to expect polite & pleasant service from M & S not an angry rant from a stroppy teenage staff member?

[NewPenName]

popped into my local M & S food hall in my lunch-hour and mistakenly thought it was reasonable to ask for help from a customer assistant as I hadn't used their self-service check-outs before.

I couldn't get the bloody thing to work, not helped by the fact that I was laden down with a heavy laptop and files, was late for a meeting and there were no bags/baskets for my stuff..

Anyway, scanner wasn't working for me so assistant came over as requested, but grabbed the stuff off me rather impatiently and remonstrated with me that I wasn't listening to instructions. I explained politely that she hadn't shown me how to use it. She told me off again at which point I again politely but this time firmly pointed out to her that i was
a) merely asking for her help
b) actually a paying customer and didn't expect her to get angry with me.

She retorted that she was, quote "angry with me for not listening"!! wtf?! Where does a slip of a girl get off on feeling it's acceptable to get angry with a customer asking (politely) for her help?!

I appreciate this is hardly up there as a majorly significant awful event of my life but I'm enraged that this casually rude and downright aggressive attitude is seemingly acceptable on the high street.

Is it my pmt over-reacting or is this v unreasonable??

My rant over now. I shall go and get a life...

You definitely need to complain to store directly. Email HO if you want but these are just redirected to the store and are often missed/ignored if not picked up on the day they arrive by the appropriate manager.

Find a manager (red shirt) and they should be able to deal with your complaint. They will ask if you got the gitls name, all staff are required to wear a name badge, but failing that if she was the staff member allocated to the self service tills at the time her details will be on your receipt. Try to speak calmly and don't get angry while complaining. Managers want to know if their staff are shit but will be understandably defensive if you go in all guns blazing

You are unlikely to be offered any compensation so don't expect it, however they should deal with this girl fairly harshly. It is not acceptable for you to be spoken to in this manner and is not what you should expect.

jesus christ...
someone can't work a self service till (thereby causing a massive queue to add to the other one!) and you all say the kid should be sacked.
Granted she was rude-she will probably get fired for it-not sure if you will feel better about that?
maybe it's the pmt (a bit!)

Bit over the top TSC.
She won't get fired unless her attitude is always this bad.

Some people are just not good at self serve. Plenty of people who work with them don't like them either and avoid learning because they're always playing up.
Can't blame the customer when there is someone whose job it is to help.

dont think anyone thinks its a sackable offense, but it will mean the manager will have a word with her.and rightly so

As a retail manager and dealing with this sort of thing on a regular basis, I happen to agree with Doughnutty. You need to explain in a calm, rational what happened, at what time and how it made you feel. No, you won't speak to the member of staff involved and you won't recieve an apology from the member of staff involved, but the manager should follow it up with that member of staff.

The reason you won't find yourself gettig a personal apology from the member of staff involved is because it will be dealt with in a confidential manner. Nor will you know the outcome, as this too, is a confidential manner.

Depending on the nature of this member of staff and how often this happens, you never know, it could be a sackable offence. In our workplace it would be if the member of staff was on a final warning for this kind of behaviour and had happened during a probation period for example. So on that note alone, maybe you should report it to a manager.

Having said that, please remember to stay calm as I find I (maybe unfortunately?) tend to bend over backwards to help the membersd of public that are nice to me....the ones who shout at me, I really couldn't be arsed with (not that, i'm saying that's you....)

YANBU, she's a customer service assistant, not a brain surgeon!!!

if she's a christmas temp then there's no way she's getting employed afterwards though is there?we all have off days...
vengeance is not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
i am not defending her-although marks and sparks does attract a better class of arsey customer (not saying the op was one btw)

Nope, TSC, there might be a way she would get employed after, he manager might listen to the complaint, listen to her and give her another chance....happens alot, we do it all the time, but if she is a truely awful individual, then she might not. No, vengeance is not what is needed here, calm and rational explanation is.

I got shouted at by a customer in my store yesterday, telling me I shouldn't be in the store in the first place as I am on ML, and that I was "chatting" to the staff, had she really have been listening to the conversation, she would have realised that in between giving advice on leasing cars, I was also telling another manager how to reboot the credit card system (yes, my know-it-allness knows no bounds...i have opinions on all subjects!!)...did I react? no...did I strike her down with the flames of hell?? no...did I want to?? too bloody right I did!! {grin}

I really don't want her fired (unless she's always like this in which case, yes) and I do understand that it must be a stressful job at times with some of the public being rude. But I wasn't and I was upset to be treated like that, think it v unprofessional and expect M & S to actually take up my complaint. I'll let you know if I get a response to my email!

I work for M&S as a manager so I would advise you to either phone or visit the store again and ask to speak to the duty manager (there always is one regardless of the fact that the store is without a permanent store manager at the moment).

If that does not give you the outcome you'd like then write to Stuart Rose (chief exec)at Marks & Spencer, Waterside House, 35 North Wharf Road, London W2 1NW. Thats the actual head office whereas customer services are located in chester.

It is totally unacceptable, even if you were being a total dimwit (not saying you were of course!)she has no right to get angry. Its her job to help you - plain and simple.

Thanks, that's good to hear. It's not amazingly convenient for me to pop in again for a few days as not where I live. Hopefully I'll get an email response and not need to, otherwise I'll have to pop in next week.

Defo complain and get stupid cow sacked.

I wonder if she used to work for British Gas?

That was the exact same line I got when I asked one of their call centre women not to shout at me - "well, you're not listening to me, you make me so angry!"

As a matter of fact it was her not listening to me and trying to tell me something I already knew - that the service engineer was booked for 2pm (he'd already been round two hours early and told me I needed to ring and rebook a technical engineer for my particular problem, but would she let me say that?)

What is it with people?

I would definitely complain. I did (she didn't want to give me her name when I asked for it and told her (calmly) that I would not tolerate being spoken to like that. Got super-quick fantastic grovelling service from her manager afterwards!

I think it's understood that apart from the slightly more tasty food, the extra pennies we pay per item at M&S, buys us the bit of "sucking up" you don't get at most supermarkets.

At my local M&S Food they always ask you how your day was, have you found everything you need etc., so YANBU.

I think you should follow her home and tell her Mum....

Thesecondcocking - I the OP should complain, otherwise this girl will not learn that it is unacceptable to treat a customer in that manner. She needs to learn that even when you are having a bad day, you have to treat people politely. The rest of the world is not there for you to vent your frustrations upon.

It's called self-control, and she needs to learn it.

OMG in Marks!

I've not seen anyone being rude to customers in M&S yet, but I have on two occasions seen members of staff practically brawling in their stores.

One incidentally was Kensington HS... what a surprise!

Console yourself (as you write to Mr Rose) with the fact that at least she could string a sentence together. In Tesco they just stare at me for an unnerving long period of time before jabbing some of my merchandise or swinging the card reader violently in my direction.

Personally I get off on the outrage so keep going back time and again

Well I can beat that . I was told to f* off by the checkout girl at Ikea Brent Cross . And I was being polite.

Jesus Jones Kerala!!

How many vouchers did the store give you by way of apolpgy? I got £50 from Waitrose in similar circs!

DH works for a large bank in HO. Whilst out on a branch visit in SE London he witnessed a cashier get involved in a shouting match with a customer before coming out into the banking hall and having a fist fight!

Needless to say this man's banking career was somewhat short-lived.

Well, to be fair to M & S, I've got an apology and a literate one at that, albeit from a "no-reply" email. Wonder whether it'll really be passed on to the store though and whether they'll bother to track her down? No voucher offer either!

Thank you for taking the time to write to me about the poor experience you are had with a member of our staff within our store. I am very sorry that you felt upset about the service you received and the manner in which you were spoken to by this person.

I am taking your comments very seriously because at M&S, friendly, helpful and courteous service is a real priority. We want you to always feel welcome whenever you visit any of our stores and to receive excellent service.

It is extremely useful for me to have received your email which I will pass on to our Store Manager. Your comments will demonstrate where we have not got our service right, enable us to look at the situation and work out how we must, and will, do better. I am certain he will take the necessary steps to ensure that all our staff are offering our customer the proper service they expect and deserve from us and ensure training is issued in the areas that are highlighted if appropriate.

I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies because we welcome and sincerely appreciate any comments which help us to improve our service. I would like to again sincerely apologise for any distress that this may have caused and assure you that the necessary steps are taken to ensure all our staff are offering our customers the high standard of service that they expect.

Kind Regards Michael Whiteside
Marks & Spencer Customer Services

With this sort of thing I tend to go straight to the top of the management tree.
An email to [email protected] might help.

really, for this?!! Am i worthy and isn't he too busy going on the Today programme/sorting out their christmas season to deal with such trivia?!

Yes you are worthy. Dh once complained to Tom Farmer, the MD of KwikFit, when they failed to tighten up one of the wheels on the car, having had all 4 off to replace the steering brushes and pads. Luckily dh noticed before we hit the motorway, and the wheel came bowling merrily past us, but it caused some sort of ongoing problems with that wheel, and when dh complained to Tom Farmer, he was refunded a quarter of the money he'd paid for the initial work.

I've met Sir Tom Farmer, he's a very nice guy .

We never met him, but he dealt very quickly and nicely with our problem.