That was always the thing, for me. It was answering 1000 stupid questions–the same stupid questions–over the course of the day. The big morons were good for stories, but it was the little idiots who caused me the most aggravation. The people who don’t pay attention to huge signs, then ask where obvious things are. Like the registers. In most stores, the registers are at the front. But that seems to be a revelation to them. The people who ask what our hours are, then argue with us! “Well, you didn’t USE to close at 10!” “Yes, we’ve closed at 10 as long as I’ve been here.” “Oh! And how long is that?! Hmm?” “Uh, 3 years?” “Oh.” The people who swear up and down that we MUST have this item they want, because they saw it here a COUPLE YEARS AGO (true story!), so it must be here now! The people who want to know if they can just “check out” items, then get horrified when I suggest the library. The people who saw a book in one store 100 miles away and get mad when we don’t have it. The people who want to get one over on us, because we won’t notice them pouring coffee on books to try and get the damaged discount. The people who are trying to return a book we’ve never, ever stocked and are shocked that we won’t take it back and get rude about it. The parents who come in with kids and let the children run wild, destroying the children’s department. I’m talking books and toys thrown all over the floor, and then don’t even try to pick the stuff up. The idiot managers. The idiot coworkers.
And let’s not forget the assholes who think working customer service means we should put up with every bit of shit they dish out because “They pay our salary, dammit!” Sorry, there’s some shit they don’t pay us enough to deal with. If you want grovelling, sniveling service, hire a fucking butler.
Imagine all the interoffice stress and politics of a “regular job”, mixed with dealing with hundreds of members of the public–who are usually alright, sometimes very nice, and occasionally rude and moronic. You don’t hear our Good Customer stories in the Pit, because that’s not what the Pit is for. And I’ve got tons of em.
bayonet1976 - You also have to remember that not all customers are idiots. Most of them are ordinary, nice people, who come in, buy their stuff, and leave. It’s only that we have no need to pit those people.
Any job, I don’t care what it is, you’re probably going to have to deal with assholes. You can’t be rude to the assholes, or you’ll get fired. However, you can’t always repress your rage. The whining you’re so pissed off about is what’s keeping us from getting cancer and dying. Do you want us to get cancer and die? Do you really?
This is so pathetic. Piss-stupid and pathetic. Look, dogbrains, this is a fucking capitalist system. People take jobs for the fucking MONEY because they need to EAT and pay RENT etc. They take jobs they fucking HATE because they HAVE TO to SURVIVE.
And it’s always the fucking free-marketplace/defenders-of-capitalism/never-met-a-workplace-rule-I-didn’t-like jerk who tells people that if they don’t LIKE it, get a NEW job.
Jeebus, morons, if jobs were easy to get and didn’t SUCK for the most part, you might come within a MILE of having a CLUE. As it is, you sound like COMPLETE IDIOTS who are COMPLETELY out of touch with REALITY!
Hmmm, interesting point. I’d guess you could see this thread as whinning about other’s whinning. Gonna have to get back to you on that.
Oh, and the bit about sounding like an obnoxious jerk, your instincts are right on, I am both, thanks for noticing. That said, you’re a rude asshole for pointing it out.
I wonder what sales clerks think about the service they get from sales clerks? Or perhaps they are privy to some mystic hoodoo that allows them the pay money for goods without being treated as tho they are a major imposition on the clerk’s valuable time and energy.
Of course this is a gross generalization. Of course the vast majority of my purchases transpire without note. But it is not at all unusual for myself or my wife to be amazed at the rudeness/condescension/indifference of someone whom I HAVE to deal with to complete the transaction.
Further, believe it or not, as a customer I may not be intimately familiar with your employer’s policies. Nor does the mere labelling of something as “policy” help much when it strikes the customer (and possibly the salesclerk) as really stupid.
Yes, I believe customers should treat sales persons civilly. Hell, so should just about everyone in just about every social interaction. Same goes the other way, tho.
I personally have no desire to work retail, tho I have in the far distant past. That is why I took the necessary steps to get the education, training, and certification to work elsewhere. Lacking those, I would (and did in the past) prefer labor not involving regular interaction with the public.
Fortunately, I am now a lawyer, so I have a free opportunity to exercise my antisocial tendencies.
Look, shit-for-brains. Some people have to take jobs they hate because they have to survive. But they could be pissed at:
Themselves for not doing better in school or
their parents for their genetic make-up which prevents them from getting a better job or
the economy for making jobs scarce or
their high school advisor which led them down a bad career path or
the “friend” that got them started on drugs or
WHOEVER THE FUCK THEY FEEL CAUSED THEM TO WORK AT THE SHITTY JOB however, don’t take it out on me. I’m just a customer who wants to make a purchase. Just because they are unhappy/pissed doesn’t give them the right to piss all over me.
I get the same treatment as everyone else, I assume. I just don’t get personally offended and indignant when a minimum-rage drone doesn’t recognize my superiority. I’m quite willing to cut them some slack and move on with my life.
Guin, I thought the OP was complaining on how customer service employees were “whinning and complaining [when]…asked questions by customers.”
I agreed that if customer service employees hate their job, they should change jobs.
Evil Captor then went of on me (with what I read as) saying that the customer service employees have a right to complain since they are forced to work in jobs they don’t like.
