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

[Jdot]

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

I wouldn’t have wanted to serve your DP, either. He sounds unpleasant.

The transferring money thing is one of the few things that younger customers are more guilty of. Younger customers are the most polite, in my experience.

Quite. No one refuses to deal with customers making polite complaints. He was obviously being aggressive for her to walk away. Rather than defend him, pp should have put a rocket up his arse.

They used to do this when I worked at John Lewis a good 30 years ago, the branch top brass would come onto the tills.

They'd cause more of a bloody hindrance than anything

"Big smiles"
"Don't forget receipt in the bag"
"And how are YOU today?"
"Always say Merry Christmas"

Yes i do do this without fuss the remaining 364 days of the year you know...

Also, stop asking me where everything is.

I worked for the DWP, back in the day, and we were bound by regulations.

Didnt stop “clients” moaning, whining and threatening though. 🙄

I understand. I am human. If I am going about my day and repeatedly come across things that frustrate me, I will react. I am not going to turn myself into an inert robot.
I don't have the time to complain to head office. I don't care enough. I also think I'll get a "thanks for your email, we take all comments seriously, yadda yadda" and nothing will change.

The company’s representative who gets paid minimum wage! When exactly do we get time to forward all this constant information we’re being moaned about in between doing our job?

In retail it can be non stop from the moment you’re out there, constantly distracted. You will mention to your manager about the issues customers have brought to your attention, but honestly trying to remember every single one is impossible - if you think head office actually listen to most of us at the bottom you’re delusional.
As soon as my shift is over, it’s over, i stop getting paid, I'm not thinking “oh yeah i must make sure I contact head office tomorrow about such and such thing one random customer told me”. It’s our managers job to do that not mine. Unfortunately for the customer, they usually get a better response and action more likely to be taken when they contact head office themselves.

Today, the checker bounced over and said "Oh I only need to check 2 things today, that's the lowest I've had". I was perfectly pleasant today.

My neighbour works on the ticket side at an arena. Has some great stories of customers and tickets. Basically I bought these cheap tickets but I want/need/must sit in the best seats or the accessible seats because I want to. Do you know how much I paid for the drink/pizza? He doesn't set prices and he isn't going to reseat you because you believe you should be VIP/access all areas.

My friend works for a supermarket. When someone senior is coming to the store, it’s hands on deck to make the store tidy.

Senior management should turn up on spec without warning to see the real goings on

Hahaha,management don't give a flying fuck about the opinions of shop floor staff.
Tell me you've never worked retail without telling me.

Receiving feedback is part of the job. I say this having worked in retail for years. It’s hard work but it’s important to listen to customers and to pass on feedback to line managers. I find that many people working in retail are really badly suited to it. It’s a customer facing role and being able to work with all kinds of customers is a skill. It’s not for everyone but it’s a valuable role. I really notice the lack of customer service when I go shopping these days and I am inwardly critical of it because I have worked in those roles.

Receiving feedback - fine.
Receiving abuse - not fine.

DWP by any chance?

Exactly this - customers shouldn't be rude but staff should pass on the feedback and the ivory tower dwellers at HQ who seemingly never have to do any shopping themselves should listen and act on it.

Also front line staff should be trained much better on things like consumer law as they often have no clue.

They don't give a wotsit about the customers' views either. It's shocking when you think how many thousands we spend in a supermarket each year.

But staff should pass on the feedback regardless.

We were saying the exact same thing over a family lunch today - everyone should be made to do a six month stint in retail or hospitality (a shop, hotel, restaurant or a pub) to understand how truly awfully some members of the general public can behave.

I always tell the customer I will pass it on and apologise etc, that is very basic customer service. The reality is that even when I do, absolutely nothing happens. It's been the same I all of the shops I've worked in, even the fancy independent one.

Having said that, if you could all complain en masse directly to head office about the lack of staff, that might actually help us out 😂 if they cut our staffing hours any more I genuinely might quit.

How many of the posters who think it's ok for customers to express "frustration" think it would also be ok for staff to do likewise? If supermarket staff have to politely deal with people being jerks all day, I'm sure you can stick a smile on for the couple of minutes or less that you're interacting with them.

Also, saying "I know this isn't your fault" before you launch into a diatribe doesn't make it any less unpleasant/upsetting/intimidating (depending on the circumstances) for the poor person on the receiving end of it.

I will always support staff who refuse to engage with customers who think they can use anger to get what they want.

And sometimes the only person you can pass the feedback onto is a team leader. Policies and procedures are made by some suit in head office who has never worked in a shop and doesn’t know how things work in the real world and doesn’t want to be told by some lowly shop floor girl he is wrong.

Yes and council housing reception

As someone who worked in retail several decades ago - when customer service was a thing - I can see both sides.

Yes, customer rudeness appears to have gone up, which is unfortunate. But I suspect this is a knock-on effect of the the retail experience and, generally speaking, decent customer service going down... rapidly.

Customers are sick of:
-Being physically in store and told to order the item online. I'm in store because I want to buy the item in store.
-Being told they can only pay with card/must pay via an app. Cash is legal tender.
-Feeling like an inconvenience when they dare to ask for help. God forbid they interrupt a conversation between two salespeople about a night out.
-Asking for help with the location of an item and being told it's sold out... only to then find the item themselves after searching the entire store.
-Being told something is just a display item and 'not for sale'... only to take said item to a till and have it ring up no problem.

Re the OP... If I can buy a (very expensive) rose on February 14th, then I sure as hell should be able to buy a pumpkin on October 31st and an advent calendar on December 1st.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sure this is more of a problem in the UK than the US. Why? Because sales staff/service industry workers work on commission. Not that they should have to at all but it certainly makes a difference to the customer experience.

People falling over themselves to justify abuse.

If you're fed up of the service in a store, leave, take your money, spend it elsewhere. Don't abuse people. It's basic stuff.

I don't work in retail but in hospitality
and you get loads of people shouting and having a go and then they say "I know it's not your fault."
And then carry on shouting at you 🙄

But nothing will change if you complain to the staff in store either so why do people kick off at us if they can’t be bothered to complain to the people that actually have the power to make the changes needed?