Oooooooo…you’re one of those people who’s going to tell the MANAGER. Let me tell you something. 9 times out of 10, the manager doesn’t give a fuck either. Managers HATE those people who alway demand to speak to a manager. They’ll nod and kiss your ass while your harping at them, then roll their eyes call you the “C word” after you leave. Especially if you’re actually self-absorbed enough to call for a manager just because some minimum wage button pusher didn’t say “thank you” when you bought a pack of gum.
That’s not the point of the thank you, though. The point is that regardless of what your motivation is, their motivation is to make money; whether it’s a shitty paycheck (the clerk) or to be catapulted into The Realm of The Insanely Rich (Bill Gates). When you help them achieve that goal, a thank you is in order.
It would be a fireable offense if it was my employee. I might remind someone once, but I would make it clear that thanking my customers should be as automatic as punching in or collecting one’s paycheck.
And I suppose this is what annoys me. When people come to this thread telling me that common civility is no longer presumed in our society, it makes me a little angry (and a lot sad).
This thread makes me wonder exactly how high people’s expectations can get. I’d understand your idea of “rudeness” if the cashier was sullen, sarcastic, or smacked their gum while ringing through your purchase… but not to say thanks chaps your hide this much??? God forbid you should ever come across a real problem instead of “no problem”. :rolleyes:
You consider a thank you to be a “high expectation?” Holy shit…we’re doomed.
I’d be curious to know how often you’ve actually stopped shopping somewhere because a cashier neglected to say “thank you”?
I’m betting rarely, if ever. We love to whine about shit like this, but very few people actually change their shopping habits as a result, especially for basic stuff like groceries.
It’s like Sal Ammoniac said: we want to pay cheap prices, but we want to be treated as if we’re paying top dollar. Personally, when i’m in the grocery store, if the cashier if relatively efficient, i really don’t give a crap whether or not they exchange pleasantries with me.
As for getting offended by “no problem,” Kalhoun, you might want to start ordering stuff over the internet if you get worked up by that.
Let me tell you something. Despite your apparent belief that you have the Inside Scoop on the World of Retail, I worked as a waitress, counter rep, sales clerk, front desk clerk and manager for enough years to know how things work. Yes, some managers will roll their eyes – but some of them take their jobs seriously, think well of their establishments, and don’t want to hurt business. And those managers are going to take steps to correct the behavior, even it that’s only turning to the guy and saying “Yeah, what a bitch, but you know what? You need to be a little friendlier so people aren’t asking to talk to me after dealing with you.”
Maybe you think managers like to just stand there and deal with irritated or irate customers and that shit doesn’t roll back down hill to their employees, but that was never my experience. And maybe you think managers just blow off customer complaints because that’s what YOU would do, but it’s not what I would do, or did do. I had my crew’s collective back, but if there was a legitimate complaint, I expected the behavior to be fixed.
And I would NEVER ask to speak to a manage just because someone didn’t say thank you when I bought a pack of gum – which is why I also added “and have otherwise made my life unpleasant by being sullen, surly, or rude.”
Do I put up with rudeness from people who are supposed to be helping me in exchange for money? Hell no.
But you’re not helping them achieve that goal. They get paid the same shitty wage whether you shop there or not. People who work in these kinds of jobs are seldom made to feel as though the business is theirs, or if they have any stake in its success. Service industry jobs are interchangable and loyalty is not cultivated, or in some cases even wanted (some businesses prefer a high employee turnover rate, which cuts down on the need to pay for benefits or raises). You get what you pay for. If you really have a psychological need for service industry people to kiss your ass or recognize your superiority then go to more upscale businesses.
My purchase confirmation always comes with a “thank you” when I shop on the internet. Maybe that’s where my “high” expectation comes from.
You’d have a hard time keeping employees. You’d probably aslo have a hard time explaining up the chain why you were firing people for such a bullshit reason. you’d also have to fill in yourself for the hours left open by their firing or try to get other employees to do it, in which case they’d get sick of your shit and quit. The threat of getting fired means very little to people making minimum wage. They can get another crappy job for the same pay before lunch.
Bullshit. Every purchase I makes contributes to their goal. I’ve worked a lot of service jobs. I would have been fired on the spot if I took the attitude you take. I guess rudeness and apathy are the norm now.
And since when is civility akin to kissing ass?
Fervent imagination working overtime again, Dio? 'Cause from my 15 years in retail, both as drone and manager, 9 out of 10 managers do give a shit. 9 out of 10 drones are civil and polite. I’m not going to encourage the exceptions just because you think I should just put up with it. You may continue to spew your antisocial bullshit all you like, but it is, in fact, bullshit.
Umm, I can think of a liquor store in Fort Collins, but that was more than just a lack of “thank you”. The lack of that was a symptom of a rude uncaring attitude from the top down. So I went elsewhere after a few visits.
It does affect my shopping rarely, because frankly, I find it rare. As mentioned above, most retail workers are helpful and polite.
Whenever I leave the gym, one of the women behind the front counter shouts “have a good one!” How rude is that? How can she presume to know that mine needs improvement? Granted, I am always wearing shorts, but… why would you try to install a sense of inadequacy in a valued patron?
One day I’m going to put on several pairs of thick socks and go make her life upleasant by having a word with her manager.
Nope…sorry. The majority of people don’t look at thanking people as an imposition. If you expect it, they’ll do it. Your low expectations do not match up with the majority of people who work at shitty jobs for a living.
Ok, then, but the OP didn’t say the workers were being rude other than not saying thank you. She even complained that they were saying “no problem” as if that’s somehow rude in itself. There’s being rude to customers (which I’m not defending), and there’s just not being particularly enthusiastic. The latter is what I’m saying that managers would roll their eyes about.
If you tell them they HAVE to do it, they’ll look at it as an imposition.
Most of the employee’s in the retail stores I worked in wanted the place to make more money, even though they weren’t making high wages, like the auto worker’s used to. I wouldn’t compromise my ethics if it meant more money, but saying Thank You is a reasonable expectation of the management of it’s employees. I wouldn’t bitch the clerk out for saying no problem. I would still think to myself, that was a strange response.
I understood your point. I just disagreed with it. (In a friendly way, I hope, despite the fact that this is the Pit. That is why I said it is funny how people differ, not how awful.) I do not feel the need to be thanked for doing something to benefit myself, even if that also benefits another person.
I didn’t expect my surgeon to thank me for allowing her to remove my uterus, even though she was certainly well paid to do so.
With regard to the “no problem” I already admitted I may be more accustomed to the old school way of using words that wouldn’t be misconstrued. We’ve moved past that. You are saying that you approve of employees not thanking customers for their business. You’re saying that this civility is outrageous and should never be expected in a retail transaction. The civilized world doesn’t operate that way.
She didn’t say it was rude, she just said it was unenthusiastic and not the response she would like to see – both of which are inarguably true.
In fact, “No problem” is not a proper response to “thank you,” anyway. “No problem” means “it was no skin of my nose.” When one person gives the other money in exchange for goods, one thanks the other for the goods, and the other thanks them back for the money (“Thank you!”) or at least says “you’re welcome” (i.e., “I was happy to do it.”)
“No problem” is apathetic and does not acknowledge the thanks. Kalhoun is not out in left field to be mildly bothered by it.