# To the customer i had last night.....f\*@k you... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 3, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073 "2004-04-03T17:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![baltotop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@baltotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baltotop)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/1 "2004-04-03T17:23:52Z")
:mad: I was covering a register last night and had to run to the restroom, well when i returned i got instant atitude from this customer, He told me that i wasnt allowed to use the restroom and that i should go before coming to work. What a dumb fuck he must be to think that people can go on cue and be able to not have to go for a 9-10 hour shift. What is it with people who think that cashiers are required to wait at the register till someone comes along. When you have a job in retail of any kind you have other duties like stocking, cleaning, making coffee etc… We are not required to wait there for you but we will come to the register when you are ready to check out. People need to have a little respect and patients when they are shopping and waiting in line. btw… Im not a cashier, Im in management and was covering for a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/2 "2004-04-03T17:35:41Z")
Oh, this is so sad. On so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/3 "2004-04-03T17:55:15Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Oh, this is so sad. On so many levels. So, are you going to explain your remarks, or is this another guessing game? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/4 "2004-04-03T18:05:41Z")
Oh, clues for a hundred, Alex? This guy is a _manager_ of a retail store, and equates the duty of shelf stocking with the privilege of customer service to people who provide his shareholders with profit. Do you want to hire him to run _your_ store? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/5 "2004-04-03T18:09:52Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Oh, clues for a hundred, Alex? This guy is a _manager_ of a retail store, and equates the duty of shelf stocking with the privilege of customer service to people who provide his shareholders with profit. Do you want to hire him to run _your_ store? Just Doesn’t Get It for two hundred, Alex. People are going to question ambiguous answers. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/6 "2004-04-03T18:24:26Z")
**Lib** , you’re not reading the OP carefully enough. The customer is very important to any business, _but people who work in customer service are not slaves_. The “service” in customer service does not mean being indentured. It means that the rep is committed to providing knowledge and skill to another person, in exchange for a few things. One of those things is money, but the other thing is common human decency. Many crass people in this degenerate age think that an abundance of the former can replace the latter entirely. To the well brought up people of this world, it never has and never will. ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/7 "2004-04-03T18:27:14Z")
If the customer truly said what was portrayed (I suspect it was probably blown out of proportion, at least a little), then the manager had a right to be pissed. And no, the customer isn’t always right. As my wife always says, the customer is always the customer. Just because they’re paying for something doesn’t give them free reign to be a total prick. Maybe the manager gave some attitude, in a facial expression, lack of caring he even had a customer, etc, that prompted the customer giving some attitude back. Most people refuse to believe they’re wrong about their own “attitude”. BTW, I’m not a doctor because I have no patients… ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/8 "2004-04-03T18:27:31Z")
Libertarian, are you high? ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/9 "2004-04-03T18:28:53Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Oh, clues for a hundred, Alex? This guy is a _manager_ of a retail store, and equates the duty of shelf stocking with the privilege of customer service to people who provide his shareholders with profit. Do you want to hire him to run _your_ store? Seems pretty clear to me that this guy saw there was no one at the register, took the opportunity to relieve himself, and when he got out of the restroom (after, what, probobly a minute?), he had a customer who proceded to berate him for taking a whiz. Libertarian waltzes in to opine that the OP was in the wrong. I don’t see how, he checked there were no customers, went to take care of a necessary and natural bodily function, and returned in (I am presuming) a timely manner. WTF is your beef, Lib? All workers must be chained to their stations at all times? Those shareholders that you are so concerned about appear to be too cheap to adiquately staff the store( since there was no one to cover the register), yet in your mind the employee is at fault? When exactly are people supposed to piss, or is that not allowed in your world? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/10 "2004-04-03T18:32:36Z")
> [@baltotop](#): > > btw… Im not a cashier, Im in management and was covering for a few hours. I hope you use this experience to realize what your cashiers go through every day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/11 "2004-04-03T18:33:12Z")
> [@baltotop](#): > > People need to have a little respect and patients when they are shopping and waiting in line. So people need to become doctors to be able to shop and wait in line? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/12 "2004-04-03T18:35:28Z")
And what do you propose he do, **Lib** , keep a bucket at the register? Start wearing Depends? ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/13 "2004-04-03T18:36:36Z")
No, no, **Lib** ’s completely in the right here. Let’s take everyone off of shelf-stocking duty and have them man all registers at all times, even when there’s no one checking out. Of course, eventually there won’t be any customers, since there’ll be no stock on the shelves for them to buy, but shelf-stocking is unimportant in retail stores, so that doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/14 "2004-04-03T18:38:03Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Seems pretty clear to me that this guy saw there was no one at the register, took the opportunity to relieve himself, and when he got out of the restroom (after, what, probobly a minute?), he had a customer who proceded to berate him for taking a whiz. Libertarian waltzes in to opine that the OP was in the wrong. I don’t see how, he checked there were no customers, went to take care of a necessary and natural bodily function, and returned in (I am presuming) a timely manner. WTF is your beef, Lib? All workers must be chained to their stations at all times? Those shareholders that you are so concerned about appear to be too cheap to adiquately staff the store( since there was no one to cover the register), yet in your mind the employee is at fault? When exactly are people supposed to piss, or is that not allowed in your world? We’re only hearing one side of the story of course. The OP could see a slightly miffed expression as being “berated”. It’s all a matter of perspective. Sure, I’ve seen a lot of pissed customers, or ones that just like to make the lives of the “little people” miserable. And I’ve also seen just as many retail workers, managers, etc, not give a shit about their jobs or the people they’re serving. It’s a two-way street. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/15 "2004-04-03T18:39:06Z")
It gets even better. When **Hamish** was working at Multimags, he was: 1. required to perform a number of tasks, such as cleaning the store and helping customers, that required him to leave the cash; 2. was explicitly forbidden to leave the cash. Don’t ask me what they were smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/16 "2004-04-03T18:41:25Z")
lol, yeah, Matt, that was probably a committee decision… ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/17 "2004-04-03T18:42:41Z")
**Libertarian** , you seem to have a very bad case of talkingoutyourassitis. Take two shifts at a crappy retail job and call me in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/18 "2004-04-03T18:45:38Z")
If this sentence “He told me that i wasnt allowed to use the restroom and that i should go before coming to work.” is an exact quote, or even a close paraphrase of what the customer said, then it doesn’t matter if the customer said it in a screaming fit, with a “slightly miffed expression”, or in a normal tone of voice, it’s an assholish thing to expect from someone. Yes, it’s entirely possible that the OP is exaggerating, but I have absolutely no trouble believing that it went down just as described in the OP, because it happens _all the time_ (not that exact expectation, but that sort of attitude). And that is a sad comment on the level of treatment that customers direct at customer-service people. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/19 "2004-04-03T18:50:15Z")
> [@baltotop](#): > > Im not a cashier, Im in management and was covering for a few hours. I’ve been a fast-food manager before, **baltotop** , and while you never specifically stated the kind of business you were in (except that it involved stocking, customers “checking out,” and making coffee), I can guess that it’s a similar experience. Unfortunately, in this case, I think the customer may be right. If you are covering a register for someone else—for that person’s break, perhaps, or while that person takes an emergency phone call—you aren’t granted any special rights or privileges when dealing with the public. You don’t get any slack from the customers because you were “just covering.” Your customers have no way to know what your particular excuse was (“I was just covering, this is really my day off but I was called in, this is my first day, I’m from a different store but I’m working at this one today because they were short-handed, my power went out at home so I don’t have clean laundry, my iron is broken so I look rumpled, I ran into a doorknob in the dark last night so I have a black eye, our store was three people short this morning so we’re way behind right now”) and it’s not their _job_ to know. I mean, you wouldn’t want to buy a substandard pair of shoes because the regular shoe-making guy was sick and the manager was “just covering,” or buy a lemon of an automobile because the union was on strike and the scab workers were “just covering.” Covering a register was frowned upon at my place of work because it made it more difficult to track accountability for cash shortages (because the thieving employee could always steal and blame it on you, or the thieving manager could always dip into the till and discipline the employee for it). However, if I had to cover a register for any length of time, it was my responsibilty to make sure I was fully prepared to be nailed to that spot until the person was back. If that means I took two minutes to straighten my tie, run to the restroom, grab a Coke, make a phone call, gobble down a sandwich, or whatever, then I’d do that _first_ before agreeing to cover. I’d take the position as seriously as if my boss had stationed me there. I can understand being frustrated with a customer’s attitude. If the customer was truly that irate about so simple a matter, then I agree it would have been an overreaction. There’s no excuse to be foul to another human being for something so minor. Still, perhaps you ought to think about ways you can prevent being absent from a position you consented to cover. A former manager of mine put it best. An employee was asked to cover a morning shift, but the employee wandered in an hour late. He seemed to think that because he was “just covering,” he didn’t have to be on time or work to acceptable standards, as if merely showing up to collect a check were a tremendous favor to us. My manager at the time said, “I don’t care if you’re covering _Jesus Christ’s_ shift, you’ve still got to do the job.” ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/20 "2004-04-03T18:50:34Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > If this sentence “He told me that i wasnt allowed to use the restroom and that i should go before coming to work.” is an exact quote, or even a close paraphrase of what the customer said, then it doesn’t matter if the customer said it in a screaming fit, with a “slightly miffed expression”, or in a normal tone of voice, it’s an assholish thing to expect from someone. I agree completely. It’s a big “if” though. We can’t assume it to be totally the case. > [@](#): > > Yes, it’s entirely possible that the OP is exaggerating, but I have absolutely no trouble believing that it went down just as described in the OP, because it happens _all the time_ (not that exact expectation, but that sort of attitude). And that is a sad comment on the level of treatment that customers direct at customer-service people. And the converse? How many so-called “customer service” people have you encountered that treated you like you were invading their space and wasting their time just by being there? And they make you feel that way without even saying anything?? I’m just saying we can’t take it at face value. If I knew the OP, then maybe I could say different. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073.md?page=2)