Don't take it out on the check out girl/boy

RobertoMoir

muffinmclean wrote: »

that sounds jobsworthy to me. You legally have to be 16 to smoke, but 18 to buy. You knew for sure that he was 17 so he was old enough to smoke them.

Which part of obeying the law over selling cigarettes sounded "jobsworthy" to you? The part where they followed the law, or the part where they told the customer they were obliged to? Are you saying they should have broken the law and sold the cigarettes, is that what offended you? Or are you upset the customer wasn't pimp-slapped for daring to ask, because I'm fairly sure assault is against the law too.

Flashdaisy

I don't like it when I'm in a shop and someone starts being very rude or abusive to a shop assistant; I waitressed many years ago and got my fair share of abuse from the public and it really isn't nice,there is no need for it. However, I do think it works both ways, and there are some shop staff that are rude or ignorant. Like someone else has said on this thread though, there are polite people and rude people that work in shops and there are polite people and rude people that are customers!

bottomsup

I have had plenty of verbal abuse on the phone in customer services. I think people are sometimes "braver" on the phone, than face to face. I have had to terminate calls before for really offensive language.
One of the most upsetting was a customer ranting at me because I refused a return she sent back as not required. She said it was unused and the box had not even been opened. Upon checking item on return, there was dried baby food stuck on the bottom of it, and a personal note with her name and address in the bottom of the box, together with a cigarette packet wrapper (looked like box had been fished out of a bin)
She then told me that she would see that I lost my job over this, and hoped I would never find another one - what she didn't know was that we had been told the day before that the company was in administration, and redundancies were being made.

sporedude

bottomsup wrote: »

I have had plenty of verbal abuse on the phone in customer services. I think people are sometimes "braver" on the phone, than face to face. I have had to terminate calls before for really offensive language.
One of the most upsetting was a customer ranting at me because I refused a return she sent back as not required. She said it was unused and the box had not even been opened. Upon checking item on return, there was dried baby food stuck on the bottom of it, and a personal note with her name and address in the bottom of the box, together with a cigarette packet wrapper (looked like box had been fished out of a bin)
She then told me that she would see that I lost my job over this, and hoped I would never find another one - what she didn't know was that we had been told the day before that the company was in administration, and redundancies were being made.

People are braver over the phone, I call them phone cowards, Acting like hardmen over the phone because they cant be seen, People who act like that in shops need to be escorted out by security. They tell us "Oh but the customer might be having a bad day". I coudnt give two sh*ts if theyre having a bad day or not, Theres no excuse for abusing customer service staff.

Dave101t

i often get mistaken for a salesperson in asda or tesco because im young and always wear a shirt and tie.
i usually say 'sorry i dont work here' and they dont smile and say 'oh, ok then' they just hmph and walk off.
working up the courage to walk them round the perimeter of the store next time....

sporedude

Lol! Now that would be funny, The only thing I get is small grannies asking for stuff off the top shelf because I'm tall...

GrammarGirl

Timmne wrote: »

She also had one guy on a bank holiday monday, late evening, wanting bread which had sold out a couple of hours previous, unusually. She was briefing a member of staff who'd just started their shift, when the guy poked her on the shoulder and said "errrr, you need to stop gassing and get some bread in, love".

This really made me chuckle! Just your impression of the man! Obviously a very rude and inconsiderate man, but funny all the same.

I worked in various retail outlets through college and uni and have come across some really awful people. The two worst places were Blockbuster (no, you cannot return a film at 10.30pm when I'm outside the shop locking the door) and Elle (in fairness, their 'no returns' policy was rubbish and I had every sympathy with customers, but no need to scream 'useless !!!!!!!s!!' in my face!).

GrammarGirl

Pound wrote: »

I personally think that customer facing jobs are the worst jobs. The job is about being treated like dirt for very little money, what could be worse than that?

I absolutely loved working with people, though. I don't do that any more in my current job and I really do miss it. You do get some tough customers and you do have bad days, but when you solve a problem for someone or find them something they've been searching for and they're so pleased and grateful - it's really worthwhile. I also love giving advice and would love to incorporate a more customer facing role into my current job.

marleyboy

Pound wrote: »

I personally think that customer facing jobs are the worst jobs. The job is about being treated like dirt for very little money, what could be worse than that?

Signing on every 2 weeks having lost a job (any job) to be treated like dirt for NO LONGER having a job.

It may be a crappy job with low pay, but if that is what they have signed up to do, it is what they are expected to do.;)

valos_mummy

I've worked as an assistant manager for a well known accessories store which on the whole wasn't too bad, you had the odd ranter but it was more some people's general attitude to the store. Which was to treat it like an dustbin. The amount of litter we used to find was unbelievable. I was arranging a display when a lady knocked over an item. An accident yes, but it wasn't an accident when she kicked it under said display rather than pick it up; and when she seen that I'd witnessed the whole thing, half shrugged and walked off :mad:

The whole "YOU work here, YOU pick up my mess" attitude really got my goat.

But that wasn't as bad as when I worked as a bank cashier. The amount of flak we were expected to take was awful. Half the staff were consistently signed off work at some point or another with stress. Which left the remainder slogging away in short staffed branches. Then you had the added pressure of referral and appointment targets to meet (with helpful "training" sessions where the manager sat behind you, making sure you were offering reviews and savings suggestions to every p****d off having-to-wait customer going, like they'd really want THAT).

One guy was a notorious abuser. He used to come in with his takings and his spider-scrawled payment slip and if you had to ask him anything he'd start on you. I once had to ask him what to figure he wrote was and he had a massive rant at me, calling me unprofessional, very loudly for all the branch to hear. From then on, whenever he came to my till I never said a word to him. No "good morning", no "thank you", nothing. He just put his money in, I'd count it, stamp his book and put it back. He never said a word to me either mind, I think he preferred it that way :rotfl:

The other top moan was when people came in to draw out over £1000 and we had to take additional ID and ask some basic data protection stuff.
"It's MY money!" "I demand the manager" "I've been coming here for YEARS!" (although fair enough, if they had been, and we knew them for over a certain amount of time, they got the reduced version)

"It's ridiculous!", I'd hear. Felt like saying "No Sir/Madam, what would be ridiculous is if some stranger picked your card up off the floor, came into the branch and I just gave them a grand with no questions asked!"

Remember a classic one, some girl who was no older than myself (I was 26 at the time), gave me her driving license. Which didn't match the info on the screen. Had to tell her to provide another form of ID, and during the mouth off I got, it came to light that she lived elsewhere, and NEITHER the address on the system or on the license was her actual address! Half an hour later she flounced back in with her passport and an "I'd like MY MONEY now please!!" If I'd had the inclination, little madam would have been shopped to the police for having incorrect info on her license and her money would have been used to pay the fine!

That's just a snippet, and it sounds funny now, but I used to come home and snap at my exOH and/or cry my eyes out. I felt physically ill on Sundays at the thought of going back. Eventually I quit after a year, I couldn't take another day even though I had no job to go to; which was a massive risk, but I firmly believe would have gone loopy otherwise. :eek: