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AIBU?

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Original poster

Sick of customers moaning to shop staff about things beyond our control

233 replies

Jdot · 14/12/2025 11:55

Please do not show your frustrations to the stressed and burnt out staff with:
. prices
. company’s policies
. the law
. supply issues - including local, national and global
. traffic issues that delays with deliveries
. staffing issues- both short staffed and if staff are on the sick
. your lack of planning. Waiting til Dec 1st for advent calendars and 31st Oct for pumpkins

Do you realise that this is unacceptable and unnecessary to shout at staff. Many staff are leaving mainly because of customers’ behaviour.

Think about this before you open your mouth at staff

OP posts:
onitlikeacarbonnet · 19/12/2025 12:47

I’m not sure viewing anyone as less than is getting it right but you do you.

Merry Christmas

Original poster
Jdot · 19/12/2025 13:18

willitevergetwarm · 18/12/2025 14:09

Ive done a few Christmases in retail and I admire each and every person who does it year after year.

I was getting random stuff shoved in my trolley for mark down on Xmas Eve one year. They weren't fresh or bakery items, but long life shelf items and when I said that I unfortunately couldn't mark down those items I got shouted at in another language. I guessed what she was saying wasn't nice.

I've been screamed at for the store closing Xmas Day by a man with a £200 trolley of food who wondered where he would go if he ran out of milk and the same on Easter by an elderly lady "but where will we go after church dear, we always come in for a wander".

I always try not to go to any shops after 4pm on Xmas Eve or until after boxing day. Retail staff deserve a break as well, probably more than the rest of us to be honest.

I currently get shouted, tutted and huffed at by people mainly by telephone. I do give them 3 chances to change the way they speak to me and if it continues I end the call - which of course you cannot do in a retail setting

Only managers and security guards can ask customers to leave in shops.

I have terminated calls asking customers to call back when they have calmed down in a call centre job. Twice about ten minutes later, I got the same people on the phone. The account details automatically populated if they ring on a number registered on their account. Recognised the names. They were still swearing. I said you haven’t calmed down and terminated the call.

OP posts:
outdooryone · 19/12/2025 13:22

"Only managers and security guards can ask customers to leave in shops."

That is not strictly true.
While it might be a company procedure to get manager or shift manager to approve asking someone to leave, in the event of staff or customers at risk any staff member can request that someone leaves private property (and call 999). Which is what my son did yesterday while stacking shelves. Then found the manager who was on his break at the time.

Ahsoka2002 · 27/02/2026 12:11

Snowangles · 14/12/2025 15:17

I agree op.
However you are the face of the company a quick " I understand your concerns and I will feedback to the managers ".

Well, that's exactly what I once said when a customer was complaining about something I had no control over (price label on an item was misleading). They shouted at me to, "No! Not just feed it back! You WILL change the price sticker!"

What do they really expect a Team Member to do? Break into a manager office I have no access to and steal a price sticker to change it without permission?

By the way, I offered to call a Manager over at the time to override the price (would've taken 30 seconds) but they snapped that they weren't interested and didn't have time to wait around for the price to be changed.

dynamiccactus · 27/02/2026 15:39

Nothing to do with being self-absorbed, you are forgetting that a lot of us have worked in customer service roles and we made a much better job of it than a lot of people do now Sounds pretty self absorbed to me. And you are forgetting that you have sod all idea what it’s like to work in a supermarket. I’ve done both jobs, in call centres and face to face. It’s like comparing apples and oranges

I've not worked in a call centre or a supermarket but I have worked in other shops and a library. And if a customer complained, we passed their feedback on. Or I called a manager, or the owner in one case. I did get fed up with some of the edicts which came down from on high when I worked in the library - I did start to wonder whether the people working at HQ at ever set foot in a customer-facing library! Asda used to have a policy of their office staff having to work in a shop at Christmas which must have made them a lot more realistic, but I don't think they do that anymore.

And when I worked in shops we didn't leave queues of people waiting at tills while we discussed the Christmas window display (Superdrug I am looking at you - so not a supermarket).

JacknDiane · 27/02/2026 20:31

Feedback to the managers, thats a joke.
They take everything as a personal insult. They spend zero time on the floor and if they speak to a customer its all over the top gushing in a loud voice, hoping THEIR manager is nearby to hear how wonderful they are.

Shop staff are on their own and we know it.

StitchHappens · 28/02/2026 08:34

dynamiccactus · 27/02/2026 15:39

Nothing to do with being self-absorbed, you are forgetting that a lot of us have worked in customer service roles and we made a much better job of it than a lot of people do now Sounds pretty self absorbed to me. And you are forgetting that you have sod all idea what it’s like to work in a supermarket. I’ve done both jobs, in call centres and face to face. It’s like comparing apples and oranges

I've not worked in a call centre or a supermarket but I have worked in other shops and a library. And if a customer complained, we passed their feedback on. Or I called a manager, or the owner in one case. I did get fed up with some of the edicts which came down from on high when I worked in the library - I did start to wonder whether the people working at HQ at ever set foot in a customer-facing library! Asda used to have a policy of their office staff having to work in a shop at Christmas which must have made them a lot more realistic, but I don't think they do that anymore.

And when I worked in shops we didn't leave queues of people waiting at tills while we discussed the Christmas window display (Superdrug I am looking at you - so not a supermarket).

I think the key thing is when you did these things.
I've worked in retail over 20 years, and it is not the same now as it was even 5 years ago. There are far fewer staff and far more expectations on our time now. It's genuinely not sustainable, leading to higher rates of sickness and therefore more pressure on people. You can't expect the same level of service from people who are run off their feet and have no management support as you do from those who are well staffed and supported by those who are in a position to help.

JacknDiane · 28/02/2026 08:57

I think we work in the same place @StitchHappens

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