Poll: Look dude, I'm just doing my job...

[Toaster Hunter]

I work Customer Service in a grocery store. 95% are competent and rational. the remaining 5% make me want to kill someone in painfully sadistic ways.

What people don't understand is that I:
-Am not a mind reader. Please be more specific with your questions. One asked me "Where is that stuff in the blue box with the thing." She got upset because I had no idea what she is talking about
-Am very low in the hierarchy and can't break the rules just for you
- Do not have the ability to materialize out of stock items. If I could create things out of nothing, I wouldn't be working there.
-Am not a moron. It is unnecessary to talk down to me like that.
And last but not least:

-Have no reason to lie to you. Really, we don't want to keep you in the store longer than we have to. The longer you are there, the longer I have to put up with you. If we can bend the rules to get you out faster or give you what you want, we would. If we can't, its because we will be in serious trouble and I don't want to lose my job taking expired coupons for 50 cents off of noodles or a can of beans.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Yeah, I hear you. And people shouldn't behave like that to people just doing their jobs.

Even so, I chose the third option, because there are the occasional groups of 'customer service' people, especially in large corporations who either genuinely don't care, are instructed not be helpful, or don't know what they're doing.

There's nothing as frustrating as calling tech support or sales or something at a company only to have the person tell you something that you know is just complete and utter bullshit which at best is explicitly designed to confuse you or be misleading.

It's very hard to remain calm and reasonable when a company is screwing you over, and the person supposed to 'help' with this doesn't even seem to understand what you're complaining about.

Granted, that seems to be the fault of the company more so than the person, but since they are the only means of contact...

Still, that's mostly an issue with huge corporations and their 'customer service' departments, who universally seem to be trained to be as aggravating as possible...

I'd imagine working those jobs must be pretty stressful considering what seems to be going on.

i fucking hate this job (my job, which is basically what you described) I'm actually very good at it and i know just about all there is to know, especially compared to the other 30 people in my department, but sometimes errors come up on our shitty systems and they will near explode with 20 errors coming across a customers account in which i can't do anything then, and i end up getting death threats over the phone just because i was going the extra mile of helping them then and there instead of sending them to the next person like we are told to do

Sounds like a lose-lose situation.

Still, it's good to hear you're actually trying to be helpful, and death threats are unwarranted.
I think it's the corporate policy that's at fault here mostly, so on balance, mistreating the customer service people is still wrong.

But it's about the most aggravating situation I can come up with for a customer...

oh it is, the situation is near built to fail, hell most of the time the banks send people to us when we aren't supposed to be the ones who talk to them and since we are 3rd party I don't have the ability to transfer them back (we do fraud security for hundreds/maybe thousands of banks, so having that many transfers would be ridiculous) in which i would like to blame banks mostly, as they fucking could care less mostly and we end up taking 90% of the grind even though we aren't even part of the bank and abide by their rules and regulations.

Still, sometimes it would just be nice to run into a logical person or two, at least more than once per hour (i get roughly 25-35 calls per hour, and by the end of the night after dealing with hundreds of people, it gets...fucking.tiring.) And i don't think people realize that, they think of some fat foreign guy sitting behind a desk doing nothing all night who has access to everything at the flip of a single key on the keyboard

 

[Freshman]

Man, my dad is that customer that the world revolves around. I'm always super wary about going to get food with him, and I have on more than occasion "gone to the bathroom" to go apologize to the waiter/waitress.
Like the other day, he got a virus on his computer, so he made me go to the apple store with him. (you need an appointment for getting something fixed I guess) So we get there, he has no appointment, and chews out some random employee because when he called, they didn't tell him he needed an appointment. Not like this was the guy on the phone dad!

I'm curious, has your father ever worked face to face with customers in the last.. say.. twenty years?

I find three types of people are the worst for this kinda stuff..

..the unemployed who feel the world owes them everything under the sun, normally physically disabled or "indiginous"

..people who work in office jobs or other non service industries and think they are better than the people behind the counter.

..people who worked in a service industry a few decades ago when people, both customers and staff, expected less and were far more polite.

The second one is halfway there, he isn't to gendered about it but probably does think more highly of himself. I think the majority of the problem comes from his extreme impatience.

 

[zefiewings]

Read customerssuck.com All you need to know

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Chain of screaming, man. Sucks balls. Just assume them to be extremely insecure with two bucketfuls of psychological dependency issues, and feel pity for them. My sympathies, man.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I worked a long time in retail except that I have the opposite approach. No matter how shitty my day is, it was my job to provide excellent customer service and deal with asshole customers. So I don't blame customers for being assholes. In fact, I blame employees for not having patience and being able to put up with it.

 

[Bat Vader]

I agree that some customers can be rude at times. I try to be a good customer though. A couple of times I have run into rude cashiers.

 

[annilator666]

i had a job for a local coffee shop doing dishes and my boss of 2 hours told me i wasnt going fast enough to keep up yet i had a 2' by 4' work area and a dishwasher that took 3 minutes per load when your trying to crank out the loads 3 minutes is an eternity then 30 seconds after bitching me out she starts trying to make idle conversations with me thats what annoyed me most im running like a chicken with its head cut off and everyone else is standing around watching me work which drives me insane this is why i usually like to work alone or with other competent people

 

[Randvek]

Nobody gives out prizes for being nice. Sad as it is, sometimes the only way to get what you want/need is to make some noise.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I work in Walmart electronics. The ignorance of some of the people coming into my department alone is bad, let alone the whole damn store. Had a customer argue with me about how the Xbox 360 had a blu ray player for 15 minutes. He finally gave up after all that time of me telling him he was wrong.

Generally I don't need to worry about getting canned for being rude to the obviously stupid or excessively rude customers, because management has my back being the only technologically competent person there.

Spoiler: Here's an example of one of my many interactions with customers

So in Canada, and many other nations, stores will not accept returns on CD's, DVD's, Games because of the fear of piracy that and apparently it's law. One lady, bought a DVD, opened, and demanded it to be returned.
Her: I want to return this.
Me: Sorry, can't return open media, it's actually federal law.
Her: Why can't I return it?
Me:...because the law says so
Her: Who said I can't?
Me:...The Federal government
*She starts making a big fuss*
Me: Ok ok, I think I have a solution that will make everyone happy.
Her: And what would that be?
Me: A CT scan
Her: What will that solve?
Me: It will help us find the tumor in your brain that is clearly impairing your ability to think.

 

[Kaymish]

i recently added a building supply company to my conglomerate now when i go around there to talk to the manager i almost get run down by customers who are not suppose to be there and i get to hear stories from the employees and managers about arsehole customers that we didnt sell to (customers need a trade account to make phurchaces and we bill them at the end of the quater)
the best bit no word of a lie was one of thease DIYers backed into my car and had the gall to try and blame me for parking in my spot and yelled at me for asking for his insurance details and said he was going to see the manager about people "parking in dangerous places" (this is in the staff carpark at the back of the assembly shed the idiot obviously couldnt see the sign saying reserved for executives of [company]
once the manager had sided with me and asked him to leave which he didnt he proceded to try and make an order with one of the office staff when they brushed him off he came back to the manager and i was still talking to him at this time yelled again about not being able to order anything and asked to see his boss i took great glee in stating that i was the CEO and he was now tresspassing and please leave now or i wil ask the poliece to press charges
he started to yell some more and one of the staff decided to call the poliece when they turned up (the poliece station is like 300m down the road) he got even more biligerent complaining at the injustice of it all and that everyone he knew would boycott the company (yeah great threat seeing as that part of the company has a vurtuial monopoly in its nich and i dont even sell to those people anyway they can go to Hammer Hardware for all i care) his court date is comeing up i think he might have to take anger management classes

 

[Mikkel421427]

http://notalwaysright.com/the-twilight-of-our-literacy-part-4/11821

From my point of view, all i can really say is... That poor poor man

 

[PureChaos]

that's amazing. after working with the public for about 8 years i decided i hate people and they should all be treated like a retard until they can prove otherwise. a few have managed to prove themselves otherwise but they are too few and far between to change my opinion of the general public

 

[Baneat]

When was the last time you said "May I please have a frappucino" or whatever.

Eh.. The last time I ordered one of those? (Though never again, they're not the nicest things, irrelevant as that is)

It's fun because if you work at one of these places, the middle-low-of-the-pack people with a less shitty, permanent job assume they're smarter than you, but, really, they're not.

 

[Raineheart]

I teach martial arts, and I've had to deal with snippy parents acting like their child is the ONLY kid in the class. I know that's pretty standard, but the inconsideration is surprising occasionally, especially if they're insisting that their child is "gifted" and should be given special attention because of his higher IQ or the fact that he craps Mozart's 5th every time its burrito night.

I guess my problems aren't as bad as others, and I feel for you guys. I make sure I'm always polite and smiling when being served, because I reckon you guys need all the happy energetic customers you can get.

 

[Iwata]

People who say customers should be assholes either never worked retail, or are bitter about having to deal with said asshole customers.

I've worked retail almost all my life, and I can say I don't give a shit about asshole customers, but if they're nice people, I'll go the extra mile to help them any way I can.

 

[Flames66]

when was the last time you thanked the person at Starbucks for you coffee?

Last time I was in Sarbucks

When was the last time you said "May I please have a frappucino" or whatever.

Last time I bought anything anywhere.

When was the last time you bid someone who worked at a taco bell or a grocery store a good day after they've serviced you?

You've got me there. I just smile and try to be polite.

 

[omega 616]

when was the last time you thanked the person at Starbucks for you coffee? When was the last time you said "May I please have a frappucino" or whatever. When was the last time you bid someone who worked at a taco bell or a grocery store a good day after they've serviced you?

I don't say have a good/nice day 'cos nobody in the UK does but I always and I mean always say "please" and "thank you". I go into subway "can I have a spicy Italian please?", "can I have it on wheat please?", "can I have it with cheese but cold please?", "can I have lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion please?" etc etc etc I even thank my bus driver when I get off.

"like momma always said" it please and thank you's cost nothing.

There has only ever been one time I kicked off at customer service person, that was when I went over drawn a few times I paid it off ('cos I wanted to take responsibility for not keeping an eye on my money) then one time I got paid late and asked if the charges could be wiped off they said "we cannot wipe any more charges off as we have done it 6 times before", which hacked me off 'cos every time I go over drawn it costs me £22 (even though I only went over by tiny amounts, the biggest was £2).

So they said we will wipe it off this last time but we have to give you a bad credit rating and give you a bank card you can't use online or in a shop. They only agreed to that after I caused a bit of a scene.

I have had a person be angry at me, which I enjoyed alot to be honest.

My boss sold him the wrong bulb (the pins were wrong, the bulbs look identical appart from one has pins 180 degrees apart at the same height and the other has the same arrangment but one pin is about 0.5 cm higher) and he came back said I had sold him the wrong bulb, I said "I never sold you anything but I will change it for you".

After getting the right bulb I told him "this one is 3P (AKA £0.03 for anybody outside of the UK) more expensive" which made him explode into a rage of calling me incompetant and the usual stuff, he thrust his hand in his pocket, threw 5P at me, nearly smashed the wrong bulb on the counter and stormed off shouting how he "will never be back in this store again!".

Guess who shows up a week later wanting wiper blades? I never served him but I had a good laugh.

 

[rosac]

Gah, yes! I've only been working at a bakery for 6/7 months, but I already know that people will either not read what is right in front of them, or will not use their common sense when it comes to stuff. Like, the crisps are on the bottom shelf, below some of the sandwiches and so many customers think the sandwiches are about 60p, I have to pint out the 'Quavers: 60p' 'Ham and cheese baguettes: £2.00' signs, which we shouldn't have to do...

I had a women today who threw a strop because we didn't have any boxes for her donuts, because she was far too precious to carry them in a bag! :O You know, like everyone else.
And when I passed her the change she dropped it and blamed me for her stupidity and stormed out the shop. Everyone else agreed she was rude, really pissed me off.
Also, the amount of people who think they're they're far too good to talk to you or have basic manners because you're only a lowly worker who should obviously lick their shoes clean.
I can't even look at my works Facebook page anymore, it's just full of retards complaining and not using their common sense.'dey wudn't heat up mah pastieee!' 'I can't read for shit and it's somehow their fault!!'

What made me laugh t'other was some girl who came in holding a Louis Vitton bag, in D&G glasses and some shitty designer dress and she was bitching about a 3p price increase.

Thomas the Bakers by any chance? I'm lucky I don't get too many ***** customers. Most are elderly and are polite.