There is nothing positive to achieve from being vile towards retail staff. Why act this way?

[uihd]

Yesterday evening I bought a few items from a supermarket on the way home from work. There were some customers being very rude and disrespectful towards the staff. It has got worse in the past 5 years.

Why do people think it’s ok to act like this? What do they want to achieve with this attitude? Do they realise that people are leaving retail and avoiding looking for work in the retail sector due to their behaviour?

Nothing positive can be achieved from acting like this. If people get a kick out of this, they are just pathetic people.

The staff in supermarkets have no control over
. Prices
. Stock availability
. Products that have been discontinued. Both in store stop selling it and brand stops making it
. Staffing issues
. The number of self checkouts installed
. The law
. Company policies
. Lottery rules

I have done my share in working in retail. Never I want to do that again

I think it's best if we just agree to disagree

Absolute bollocks, I worked in retail int he 80s there wasnt a single day in the two years I did it went by when I wasnt yelled at by some rude twat.

I worked in retail for nearly 20 years, I finally got out a couple of years ago when I became a cleaner.
I’ve been disrespected in so many ways over the years for things I have no control over.
I think if everyone had to work a stint in retail or hospitality people would be more respectful.
I’m always kind to retail staff, too many Christmas’s in retail have made me loath working with the public.

They are really not invested in training people well unless they can see an increase in profit because of it. If people quit it’s not that big a deal. There will always be people ready to take that job.

Sadly some people look down on retail workers... actually they are the same people that look down on anyone "less" than them.
Couple that with a bad day, and they turn into knobs.

They have beef with the store, but take it out with the person on the shop floor.

Most tips you now have to register as a resident so assume a lot will try and use the facility who may not live there.

Workers will say no, person will kick off.

Well yes, if someone’s rudeness tips over into offensive, they can be banned, but the bar is pretty high for rudeness to ban someone from a large store.

(I do remember years ago doing a stint in a call centre and having to put up with being shouted at and called stupid but the bar for hanging up on someone was swearing, we’d get in trouble for just hanging up on someone ranting, I had many miserable calls when I was positively giddy when they finally swore so I could terminate the call.)

Sadly, a lot of people know they can push really quite a long way before they get any sort of negative consequence. The cunts of this world dance in that space beyond where a kind person would step and before managers of large companies will take action.

Good manners cost nothing and take you far.

Sadly not my invention :)

It's a book by Cory Doctorow.

Voted YANBU, but people behaving like this is generally due to their personal inability to regulate their emotions. Forr sone thats because they don't know how, for others they don't realise that they should and for some they just can't due to MH, medical, medication or drugs etc.

Quite right its nothing positive, but unfortunately those dysregulated folk won't understand or care, sadly.

The training in store is an interesting one. It's a kind of double edged sword as staff are cut to the absolute bare minimum, which is especially dire if one or 2 ppl call sick plus a couple on annual leave. In the past newbies would be buddied up with someone for at least their first 2 days to learn the ropes now there is not the ratio of staff to be able to do that and so they're kind of thrown into the deep end from day one. There are ofc endless online trainings of heath and safety, cyber security, fire safety, etc etc there is product training but even as an experienced person the way to learn about the products is to work with them and sell them not watch videos about them!!

Our vets have been physically assaulted numerous times. We're a charity vets helping to treat the animals of owners that can't afford private treatment. We are only trying to help the animals, and yet the owners can be so awful that police have to be called regularly and owners have put vets in hospital. Of course many are lovely and grateful. But some people's default mode does seem to be confrontational and unpleasant.

I work in customer service but on the phones. I agree it has got significantly worse over the last few years. People can be extremely entitled & act like they are owed whatever they demand! The crazy thing is that if someone is nice & polite, I’ll bend over backwards to move processes & speak to senior managers as much as I can to help achieve why they want. On the other hand, there are. Lot of things I dont need ANY approval to decline if they are being obnoxious 🤷🏻‍♀️

I remember going to a PDSA vets, and they had plastic screens up (this was long before Covid) and multiple signs up saying that abuse of the staff will not be tolerated.

Why would people do.that

Emotions running high due to having a poorly pet, and possibly facing not being able to afford the treatment.
Still no excuse for it, but it could be a reason.

YANBU. I can’t even stand it when people can’t say please or thank you, let alone being actually abusive to people. Whatever the customers are kicking off about, it’s rarely the fault of the person they are kicking off at!

I was front line staff in a customer services on the railways for many years.

i frequently saw that 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, ' as they say.

But also, us staff were not totally helpless. The horrible customers generally 'won' - but not always. We had our own ways of getting revenge too, or just not playing ball - and most of us enjoyed the few opportunities we got of 'winning' , and we made the most of them. And remember., we know our own.systems, plus we get plenty of practice (unfortunately) at reacting to bad behaviour.

Human nature! Even the kindest and most helpful staff members get upset when we are abused 'too' often.

And yes it's got worse over the years. Also, on.the trains, there are geographical 'hotspots', eg certain towns, also it generally got worse the closer we got to London..

After 13 year in this retail job I can safely say it's gotten worse on all fronts...

So pre COVID, all was well. Customers were generally pleasant, we were more than fully staffed, we even had specific weekend staff AND we used to have Christmas temps.

Then COVID happened.

Around that time shoplifting also changed. We went from someone nicking the occasional product cos they were genuinely hungry to literal gangs of addicts coming in to rob and abuse us.

Also post COVID the general public just seemed a lot more pissed off and also entitled (I think the toll of so glw file queues and other restrictions too their toll)

I've definitely noticed an increase in negative attitudes. Granted I do understand most of the issues, especially when it's related to price increases. It's shit. It's shit for everyone. Everything is stupidly more expensive than it was.

The issue is, I am a lowly part time team member... HAVE ZERO GODDAMN SAY IN PRICE RISES!!! so whilst you may feel better having a massive go at me about the fact your meal deal cost 25p less last week THAT IS OUT OF MY CONTROL AND LITERALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH ME so verbally abusing me will change fuck all.

Add to that the daily aggression I get towards products not being hot (though have never been advertised as such and I guarantee if we did charge vat they'd also kick off anyway...).

Thankfully don't have to put up with as much abuse and threats as when we had a huge issue with shoplifters-we thankfully now have security to protect us. In part I feel bad cos all of the threats and aggression are now aimed at them and not us but also they are actually trained to deal with it and deal.qoth it better.

I never thought working in retail I'd actually genuinely have to worry about if I actually made either home alive but that's how bad it has gotten

I know that there is bad customer service out there and I'm not excusing it. I mean jesus we had a huge cohort of COVID teens be employed and honestly they had zero clue when it came to customer service or actually communicating with people! But companies now do the bare minimum in training. Where I work you watch some training videos and then get set loose on the till 😬

Bur I always try and give 100%. Even though it literally takes all of my energy to plaster on a fake smile and pretend to be happy. People have no idea what's going on behind closed doors. I've literally not slept the night before a shift, because ive been depressed and suicidal to the point of being unable to sleep and instead being awake all night planning my funeral, and then still gone to work after and put on a fake smile to try and give good customer service. I've smiled though choking back the tears when all I could think about was offing myself. But I try my best to leave that shit at the door when I do go into work.

At the end of the day all I want, is to be treated like a human being 😐