Customers behaving badly... VERY badly!!!
@jewelenterprises (1996)
Australia
November 15, 2008 7:28am CST
Working in customer service (as a check out chick) I work to the principle that 'The customer is always right'... of course, I don't actually believe this cr*p. Quite frankly, some customers are nothing but impatient, obnoxious, abusive jerks (albeit a VERY small percentage).
A few weeks ago I had a customer throw a half eaten roll of sweets at me that hit me in the head. Why? Because she was trying to scam us in to giving her a packet of nappies (diapers) at less than half price because a smaller pack was on special. She wouldn't accept the explanation that she had picked the wrong pack and became abusive.
Another time the store had closed the doors through to the main shopping mall and a woman stormed up to me and loudly (and rudely) demanded that the door be reopened just for her... despite the fact that announcements had been made every 5 minutes for the previous half hour that the door would be closing in so many minutes. She ranted and raved and carried on that she would never come back if we didn't open up for her (good riddance I say). I tried to explain that mall security required that we close the door at a specific time and that we were not permitted to re-open it or we could be fined $50,000. But she just kept screaming. I felt like saying to her, 'Fine, we'll open the door but if we get a fine do you mind if I post it to you?' LOL.
Another memorable one was Easter Saturday. Every single register was open and my lunch time arrived but we had no-one to take over from me so I was told to close the register. I came back after lunch and was sent back on to the same register. As I was walking over this one guy gave me a dirty look and said "I can't believe they've got that register closed when it's so busy." (about three customers per register). I invited him over and served him first but felt like saying to him, "I'm very sorry sir... perhaps I should have worked through my lunch break just so I could serve you!"
This kind of situation happens all the time and of course we just have to be polite and try to resolve the situation. I'm always the soul of courtesy in these situations and never say what I'm really thinking LOL. But these situations really get me angry.
Honestly though. People just have no patience any more. If they have to wait in a queue they get seriously crabby. Like they should never have to wait for anything. I look back to when I was a teenager and check out chicks had to manually enter the price for every single item. Now of course we have barcodes that get scanned. Things are way faster but still not fast enough for most people.
So do you have any stories of situations like this? Have you been guilty a behaving this way yourself? Perhaps the customer service person has been abusive to you (they should be sacked if they are... it's not their place to abuse customers, no matter how badly they behave).
2 people like this
3 responses
@Grandmaof2 (7579)
• Canada
16 Nov 08
I've worked some retail however not a lot, but I very much agree with you it's crap to say the customer is always right. Not always so!!! I want to share a little story of what I did as a customer a long time back. This is in reverse to what you're talking about but perhaps you know what I mean when I say we sometimes speak without thinking, yeah well that's how this went. I went to Wal Mart shopping and I was in a fairly good mood and even feeling somewhst good that day so thought I'd take advantage and go do some shopping. Well here I was in line and I have never seen a cashier in such a foul mood. It's now finally my turn and I had already saw her body language. She tried several times to scan one of my items and there was no way it was going to scan. She made such a fuss over it till she finally called for assistance and even when a co worker told her the code to ring in she grumbled and very hastly threw my stuff in the bag. This went on long enough and there was a line up behind me waiting. I had just had enough and I did consider leaving everything there and walk out but I so desperatly needed a couple of my purchases so I looked at her and I said, "If you're that unhappy with this job I'm told zellers is hiring." Well you have never seen a cashier do an attitude adjustment as fast as she did. I guess I embarased her and I said it so fast I surprized myself.
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@jewelenterprises (1996)
• Australia
16 Nov 08
Yeah, you definitely get the odd check out person that can be a real grumble b*m! We have a couple like that. One of them has now left but she had been doing the job for over 20 years and she was always so abrupt and grumpy that I avoided her register when I did my own shopping.
I remember the one day I did go to her, I scanned my own discount card and frequent shopper rewards card and she snapped at me that she was supposed to do that... sheesh, I was just trying to be helpful LOL.
Another one is usually okay but he occasionally has his 'PMS' days when he is in a foul mood and just grunts when you say hello etc. Come to think of it, it usually is 2-3 days out of the month that he's like that LOL... maybe he has a male form of PMS!
Me??? No matter how foul a mood I am in I still have a friendly smile and greeting for all my customers (even those who make it difficult by their impatience). I learned as a child to shut my personal emotions off when necessary.
Having said that, the situation with the woman who threw the candy at me made me want to burst into tears. I wonder what would have happened if I'd done that... I know if someone did that to me I'd feel really slack for making them feel bad. Maybe one day I should try that... might make a person think before taking their temper out on the check out operator in future.
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@kdhartford (1151)
• United States
16 Nov 08
I don't work in customer service...well in truth we all work in customer service. We all represent our organization and that means that we are in customer service, even if we never personally see the customer. Our attitudes affect those that do.
I feel that the customer is not always right. The slogan is always taken out of context. I feel that the customer should be given the benefit of the doubt and that the front line service employee should be given enough lee-way to drill down to the root problem and fix it.
Your examples are probably the worst case scenario. I think that I would have called the police if someone had thrown something at me...after I beat them down.
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@jewelenterprises (1996)
• Australia
17 Nov 08
I agree that the customer should be given the benefit of the doubt. But yes, it's not true that they are always right. I guess they have just as much right to misbehave as the rest of us do LOL.
And yes, those were worst case scenario situations. The woman who threw the candy at me was the most upsetting situation for me personally. In seven years of customer service those are the three worst situations I've faced. I can handle it when someone grumbles about the wait or whatever, but things like those can really ruin your day. Oddly enough, all three of those happened in the last two years.
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@chameleonsdream (1230)
• United States
15 Nov 08
I have to admit - I always try to be extra polite and pleasant, especially if I've got a big order to be rung up, just to make up for other customers who might be jerks. It's something I learned from my mother, who worked waiting tables all her life. She was unfailingly friendly and pleasant to the clerk checking out her order, complimenting them on their speed or their thoroughness or asking about their family (she almost always knew something about -everyone- in the stores where she shopped). In return, she was always treated very well by shopkeepers and clerks - produce clerks would stop her when she was picking through tomatoes and run out back to pull out a fresh crate for her, butchers would set aside prime cuts of beef if they knew she was coming in, etc. Even though I shop at a huge supermarket rather than the little town stores that my mother used to shop at, I find that I have 'my' clerks on register and try to steer my cart through their registers just so I can say hello and ask after their kids - and they treat me like gold, too.
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@jewelenterprises (1996)
• Australia
16 Nov 08
Yes, I must admit that I always try to be extra friendly to whoever serves me because I know how hard it can be when customers are impatient and rude.
I have a LOT of regular customers who come to me even when my queue is really long because they know they'll get a friendly smile and fast service.
Speaking from experience, it's always nice when customers compliment me on my speed, or how well I pack the groceries etc. That kind of thing really makes my day a good one. Even nicer when they comment to my boss how good I am because that results in a pat on the back from management (sometimes I even receive a box of chocolates to reward me)... always good for the ego 
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