To make people work at least a month in retail and customer service

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Worked in retail for a supermarket for 8-9 years then 14 years customer service. I can tell which people have not worked in retail or customer service.

I doubt that they would be rude, abusive towards staff if they have worked in the sector. As I have asked these people the question have you worked in retail both as a customer and when working. Everyone I asked said no. I said that question in a neutral tone.

I believe that everyone needs to work in retail the busiest time of the year- ie December for at least a month. If this doesn’t change their attitude towards the staff, then nothing will as nasty people.

Even on 22/23 December one year I had customers asking for more tills to be opened. ALL of the tills were open!!

Do you think retail is the only environment like that?
Nurses, police, teachers.. all treated to the same total disrespect. You don't need retail experience to understand it.

Same goes for working as a GP Receptionist

Rude people will be rude regardless. Not everyone in customer service is polite and smiley, and it's the same for the general public.

… or in hospitality

In that case everyone should do a week as a nurse, hospitality, care or education too.

No one deserves abuse but it isn’t just those in retail or customer services.

Why just retail and customer service? There are plenty of higher pressure jobs where people are a lot harder to deal with.

People are asshloles in general.

Maybe we should give mandatory compassion and empathy courses

Every job has its issues

Its a bit difficult to get people to work in health care and other people facing roles when you need to be qualified

I have worked in retail and customer service and trust me working in the health service is way way harder!

As someone who has been a police officer, teacher, and a retail worker... I can confirm this true. These days I prefer being home alone without unnecessary human interaction 🤣

🤣 collecting the trauma like pokemon! Hats off to you. I've only experienced one of those and it’s more than enough.

They are all hard.

I worked in customer service for a bank. I answered calls. I got screamed at down the phone all day.

I was subjected to worse abusive behaviour in teaching than I was in retail.

Some people are just horribly rude in all sorts of settings.

Gotta catch them all 🤣

I totally get what you are saying. My job is customer facing (and I love it)

But it has also taught me a lot about people, and the way some people treat staff. i genuinely don’t think some of those people realise they are rude/thoughtless and if they could do our job for just a month, it would give them valuable insight.

l

I agree OP. Also (for the most part) people have respect for healthcare professionals / police etc, retailers and hospitality workers get a brunt of the shit, because they’re seen as amounting to nothing by the general public. Other professionals will totally have tricky customers - but they will be ones that get upset for a reason. Retail and hospitality just get it because someone is just generally having a shit day and they’re arguing for no reason whatsoever. I say this as a retail manager, where if I get called over, the customers are 90% ridiculous. A minority will be pissed for a valid reason.

I work in a school now. Im not teaching.

But yes teenagers can be the rudest, most critical, ungrateful bunch.

It’s a bit difficult to go and work in retail for a week when you work full time in healthcare and other people facing roles.

You completely missed my point.

I've done reception and front facing roles and many years nursing. Physical abuse from many patients, verbal from relatives, drunks.

I think the difference is with workong in health, police etc you will at times have people thanking you

in retail this rarely happens

have worked in retail and in healthcare I may get more abuse in healthcare but I also get respect that my role is challenging the public are often so dismissive towards retail and hospitality staff

I was once an assistant manager / customer service manager , and although it was 20 years ago received a few death threats along the way .

I worked part-time in a shop from 16-18 like most of my friends. I probably gave as good as I got, but maybe things were different in the late 1990s.

I say we need all politicians to have worked in one of these jobs for a YEAR, on minimum wage, before they get anywhere near Parliament. Too many of them were born into wealth, and jumped on the gilded conveyor belt of posh school/Oxbridge/Parliament, not once dipping a toe into the world that everybody else lives in.

I think any customer-facing job really but it seems to me like retail gives people more empathy for other customer-facing roles than vice versa. The only thing worse than some of the customers in retail were the supervisors willing to chuck teenagers under a bus AFTER the teenager has already taken a faceful of vitriol from middle-aged dickheads for doing the job they're told to do.

Currently bus drivers in my city are having a really shit time of it though, more so than usual.