If there's one thing working in retail has taught me, it's that people can be much bigger jerks than I ever imagined. But maybe you understood that from our list of the worst client stories alone. I'd say it illustrates the absurd side of the industry pretty well!
But not every interaction by the counter is unbearable. Every once in a while, when you least expect it, someone comes up and restores your faith in humanity. Even though you swore to your friends that you've become a misanthrope. And there's one Twitter thread that proves it beautifully.
Created by Jenny from Washington, DC, it has people sharing feel-good memories about the times they went the extra mile for a customer just because they didn't treat them like garbage. Continue scrolling and check them out!
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You could argue that mutual understanding between employees and customers is now more important than ever. According to a new survey from Zipline, pandemic stresses continue to take a toll on American retail workers, with 48% of them saying they've considered quitting their job in the past year, and 64% saying they're seeing more aggression from customers.
The survey of 512 full-time, in-store retail associates, fielded in November and December 2021, also discovered that the share of retail workers eyeing the exit door has grown: in Zipline's previous workers' survey, conducted last spring, around 41% of respondents said they had thought about leaving their job.
Back in the day when I worked retail, if someone was really nice and I wanted to give them a discount like that, I’d do the old “are you SURE?” thing accompanied by a very knowing eyebrows raised look, trying to send them the message that the correct answer is “why yes, yes I am”, so I could give them a better deal. But if my manager wasn’t around and there was no line behind them, I’d say something like the OP did and give them the discount.
Among those who told Zipline this time around that they had thought about quitting, more than half said they were considering leaving the industry altogether.
Greater confidence in their job prospects is probably a big reason for some of those plans: 4.5% of retail workers quit their job in December—up from 3.1% who quit in December 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) report.
Imagine being a jerk and calling the police on someone who already is down on their luck.
And it shows. Retailers had more than 1 million job openings at the end of 2021 but hired just 861,000 workers in December, and that demand for labor has pushed up wages, with leading companies such as Walmart, Amazon, and SpartanNash saying in their latest earnings calls that rising labor costs have pressured margins.
So it's a good time for everyone in the market looking for a job change. But for retailers themselves, results of Zipline's survey point to potential risks that might warrant revisiting their workforce retention efforts.
🎶Sir, I want to buy these knives for my mama, please It's Christmas Eve and these knives are just right for her🎶
Something that will not happen if you think that it's your royal right to be rude to servers because "Customer Is King".
Zipline's latest findings also reveal that:
- 40% of full-time retail associates reported worsening mental health in the past year;
- 48% said they had experienced or witnessed a verbally abusive customer;
- 48% said they feel they have management's full support if and when a customer becomes verbally abusive;
- Of the 32% of full-time retail workers who say they have an additional source of income, 43% say they have a nonretail job, and 11% said they have another job in retail—creating demands on time that may keep some interested employees from taking advantage of continuing-education or career-development opportunities that their primary retail employer offers.
This makes me sad- you know they were risking their job to help... this should be the norm, not throwing away perfectly good food...
When everybody in the whole wide world has a full belly, THEN AND ONLY THEN can we throw out perfectly edible food. (Though I’d still put it in Tupperware and keep it for leftovers. But I’m just weird like that.)
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The homeless used to be able “dive” for all the wasted food. And now they have made that impossible too. If there is a fence or whatnot around the dumpster with a lock it’s “criminal”. Because the inspectors decided it’s so. I used to live and work in a homeless shelter. We made a deal with a local BBQ place and a few times a week, the cameras would not work, just long enough for us to climb the wall and get their care package. We would wake the families with children so they could get more to eat. Where I live now restaurants just won’t help, and so much of that food that’s clearly not touched could feed so many people from young to old. You would be SHOCKED to see what gets thrown away (not just food either). I once met two freegans, and they were driving nice cars and lived in nice homes. There are clear distinctions between need and greed (or cheap).
feel good on the freegans as well keep it out of the landfill that's healthy for all of us
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Some people get fired for this ;-; . . . I remember some dude who gave free Dunkin Donuts to people when the day was over, and they got fired.
you can thank all the sue happy people out there for this. if for any reason, one of them got sick from the food, they would sue the store, even tho they got it for free. you can thank those jerks for this. now me? i owned a deli and everyday i took all my left overs to the homeless camp, i didnt care about rules. they were hungry
Please stop posting falsehoods. The Good Samaritan act of 1996 protects people donating food from liability. People may think they can sie, but unless it is something bad like adding ground glass , you are okay. It nust more corporate veneer because they don't trust workers.
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When I worked for 7-11 many years ago we had a double deli order come in and on expiry day 2 full garbage bags of perfectly good food to toss... a group of young guys who were regulars but just scraping by came in, knowing what the sandwiches and baked goods piled allover the counters meant asked if they could have them... I wasn't allowed to give them away but let them know I couldnt take the trash to the dumpster until 7 am so if there were 2 bags by the door later that night I couldnt help what happened to them... at 7 I had no trash to take to the bins =)
So many places in the U.S. won't donate the left over food because they don't want to be sued. I can understand that if it's something that can go bad quickly, but there are programs for donating food. Setting something up with an organization like Harvesters is really easy, & Harvesters will come pick it up on a regular schedule, then distribute it to food pantries.
Stayed at a hotel once that had free breakfast included with the price of the room. When breakfast time was over, the manager would sneak the leftover eggs and stuff to some homeless guys insted of throwing it out. Had a deal with them - they wouldn't panhandle on the hotel property, wouldn't bother the paying customers in any way, wouldn't leave trash or cigarette butts around, would eat and leave. Seemed to work for both parties. Cost the hotel nothing since it was food that was going to be discarded. nothing since the food would've been discarded.
I just do not get why it is against company policy when literally thousands of dollars of food get trashed anyway. I never understood that when I worked there.
The folks that work at Walmart are generally GOOD FOLKS and it really pains me when a customer treats them badly.
In our country the deli/fresh food at the end of the day that is past or on sell-by is gathered up and either distributed free amongst staff or given to whoever comes to collect it. Also, they have a continuous battle with our local sparrows - two or three of them - that fly all the way into the store and pecks a tray of food in the open shelf fridges that they can get to, which is quite funny because they have this old lady whose job is to help customers but she spends a lot of time shooing the birds. They seem to like sausage rolls. For our American friends, I don't know if you have these, this is basically like a hotdog but the bread is flaky pastry instead of a breadroll.
"If there is one main takeaway from our survey it is this: mental health is declining as burnout increases at a rate we've never seen," Zipline said in a blog post. "It's a problem that, left unchecked, shows no signs of abating ... More disturbing still, more than half of all retail associates surveyed said that their mental health was either not a concern to their manager or that their manager was harmful to their mental well-being."
No wonder so many of the respondents are serious about quitting their job. They feel abandoned.
Something that should be known and may be helpful to others. alot of places like walmart and such will give you some syringe's for free(without needles of course) if you just ask them politely.
Teachers having to buy school supplies out of their own pocket. In other news: College teams pay $500 million in dead money to coaches to not coach anymore.
To fix the grim situation on the floor of retail stores across the United States, Zipline said managers should:
1. Be proactive about creating mental health infrastructure: sixty percent of the associates surveyed reported that their employer either didn’t have a mental health program in place or they weren’t aware if such a program existed;
2. Offer paid mental health days (at least): More than half of retail associates said the service they want most from their employer was paid mental health days with counseling and therapy coming in second place (18%) and paid gym memberships right behind (17%);
I'm not nice to people because it pays to be nice, but it *is* a lovely perk.
3. Increase pay: increasing an employee’s pay can lessen or eliminate the pressure to take on a second job. This not only increases employees’ dedication to their company, it also gives them more time to relax and take care of themselves, which translates into improved mental well-being;
4. Demonstrate support for employees: the survey found that 64% of retail employees had noticed an uptick in verbally aggressive or confrontational customers during the pandemic, but fewer than half of the respondents felt they had their manager’s support during these interactions;
Oh my god, I would marry this woman. I knit professionally and as a hobby so my yarn costs are through the roof! Those handmade sweaters, socks, scarves not only take a LOT of time to make by hand but often also cost way more than an equivalent item at the store because of the costs of quality yarn. Cheap acrylic stuff is usually anywhere from $2-7 per ball and the good stuff can cost anywhere from $9 to $300, depending on the fiber and size.
I went to dunkin once really craving some munchkins, ordered a dozen and the lady says "it's almost closing time can I give you 50 for the price of a dozen". That was a great day.
I hope when she presented the total, she totally did the Vanna White hand gesture!
5. Acknowledge contributions: fewer than half of the survey respondents felt that their managers frequently acknowledged their hard work. Managers should make a point to show appreciation for their employees’ contributions to the team to build morale and boost job satisfaction.
Of course, there's no quick fix. But if these strategies were implemented, chances are, the employees wouldn't have to rely on customers to enjoy their work!
Jo Choto: Because the post is poorly put, I would presume. The sweater HAD belonged to an employee's great grandparents (who presumably are dead).
Note: this post originally had 49 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I have a nice one. When I was working on my own in Denmark, I had to stay in Copenhagen city centre over the weekend. I had my dinner at one of the restaurants on the outside of Tivoli. It was getting quite late and they were a little slow at bringing my bill. I mentioned to the waitress that I had been thinking of going to Friday Rock, but that it was getting late and I was probably just going to go back to my hotel. She persuaded me to go and got me in for free by taking me through the kitchen. Ended up seeing a new artist for the first time and one of my Danish colleagues in the office managed to get me an copy of her English album (she was singing in Danish at the concert). Now a definite fan. :D
We've occasionally got a homeless person in our grocery stores walking around, and they usually are choosing what they can afford or not, and typically try check out with 1-2 items. One day I just say to one of the guys, put in whatever you need. I took him to the cashier and rang him up and then rang up my stuff. It didn't come to much, about $40, but he really appreciated it. You can make a difference to someone.
I was in a Dollar Tree once & this lady was there with her 2 small kids. They were behind me in the checkout line. She was buying 3 plastic boxes & I just happened to notice she was counting change to see if she had enough & her kids, being normal kids were asking for candy. She kept telling them as quietly as she could that she didn't have enough. After I checked out I had the cashier ring up her stuff & I paid for it, turned to her with a smile & quietly handed her the receipt, saying "now you do" She was shocked & the cashier was thanking me like crazy & I told her "everyone needs help at some point. Also no parent should be in the position of having to tell their small child (who doesn't understand & doesn't need to at that age) they don't have enough to get candy.". As I walked away I heard the mom asking the kids what they wanted. I'm 6ft 5in 315lbs guy & I teared up. That's just who I am though, I've bought people's groceries as a thank you for using their loyalty discount card.
I used to work overnight alone in a popular coffee shop, the baker came in at like 3 a.m. but was never up front. They had a policy that every thing left in the showcase, deli, soup etc. had to be throw out at midnight. Had log in how many of each item you threw out, I used to do the list first thing at 11, there were a few homeless people that frequented in the area and would come buy a cup of coffee when they can. I used to feed them from the throw list and give them extra for others they knew of that may or may not have eaten that day. The food was perfectly fine, made fresh in store every 4 hours, but I can't bring myself to waste it when I know some are going hungry.
I worked in retail for many years. I can say that I too love customers with manners and respect for the store I work in and the job I have. These kinds of customers always tended to get "freebies" or "discounts" if I was checking them out. One awesome customer can make your day of jerks, SO much better!!!
I sell food at the flea market. Thanks to current economic conditions I had to raise the price of an item. One of my original and consistent customers was warned of the price increase and I told him that he would always pay the old price. I love our weekly jousts over 25 cents, but he gets it for the original price.
When Hobby lobby was still doing their 40% off coupon, a friend would go with me and I'd run something to the car, then head back in to get the next item. I was pretty sick a few years ago and that was the only way I could get stuff. After about my 3rd or 4th trip, I told my friend this was the last trip as I was too tired to keep doing this. (She offered to do it) So, I come back to decide what my last thing will be only to be told that ALL of my purchases had been paid for and a refund was given for what I had already paid for. I was stunned. A random person asked my friend what was going on. After she told them, this person went to the manager and they worked something out. Got over $150 of stuff free to me and my benefactor only paid like $40 thanks to the manager. I cried. Going through chemo isn't fun, but they made it easier for me. I'm forever grateful
I went to The Who concert. The only ticket I could afford was on the very last row at the upper deck. I could just see dots moving on the stage. Out of the blue workers from the arena approached me with tickets to the 5th row. I was so excited and enjoyed the concert 10x more.
When I was in college, I delivered pizzas and newspapers. On sundays, I'd pull all the coupons for our store out of the papers and give them to my customers when they went to pay. Note - was a corporate store, not privately owned. Took my boss 2 years to say something.
When I worked for a franchise hot sub shop If people were rude I'd limit interaction. But if the person was considerate about the issue I'd offer the mess up sub to them or the door dashers. I'd also offer a drink and chips to teachers nurses and doctors first responders and variants of. If we would make a big order and the people didn't show for it I would take them to the animal hospital out our back door. I've given families food after disaster in their lives. If you knew how much I've had to waste there. It made no difference if I gave it away instead.
If you want to actually be nice to someone, it means giving something of yourself, not stealing from your employer. Sure, it makes no difference to you, but you are at the bottom of the corporate ladder. Your theft causes issues for all the people up the line who have to account for too much stock gone and not enough money taken. The result is that prices go up, and they cut employees to compensate for losses. When you "give" a product to a customer, it is 100 percent NO different than someone walking into a store and shoplifting because they feel like it. If you wouldn't shoplift because it's wrong, then you shouldn't give away stuff that doesn't belong to you. Paying for it yourself is good. Applying a legitimate discount when you don't have to is good. Stealing because someone pays you a compliment is possibly the worst excuse I have ever heard. Get real, people.
Sorry you're getting downvoted. I'd been thinking the same thing, that many of these 'acts of kindness' involve stealing from employers, which I do not view as an act of charity either. I am impressed with the ones who paid for something themselves, or actually did something extra for someone.
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Once in line for my scripts at wall greens, the elderly man in front of me couldn’t afford all his scripts, so he had the clerk remove three of them. I had just gotten my tax return and had paid off all the cards. When I went up to collect mine as they were ready while his were not, I had her add the cost of his scripts to my cost. Turns out the ones he had her put back were for his heart and the ones he was going to get were for his wife who was in the end stages of cancer.
Years ago I was having a stressful day and didn't get lunch until about 3pm and went to a nearby Potbelly's. I must have looked like hell and it was obvious because when I went to pay for my sandwich, the cashier benignly asked, "How's your day going?" I just said "Fine, I've just got a screaming headache is all. I'll be fine." She smiled compassionately and pushed a chocolate cookie in the bag already in my hand saying, "then you deserve this." I was professionally dressed, not homeless or counting my change to pay or anything, so I it's not like I couldn't have afforded it. Yet it was such a sweet and unnecessary thing from a stranger at a time I felt like hell that my eyes welled with tears, which I thought might have made her feel bad. I thanked her sincerely and remember her gesture to this day. Her kindness and the cookie really did fix my headache.
I had tickets for a transatlantic light in 1999 for myself and my 4 year old. The flight was overbooked and we were said to sit and wait to see if we can get on. About a million people boarded and I got more and more nervous, but the lady at the counter just said to wait. At the end she got us first class seats!
I try my best to be super nice to retail workers, with some extra sprinkles of kindness towards supermarket and food/restaurant attendants. I go kinda often to Burger King because I study nearby and share a combo with my mom. So I know the staff and always talk to them, ask how they are, engage in smalltalk (I'm a very talkative extrovert, if it's not obvious), what I thought was default people behavior. Because I take my meal to go, I once asked, if it wasn't a problem for them, to get a bottle of water instead of the cup of soda, because I don't drink soda, but also I wouldn't be able to bring an open container home. They made the trade, I thanked them and went on my merry way. Ever since then I've been getting water bottles with my meal. No need to ask, they just hand me the bag, inform me that the water is in there and that's it. I never thought any of it, they know me, I always order the same combo, but maybe they are returning the kindness. Not that they need to, but it's nice.
The egg lady at the farmer's market always packs some extra cracked eggs for me. Most of the times they aren't even cracked, she just gives me free eggs.
When I lived in Hollywood there were a lot of professional "beggars" who would try to scam the tourists out of money. There was this one guy, though, a homeless vet who would spread out a blanket on the sidewalk at the end of my street and prop up an umbrella on the ground for his dog, a beautiful Irish Setter. I would talk to him if I was walking by and he was a very nice man, but he had been in Vietnam and had severe PTSD. If I happened to be grocery shopping I would grab him some food and some dog food and water so they'd have something to eat for a few days (nothing refrigerated of course). I often wonder what happened to them.
This thread saddens me somewhat. It shouldn't be out of the ordinary to treat other humans with empathy. It should be normal. I *always* treat customer services as I would wish to be treated. As a patient in hospital some time ago - being sick/diarrhoea/bleeding - I was told I was the best patient she had ever cared for. All because I apologised for my illness and said thank you for her help.
When I was a circulation clerk at my local library, I'd forgive some fines because I knew the people didn't return the books late because they were just lazy. I made sure I collected fees from people who were rude and demanding. One such lady paid her miniscule fee for a reserve book while grousing about she shouldn't have to pay it, she was old, etc. I got her dime and she walked out the front door and fell over. After EMTS, police and everyone came, I gave her dime back. Not long after she was escorted to her car, and she drove away with her dime and her reserve. I've never forgotten that. It may not have been intentional, but I was honestly surprised.
There was this one time when I was at Olive Garden where I was with my family and some of my cousins and we were done with our meal and were cleaning up the area (so that the cleaners wouldn't have to clean up so much) and an Olive Garden worker came by, said "you look like your being nice" and just dumped a heck of a lot of Olive Garden mints. There was at least 70 on the table. What a kind lady.
there are similar articles on here about petty store workers getting revenge on rude customers.......I wonder why people cant learn
When I worked service and retail, customers who were polite and nice were the ones we'd bend over backwards for; Karens and Chads trying to bully people into free stuff would always get the bare minimum necessary to get them to go away. (Those are the people who would get decaf instead of regular, since they clearly needed to calm down)
Worked one x-mas season at an upscale department store. Whenever I noticed someone had returned the clothing they had tried on or picked up something off the floor and hung it back up, I noticed. I would then say, "oh, I think this is on the 50% off rack."
I love this positive content today. When I was in further education college (16-17 years old) I would spend all my spare cash from my part-time job on sweets, from those expensive pick n mix shelves when Superdrug still had them. I think the woman on the till felt bad for how much I was spending and gave me an employee discount a few times. She was cool.
Huh? Are you sure you're commenting on the right thread?
Load More Replies... I have a nice one. When I was working on my own in Denmark, I had to stay in Copenhagen city centre over the weekend. I had my dinner at one of the restaurants on the outside of Tivoli. It was getting quite late and they were a little slow at bringing my bill. I mentioned to the waitress that I had been thinking of going to Friday Rock, but that it was getting late and I was probably just going to go back to my hotel. She persuaded me to go and got me in for free by taking me through the kitchen. Ended up seeing a new artist for the first time and one of my Danish colleagues in the office managed to get me an copy of her English album (she was singing in Danish at the concert). Now a definite fan. :D
We've occasionally got a homeless person in our grocery stores walking around, and they usually are choosing what they can afford or not, and typically try check out with 1-2 items. One day I just say to one of the guys, put in whatever you need. I took him to the cashier and rang him up and then rang up my stuff. It didn't come to much, about $40, but he really appreciated it. You can make a difference to someone.
I was in a Dollar Tree once & this lady was there with her 2 small kids. They were behind me in the checkout line. She was buying 3 plastic boxes & I just happened to notice she was counting change to see if she had enough & her kids, being normal kids were asking for candy. She kept telling them as quietly as she could that she didn't have enough. After I checked out I had the cashier ring up her stuff & I paid for it, turned to her with a smile & quietly handed her the receipt, saying "now you do" She was shocked & the cashier was thanking me like crazy & I told her "everyone needs help at some point. Also no parent should be in the position of having to tell their small child (who doesn't understand & doesn't need to at that age) they don't have enough to get candy.". As I walked away I heard the mom asking the kids what they wanted. I'm 6ft 5in 315lbs guy & I teared up. That's just who I am though, I've bought people's groceries as a thank you for using their loyalty discount card.
I used to work overnight alone in a popular coffee shop, the baker came in at like 3 a.m. but was never up front. They had a policy that every thing left in the showcase, deli, soup etc. had to be throw out at midnight. Had log in how many of each item you threw out, I used to do the list first thing at 11, there were a few homeless people that frequented in the area and would come buy a cup of coffee when they can. I used to feed them from the throw list and give them extra for others they knew of that may or may not have eaten that day. The food was perfectly fine, made fresh in store every 4 hours, but I can't bring myself to waste it when I know some are going hungry.
I worked in retail for many years. I can say that I too love customers with manners and respect for the store I work in and the job I have. These kinds of customers always tended to get "freebies" or "discounts" if I was checking them out. One awesome customer can make your day of jerks, SO much better!!!
I sell food at the flea market. Thanks to current economic conditions I had to raise the price of an item. One of my original and consistent customers was warned of the price increase and I told him that he would always pay the old price. I love our weekly jousts over 25 cents, but he gets it for the original price.
When Hobby lobby was still doing their 40% off coupon, a friend would go with me and I'd run something to the car, then head back in to get the next item. I was pretty sick a few years ago and that was the only way I could get stuff. After about my 3rd or 4th trip, I told my friend this was the last trip as I was too tired to keep doing this. (She offered to do it) So, I come back to decide what my last thing will be only to be told that ALL of my purchases had been paid for and a refund was given for what I had already paid for. I was stunned. A random person asked my friend what was going on. After she told them, this person went to the manager and they worked something out. Got over $150 of stuff free to me and my benefactor only paid like $40 thanks to the manager. I cried. Going through chemo isn't fun, but they made it easier for me. I'm forever grateful
I went to The Who concert. The only ticket I could afford was on the very last row at the upper deck. I could just see dots moving on the stage. Out of the blue workers from the arena approached me with tickets to the 5th row. I was so excited and enjoyed the concert 10x more.
When I was in college, I delivered pizzas and newspapers. On sundays, I'd pull all the coupons for our store out of the papers and give them to my customers when they went to pay. Note - was a corporate store, not privately owned. Took my boss 2 years to say something.
When I worked for a franchise hot sub shop If people were rude I'd limit interaction. But if the person was considerate about the issue I'd offer the mess up sub to them or the door dashers. I'd also offer a drink and chips to teachers nurses and doctors first responders and variants of. If we would make a big order and the people didn't show for it I would take them to the animal hospital out our back door. I've given families food after disaster in their lives. If you knew how much I've had to waste there. It made no difference if I gave it away instead.
If you want to actually be nice to someone, it means giving something of yourself, not stealing from your employer. Sure, it makes no difference to you, but you are at the bottom of the corporate ladder. Your theft causes issues for all the people up the line who have to account for too much stock gone and not enough money taken. The result is that prices go up, and they cut employees to compensate for losses. When you "give" a product to a customer, it is 100 percent NO different than someone walking into a store and shoplifting because they feel like it. If you wouldn't shoplift because it's wrong, then you shouldn't give away stuff that doesn't belong to you. Paying for it yourself is good. Applying a legitimate discount when you don't have to is good. Stealing because someone pays you a compliment is possibly the worst excuse I have ever heard. Get real, people.
Sorry you're getting downvoted. I'd been thinking the same thing, that many of these 'acts of kindness' involve stealing from employers, which I do not view as an act of charity either. I am impressed with the ones who paid for something themselves, or actually did something extra for someone.
Load More Replies... Once in line for my scripts at wall greens, the elderly man in front of me couldn’t afford all his scripts, so he had the clerk remove three of them. I had just gotten my tax return and had paid off all the cards. When I went up to collect mine as they were ready while his were not, I had her add the cost of his scripts to my cost. Turns out the ones he had her put back were for his heart and the ones he was going to get were for his wife who was in the end stages of cancer.
Years ago I was having a stressful day and didn't get lunch until about 3pm and went to a nearby Potbelly's. I must have looked like hell and it was obvious because when I went to pay for my sandwich, the cashier benignly asked, "How's your day going?" I just said "Fine, I've just got a screaming headache is all. I'll be fine." She smiled compassionately and pushed a chocolate cookie in the bag already in my hand saying, "then you deserve this." I was professionally dressed, not homeless or counting my change to pay or anything, so I it's not like I couldn't have afforded it. Yet it was such a sweet and unnecessary thing from a stranger at a time I felt like hell that my eyes welled with tears, which I thought might have made her feel bad. I thanked her sincerely and remember her gesture to this day. Her kindness and the cookie really did fix my headache.
I had tickets for a transatlantic light in 1999 for myself and my 4 year old. The flight was overbooked and we were said to sit and wait to see if we can get on. About a million people boarded and I got more and more nervous, but the lady at the counter just said to wait. At the end she got us first class seats!
I try my best to be super nice to retail workers, with some extra sprinkles of kindness towards supermarket and food/restaurant attendants. I go kinda often to Burger King because I study nearby and share a combo with my mom. So I know the staff and always talk to them, ask how they are, engage in smalltalk (I'm a very talkative extrovert, if it's not obvious), what I thought was default people behavior. Because I take my meal to go, I once asked, if it wasn't a problem for them, to get a bottle of water instead of the cup of soda, because I don't drink soda, but also I wouldn't be able to bring an open container home. They made the trade, I thanked them and went on my merry way. Ever since then I've been getting water bottles with my meal. No need to ask, they just hand me the bag, inform me that the water is in there and that's it. I never thought any of it, they know me, I always order the same combo, but maybe they are returning the kindness. Not that they need to, but it's nice.
The egg lady at the farmer's market always packs some extra cracked eggs for me. Most of the times they aren't even cracked, she just gives me free eggs.
When I lived in Hollywood there were a lot of professional "beggars" who would try to scam the tourists out of money. There was this one guy, though, a homeless vet who would spread out a blanket on the sidewalk at the end of my street and prop up an umbrella on the ground for his dog, a beautiful Irish Setter. I would talk to him if I was walking by and he was a very nice man, but he had been in Vietnam and had severe PTSD. If I happened to be grocery shopping I would grab him some food and some dog food and water so they'd have something to eat for a few days (nothing refrigerated of course). I often wonder what happened to them.
This thread saddens me somewhat. It shouldn't be out of the ordinary to treat other humans with empathy. It should be normal. I *always* treat customer services as I would wish to be treated. As a patient in hospital some time ago - being sick/diarrhoea/bleeding - I was told I was the best patient she had ever cared for. All because I apologised for my illness and said thank you for her help.
When I was a circulation clerk at my local library, I'd forgive some fines because I knew the people didn't return the books late because they were just lazy. I made sure I collected fees from people who were rude and demanding. One such lady paid her miniscule fee for a reserve book while grousing about she shouldn't have to pay it, she was old, etc. I got her dime and she walked out the front door and fell over. After EMTS, police and everyone came, I gave her dime back. Not long after she was escorted to her car, and she drove away with her dime and her reserve. I've never forgotten that. It may not have been intentional, but I was honestly surprised.
There was this one time when I was at Olive Garden where I was with my family and some of my cousins and we were done with our meal and were cleaning up the area (so that the cleaners wouldn't have to clean up so much) and an Olive Garden worker came by, said "you look like your being nice" and just dumped a heck of a lot of Olive Garden mints. There was at least 70 on the table. What a kind lady.
there are similar articles on here about petty store workers getting revenge on rude customers.......I wonder why people cant learn
When I worked service and retail, customers who were polite and nice were the ones we'd bend over backwards for; Karens and Chads trying to bully people into free stuff would always get the bare minimum necessary to get them to go away. (Those are the people who would get decaf instead of regular, since they clearly needed to calm down)
Worked one x-mas season at an upscale department store. Whenever I noticed someone had returned the clothing they had tried on or picked up something off the floor and hung it back up, I noticed. I would then say, "oh, I think this is on the 50% off rack."
I love this positive content today. When I was in further education college (16-17 years old) I would spend all my spare cash from my part-time job on sweets, from those expensive pick n mix shelves when Superdrug still had them. I think the woman on the till felt bad for how much I was spending and gave me an employee discount a few times. She was cool.
Huh? Are you sure you're commenting on the right thread?
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