30 Savage Burns By Employees Who Are Tired Of Clueless, Dumb And Frustrating Things Customers Say
The customer is always right. Whether they forgot to ask for their pizza with no tomatoes until it arrived at their table or they swear they had a coupon for soup in their basket but now it’s nowhere to be found. One of the unfortunate aspects of working in any customer service job is dealing with customers who seem to have left their common sense at home. From asking stupid questions to making illogical demands, every retail or service industry employee has a treasure trove of stories about customers who should have taken a moment to think before they spoke.
Last week, Westernunion2k tweeted, “Customers will say [stuff] like ‘Uhh it's asking me to remove my card?’” and sparked a conversation where many other employees shared moments from their jobs where customers made them want to facepalm. Below, you can read some of the conversation, and then let us know in the comments what the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard a customer or client say was. Then if you’re interested in reading another similar Bored Panda piece, we’ve got the perfect story mocking even more customers right here. Image credits: westernunion2k
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Obviously, the customer is not always right, but for some reason, particularly in the United States, that is the understanding that all customers and employees have in the service industry. Workers are expected to bend over backwards for their patrons, while the customers expect to be treated like royalty. While it’s not completely clear where this old motto originated, various American retail pioneers like Marshall Field, Harry Gordon Selfridge and John Wanamaker have all been credited for popularizing the idea. Although, it was not a purely American mindset, as the Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz, founder of Ritz Carlton hotels, had a similar slogan in the 1890s of “Le client n'a jamais tort”, or “the customer is never wrong”.
'Working in retail taught me how many adults can't read', there, amended it for you......
Other countries have their own versions of this saying as well, as Blake Morgan pointed out in her Forbes piece “A Global View Of 'The Customer Is Always Right'”. In Spanish, the phrase is “el cliente siempre tiene la razón”, while “il cliente ha sempre ragione” is the Italian equivalent. These both translate to “the customer always has a reason”, so employees are tasked with understanding the customer’s reasoning and accommodating them accordingly. The German phrase takes it one step further by saying “der Kunde ist König” or the customer is king. In Japan, customers are even referred to as gods. These ideas run deep in many societies, as Blake pointed out that even in 1905, a publication from Sears, Robuck and Co. in the United States said, “Every one of their thousands of employees are instructed to satisfy the customer regardless of whether the customer is right or wrong.”
Customers are not immune to saying stupid things, in fact they might be prone to doing it, but employees are often told to treat them like they are. One reason for this is to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty. I once worked a customer service job where the highest priority was to just make sure a customer never left upset. Offer them a gift card or free service, apologize profusely, but just don’t let them leave thinking they will never come back. This is not always the best tactic, however, because as Kathy Dalpes at Zendesk points out, “Your employees are your customers as well.”
Yeah because it’s supposed to automatically know it. What kind of Walmart are you? /s
My Father-in-law, bless him, went to the local burger bar, he was in his late eighties. They called out his order but he was a bit hard of hearing. After a few calls, one of the staff shouted "it's for the old boy at the back". To which FIL turned and said why don't these old duffers ever listen. Much laughter ensued, and he was, for some reason, very happy to tell everyone about it for days.
“Some critics of the idea that ‘the customer is always right’ contend that it amounts to putting customers above employees or the business itself, but there doesn’t have to be a tradeoff here,” Kathy explains. “If you treat your employees as well as your customers, and empower them with the technology, processes and creative enablement to deliver truly frictionless experiences, your customers will become advocates for your business.”
It is a delicate balance for business owners to satisfy their patrons without alienating their employees. But Kathy explains that in this modern day, accommodating customers is more about providing a frictionless experience than about believing every silly little thing a customer says.
To provide the smoothest experience possible for customers, Kathy notes that businesses must make themselves available. Whether that means running active social media accounts, having specialists available to chat with customers on the website, or having phone lines open 24/7, being responsive means a lot to customers. Zendesk reports that they’ve seen a massive rise in “customer support tickets on social messaging channels” since the beginning of the pandemic, with over a 100% increase just on WhatsApp. Knowing that they can have their problems solved quickly and without any difficulties makes customers feel taken care of, and it encourages them to trust the company. They will be more likely to return in the future, and they’ll even spread the message to friends and family.
In fairness, i hate calling places and tend to rehearse how i'll start talking when ppl answer. Sometimes the practised statement comes out unintentionally before i realise it no longer makes sense ...
Sometimes the people answering the phone just says it so fast and monotone (I know I did when I had to answer phones) that is difficult for the person calling to understand
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To be fair, I do this because I often can't hear the person clearly when they answer the phone
Aww i probably do this since it takes a few seconds for my brain to start working when I've made contact with a human over the phone. (Next will probably be "Oh, hello. Yes. Ummm....") I hate phone calls!!
A lot of the time I simply can't understand the person on the other end of the phone. Usually they are speaking way too fast.
As a customer I do often dislike the phone answering process. "Thank you for calling Franks Efficient Hardware Emporium on Main Street. . My name is Orville McFunny Voice. How may I help you today?" Sometimes it goes on for so long I really do forget what place I called. Can't they just say, :"Hello Frank's Hardware"
Well, maybe if the person answering didn't mumble or speed read the business name, we wouldn't ask.
Sometimes when a business answers the phone they speak so quickly that my brain can't make out what they are saying (I have audio processing disorder). If possible I will communicate through e-mail or another text-based system.
Don't be such a smarty. Many times whoever answers the phone speaks so fast and garbles it that I have no idea what they just said. Would you rather I just said 'What?"
Maybe they couldn't hear it good enough. I ask too because I didn't understand it right.
Sometimes, the employee answering say the "hello spiel" so fast you can't understand them, that's why we say is this.....?.
The pharmacy I worked it had a prerecorded message that ran before the phone would ring in the store. It very clearly stated the store name, location and hours before I was able to pick up. Once I picked up, 90% of the callers would ask me what store they called, which location and what the hours were. 🤷♀️
Me: "Thanks for calling [insert place name] Post Office. Can I help you?" Them: "Can you tell me how to get to Kay Jewelers?" What means did you use to find our phone number but you couldn't find theirs?
If you work two jobs and use different greetings when answering the phones, sometimes you mistakenly answer with the wrong greeting and confuse the customer.
Or answer your home phone with your work greeting. Happened to me once when a co-worker of mine was calling. We both laughed about it.
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sometimes when i call places, the person who answers has said their thing so many times that it no longer sounds like words, and it actually doesn't sound at all like the business name. also called a place once, which went by 2 names, so they answered by the name i didn't know and i was so confused.
Answering the phone "Hi *company name and location* (video game store chain Australia) how can I help?" Customer - "Is this Kmart?" Me - "No sorry this is *repeats company name* (that is in no way affiliated with the department store in question)" Customer - in a very pissed off tone "Well can you just transfer me through to Kmart?" Me - "sorry, unfortunately I can't transfer you through" Customer - "Well why won't you?" Me - "I'm sorry but we are a completely separate company, so our phone lines aren't connected like that" Customer - now angry at me for not in fact being Kmart "Fine! Well can you at least give me their number!?" Me - "No sorry I don't know it, you may need to try and use the internet again to find it, like you did to get this number." Then she just proceded to hang up on me, as I am neither Kmart, nor Google.
How about the ones who call YOU, and when you answer with the greeting the company makes you say, they say “Who”? Honey, you’re the one who called me.
I have such anxiety on the phone. English is not my first language and I never seem to hear and understand anything anyone is saying. I once spent 5 solid minutes on the phone with a Home Depot representative to set up an appointment. After making her repeat every single sentence many times I just gave up and said yes to everything. When I hung up I still had no idea which day and time the appointment was.
Omg I would always say " thank you for calling dollar general clinton highway"...." is this the one in clinton highway"......"no man it's not" click lol
Oh yes! Or if they manage to misspell my surname in response to en e-mail (!) I wrote to them XD
I would repeat my exact script sometimes sweet as pie. They laugh and say you sound like a machine.
I used to get this at least once a week. Me: Good morning, Public Prosecution Service. Them: Is this the Dept of Labour? Me: Good morning. PUBLIC PROSECUTION SERVICE.
"Thank you for calling (business) we're open till midnight" "ya how late are you open?"
For me, it's when people would call on a holiday and go "Oh, are you open?" Like why would I be there answering the phone? Does that not answer your question? Or if someone would call one store location (where I was) and say "well can you give me the number for the store at this other location?" I had to breathe deeply. How did you get our phone number? Okay, now do the same thing, just for the other store.
This happens to me. I answer the phone, "Hello, (Business Name) technical support, how can I help you?" Customer: Is this technical support? or Can you get me a technical support person? ::sigh::
I love when, after you've said all that they ask, "are you open?"..uhhhh?
Lots of places are staffed and will answer the phone even if they aren’t open for business. Have you ever made a reservation at a restaurant at 4pm and the place doesn’t open until 5pm?
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Sometimes employees have a long script they are required to use to answer business calls, and they run through it so fast you can't understand what they've said.
Understanding who your customer base is can also be important. Customer loyalty is a huge focus for many companies today, and with the technology we have at our fingertips, there is no reason for a business to not understand customer trends. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report, “71% of customers expect companies to collaborate and share data internally, so they don’t have to repeat themselves.” A customer may not always remember the name of the stylist who cut their hair 3 months ago, but they trust that the receptionist will be able to look it up for them. And you might not remember the last time you bought a pair of jeans, but your favorite retail store can probably tell you once you provide them with your phone number. The more information you have for a customer, the less likely they are to ask stupid questions, and the more likely they are to feel comfortable in your business.
Going to be honest, before I could double check on my phone, I use to get really paranoid too.
yep I do this all the time and I have a genius IQ. You need to just use cardreaders that accept the screen tap because we are all habituated to that now. if you have to tap the head of the device it's confusing. I'm one of those people who pushes doors with a clear sign that says "pull".
The customer does not always have to be treated like they are right, but it does not hurt to make them feel welcomed. Being conversational can also go a long way in making customers feel comfortable, and if an employee provides clear explanations and descriptions of products, the customer might not need to ask as many questions. Making a large purchase like a car or a new appliance can be nerve-racking, which might be part of the reason nervous customers say dumb things, but when an employee makes an effort to engage them in conversation, their fears may dissipate. “With the right tools, your employees— remember they’re customers too! — should be able to deliver true conversational experiences across all your customer touchpoints,” says Kathy Dalpes. “When both sides know each other the experience becomes more engaging, more natural, and ultimately, more successful.”
I have been double charged in that exact scenario, though. Technology is FAR from perfect, and 20 years of working in customer service taught me that point of sale systems are the furthest from perfect that you can get without just using a stick and a rock to ring up your order
Now, aside from the dumb questions about when to remove their cards from the chip readers or how much something costs when the price is clearly on the product, there are certainly times where a customer is not only ignorant, but blatantly wrong. If they ask for water at a restaurant for the “second time” when you know it’s the first time, sure, they can be right. But if they are outright rude or bigoted, those customers are not worth keeping in the first place. According to the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, 20% of customers usually account for 80% of total profits. When you encounter a nightmare customer who is making employees, or other customers, uncomfortable, chances are, your business can afford to lose them. If catering to them is more effort than it’s worth, just hold the door open for them and hope they never come back.
If she's old, there's a very good chance that she has memory issues. Most of these are funny, this one is just cruel.
As we all know, it is impossible to please everyone. In one of my previous customer service jobs, within the same day, I would hear excited compliments and heated complaints about the music that was playing in the salon. Everyone has their own preferences, and that is okay. As Kumar Arora wrote in Forbes, “Using ‘the customer is always right’ in your daily business practices works under the assumption that you can satisfy every customer 24/7. This is a fool’s errand. Even the largest and most successful brands know this to be impossible, and so should you. People are unique. We all have different tastes in fashion, food, cars, homes, etc., and if you attempt to satisfy every customer's needs, your business will quickly fail.”
I wonder if this is a sign that sooooo many devices are misdesigned as they obviously do not meet how many people function.
"Insert the chip? I'm sorry, I ate all my fries. I didn't realize I needed to keep one for verification."
As much fun as it is to mock dumb things customers have said, it is also a reminder to not be that customer. Employees and patrons are just trying to get through the day, whether they are running an errand or working a job they are less than passionate about to provide for their family, so they both appreciate it when the other makes their life easier. Workers, try to have patience with customers who might be a little bit slow to understand things like card readers, and customers, just take a moment to think before you speak. Or you might end up being roasted on Twitter.
Early’s 2000’s there used to be an option for that - you could swipe your card and enter your pin while the cashier was scanning then you just had to “approve” at the end. Doesn’t exist anymore, and I’m sure I can guess why, but I liked it for those quick trips with a small basket of stuff.
It should read my mind before you even punch it in or swipe the card. I should just think of it and it happens - Customer
I work in a store, but usually shop in another. Often out of uniform, but, once, after I had finished work I nipped over to the other store quickly while still in my uniform. Neither uniforms look similar and both are branded with the names of the stores. While buying my shopping and putting it in the cart another customer came over, stared fixedly at me then asked me if I worked there and did I know what aisle the toiletries were in. I just stared back, dumbfounded!
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I know all of the above is extremely frustrating but I am one of those annoying people... I suffer with terrible anxiety and I start to panic sometimes the moment I put my shoes on to leave the house then when I get home after shopping I want to close my curtains, cry and never leave the house again after I go over and over in my mind how dumb and annoying I must've been. (typing this is anxiety inducing let alone hitting the post button!) I do apologise! X
I have severe anxiety as well, and spent 20 years working in customer service, so I feel your pain. Most service workers won't remember you the second you walk out the door. Honestly, people just aren't paying that much attention to you, because they're paying too much attention to themselves. I'm saying this to be helpful!
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I don't think a lot of store employees realize how over-stimulating and confusing their shopping environment can be for someone with social anxiety, ADHD, or mild cognitive decline. And they get annoyed if you try to put in your card too fast, but also if you don't do it fast enough. And every store has a slightly different kind of card reader. Restaurants, too, can sometimes be very loud and distracting, plus you're trying to have a conversation with your dinner companions, so you might need extra cognitive processing time when you're asked a question. Can we try to be a little more patient and less ableist with each other?
As long as these little rants are just happening outside of work, I get it. It can be annoying for the employees to have the same conversation with people over and over. As soon as they let it affect how they're treating the customer, though, they're the assholes. Because you're right, there are a lot of potential reasons people may not be able to follow the "simple" instructions, and if the customer isn't being a jerk about it, there's no need to be a jerk back to them.
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It seems like 70% of these dealt with card readers, so maybe it’s that card readers really are annoyingly confusing and inconsistent, and it’s not us (customers). As customers we expect you (the employee) to be more familiar with how it works, and that means that, rather than learn how each new one works, we might ask you to walk us through its operation, which is the LEAST you can do.
I really don't know why so many customers do this but a horde will turn up at two minutes before closing and insist on doing a full shop! Why? I feel we should be able to, legally round them up, ten minutes later and chase them out of the store with cattle prods. We have homes to go to, too, you know, and we've worked a long shift. Anything from 8-12 hours for some of us. If customers want to do a full shop then, please, for the love of God, come in earlier
They do it because of their sense of entitlement, humans are assholes and they get more and assholey daily, common courtesy for others is heading to extinction
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I worked in retail for a long, long time. I know how exasperating customers can be. I also know that I don't know a thing about them, or what they may be going through. I had to buy groceries the day I learned my mom had unexpectedly died, and I had to ask for help for everything. I also struggle with severe social anxiety, which often makes it so I can't take in information the first time. My aggravation levels dropped precipitously when I realized that all I needed to do was treat customers as whole, complex human beings.
A lot of customer service people bitching about how old people can't do things, b***h, you were born with a smartphone in your palm, some of these people didn't even have a TV at home growing up.
Sometimes I wish stores would have a line just for folks over 65.
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I love the ones who have me ring up 47 items, THEN the ask if we take apple pay. It's always the apple pay people. Nobody waits till I've entered 47 items then ask if we take credit cards. They ask first.
Apple pay people are some of the most annoying customers ever. Why do they all assume that everywhere takes it and never bring a physical card with them?
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I've worked many jobs where I dealt directly with customers, and once again, articles like this convince me that there are a lot of people who shouldn't be working in jobs that deal with the public.
Absolutely. I work in retail and I really shouldn't. I do it because I need my job to survive. And I am probably not alone in this. It's no use telling me I shouldn't be working in jobs that deal with the public. I should because I need to pay my bills. I nonetheless try to be empathetic because it makes the job easier.
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Every customer should be aware that the full quotation is "the customer is always right in matters of fashion."
My favourite is when they’ve already paid, I rang it up, I’m grabbing change, and they suddenly try to alter the money they gave me. You want me to go through the process of refunding this and doing it over, do you? You think that’s helpful to anyone?
I often think that EVERYONE needs to take a customer service job or a sales job when they graduate from high school. Perhaps then we'll get more thoughtful and patient customers.
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As a server and someone with anxiety, I have no problem with customers who forget or panic when asked a question. It's how you respond as in, your level of manners, kindness, etc. There's a right way and a wrong way to everything and guess what the right way is going to get you more often than not? As long as customers are considerate and patient, we will be fine. Act like an a*****e and rude and you can find your way out and never come back.
If you are this impatient with errors or human error/mistakes. You should not be dealing with people.
Retail is low income jobs. People who work there do it out of necessity, not because they love dealing with customers/want to work with people (there are exceptions of course). If you are the misanthropic kind you have to lie to your boss that you LOOOVE working with people because you need the job to live. This from personal experiance.
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I work at a soda place (it’s called fiiz) and we’ve been out of these little churro-donut things for a few months and every day people call and ask if we have them. When i say no they always swear at me and say that I’m ruining they're day because we’re out of chonuts, like lady the whole time I’ve worked here I’ve never seen a freaking chonut. People are also so rude coming through the drive through if they’re drink isn’t made in like 0.2 milliseconds
Hmm to me it seems that these store employees do not buy stuff with digital solutions and they're not used to the glitches that occur. Which is strange. You'd think working in retail they'd know that GLITCHES DO OCCUR with electronics. ALWAYS.
I had that situation once 😅 Still remember it. I worked in a small convenience shop for a while back then. One guy came inside and asked me where was the underground station for a line nr.50. I stared at him and announced there was no underground at all at this city. He was really annoyed and said I was not helpful. Like guy, how can I help you with that? Dig an underground for you?
Have you ever realized how many signs are there in shops? It's overwhelming. If it's not your regular store, then it's likely you will oversee something obvious. I can't tell you how many times I stood in line for 10 items only pushing full shopping cart in front of me. And if something is happening too often, then it also may not be because of stupid customers but because of bad design.
High pitched beeping is one of the first things you lose the ability to hear when you get older. They are standing looking at you because they can't hear it. And older people take longer to process things, this happens to everyone including you in the future. Also, shops are confusing noisy bright and overstimulating for a lot of people. Help instead of being snarky ffs.
Cashiers have a lot of experience with their checkout process and machinery. Customers have to deal with many different machines with many different processes. Time to take a deep breath and think about how the customer feels. Just occasionally right?
My local pharmacy got brand new electronic readers that not only took the payments but allowed for customers to sign off on required documents so they wouldn't have to waste so much paper. The head pharmacist was a good friend and he was so happy to be getting these, he started telling me about them weeks before they arrived. The very day they got them, customers started ruining them by trying to write on the digital screen with real pens. Because people are stupid.
In my country we use our banking app to pay with qr for everything: groceries, taxes, services, gas, streaming services, transfer money, etc. I barely use cash now. It's so weird that you americans can't do that.
I pay cash for everything. I don't have to carry a phone around, and I don't have to check my bank statement for errors. There is also no trail of what I purchased. You keep loving your country, and I'll love mine.
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It isn't retail, but here is one thing that drives me absolutely crazy. We do not accept cash for business. This isn't my rule, this isn't the company's rule, this isn't the CEO's rule. THIS IS A FEDERAL LAW. WE CANNOT ACCEPT CASH OR CASH INSTRUMENTS. The number of people that tell me, "I will just drop the cash by in the morning, or I can bring cash to you if you give me your address." NO YOU WON'T DYLAN. WE WON'T TAKE IT. DON'T BRING IT IN THE BUILDING. The next day, Dylan walks in with cash, drove 45 minutes to get here, we refuse the payment and explain why AGAIN. Dylan gets mad and wants to complain about me to my boss. I TOLD YOU NOT TO BRING CASH YESTERDAY!!!
To all people passing through airport security: When they ask if you have any liquids, water counts. Does this really need to be explained?
Six years ago I was promoted to another department, they hired a new person to replace me. One woman in my old department still comes to me every week asking about one thing or another. My answer is always, “did you ask Christina?” Six years of this and she STILL comes to me with a question at least once a week.
Having worked lots of retail, yup. All of this. But a customer: "Can I please have a medium #2 with a diet coke?" "Them: "What size?" Me: medium." Them: "And to drink" Me: "DIET COKE.' Me trying to same them some them some time costs me more time. And, yes, I get that they're probably on auto-pilot because the they have to drag the info out of other customers. But still...
"That'll be $3.02." "Here's a five...Wait, I have the two cents." "Too late, I rang it up." "Can you just take the two cents and give me $2 back?" "Wait...wait...." *Counts on fingers for a while* "My machine calculates change...Here's your $1.98." This happens all the time. I realize that some people struggle with numbers, but when it happens as often as it does it indicates a problem with the education system.
Simple way to calculate the new change: add the change amount the register shows and the change the customer hands you together. So in this case, 1.98 + .02 = 2.00.
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You're probably one of the same people who replies to posts online about the shortage of workers in retail/food service that says "no one wants to work anymore", while also saying "get a life and another job if working with people is too difficult for you". Can you guess WHY there is a worker shortage?!?!
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I know all of the above is extremely frustrating but I am one of those annoying people... I suffer with terrible anxiety and I start to panic sometimes the moment I put my shoes on to leave the house then when I get home after shopping I want to close my curtains, cry and never leave the house again after I go over and over in my mind how dumb and annoying I must've been. (typing this is anxiety inducing let alone hitting the post button!) I do apologise! X
I have severe anxiety as well, and spent 20 years working in customer service, so I feel your pain. Most service workers won't remember you the second you walk out the door. Honestly, people just aren't paying that much attention to you, because they're paying too much attention to themselves. I'm saying this to be helpful!
Load More Replies... I don't think a lot of store employees realize how over-stimulating and confusing their shopping environment can be for someone with social anxiety, ADHD, or mild cognitive decline. And they get annoyed if you try to put in your card too fast, but also if you don't do it fast enough. And every store has a slightly different kind of card reader. Restaurants, too, can sometimes be very loud and distracting, plus you're trying to have a conversation with your dinner companions, so you might need extra cognitive processing time when you're asked a question. Can we try to be a little more patient and less ableist with each other?
As long as these little rants are just happening outside of work, I get it. It can be annoying for the employees to have the same conversation with people over and over. As soon as they let it affect how they're treating the customer, though, they're the assholes. Because you're right, there are a lot of potential reasons people may not be able to follow the "simple" instructions, and if the customer isn't being a jerk about it, there's no need to be a jerk back to them.
Load More Replies... It seems like 70% of these dealt with card readers, so maybe it’s that card readers really are annoyingly confusing and inconsistent, and it’s not us (customers). As customers we expect you (the employee) to be more familiar with how it works, and that means that, rather than learn how each new one works, we might ask you to walk us through its operation, which is the LEAST you can do.
I really don't know why so many customers do this but a horde will turn up at two minutes before closing and insist on doing a full shop! Why? I feel we should be able to, legally round them up, ten minutes later and chase them out of the store with cattle prods. We have homes to go to, too, you know, and we've worked a long shift. Anything from 8-12 hours for some of us. If customers want to do a full shop then, please, for the love of God, come in earlier
They do it because of their sense of entitlement, humans are assholes and they get more and assholey daily, common courtesy for others is heading to extinction
Load More Replies... I worked in retail for a long, long time. I know how exasperating customers can be. I also know that I don't know a thing about them, or what they may be going through. I had to buy groceries the day I learned my mom had unexpectedly died, and I had to ask for help for everything. I also struggle with severe social anxiety, which often makes it so I can't take in information the first time. My aggravation levels dropped precipitously when I realized that all I needed to do was treat customers as whole, complex human beings.
A lot of customer service people bitching about how old people can't do things, b***h, you were born with a smartphone in your palm, some of these people didn't even have a TV at home growing up.
Sometimes I wish stores would have a line just for folks over 65.
Load More Replies... I love the ones who have me ring up 47 items, THEN the ask if we take apple pay. It's always the apple pay people. Nobody waits till I've entered 47 items then ask if we take credit cards. They ask first.
Apple pay people are some of the most annoying customers ever. Why do they all assume that everywhere takes it and never bring a physical card with them?
Load More Replies... I've worked many jobs where I dealt directly with customers, and once again, articles like this convince me that there are a lot of people who shouldn't be working in jobs that deal with the public.
Absolutely. I work in retail and I really shouldn't. I do it because I need my job to survive. And I am probably not alone in this. It's no use telling me I shouldn't be working in jobs that deal with the public. I should because I need to pay my bills. I nonetheless try to be empathetic because it makes the job easier.
Load More Replies... Every customer should be aware that the full quotation is "the customer is always right in matters of fashion."
My favourite is when they’ve already paid, I rang it up, I’m grabbing change, and they suddenly try to alter the money they gave me. You want me to go through the process of refunding this and doing it over, do you? You think that’s helpful to anyone?
I often think that EVERYONE needs to take a customer service job or a sales job when they graduate from high school. Perhaps then we'll get more thoughtful and patient customers.
Load More Replies... As a server and someone with anxiety, I have no problem with customers who forget or panic when asked a question. It's how you respond as in, your level of manners, kindness, etc. There's a right way and a wrong way to everything and guess what the right way is going to get you more often than not? As long as customers are considerate and patient, we will be fine. Act like an a*****e and rude and you can find your way out and never come back.
If you are this impatient with errors or human error/mistakes. You should not be dealing with people.
Retail is low income jobs. People who work there do it out of necessity, not because they love dealing with customers/want to work with people (there are exceptions of course). If you are the misanthropic kind you have to lie to your boss that you LOOOVE working with people because you need the job to live. This from personal experiance.
Load More Replies... I work at a soda place (it’s called fiiz) and we’ve been out of these little churro-donut things for a few months and every day people call and ask if we have them. When i say no they always swear at me and say that I’m ruining they're day because we’re out of chonuts, like lady the whole time I’ve worked here I’ve never seen a freaking chonut. People are also so rude coming through the drive through if they’re drink isn’t made in like 0.2 milliseconds
Hmm to me it seems that these store employees do not buy stuff with digital solutions and they're not used to the glitches that occur. Which is strange. You'd think working in retail they'd know that GLITCHES DO OCCUR with electronics. ALWAYS.
I had that situation once 😅 Still remember it. I worked in a small convenience shop for a while back then. One guy came inside and asked me where was the underground station for a line nr.50. I stared at him and announced there was no underground at all at this city. He was really annoyed and said I was not helpful. Like guy, how can I help you with that? Dig an underground for you?
Have you ever realized how many signs are there in shops? It's overwhelming. If it's not your regular store, then it's likely you will oversee something obvious. I can't tell you how many times I stood in line for 10 items only pushing full shopping cart in front of me. And if something is happening too often, then it also may not be because of stupid customers but because of bad design.
High pitched beeping is one of the first things you lose the ability to hear when you get older. They are standing looking at you because they can't hear it. And older people take longer to process things, this happens to everyone including you in the future. Also, shops are confusing noisy bright and overstimulating for a lot of people. Help instead of being snarky ffs.
Cashiers have a lot of experience with their checkout process and machinery. Customers have to deal with many different machines with many different processes. Time to take a deep breath and think about how the customer feels. Just occasionally right?
My local pharmacy got brand new electronic readers that not only took the payments but allowed for customers to sign off on required documents so they wouldn't have to waste so much paper. The head pharmacist was a good friend and he was so happy to be getting these, he started telling me about them weeks before they arrived. The very day they got them, customers started ruining them by trying to write on the digital screen with real pens. Because people are stupid.
In my country we use our banking app to pay with qr for everything: groceries, taxes, services, gas, streaming services, transfer money, etc. I barely use cash now. It's so weird that you americans can't do that.
I pay cash for everything. I don't have to carry a phone around, and I don't have to check my bank statement for errors. There is also no trail of what I purchased. You keep loving your country, and I'll love mine.
Load More Replies... It isn't retail, but here is one thing that drives me absolutely crazy. We do not accept cash for business. This isn't my rule, this isn't the company's rule, this isn't the CEO's rule. THIS IS A FEDERAL LAW. WE CANNOT ACCEPT CASH OR CASH INSTRUMENTS. The number of people that tell me, "I will just drop the cash by in the morning, or I can bring cash to you if you give me your address." NO YOU WON'T DYLAN. WE WON'T TAKE IT. DON'T BRING IT IN THE BUILDING. The next day, Dylan walks in with cash, drove 45 minutes to get here, we refuse the payment and explain why AGAIN. Dylan gets mad and wants to complain about me to my boss. I TOLD YOU NOT TO BRING CASH YESTERDAY!!!
To all people passing through airport security: When they ask if you have any liquids, water counts. Does this really need to be explained?
Six years ago I was promoted to another department, they hired a new person to replace me. One woman in my old department still comes to me every week asking about one thing or another. My answer is always, “did you ask Christina?” Six years of this and she STILL comes to me with a question at least once a week.
Having worked lots of retail, yup. All of this. But a customer: "Can I please have a medium #2 with a diet coke?" "Them: "What size?" Me: medium." Them: "And to drink" Me: "DIET COKE.' Me trying to same them some them some time costs me more time. And, yes, I get that they're probably on auto-pilot because the they have to drag the info out of other customers. But still...
"That'll be $3.02." "Here's a five...Wait, I have the two cents." "Too late, I rang it up." "Can you just take the two cents and give me $2 back?" "Wait...wait...." *Counts on fingers for a while* "My machine calculates change...Here's your $1.98." This happens all the time. I realize that some people struggle with numbers, but when it happens as often as it does it indicates a problem with the education system.
Simple way to calculate the new change: add the change amount the register shows and the change the customer hands you together. So in this case, 1.98 + .02 = 2.00.
Load More Replies... You're probably one of the same people who replies to posts online about the shortage of workers in retail/food service that says "no one wants to work anymore", while also saying "get a life and another job if working with people is too difficult for you". Can you guess WHY there is a worker shortage?!?!
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