# Treating retail employees like dirt as a proxy for the corporation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 2, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845 "2014-06-02T16:41:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/81 "2014-06-03T13:39:02Z")
> [@Calatin](#):
>
> I just don’t see how being an asshole to some checkout clerk at Wal-Mart is going to lead to some sort of revolution of their corporate culture.
>
> Ok, so, I’m rude to “Bobby Bagboy”, and enough people follow suit to the point where he quits. “Sam Stocker” is going to be right there to fill the gap. Meanwhile, you’ve contributed to Bobby having a bad day / week / month / etc., and odds are, he’s paying it forward by treating others with contempt.
>
> If you want to be an ass, that’s fine, I can’t stop you. But, don’t use the idea that you are doing it so as to improve / change the company as justification.
No, being rude or abusive to floor or other front line staff is something I have a horror of; I’m with the majority here that says it’s the mark of an unfeeling ass.
But it’s part of my field to look at how corporate America manages consumer and consumer expectations, and so I wonder… how much do these companies use, or factor in, the ingrained reluctance to be rude to clerks etc. and the general opprobrium towards those who do? Anyone who knows details of how Wal\*Mart uses its employees should be unsurprised at the question.
But no, being nasty to bagboys isn’t the answer. Maybe burning down Wal\*Mart’s famously ratty headquarters is.
---
### Author:  [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/82 "2014-06-03T14:18:55Z")
Funny thing is, when I got home yesterday, I saw some friends post a story about a restaurant’s customer who wanted to call ahead and place a “dine-in” order. When he was told that the restaurant didn’t accept those orders, he cursed out the employee and hung up. Shortly after, a friend called back and demanded to know why they didn’t accept “dine-in orders” over the phone.
A day or so later, the restaurant’s Facebook page posted a link to the customer’s website, saying that patrons should hurry and eat at the restaurant now, because the customer threatened to put him out of business. A shitty response to some shitty behavior, if you ask me, but that’s the kind of thing negativity perpetuates.
(I actually posted a longer version of the story in “IMHO.”)
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### Author:  [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/83 "2014-06-03T14:26:47Z")
> [@74westy](#):
>
> A true Christian would know that the [very next verse](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+25%3A41&version=NIV) is possibly the greatest endorsement of perpetuating misery in any sacred text.
You could not possibly be more wrong with that if you tried.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/84 "2014-06-03T14:29:43Z")
Kick your pastor in the balls. It’s the only way he’ll change.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/85 "2014-06-03T15:11:38Z")
Has anyone noticed the king douche has not returned to his masterpiece.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/86 "2014-06-03T15:24:56Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> \*\*I don’t know what denomination you belong to, but it’s an evil one, that’s for sure,
I’m going to guess Westboro Baptist.
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### Author:  [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/87 "2014-06-03T16:17:36Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#):
>
> Has anyone noticed the king douche has not returned to his masterpiece.
He’s probably too busy screaming at some poor bank teller about the lousy interest rates since the recession.
In all seriousness though, he probably knows he can’t defend his position against such overwhelming opposition, and he doesn’t strike me as a big enough person to admit that he may have been wrong. That basically covers all the options, doesn’t it?
---
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/88 "2014-06-03T16:24:19Z")
> [@oft\_wears\_hats](#):
>
> He’s probably too busy screaming at some poor bank teller about the lousy interest rates since the recession.
>
> In all seriousness though, he probably knows he can’t defend his position against such overwhelming opposition, and he doesn’t strike me as a big enough person to admit that he may have been wrong. That basically covers all the options, doesn’t it?
That thread **Mr Nylock** linked does involve the OP wanting to be a boss in the easiest way possible. So he not only wants to be an asshole to underlings but he’s lazy, too.
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### Author:  [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/89 "2014-06-03T16:25:33Z")
Money talks… LACK of money talks louder!
Take the business elsewhere.
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### Author:  [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/90 "2014-06-03T16:44:01Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#):
>
> You could not possibly be more wrong with that if you tried.
I cited chapter and verse. Do you not believe in the Bible?
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/91 "2014-06-03T16:54:09Z")
The OP has been a member of this Board for more than four years and has nearly 6,000 posts. He isn’t a newbie, and he doesn’t seem to live under a bridge, so my guess is he suddenly realized he’s in the deep end of the pool with this thread, and has gotten out.
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### Author:  [@Reverend\_Meade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverend_Meade)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/92 "2014-06-03T17:06:01Z")
After checking the Pitt rules, it turns out that I cannot adequately express my disdain for the OP without moving closer to the line than I am comfortable with. I will instead limit myself to say that robert\_columbia and his pastor are utter scum.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/93 "2014-06-03T17:41:23Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#):
>
> . . .
> I do not, will not, and have never, liked tea.
> . . .
Username fail!
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### Author:  [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/94 "2014-06-03T17:53:11Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#):
>
> And somehow neither you nor your pastor sees that you’re closer to the money changers than to Jesus. If he came back today, he’d probably cockpunch both of you.
Who Would Jesus Cockpunch is a bumper sticker I would buy!
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/95 "2014-06-03T18:15:13Z")
Pastor does not exist. OP is yanking our collective chain.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/96 "2014-06-03T21:09:31Z")
Doesn’t matter. The OP is a retarded fucking asshole who deserves to end up working a retail job and having other people pull this shit on him.
Same goes for the made up pastor.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/97 "2014-06-03T21:33:53Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I talked with the pastor of my church about this, and he actually said that he approved of what I was doing, because if more people do this (treat customer service like dirt), then the companies will come to terms with their antisocial tendencies and _change_.
I do not believe you talked with a pastor about this. You have made the story up for one of two reasons. You might be trying to smear religion. Or you are trying to say that a generally respected sort of figure, agreeing with you, make it OK. This talk with the pastor didn’t happen, did it?
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> What do you think of the idea, either as a way to effectuate real social change, or as an exhaust vent for anger against Corporate America?
This idea is as bad as it gets. What you are trying to do is find a license for being an asshole. Someday you will be mean to a clerk who’s mother or father or SO just died, or has some other reason for being very sad and upset. Then they will see \*\*\*YOU \*\*\*as a thing to vent their feelings on. I’d sell tickets to the show.
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### Author:  [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/98 "2014-06-03T22:23:10Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I have, at times, been known to treat retail and customer service employees of scummy “Corporate America” type companies rather rudely, treating the person as the physical embodiment of the company’s attitude toward the public.
>
> We are talking about speaking rudely, perhaps crudely, not about threatening acts of violence or actually committing them.
>
> I talked with the pastor of my church about this, and he actually said that he approved of what I was doing, because if more people do this (treat customer service like dirt), then the companies will come to terms with their antisocial tendencies and _change_. One person telling off a CSR isn’t likely to do anything, but if we get a movement started, eventually it will get to the point where CSR’s are telling their managers that, “What did I accomplish last week? I got yelled at by a lot of people and didn’t sell anything”. At that point, the company has to change if it wants to survive.
>
> What do you think of the idea, either as a way to effectuate real social change, or as an exhaust vent for anger against Corporate America? At some level, telling a CSR that I wish that the CSR’s mother was there with us right now because I’m sure she’d cry when she found out what her child was doing for a living seems a bit rude, but then I know that people are what make corporations into _what they are_, and by choosing to work for a company, a person states, at least in a limited way, that they approve of what the company is doing enough to be willing to assist it. At that point, one _becomes_ part of the problem and is fair game.
I think your pastor is in the wrong job. And I think anyone who uses your justification to treat low-level workers badly is a complete asshole.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/99 "2014-06-03T22:35:34Z")
I came in here just for the thrill of agreeing with **Drunky Smurf** and **magellan01**. :eek: 🆒
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### Author:  [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-retail-employees-like-dirt-as-a-proxy-for-the-corporation/689845/100 "2014-06-04T00:54:20Z")
> [@kambuckta](#):
>
> What a load of bollocks.
Best answer!
Succinct and versatile.
Works whether the OP is trolling or not.
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