.

Lots of people don't want to shop online though, they want to see the thing they are interested in. It's a vicious circle, shops don’t carry everything they have online, customer gets pissed off and rants at the sales assistant, sales assistant is fed up and puts customers off shopping!!

It made more sense in the old days when the price of packaging was costed into the overall price. Just the same as the rest of the overheads.

And now their paper, not plastic, I don't know why they don't do that

I think they’re expected to do more and more for very little money. In the circumstances I don’t blame them if they show signs of stress.

Usually because there are less staff expected to do more as well as fulfill online orders and people are rude.

actually shopping in a big supermarket is carnage half the time. With a few people expected to cover tills and the shelves and help customers. I feel sorry for them.

Definitely chicken and egg.

I've no doubt that a minority of customers are awful, but that really doesn't excuse the worker from treating all customers badly. They need to learn the difference.

There is NO excuse for any worker to do the "huffing and puffing", "eye rolling", no please and thank you's, etc., for a customer who is perfectly polite to them (most customers will be!).

I think there can be a "culture" problem in some places where the staff (and management) act collectively, either good or bad. Our nearest big Tesco is lovely - most staff really good, we're even on friendly terms with some of them who we see regularly - especially a couple of them who bring the click and collect shopping to the car pick up area - they seem to have been there forever and always pleasant, friendly, chatty, etc. But if we go to the further away Tesco (similar size), most of the staff are grumpy and miserable and unhelpful. Same firm, being paid the same, but VERY different culture of customer service.

Same with areas. In our nearest city, most of the city centre retail staff are pretty unhelpful and miserable. Yet, we also regularly go to York for short breaks, and the staff in the same chains of town centre retail stores are completely different, much more helpful, friendly, etc. - again, same employers, paid same wages, etc.

I do think that if you're working in a place where other staff are miserable and unhelpful (and management too), then that rubs off onto you too. Likewise if your co-workers are helpful and friendly, you're more likely to follow their lead.

In my experience, it's pretty rare to go into a store and get good customer service from one member of staff, but crap service from another. I do think that how they treat customers rubs off on the other workers around them, whether good or bad and soon, most of the workers start to treat them the same way.

But mostly, as I say, chicken and egg. When a retail worker is unhelpful, argumentative, eye-rolling, sighing, or just no common courtesy, then I'm more like to respond in kind back to them. But I always start off by being polite - if they wind me up, then they get it back, like for like, not abusive or aggressive as that's not me, but certainly I am not afraid to be assertive when the situation demands it.

Because they don't want us using new bags, even recyclable ones. Single use ANYTHING is to be discouraged. I think the bag price thing is a government rule and it' snot about cost, it's about discouraging single use.

@Poppymeldrum that's awful. And sadly, so easy to believe. Another bigger picture issue is definitely an increased sense of entitlement and a pervasive attitude that people should be able to do what they want. Male pervs were always around... but, for example, in the past, they would be EMBARRASED if they were caught. Nowdays, they just brazen it out.

It's poor training and extremely low expectations. Generally, service in the UK has always been shocking compared to Australia, the US and many other countries in Europe. If you haven't lived elsewhere or travelled much, you would just think this is normal.

They come through the drive thru with their penises hanging out or will sit in the click and serve waiting (I'm guessing they put them away if a bloke serves them)

I'm sooo tempted to shout 'oh look!it looks like a penis,only a lot smaller!'

I don't know what they think I'm meant to do?

Admire it?tell them they have a massive one?jump in the car with them for a stroke?

I always warn the new starters 'it's not every shift,but it will happen'

Guaranteed I'll get a sm message within the month saying 'you where right'

It's that common-we report it and the police never do anything about it,even though they have very clear cctv and reg plate

It's like the police have learned nothing,this is what wayne couzins started before he murdered sarah everard

our area manager thinks it's funny and we should ignore it and it's babyish to get upset about it-we are overreacting if we report it (he's a nobhead)

Rather hard not to feel assaulted when you have some blokes tiny nob in your face

I think many don't give a shit but why would you if you are getting paid peanuts & are overworked.

Can we also talk about pay? DH works in a customer facing role, although not retail. He is effectively a freelancer, but pay is set by the firm he works for - I guess it's more like a zero hours contract? His per hour pay has not changed since he started this role in 2019.

In retail, many people are on minimum wage. But this has not increased at the same level as other costs. For example, our mortgage has gone up by 50% in the last few years.... no one is seeing a 50% price increase.

So instead of doing a job for which they are sufficiently paid and can live their lives, I imagine a lot of retail workers are struggling financially and feeling pretty bloody hard done by (for good reason).

IMO, unless they get paid significantly more, they can be as neutral as they like. Retail sucks, and they have to deal with umpteen awful customers in one shift, so being extra friendly is a bonus if they feel like, it not something i’d be expecting.

That's shocking and I 100% agree re wayne couzens. As for your manager... personally, I'd be looking at the regional manager and taking your concerns.

Of course, I'ma lso the type that WOULD shout at the customer. Which would probalby get me even into more trouble. It's outrageous.

Absolutely vile. How have people become so comfortable showcasing their shameless depravity. Sadly, I'm not surprised by the police's lack of action. I'm disgusted that you have to put up with this