Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that most shop assistants do a great job and and have to take alot of cr@p from the public...

94 replies

BackToBasics · 27/03/2009 08:51

and yet are looked down upon on the whole because some people think they must be stupid because they work in a shop as an assistant.

I work in a food shop where we serve what feels like hundreds of customers everyday. Most are students or office workers. All the staff there work their ass off, running around doing 101 jobs at the same time, remembering orders etc.

Last week i was serving a customer and could hear these two women behind my customer talking loudly. They both worked in offices and one was talking about how she was leaving her job and that she wasn't sure what she was going to do next. The other woman said "Well you could always work in here!" and they both starting laughing hard. I thought what stuck up, patronising idiots they were. Like it is somehow beneath them to work in the place that does their lunch for them.

Anyway, i have noticed on MN in recent times that customers have been complaining about shop assistants. Well there are two side to every story and shop assistants have to put up with alot of crap from awkward customers, as well as being looked down upon by some, like they have failed their career or something and god forbid, have had to resort to working in a shop.

Now i know there are bad shop assistants out there, although i know from experience that you can't expect a Saturday girl/boy to have the same customer service skills as someone older with experience. But on the whole, they do a really good job and working directly with the public is strain on anyones patience.

OP posts:
differentID · 27/03/2009 08:57

Well said. I also work in retail and as a rule it's great.
I am often tempted to snap at the worst of them to come and do my job if you think it's so bloody easy. Constant changes in policies, till system adjustments, thousands of things you have to remember on a day to day basis and keep up with changes in legislation as well as be nice to everyone.

spongebrainbigpants · 27/03/2009 08:59

YANBU - I used to work in ASDA and couldn't believe how rude customers were to me and how much they looked down on me because they saw my job as 'menial'.

I am constantly horrified by the way people treat shop assistants - one of my big bugbears if when someone carries on talking on a mobile even when they are being served! Although, I also hate it when shop assistants talk to a colleague when serving me!

There are good and bad shop assistants, like there are good and bad in every walk of life. We just don't have manners anymore .

bellavita · 27/03/2009 09:02

I can sympathise.

One of the mums I was friendly with made a crass comment to me one day - she said something along the lines of "I don't want just any old job in a supermarket, I am worth more than that", that's exactly where I worked.

She did apologise to me the next day, I think she realised she had upset me and also said she did not mean it like that. Well how did she mean it then?

FWIW I had a very successful job before the DS's came along and yes, I would love to go back to what I did, but what I do now fits in with the boys and does not require any childcare.

Some customers are just plain awkward whatever the situation and they are not happy if they are not complaining about something.

wotulookinat · 27/03/2009 09:02

I have worked in retail and I loved it! It's a much more demanding job than people think, and you can get a lot of hassle from people.

differentID · 27/03/2009 09:05

bellavita- my closest friend said something along those lines to me a few weeks ago. About how I was too good for retail. They really don't understand it at all.

Original poster
BackToBasics · 27/03/2009 09:23

It is awful how some people treat shop assistants. Surely it's better to work in a supermarket than not at all?

OP posts:
differentID · 27/03/2009 09:26

what people forget is that without people like us working in shops they wouldn't be able to spend their money on anything

Tee2072 · 27/03/2009 09:27

I have a belief that everyone should be required to do some sort of customer service/shop assistant job for at least 2 months. I have done it and it is the hardest job I have ever done.

kayzr · 27/03/2009 09:29

YANBU!!!!

I work in a supermarket and I really hate some of the customers. I'm on the deli and some people are so snotty. The main thing I get is "Well it's 3p cheaper in Morrisons" and I honestly want to yell "Go to f*cking morrisons then". But of course I don't say that.

I live in Yorkshire but orginally from Norfolk and on several occasions by the same man I have been called a "f*cking foreigner" Luckily he has been banned from the shop but I still see him around town where he says loudly that foreigners aren't welcome here.

Saltire · 27/03/2009 09:29

I work in retail - thankfully not on the shop floor very often, mainly in the stockroom, but the aggro and abuse and downright rudeness by some customers is awful. I also get a lot of abuse for being a Scot.

differentID · 27/03/2009 09:32

I hate when people are obviously revolting to someone on their first week. If we have a new person I will stay close to help out for a couple of weeks until they are confident enough to handle certain situations. Some customers seem to deliberatley antagonise the newest member of staff, trying to mae them upset

Podrick · 27/03/2009 09:35

Everyone deserves respect - customers and shop assistants alike.

I feel extremely sorry for shop assistants who have to put up with unreasonable and offensive customers.

However, whilst there are a good many fabulous shop assistants in the UK, customer service standards are low in this country, and there are huge numbers of unfriendly and unhelpful assistants who customers are rightly unimpressed by.

Saltire · 27/03/2009 09:37

kayzr - at least your rude custoemr was banned for being rude to you. I was told , after being subjected to several "p off back to Scotland you F**g Scots bitch" that the man who said it was only having a laugh.

Tee2072 · 27/03/2009 09:37

That's a really good point podrick. I'm from the US and at times the customer service in the UK makes me shudder.

But I never let that be an excuse to be rude back!

Lizzylou · 27/03/2009 09:41

YANBU, I have worked in retail before and it is a tough job, not least having to bite your tongue constantly.

Original poster
BackToBasics · 27/03/2009 09:43

If someone is in the que talking on their mobile, my dp will serve the person behind them and bypass the one on their mobile. They soon get off their phone when he does that!

OP posts:
Eyeballsinthesky · 27/03/2009 09:48

I'm super polite so I think I was always a good customer but that thread a few weeks back about the French woman who wrote about life on the check out really made me think. I've never worked in retail but do speak to people on the phone and that's bad enough but at least I can stick two fingers up at them while still talking to them.

QuantitativeMeasure · 27/03/2009 09:49

I worked in retail for a while straight after leaving school, it was a great experience as I worked in a wedding dress shop.

The customers were generally great, excited, rabbles of women drinking champagne etc.

Plus I got to try dresses on during quiet periods!

TheBreastmilksOnMe · 27/03/2009 09:52

I'm always polite to shop assistants but I just wish the ones over here would crack a smile occasionally. They are soooo bloody miserable and rude it's no wonder that some people are less than polite to them.

kayzr · 27/03/2009 09:56

Saltire, that is disgusting. My friend from Australia who I used to work with got it a lot too. I just wish I knew why people think it is ok to talk to shop workers like they do.

Original poster
BackToBasics · 27/03/2009 09:58

I find looking a shop assistant in the eye to say thank you is good. I get a nice responce when i do that because it show i am sincere with my thank you rather than just saying it out of reflex. The ones who take their bag and look away and mutter thank you may as well not say it at all imo.

OP posts:
JacquelineBouvier · 27/03/2009 09:59

I used to work in retail banking and found that the rudest customers were those who looked down on us, thinking our job was menial.
Actually, the students were the worst. I had one who assured me she would never lower herself to work in a bank and would earn several thousands of pounds more than me when she graduated. (she said she thought i earned about 10k, i was in fact earning 25k plus bonuses as if the more you earn makes you a better person )

of course, she is now unemployed and on jsa. I know i shouldn't but . She (and many other people wanting to borrow money) never really grasped the fact that it was up to me whether her overdraft was increased and if she gave me lip i would very politely tell her computer says no!

The customers with the most money tended to be the most unassuming and lovely.

Original poster
BackToBasics · 27/03/2009 10:01

I find the opposite Jac, i find the ones with the most money/in the suit people are the rudest.

OP posts:
hullygully · 27/03/2009 10:01

Let's have a take shop assistants flowers day and spread some love and appreciation more widely through our stratified and often unkind society. Why not?

Bucharest · 27/03/2009 10:06

I used to work in WH Smith and loved it, but yes, we did use to get some flak.

Having lived here in Italy now for almost 15 yrs I can say that I heart British shop assistants....they are wonderful....I love to go into shops when I'm back in the Uk - shop assistants are just so friendly and professional.

Swipe left for the next trending thread