"Do you work in the Bed & Bath section?"
This question is usually asked while I’m in my department, the shoe department. Think, morons. If I worked in Bed & Bath, why am I halfway across the store in the shoe department??
"Why do you advertise this item when you don’t have it in stock?"
Let’s get one thing straight: I don’t print the ad. That being said, you can fuck yourself.
It’s not my fault you waited until nearly the end of the sale to buy the item, and I’m not your Fairy Godmother. I can’t wave a magic wand, say “bibitty-boppity-boo” and make one appear on command.
"Can I buy the display?"
No, you moron! It says RIGHT THERE on the display item “Display items are not for sale”! We don’t sell displays because then we have to waste time putting together another one because you’re too damned lazy to do it yourself. Cheap ass…PAY someone to put it together instead of trying to cheat us. Shit like this is why our prices are so high - think about that next time you complain about the price while trying to swindle us by putting a $9.97 price tag on a $29.97 pair of sneakers.
"Where can I sit down and try these on?"
There’s a seat right behind you…and five others right in the middle of the shoe department, right in plain sight. Try looking next time so you don’t prove to the world what an idiot you are while wasting my time.
"Can I get this item at next week’s/last week’s price?"
Is it on sale THIS week? I thought not.
Look people…I don’t make exceptions for morons who think that the line “the customer is always right” gives them the right to make outrageous demands such as this (not to mention the people who want me to ‘combine’ ads so they can get 80% off). If it’s not on sale this very day, don’t even fucking ASK.
"Where’s the bathroom? It was up front before."
Yeah, it WAS up front…three years ago.
While you’re at it, see the BIG 8-foot long white/yellow/blue sign on the wall, above all the racks in plain view of the entire store? It says “RESTROOMS”, and you can see it for miles. Jesus people, do I have to treat you like babies who don’t know shit and can’t figure out the simplest problems for themselves?
"I could have your job for {insert stupid reason here}!"
Bitch, you can HAVE my job.
The hours are long…
The pay is low…
The benefits don’t even exist for part-time workers…
The raises are a joke,
And you meet some of the NASTIEST people on the face of the earth.
You want my job that bad? TAKE IT. You’ll fucking BEG me to take it off your hands after one day.
"Is this register open?"
Is the register light on?
No?
I rest my case.
Think before you ask a stupid question.
"Why don’t you hire more associates? I can’t find anyone to help me."
Do I look like I’m the one who makes those decisions? We only get so much money a week to spend on payroll, folks. We can’t just add people on a whim. Besides, we could hire more associates and all it would do is take work hours away from others, without actually adding more people to work the sales floor. Your every whim isn’t our command, and if you want to complain to someone who can actually DO something about it, call the damn company president. I just work here.
And the #1 fucking thing you should NEVER ask me while I’m at work:
"DO YOU WORK HERE?"
No, you imbecile.
I’m sitting on this cold concrete floor, straightening countless shoes that thoughtless people like you mess up and don’t put back in place because I ENJOY IT.
I think my work apron is a huge fashion statement.
I like the smell of leather that’s been sitting in dessicant gel packs for months.
I get a kick out of pulling the paper stuffing out of shoes.
Can you tell I had a bad day at work?
I used to make cheesesteaks for a living. One day this lady comes in and tells me she wants five cheesesteaks. OK, no problem.
So she fucks up her order end to end. I tell her to give them to me one at a time, so I get them right. She gets mad and asks me why I didn’t get them all the first time. Well, lady, if you had told me what you wanted I would have.
And here comes the best part. At this point my coworker comes over and starts writing the order down. She says, “Can I get swiss cheese on one of those?”
My coworker: “Swiss cheese. No problem”.
The Customer: “I didn’t say I wanted Swiss cheese!”
And then, my coworker cuts loose with the funniest line I ever heard said to a customer…
“The word Swiss did not just come out of your mouth?”
And her jaw hits the floor in total shock. I almost shit myself. I had to go to the back and laugh for like two or three minutes so the customer wouldn’t get pissed at me.
Anyway, I dealt with knuckleheads like that 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for five years.
I sympathize with you, but I have the exact opposite problem; for some reason, I look like someone who works in retail, and I get asked about stuff by other customers every time I go shopping. Maybe the people who make sure you work there have run into me in the past, and aren’t planning on making that mistake twice. I used to try to help people; I don’t anymore. I just tell them “I don’t know” and walk away with their jaws hanging open.
When I first started at KMart, they were so desparate for staff that they skipped the official training and put me to work on a register half an hour after I showed up. Latter, when new hires came in, they found that all their training tapes were broken.
Wow. Reading this makes me wish the recession was worse, so that you would appreciate your job more. Your comments are symbolic of the problems in the customer service industry today, and a clear indication that many, many Americans are not aware of how lucky they really are.
I’ve worked retail for several years too, and yeah, there have been times I wanted to strangle the customer too. But there are MANY more times I wanted to strangle the rude salesman behind the counter.
Well, if you or any of the other employees would show initiative and learn something about ALL of the departments in the store, this would help resolve the situation. The customer probably didn’t find anyone at the Bed & Bath Department. They don’t want to hear “It’s not my department”- they want help. Either try and help the best you can or get someone that can.
The sign on the front of the store says your company name. . and the store is most likely in one section of the mall or one separate building. Your departments are NOT separate stores.
In the customer’s eyes, you don’t represent “Bed & Bath”, “Shoes” or whatever.
You represent your store.
**
No but your company did, and like I said, to the customer, you are the point of contact for your company.
**
If you told me that, I would tell you AND your store to go fuck YOURSELF. The customer read the ad that said the item was on sale in a certain time frame for a certain price, and probably made an extra trip to visit your store. By not having the product in stock, you have disappointed and inconvenienced the customer.
We’re also sorry if we missed the fine print that said “limited availability” or “while supplies last”. Were busy and miss details too, you know.
Instead of cursing out the customer under your breath, why not use a little salesmanship and offer some solutions- a raincheck; an alternative item; a discount through a credit card application; call another store and ask them to hold the item for the customer; or clue them in on when the item will be on sale again. Why not be a problem solver instead of passing the buck?
**
I guess if you had the choice between paying $150 for a grill but you had to put it together yourself, and one for $125 pre-assembled, which would you take? It never hurts to ask- the store might say “yes”.
By the way, customers that switch tags on sneakers are in the minority, and are shoplifters and should be arrested- your statement does not apply to all customers.
Maybe since you eventually will take the display down and probably get it lost in the warehouse anyway, the customer might be offering to do you a favor by taking it off your hands!
**
Who’s the idiot? A customer who has a good job and can afford your overpriced shoes . . .but might be a bit disoriented in a large department store with thousands of products. . or a $10 an hour clerk behind the counter who is too lazy to point to a chair?
**
Some people get offended by being asked to pay $20 higher this week than the item was offered last week. As for a solution, I refer you to my response to #9.
**
It actually is very difficult to find the bathroom in many stores. Unlike you, most customers do not spend 40 hours a week where you work and know the layout of the store like the back of their hand. And unless your company is willing to mail out a bulletin with the new layout of the store, don’t expect them to know before they get there that you moved the bathroom.
Maybe the customer hasn’t been to the store in 3 years . . .and with YOUR attitude, might not be back for another five!!!:rolleyes:
**
I agree that it is wrong for a customer to ever threat an employees living. Unless the sales clerk is exceptionally rude to the customer. Why do I have the nagging feeling based on your comments, that this might have been the case here?
As for the rest of your complaints, if this is your attitude day out and in, choose another profession. Or if you enjoy retail, but the problem is the company you work for, choose another company. The economy isn’t that bad. But if it is in your area, then be fortunate you have a job!
If you can’t, get the schooling needed to elevate yourself so you don’t have to work retail. Just don’t take it out on me.
**
Perhaps the customer was concerned about interrupting you while busy, or that you were getting ready to go home or on break. You should thank the customer for his or her consideration.
Of course, if you had no one in your line and were standing in front of your register waving customers to come over, rather than burying your head not making eye contact with them, they wouldn’t have to answer this question in the first place.
**
Thank God your not. Your company would be in the toilet in a year with that chip you have on your shoulder.
**
Well, that depends on the company you work for. I worked for companies that deliberately did not hire enough people to cook their books. In the end the customer gets screwed, hence their frustrations.
While this is not your fault, it’s not the customers either, so why not just work harder to make up for the inconvenience the customer goes through after spending 30 minutes trying to get assistance?
After all, look at it this way: too many customers + too few salesmen=JOB SECURITY!
**
Well, if customers are complaining that they can’t get help, it sounds like that there IS a problem, doesn’t it?
**
If you and your company actually listened to it’s customers, many of their whims WOULD be your command. Companies and salesmen that listen and follow up on their customer’s needs more times than not stay in business and thrive. Those that don’t, go bankrupt.
And trust me, if you were waiting on me with THAT shitty attitude, I WOULD call the company President. And you might NOT work there!
**
Again, the customer, seeing that you are busy working the shelves rather than asking customers if they need help, and doing your best to give out the body language that you really were NOT interested in helping them, is probably uncomfortable asking for help, thinking he/she is interrupting you.
**
The customer does NOT care about your problems, or your bad day. He/she is there to buy. Their money pays your salary. Treat customers like shit, no customer. .
poof
Guess what? No company, no job.
I understand you had a bad day at work. And it certainly is better for you to post your frustrations here on the Pit than be nasty with a customer who had nothing to do with your bad day.
THAT SAID . . . maybe you should consider a high paying job where you DON’T have to wait on customers inside a clean, air conditioned store: digging ditches or hammering nails, for instance.
Instead of griping about all the people coming to your store, waiting to put money in your cash register and your pocket, why not change your attitude? Be proactive, not reactive, and laugh a little. You’ll enjoy your day more, your customers will appreciate it, and you’ll attract more luck. If your company is a problem, and you can’t get out, do all you can to voice your concerns with management and help make a difference, no matter how small.
You never know . . .that “asshole” who is wasting your valuable time asking stupid questions might be the President of a large company looking for new hires . . . if you go out of your way to help them, blow them away, and act like you are enjoying yourself in the process, who knows? Maybe you’ll get out of that retail rut!
On the other hand, if you act like a total jerk and treat them like an idiot, they might remember you a few months from now during . .a job interview.
Then you’ll spend the rest of your life miserable and grumbling about other people making you miserable.
I reccomend you pick up a copy of the books “Knock Your Socks Off Customer Service”, and “Knock Your Socks off Answers”:
They are great primers on ways to deal with difficult customers where you, your company and the customer will win…
GOOD LUCK, and I hope your next day at work goes a little better, I really mean that!
Um, Vinnie, I think you are presuming a lot when you make comments about how Devin handles himself at work. You don’t know how he actually deals with customers who ask these stupid questions. I could just as well assume that you go into a store with the attitude that anyone there should be thankful for the mere opportunity to try to answer your moronic questions.
For example:
How the fuck do you know what sort of body language Devin is using? For all you know, he took seven seconds when there weren’t any customers in sight to straighten things up so they look good for the customer. And anyways, wouldn’t “excuse me” work better than asking someone who obviously works there if they work there?
Or:
Again, you presume to know through some sort of psychic powers how Devin acts at work. And then you proceed to criticize him based on this presumption.
Or:
Here, you presume to know that the shoe prices are too high, that the customer is disoriented, and that Devin is too lazy to point to a chair. What he actually said was that it annoys him having to take time out of his job to point out the blatantly obvious.
Or:
No, even if Devin knew about Bed & Bath, it wouldn’t help the fact that morons would ask the guy in the shoe department if he works in a completely different department. You are presuming here that Devin does not try to do what he can to help these people. If they ask him if he works there, and he doesn’t, saying so isn’t incorrect.
And lastly (there are other examples I could use, but I don’t want this to be too long):
Actually, there is usually somewhere specific for complaints. Like, for example, the customer service desk. Berating the guy on the floor about company policy is stupid, as there really isn’t anything he can do.
As someone who doesn’t work retail, and only has briefly in the past, I have to say that I see rude customers far more often than rude salespeople. Sometimes the salespeople are incompetent, but almost never rude. I suspect (taking up your method of presuming anything I like about the situation) that your experiences are due more to the fact that you are an asshole, and have rather unrealistic expectations of what someone will tolerate from you for $8 an hour.
Unlike Vinnie, I didn’t assume that Devin Austra heaps scorn upon the customer right then and there, or ever (outside of this annonynous and appropriate venting place). Customers are fully capable of being complete and utter morons. I see it all the time, and I don’t work in retail. We don’t know anything at all about Devin’s actual working attitude. Hell, he might even enjoy his job most days. I speak as someone who worked as a waitress, which I enjoyed very much on the whole. Most evenings were great, but some made me want to throw the food at certain customers’ faces.
Devin Austra, chin up. I’m sure you do a great job, and I hope these types of questions account for a wee, tiny miniscule portion of your day.
I find the irony of Vinnie taking offense to someone ranting about having to deal with morons at their job absolutely delightful in light of this thread:
Apparently, only Vinnie is allowed to experience frustration with being treated rudely…for anyone else to do so is unconscionable, and they’re obviously ignorant of the standards of common customer service. His outrage is made further laughable when you take into account that our friend Vinnie seems to have some rage issues of his own, such as this lovely little gem:
I hate to get all biblical here, but have you ever heard the phrase “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
I understood this as a qualifier that Vinnie realized maybe Devin wasn’t necessarily hostile to the customers, but just having a bad day. Was I wrong?
That said, I have often been aggravated because of rude salespeople who would rather give attitude or stare sullenly than help me. And I try to be polite always. In a lot of cases, I do have to agree with Vinnie on a lot of what he said about the attitude of salespeople. Not necessarily Devin, but I do see that on a regular basis, and it does make it difficult to want to shop at a store where you are treated more as an inconvenience than a necessity.
Jadis, even though the two threads you brought up are about entirely different situations, I had a feeling someone was going to bring them up anyway, so I already am prepared with an answer!
When you think about it, this is actually the SAME complaint I’m making on this thread: poor attitude when dealing with the public. But it still is a different situation from a different point of view.
The woman at the other end of the line should realize that she must be 100% sure who it is she is being rude to before acting that way.
I might be some crappy salesman . . . or I might be the president of a large company looking to do a business deal with her boss! Now I will admit there are some salesmen that DESERVE to be hung up on, but for the most part, is that much to ask to at least be polite to EVERYONE??
Never burn bridges, I say.
I was polite to her; she was rude back. Besides, it wasn’t a retail situation anyway, so again your bringing up something different.
**
This was from the point of view of a customer who was disgusted with another customer acting like an ignorant ass. I never in my response to Devin here said the customer is ALWAYS right- there have been situations where I’ve seen a customer be downright vicious with a clerk . . and I felt compelled to get involved.
The guy at the convenience store by the way, handled the entire situation with class.
I’m on the side of the working man, you see . . . .
**
On the surface, it’s easy to label me a hypocrite, but when you really take the time to look at it, your comparing apples with oranges, for the reasons stated before. If you want to make the point that I’m not allowed to criticize someone for complaining about people when I do it myself, I guess you can get away with it . . . except I think you need to take it on a case by case basis. Some people deserve to be trashed; others don’t.
And I’m sorry but a guy yelling at a convenience store clerk because he doesn’t have his stupid cancer sticks is a bit different than a customer getting upset because an item he or she needed that was advertised on sale wasn’t in stock, or they can’t find a bathroom.
2 more points concerning other posts:
Your right I don’t know how Devin acts at work, or what kind of body language he uses. But based on these inflammatory comments, it sure does not give me a good impression.
I don’t remember anywhere in the post Devin saying he actually liked his job, or that his remarks weren’t indicative of his everyday attitude. All I read was “I’m having a bad day.” Is that every day? Or just today? Which impression do YOU get??? Maybe Devin can step in and clear this up for us.
I went to the mall a couple of hours after reading that post, and I was actually afraid to ask for help in one store, going . . .“I wonder if this woman thinks I’m an idiot too?”
I should also note that the MAJORITY of salespeople I run into are actually very helpful, and if that contradicts my saying that Devin’s post is symbolic of what the customer service industry is like, then I will apologize for saying that.
Unfortunately it’s the few rude ones that sour me sometimes.
And it is important to remember how hard the people behind the counter are working. I always go out of my way whenever possible to be polite and respectful to salespeople, even if I don’t feel like they are giving 100%. Respect goes both ways.
I can talk, Jadis. I like Devin have worked retail too, and I think that lends my beef with his statements some extra credibility.
It would seem to me that in order for a customer to ask you that question, you would have to be standing behind the register. If no one was behind it, the customer would assume it wasn’t open. If you’re standing behind the register, and the light isn’t on, it’s a fair question. One assumes that you would be just as upset if a customer didn’t realize your register was open because you forgot to turn on the light.
I understand your frustration. While I agree in principle with the remarks Vinnie made, I’m hoping your attitude toward customers isn’t as it’s portrayed here.
I read it as Devin letting off a little steam here, most likely due to the stress of having to be polite to the morons in person. Either way, I think it was uncalled for to rake him over the coals over imagined offenses.
Yeah, it’s not as if a cashier has ever forgotten to turn on the light for the lane. That never happens. Or as if an employee has ever been hanging out in another department and then gotten huffy when someone asks them questions. Nope, never happens. It’s just that customers are all morons. :rolleyes:
Vinnie is absolutely correct about one thing: When you’re wearing that uniform/smock/nametage, you don’t represent Shoes or Bed & Bath or Automotive, you represent the store. If someone asks you a question about a department you don’t work in, it’s probably because one of your co-workers was absent from where he or she was supposed to be. The correct response, in that situation, is, “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that department, but I’ll pick up this phone and get you someone who is.”
Keep in mind, folks–when you aren’t at work, you’re a customer somewhere, and some undertrained yutz probably thinks you’re a moron, too.
I think the point is that no matter what the situation, good or bad, Devin represents his company. To the customer he is “dillards” or wherever he is working. This is the same reason that employees are told that whenever they are out and about in their uniform (maybe in the mall on break) they are to conduct themselves as they would at work. Devin is “dillards” and if a customer wants to bitch at him, they can. He should just grin and bare it and smile politely.
I work for a telephone company. If you think dealing with customers in retail is bad, try answering phones for a utilities company! I can understand be irratated by some things that customers do however Devin seems downright angry. Like going postal angry. I actually did assume (yes I know) that some of this comes out at work. Actually if his post reads as I believe does, I garauntee his attitude reflects it.
Lastly Devin, simple solution. If you are that angry about your job, leave. I’ve done it before and it made a world of difference.
