working in retail/service?

[Mike Hoffman]

Something ive always found weird about service and retail workers is that there seems to be a lot of complaining from people who work these jobs. I often see internet memes like "things on retail workers will understand" and such like. It got me wondering why we only see groups like this. You dont see pages called "mechanics problems" or "things only manual labourers will understand"

Sample bias. There are more people that work in retail than the other fields you described and I'm not sure, but I expect the portion of mechanics that use the internet and social media is lower than retail employees. Laborers and mechanics can complain, they just probably don't do it on the internet as much.

 

[michael87cn]

Because people don't mind working hard. Yeah, I said it. You don't see mechanics mutually complaining about their jobs because:

1. They are paid well for their work
2. Their work is mostly routine in nature

In retail you can be bombarded with stupidity of the highest order. You see things that baffle the mind and make you question the sanity of the world. You can try to be as prepared as possible, to be the best at your job as possible, but you will still have days that freak you the fuck out.

In retail, you are

1. Severely underpaid for a company that severely overprofits from your work
2. Your work is chaotic in nature and random, every day is different and you never know what freaky thing is going to happen

I'm not trying to belittle the efforts of other jobs, there are plenty of jobs that have great difficulties, but people don't generally mind difficulties. What's life without a little challenge, right? But what annoys workers is impossibilities. Situations where no matter what you do, people are going to make you feel terrible about yourself and you're going to be left feeling like there was nothing you could do to improve the situation.

That's retail/service and it's fucking horrible sometimes.

 

[Lilikins]

Ill just put in my 2 cents (service)
Im a barista and waiter at a guest area for a firm...so we basically have managers from all over the world coming here, Samsung is a customer (youd think they'd give me a mobile as a present or something..ah-hem..) I actually really enjoy my job for the most part. Yet sometimes you'll meet that special breed of folks where I just...have to do a facepalm haha My absolute favorites till now were:

1: A chap who demanded gummy bears instead of gummy fruits..after I explained to him they are made by the same firm...and have the exact same tastes, he said it doesnt matter because gummy bears taste better then gummy fruits and he wants them 'now'...I told him Id get him some if the 20 ppl behind him didnt mind waiting, the chap behind him immediately asked him if he had a few screws loose.

2: A vegetarian who once looked at the menu...and said he really didnt like the vegetarian dishes, I asked him if I could maybe get him something 'specific' where to he answered (I will never forget this) "Nah, F it...Ill just take the Rump Steak" haha. The only thing that went through my mind at that point was 'your doing it wrong....'.

And to the 'not needing skill' portion that some believe. I worked in construction before starting service. Though not as physically demanding as construction I really have to admit atleast mentally? It is very 'difficult' pending on the people you get. A day with 200 folks can go flawless without a single problem, yet on the other hand if you get those 'special people'..a day with only 40 can be one of the most exhillerating and difficult days imaginable.

 

[michael87cn]

I deleted this post because it had too much negativity.

 

[Something Amyss]

You dont see pages called "mechanics problems" or "things only manual labourers will understand"

Funny, I see that sort of thing appear on my Facebook all the time. I studied to become an electronics technician, as did several of the people I met in high school and college. As such, I'm plugged in to a particularly technical group that includes mechanics, engineers, and electronics geeks of all stripes. So maybe my population is skewed, but it's out there.

I also see stuff "only men" and "only women" will understand, stuff you will "only" get if you're an athlete, stuff you will "only" get if you're into pro wrestling, etc. I mean, it's pretty common.

Like I said im not having a pop at you guys, you do a stellar job and youve got a lot of shit to contend with while being massively underpaid but im just trying to fathom why there seems to be a lot of complaining and "you dont understand till youve worked retail" mentality that you dont really see with any other job

Unless you're military, police, fire, rescue (got a lot of those on Facebook), medical....Need I continue?

But more to the point, the "you'll get this if you've worked retail/service/whatever" are common because it's the lowest common denominator. Even a lot of the technical people worked in service jobs at some point.

Also, our minimum wage isn't calculated to insult workers.

Well, I mean, you're already on a continent designed to kill you. The least they can do is float you a few extra bucks.

 

[Loonyyy]

You know how people are assholes? Working retail usually means being paid to put up with these people with a smile as part of your uniform, and some part of your job description being "The customer is always right" or some guff.

The customer is more often not right, and frequently an asshole. And those are the stories that people talk about. It's not just retail, it's pretty much any service job where you encounter large volumes of people who you have to serve, who treat you as though you're an Elder Scrolls conversation interface at best.

Labourers complaining largely about carrying bricks would be silly. But I'm fairly sure that's hardly the fun part of their job, and it's probably subject to enough whinging amongst themselves. Nurses etc complain all the time about how they're treated compared to doctors, and in many places have campaigned for higher pay.

But there's a critical difference between these examples and the usual retail/service/food horror stories. Carrying bricks is a part of the job. Lorry driving obviously requires long shifts to get anywhere. The nursing stuff is horrid, I grant you, and probably could do with fixing. But the bit you're talking about is about the job not working correctly. If a customer is rude, or brusque, whatever. If you have to spend hours at the till, whatever. If a customer has a mammoth order or the like, whatever. That's the job. What's not the job is people annoyed with the company trying to attack staff. What's not the job is dealing with abuse. And those are the things that annoy people. It's like if the bricks had snakes in them, or came broken, or if the lorry driver has to make a certain time over dangerous roads (And both of these can happen, and guess what? People complain).

Thing is, customers are quite often uncooperative with people just trying to serve them, I think, because so many people have worked retail. Everyone's heard the bit about "The customer is always right", and they've forgotten that it's corporate doublespeak to get you to do your best, and think it's some sort of truism.

And unlike a labourer, or a nurse, you have zero authority over the customer. A labourer is answerable to their foreman. A nurse is answerable to an immediate supervisor. In retail, you're answerable to your managers, and any jackoff who walks in off the street. You are entirely at their behest, because that's your job. You end up serving two groups, management, who know what to tell you to do (Mostly) and give direction that's (Mostly) geared towards getting stuff done, and customers, who know none of this, while management leans over your shoulder to ensure that you're serving the customers as quickly, and as "correctly" as possible.

Eamar's list really does sum it up pretty well.

Hell, just last week I went on a delivery to a house in a nice area, bigass house full of rich kids having some sort of eighteenth party. $125 order, they said come through the side gate, which was unlit, and pretty hard to work out in the dark. They can't hear because of their music. Finally work my way in, then I have to work out which of the drunk assholes is the drunk asshole in charge of paying. Everyone seems to just keep doing what they're doing, that is, dancing like morons (Except for a couple who celebrate because "Woo, pizza guy, that's so funny" (Oddly enough, that does make me pretty annoyed)). Finally they work out who's in charge, and they ask if I've got a credit card machine. Never mind they promised to pay cash on delivery. I let them know, no, we don't carry those. So off they go for 10 minutes to sort out the cash, while I'm waiting watching a bunch of 17 year old morons twerking. Which is doubly creepy when they've got what looks like their grandparents and extended family present.

Finally, said assholes in charge return with the money, and pay (No tip, rich people almost never tip. Most of them pay in credit over the internet, so they don't even think of it, and those who pay cash don't care, and it's been so long since they've worked for so little that they don't get it.)

Get back to the car, 3 missed calls from the store, have to race back, but I'm restricted by the speed limit so there's only so fast I can go (I'm not complaining about the speed limit, it's there for a reason. But it does make a minimum time between points), and then get to explain to the manager who's now flustered because his order screen is cluttering up because I wasn't back(Depending on how his day's been, he may laugh it off, accept it, yell at me, make insinuations about my future employment, or begin making mistakes himself, since he's under a lot of pressure now).

And then my delivery time is extended by ten minutes (And is outside of the estimated delivery time, which is a mark against the store, and myself). Which means my average delivery time has increased. Which means I'm now further down the list of driver times, and that's how they roster, fastest drivers first. Which means next week I'll get less hours. Which means next week, I might not be able to afford food, or medicine. And the worst part? Those people don't even realise that they've screwed me. They might think they took a while. That's the most they'll think of it. Because I'm not a person to them. They can't spare a moment from their hedonism to sort their shit out before I arrive, and they can't spare a dollar to apologise when I arrive and they screw up.

And when I complain about it? I'm young, naive (Even when those aren't meant as cracks, they pile up, and they're only ever said by people who themselves are naive: They lack the experience to know what it is that's being complained about), lazy(Hell, a good portion of people support political parties and idealogies which say that these jobs don't deserve a living wage, never mind that these jobs are the only work available to students supporting themselves, and those jobs having less than a living wage hurts even more when you don't have the hours). I should be grateful for the customer propping up the business. I'm a worthless millennial(Whatever that is). Even though that part of me is the tiniest part of what's going on for me. Hell, getting shit from people who're less smart than me but think they're better than me because my uniform is a polo shirt and a cap is part of my job description.

Hell, if I haven't memorised every ingredient on every item on our stores menu, and every other franchises, I'll get people whinging about how stupid I am, or how they could come in and do my job (The response I have to bite back is that I should come to their house and do their job, that is, order like a fucking competent human being). Never mind that's on top of memorising a call procedure, where everything is on the POS system, where everything is round the store, what tasks, in what order, to do while not serving a customer or delivering. No, it's not the hardest. But the simple procedure of entering an order is complicated by the simple-minded nature of most customers, and no matter how stupid or useless they are, I guarantee you're the one who's going to be called that. And you're obliged not to answer back (The greatest moments are when you have permission to tell someone to go fuck themselves, or to just hang up on them).

I work for those moments.

Yeah, it gets tiresome.

 

[fix-the-spade]

You dont see manual labourers complaining lugging bricks around all day. You dont see lorry drivers complain about long shifts and time pressures and you dont see nurses complain about being overworked, underpaid and understaffed

Seriously what planet do you live on?

Pay more attention you wwill see all of those things and more, that you don't makes me believe you either choose to ignore it or somehow live a life where you encounter no people at all who work entry level and low paid positions. Truck drivers make an art form of griping, although making them a coffee is a one hundred percent effective cure.

As for complaining, people in skilled jobs complain just as much as those in unskilled jobs. You don't see much of it a broad level because it's not relatable. At some point in their life everyone is going to get a job manning a checkout, dealing with complaints or plain shovelling shit (or in my case, all three at the same time!), even you.

Everyone can understand the shit idiots do and eventually everyone can laugh at it, writing articles about how engineers hate that a particular brand of Turbofans have an obvious issue with bypass flow that result in exhaust gasses entering and damaging the cabin air compressors and that only an idiot wouldn't have noticed is somewhat harder to explain to the average person looking at Cracked.

 

[shootthebandit]

You dont see manual labourers complaining lugging bricks around all day. You dont see lorry drivers complain about long shifts and time pressures and you dont see nurses complain about being overworked, underpaid and understaffed

Seriously what planet do you live on?

Pay more attention you wwill see all of those things and more, that you don't makes me believe you either choose to ignore it or somehow live a life where you encounter no people at all who work entry level and low paid positions. Truck drivers make an art form of griping, although making them a coffee is a one hundred percent effective cure.

As for complaining, people in skilled jobs complain just as much as those in unskilled jobs. You don't see much of it a broad level because it's not relatable. At some point in their life everyone is going to get a job manning a checkout, dealing with complaints or plain shovelling shit (or in my case, all three at the same time!), even you.

Everyone can understand the shit idiots do and eventually everyone can laugh at it, writing articles about how engineers hate that a particular brand of Turbofans have an obvious issue with bypass flow that result in exhaust gasses entering and damaging the cabin air compressors and that only an idiot wouldn't have noticed is somewhat harder to explain to the average person looking at Cracked.

Yes these groups do complain but not as vocally as the service/retail workers

Also dont start a conversation about turbofans and environmental control. We could be here all day

 

[mmmikey]

If I had to guess why people complain about it is because it's largely dealing with people who feel entitled and are ill equipped for human interaction or just complete assholes for seemingly no reason at all.

In my experience people will mess up things in front of me, even after I just rearranged what they just disordered in front of them. With no shame. I've seen people give me or other workers shit because we didn't have enough of whatever item they wanted in stock. They don't take responsibility for their mistakes. They break shit in the store and walk away without an apology. They break stuff trying to force it into their car after they buy it and leave the store and want a free replacement. They come back years after they purchased it for a full refund when we no longer sell the item. They act as if they don't understand how coupons work that say good for one regular priced item excluding x, y, z and try to use 20 in one purchase for items that are already discounted. They'll say you're no good at your job because you don't know the price of some random item you only got in days ago in a store that carries literally thousands of items or don't know which product is best. They come in minutes before the posted business hours of closing and proceed to lounge about as if employee lives outside of work don't matter. Never mind most people work two or more jobs and have worked from morning to night. You give them exactly everything they want with a smile and they'll still threaten to complain to customer service.

There's the fact that your schedule is probably hectic. They need you closing this day. They need you opening the next. Someone called out and you're on call so now you're working because they couldn't be bothered. Your hours go longer during Christmas where you can't request days off.

Upper management has no cohesion. You say what they want you to say to a customer, customer complains to a manager and the manager is the hero for bending over backwards and you're threatened to be reported because you did what you were literally trained to do. Customer service is by large a hotline for any asshole with the most baseless complaint to get anything they want.

Quite honestly I think there should be more to shaming people who are this reprehensible to retail or service employees. You better believe their behavior is certainly affecting how your experience is as well. I can tell you I'm willing to miles for someone who has the decency to treat me like a human being and not a serf because they may potentially pay for the thing they're holding. And there's something refreshing to the customers who don't try to bully their way to things and accept things with grace.

It's something depressing to seeing grown adults in a first world country who had an education throw all politeness and social norms out the window over the most meaningless things because you stand on one side of the counter and they stand on the other.

 

[happyninja42]

- People treat you like a servant. They dehumanise you by clicking for you, talking as if you're not there, looking through you.
- You're treated like public property. It's fair game for strangers to make comments on your appearance or lecture you about what you should be doing in life. If you're female, you'll acquire your very own handful of creepers, leches or even bona fide stalkers.
- You are the public face of an organisation, therefore everything is your fault and you're meant to have all the answers. Everything from price increases to product changes was your personal decision and you need to answer for it.

Yeah, these are the ones that irk me the most. I never had the creeper/stalker part, being male and 6ft 4in tall, and built well to handle myself in a fight, but plenty of my female co-workers had the problem.

I've worked some form of customer service job my entire working career, as I've come to the understanding that I like helping people. I genuinely do like spending my time doing stuff to help other people, and I'm good at it.

But regardless of that, customers can treat you like a servant, and can become so haughty and arrogant. They will make irrational demands of you, things that are outside of your job profile or authority to do, and then when you try to explain to them that, "whatever it is you asked isn't possible" they will try and counter with things like "...so you're refusing to assist me huh?" Trying to now put you on the defensive of some kind of customer service/public relations nightmare. I've actually had that one happen a couple times. The customer demanded that I do something for them that wasn't possible, and when I told them no, they pull the "refusing to help me" card.

Most of the time, people are cool, and treat you like an equal and a person, and it's no big deal. But it's a question of numbers. In a busy retail/customer service job, you will see hundreds of customers over the course of a work week. And even with a 1% Asshole Rating, it means you will encounter it once a day probably, if not more. So it adds up, the amount of jackasses you deal with, and are expected to just smile and nod, and take it, because they're the customer, and you can't make them unhappy, as they might complain, and that never ends well for you.

So yeah, it can suck, but personally I don't mind it too much. I've since moved into a field of customer service where it's not retail, and things are much better.

But, having worked in fast food, and other type retail/service industries, it has taught me some good things.

1. ALWAYS BE POLITE TO THE PEOPLE MAKING YOUR FOOD Behaving in a way that makes the people handling your food annoyed with you NEVER ends well, just always be friendly and polite and understanding with them. It helps prevent anything happening to your food, and they might be nice and hook you up with something free too.

2. If an employee at a business did a good job for you, ask to speak to their manager, and give the employee a compliment in person. Do the online surveys too sure, but taking a few minutes to tell their immediate supervisor "I just wanted to let you know that *Insert Name Here* did a really good job, was very friendly and helpful, and I was grateful for their help today finding what I needed." That does a lot to help that employee on the store level. It makes them look effective in their bosses eyes, and will likely encourage the employee to keep doing a good job, since there was positive feedback provided. In all the jobs I had, I was quickly promoted, or given bonuses/raises/etc for showing that I was good at what I did, and one of the factors considered, was customer compliments. It made my evaluations easier, I usually scored higher, and my supervisor would always comment about how I'm doing a good job, and that the customers seem to really like my service. So yeah, give the good employees a little support, and compliment them when you can, it can do a lot. One good customer showing appreciation for their service can negate the last 5 assholes worth of grumpiness that the employee might be accumulating, which helps the next customer, which might be you. xD

3. They HAVE to upsell those things to you at the counter. They don't like to, half the time they don't want to, but they HAVE to. If you don't want the thing, that's fine, but be polite when you decline the offer for the upsell. I used to work at Books a Million, and I kind of lucked out. I refused to upsell the magazine subscriptions, because I felt they were a total scam, and didn't help the customer. Given how often customers came in, complaining that they couldn't get the magazine company to stop charging their credit cards, I felt it was a bad thing. My supervisor let it slide, because I was great at selling the membership cards (something I did feel was worth your time, 10% discount isn't bad if you spend a lot of money at the store), and would sometimes sell enough on my own, to meet the weekly store quota. So she was fine with that. She had other people make the mag-sups, as long as I kept selling cards, she didn't give a rats ass. But it was still an issue for the staff in general, and trust me, they get tired of saying it over and over all day, but they have to.

 

[fletch_talon]

Something ive always found weird about service and retail workers is that there seems to be a lot of complaining from people who work these jobs. I often see internet memes like "things on retail workers will understand" and such like. It got me wondering why we only see groups like this. You dont see pages called "mechanics problems" or "things only manual labourers will understand"

Im not saying its an easy job and im not saying you dont get obnoxious dickhead customers (I probably fall into this catagory sometimes) but customers pay the wages of the staff

Surely ever other job equally has stuff to complain about. You dont see manual labourers complaining lugging bricks around all day. You dont see lorry drivers complain about long shifts and time pressures and you dont see nurses complain about being overworked, underpaid and understaffed

Like I said im not having a pop at you guys, you do a stellar job and youve got a lot of shit to contend with while being massively underpaid but im just trying to fathom why there seems to be a lot of complaining and "you dont understand till youve worked retail" mentality that you dont really see with any other job

Edit: perhaps its due to the average age being pretty low and thus a bit of naivity towards work. Its just a theory, what do you guys think?

-If you fall into the 'obnoxious dickhead customer' category, fix that. There's no excuse for it, and if you haven't worked in retail yourself, maybe look into it, it can shed light on the little things you do which are ridiculously lazy/selfish/stupid and make you mend your ways. And please know I'm not just referring to you I think anyone who works in retail , myself included, and doesn't just phone it in, will find that their attitudes towards others are changed. This is usually for the better for those who use their experiences to sympathise with others but it can backfire and instil a great deal of cynicism towards others for those who only focus on incidents as a 'wrong' done specifically to them.
Essentially I'm of the opinion that retail can make you a better person... or potentially reinforce pre-existing tendencies towards misanthropy.


-Customers don't pay my wage, the company does. I don't work for tips (even if this was America). The customer comes in and buys stuff that they want or need. If they can't do that without being an asshole, then you better believe I'll ***** about it. I'm paid for my time and my work. No job should force you to endure what is essentially bullying without granting you the right to defend yourself. I'm not saying we should get into name calling matches with customers, but as soon as they prove to be unreasonable or difficult, they should be refused service and asked to leave. Unfortunately, as long as they still have a wallet and a mouth to lie to their friends and colleagues with, no company would support this.

-All those professions likely do complain about those things, but...
A trucker's long trip, and a nurse's long hours/low pay (which they have protested against here in Australia) don't make for interesting stories, so they probably just complain at the time or to coworkers who know what its like. Its not really a great forum topic if you're looking to provide entertainment value. Which many 'retail horror stories' are.
Tradesman don't have a leg to stand on complaining about lugging bricks, as its literally part of what they're paid to do. Now no doubt some people are thinking its our job to deal with customers, and that's true, but customers are quite capable of not being fuckwits whereas bricks don't choose to be heavy. Its like the truck driver having to take the long dirt road instead of the short bitumen one. Or the bricklayer having to carry 2 bricks at a time across the site, instead of using the wheelbarrow. Or the nurse having to use a rectal thermometer instead of an oral one.
The difference is, there are reasons why those circumstances might arise which have nothing to do with malice. Whilst some customers go out of their way to be difficult to the extent of being vindictive, aggressive, intimidating and so on.

At the end of the day, retail and service industries are some of the few workplaces in which you can legitimately expect at some point to be harassed, yelled at, intimidated, put down, threatened and sworn at and be expected to put up with it, receive little to no support from your higher ups and then return to work after with a smile on your face.

And since some people are sharing stories, here's some of mine.
-was threatened because some fuckhead can't read labels and picked a DVD up that had been tossed into the wrong spot, manger got involved and gave it to him to make him pies off. Being a manager now I understand why he chose to cave in, but it still felt like a betrayal at the time as I'd stood up for what I knew to be right.

-told some dickheads to leave as they had 'mooned' the underaged girls in apparel, they refused leading to a standoff, threats were made, some coworkers and friends came to back me up and make them leave. They remained in their car in car park for some time after... also I was dressed as robin hood for our toy sale at the time... so yeah...

-which reminds me, someone reminded me today that I once attended a first aid call to a pregnant woman who had fainted... I was dressed as a knight in shining armour... I didn't consider the cliché at the time.

-had a ***** screaming at the top of her lungs at me because I refused her demands to sell her 2 items that had been joined together as one item at the price of a different item, I may have been persuaded to just let it go, but she felt the need to get in my face, speak to me in an incredibly aggressive and condescending tone about how I must hate my job and how 'this is what's going to happen'. She also commented on how I had a twitch of my upper lip, almost as if I was angry at some piece of shit talking to me like I'm her inferior.
The next day I come to work, get the standard lecturer about not letting 'pride' create problems like this, and about how the lady had been in to apologise...
Not to me mind you, apparently I'd called her a ***** to her face (I'll certainly admit to discussing the issue afterwards with sympathetic parties, though to be honest at the time I think other people used the word more so than me) and she wanted to apologise for making a scene, its just apparently me being a big evil man reminded her of her abusive daddy and boyfriend. No shit, this was her excuse...
Oh and a lovely young girl at the checkouts who was always really bright and bubbly got caught in the crossfire despite my attempts to divert bitchfaces attention and somshe quit not long after because she couldn't stand seeing how bad people could be, you may scoff, but this incident was pretty severe.
Sorry still grates on me that one.

-I've encountered numerous thieves, some of them staff members (probably the most morally reprehensible incidents of theft) the best one was where I followed the guy I'd almost caught red handed everywhere he went, slowly psyching him out by bouncing a ball so he always new I was just around the corner. I know it got to him because he eventually threw stuff on the floor in frustration. When I asked if he was alright he replied by saying I soon wouldn't be. I asked him to leave after that in my most sickly sweet polite voice and in spite of his bravado and threats he left, with me escorting him to the exit.
I'm no tough guy, but I was prepared to defend myself if need be and as best I could (and I wouldn't be alone for long). Nonetheless I am happy it didn't come to that, and I felt like such a badass at the time... its good for my self esteem.

-and finally (not even) I clean up the majority of gross spills that occur during my shifts. As a manager I could ask someone else to, but I don't cuz its gross and I feel bad asking them to. Urine and vomit are pretty bad, though funnily enough I'd prefer urine to vomit, as the chunks cause difficulties.
Shit is the worst though... its only happened once, well one big time. It was a full adult sized shit in the middle of an aisle... which had been smeared a bit further along... and then rubbed on the side of a shelving unit at about waist height... it was unpleasant.
The upside was I spent the rest of that shift saying things like: 'shit happens', 'I get all the shit jobs' and 'what a shitty day'

 

[D.j. Wellborn]

It's the customers. It's always the customers and the only good customers are the ones that can look after their selves.

No matter what, no matter how nice you think you are to the people who work in retail you're always 'one of those customers'. I can't tell you how many times a person has come up to me asked what isle it's down, me tell them and ask them what direction that is. It's almost as if our isles AREN'T numbered in a correct order and a simple look up will tell you the information.

I'm an over weight female and around Christmas this old bastard said all I needed was a big red suit and all his wife did was laugh. Because I'm not allowed to retaliate I just had to stand there and smile until they left. I went and cried in the bathroom after that.

Once I had a customer come in and tell ME that we had a product that she's been buying at the store for years on end. Two years I worked there and I had never seen it. I asked my manager who's been working there for eight years and he had never heard of it either.

I could go on and on but I think you get the point. Most customers lie, insult, pretend to be stupid, are stupid, or just down right lazy. I'm not saying all are like this. In fact I have a few favorites, some are regulars and some aren't. The difference is those people actually treat me like a person and not the grocery store version of google with legs.

 

[Blow_Pop]

It depends on the crowds you run in on what you see the most. I don't see the retail and service industry complaining as much as I see everyone else. And I work in a service industry. Most of my friends kind of work in service industries(electricians, mechanics, etc) but I see more complaints about their jobs than the customers they occasionally have to deal with.

And I feel bad for some of the mechanics because of how much people want to argue over necessary parts and how much said part costs and not understanding why jobs that basically wind up taking half your front end apart and needing more than a day to complete cost a lot for labour. (though that said, I will say there are a lot of shops who charge unfair labour prices like $50 labour for an oil change because that's fucking ridiculous and part of why I do most of my own labour on my car)

Retail, food service, and service industry customers however, are the absolute worst people ever. People claim that all these people are "unskilled". Except sometimes they aren't. If you are a server in a place that serves alcohol, you have to be educated on how to tell when to cut people off and how to do it. And how to deal with the belligerent assholes who want to be dicks to you when you cut them off. Hell, when I worked as a server, I had a lady (after I had given her her change mind you) who complained to my manager that I didn't give her her change. I constantly got sections in which I barely got tipped anything because my managers didn't like me. AND my body was basically public property. Not only did I get lewd comments(usually from men) but I got my boobs groped, my ass groped, my ass smacked, and a guy try to finger me through my jeans that I narrowly avoided by sidestepping him. And no matter how much I complained to our security and our managers I got told there was nothing they could do about it. I've gotten told that being a cook made me an unskilled labourer. When I had to go through culinary academy through my work to learn proper food handling and storage. And other things relevant to the job.

People think that being a monster at a haunted attraction is easy. It's not. It actually takes skill. You have to first learn how to scare. How to stay in character no matter what people are doing. I've gotten kicked in the head, kicked in the thigh, my foot stepped on, my boobs groped(usually by women, I don't understand that one), and an old guy who decided to punch me in the shoulder. Not only that but there's the numerous splinters, hurting my hand from slamming it into walls, all the bruises I've gotten from the job itself usually around my legs, and being sent into an asthma attack because someone decided to bathe in their perfume. Pro tip: If you are going out in public and like floral perfume, do us ALL a favour and don't fucking bathe in your perfume. Actually don't do that regardless. And don't bathe in your cologne either. I don't think there is anything worse than having to deal with a customer who is bathed in a scent and trying to interact with them while trying not to breathe so that medical issues don't arise. Actually no, I take that back it's on par with people who don't bathe or use deodorant. Anyway though, we also have to learn how to deal with issues in a way that doesn't break our character and deal with incompetent supervisors who panic in front of someone having an asthma attack bad enough to request to go to first aid who can't figure out what to do(which is the worst thing ever, if you don't know what to do stay calm in front of the person and freak out after you're out of their range of sight/hearing). Our blackouts have to be trained in what to do and how to properly remove people from our mazes and when they need to get a supervisor or security. It's not a job that you can just walk in off the street and automatically know what/how to do.

Also, don't be an ass and complain that someone's doing their job. For instance my job as a monster. It is my job to scare people. People like to complain that I'm scaring them and need to stop. They like to threaten physical violence on me if I don't stop scaring them, their partner, or their family member/friend(s). That is the stupidest complaint ever.

 

[2xDouble]

- People treat you like a servant. They dehumanise you by clicking for you, talking as if you're not there, looking through you.

But you ARE a servant when you work retail. I mean, you're literally serving people.

Totes agree with everything you've said though..

But it's more than that, and much, much worse. These people, by which I mean literally everyone, expect not only servitude, but worship. They want to feel like kings or gods and will throw you just as far down in the vain attempt to thrust themselves up, to feel like they matter, like they're important.

These are people who can't possibly understand the decisions you make in serving them, because they have a woefully incomplete set of information. But unlike someone in a similar situation, say a doctor or mechanic, they will actively correct you on what it is that you know and understand, like a small child's ultimate retort to their parents, the "nuh-uh". These people, these stupid, uninformed, ignorant, immature morons expect us to treat them with the kind of respect typically reserved only for world leaders (hah!) or world-class athletes and entertainers.

The worst part of it? is they're right. The customers' satisfaction and repeat business is more valuable to the establishment/company than the items they've stolen, the meals they've wasted, the free shit they whined and cried until they got, the absolute affronteries to justice itself... even the wages/salaries of the employees, including upper management. It's positively galling, the nerve of these people and the systems in place to encourage this behavior, the kind of gall that causes large structures to... "spontaneously combust", if left unchecked. (Yes, that's a reference to Office Space.)

Since we're also sharing "war stories"... In no particular order, I personally have seen people:

completely baffled by a "Good morning!", despite already having made direct eye or verbal contact;

fall to their bum and/or scream (grown adults, mind) because they wanted to sit four feet "closer"... to items that were farther away from the new spot than the original;

explicitly advertise their prostitution... "business", once to the point of commenting directly at us as though we were a "live studio audience";

ask me to locate a bathroom or product we were literally standing in front of (I do understand that kind of tunnel-vision, but still... quite silly);

counter the information that a product is sold out or promotion has ended (and has been so for several days) with "no it isn't"... and attempt to "debate" the item out of me;

refuse to remove their non-service dog from the grocery department or buffet line because "it's ok, she's potty trained";

attempt to bargain and plead with me to perform an action which doesn't exist within the context ("No, I can't print out your credit card statement for you. This is a restaurant.");

follow up and compound the previous offences with "what is the matter with you? why won't you give me good customer service?"...

...and these are not isolated incidents. Every one of these has happened multiple times in several different establishments. Don't even get me started on holidays, students, vacationers, people who take their disabled relative out for the day and act like they're primary caregivers... don't you fucking correct me on placing wheelchairs, asshole, or I'll beat you to death with my nursing certificates and awards, then I'll use my skills to revive you and beat you to death again... *forehead vein bursts* *blacks out*

Sorry, lost my train of thought there... The point is, people suck and we can't fix that. We can, however, improve our own lives through the simple choice to be happy. It's not at all easy, but it is that simple.

 

[shootthebandit]

- People treat you like a servant. They dehumanise you by clicking for you, talking as if you're not there, looking through you.

But you ARE a servant when you work retail. I mean, you're literally serving people.

Totes agree with everything you've said though..

But it's more than that, and much, much worse. These people, by which I mean literally everyone, expect not only servitude, but worship. They want to feel like kings or gods and will throw you just as far down in the vain attempt to thrust themselves up, to feel like they matter, like they're important.

Im sorry but this is ridiculous. You expect customers to treat you with respect yet you have a contempt for all of them. Respect works both ways

I wouldnt say I expected servitude or worship. I simply expect someone to carry out their job in a professional courteous manner. Im not too fussed about slow service at a restraunt (if i wanted fast food id go to a fast food outlet). Most places I visit I select what I want to buy and I proceed to the checkout and buy it remaining courteous to the staff as I do so. If the staff are friendly ill usually engage in a bit of banter or a joke. I dont demand anything and I dont complain. My understanding is that this is as good of a customer as you can expect. I dont mean to sound like mr super customer but its not hard to be patient and polite when shopping or at a restraunt

I guess im "lucky" that I have no experience with customers. Im stuck in a windowless metal shed all day

 

[2xDouble]

- People treat you like a servant. They dehumanise you by clicking for you, talking as if you're not there, looking through you.

But you ARE a servant when you work retail. I mean, you're literally serving people.

Totes agree with everything you've said though..

But it's more than that, and much, much worse. These people, by which I mean literally everyone, expect not only servitude, but worship. They want to feel like kings or gods and will throw you just as far down in the vain attempt to thrust themselves up, to feel like they matter, like they're important.

Im sorry but this is ridiculous. You expect customers to treat you with respect yet you have a contempt for all of them. Respect works both ways

Yes. Yes it does... except that it doesn't. It works one way. I have to give you respect. You don't and have never deserved respect any more than I did or do, but I, through my job, am required to respect you.

I do respect everyone who comes into my establishments, I love all the children in my care. My customer service is top-notch, even award-winning among entertainment establishments, but this, right here, proves why I can't do the same outside of work. "Respect works both ways", indeed.

Look, you don't know me. You don't care about my problems, my life, my relationship troubles, etc., etc.. You care about you, your problems, your relationships, and so on. These are things that, whether you choose to admit it or not, are actively ruining your life; things that you seek support and entertainment just to be able to cope with, let alone handle or overcome. Who does that for me? I am carrying the exact same life-ruining stuff, but am required to push it aside to help you. But where do I go, now that I've shouldered not only my own problems, but yours too? To whom can I turn? Who cares for the caregivers? "Respect works both ways", indeed.

Don't bother trying to scold me or convince me that I'm somehow doing my job "wrong" (a job you both admittedly and demonstrably don't understand, by the way... thanks for that.). Don't even try to earn my respect or act like you'll suddenly change and start caring about the people who go out of their way, job or not, to care about you. Just do your self a favor, go find the parents that raised you and thank them. They had to do all that for you and more, and they didn't even have the paycheck to motivate them. Think about that.

 

[shootthebandit]

- People treat you like a servant. They dehumanise you by clicking for you, talking as if you're not there, looking through you.

But you ARE a servant when you work retail. I mean, you're literally serving people.

Totes agree with everything you've said though..

But it's more than that, and much, much worse. These people, by which I mean literally everyone, expect not only servitude, but worship. They want to feel like kings or gods and will throw you just as far down in the vain attempt to thrust themselves up, to feel like they matter, like they're important.

Im sorry but this is ridiculous. You expect customers to treat you with respect yet you have a contempt for all of them. Respect works both ways

Yes. Yes it does... except that it doesn't. It works one way. I have to give you respect. You don't and have never deserved respect any more than I did or do, but I, through my job, am required to respect you.

I do respect everyone who comes into my establishments, I love all the children in my care. My customer service is top-notch, even award-winning among entertainment establishments but this, right here, proves why I can't do the same outside of work. "Respect works both ways", indeed.

This is true. If someone shows you a lack of respect then why should you give them respect in return. If you assume all customers are dicks prior to meeting them then likewise you cant expect them to respect you

I dont think id last long in such a job. I dont suffer fools gladly and if someone is rude to me I wont give them a time of day. However if a customer was nice to me I would be nice to them too

 

[Lilikins]

This is true. If someone shows you a lack of respect then why should you give them respect in return. If you assume all customers are dicks prior to meeting them then likewise you cant expect them to respect you

I dont think id last long in such a job. I dont suffer fools gladly and if someone is rude to me I wont give them a time of day. However if a customer was nice to me I would be nice to them too

This is one of the keypoints of being in retail/service hehe even if they do act like the biggest...rudest person in the world, you cant just go 'f u , theres the door..screw off' (unless you were the boss or had a very good reason to do so.)

But on the flipside of that, to go into the other direction, as posted earlier..Im barista and waiter where I work..so Im that chap who draws those hearts into the cappucino's hehe. I do that for every customer, no matter how rude or friendly they may be. Ill greet everyone with a 'normal' (not over the top friendliness, but more of a homely type of friendliness seeing as thats what Im accustomed to.) 'good morning how can I help you?'. Some greet me with 'good morning' back, where as others just 'Ill have this and that-.-' Ill still give the same product to both, but that first person is more then likely to also compliment what they were given, and this in turn makes me enjoy my job then if they come back later and tell me that it was great .

And really, if you spend Ill say..8 hours smiling and greeting everyone friendly per day, and you have just 1 person coming up to you roughly around the middle of the day complimenting you and your work, that will (atleast for me) give enough fuel to burn through the rest of the day knowing that someone acknowledged how much work you put in it.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Do I come round to your place of work and expect to be allowed to tell you how to do your job?

That's retail.

 

[The White Hunter]

Well I work in food retail of all things and really like my job but here are some gripes:

- 12 h our shifts
- Dickheads
- More dickheads
- People who don't listen to a fucking word you say. I ask "do you need a bag for that?" "No" ... "Well are you going to give me a bag or not?" (or "Are you okay carrying that?" "Yes please" -waits for bag-) both of those happen with nearly every other person.
- People who come in and vent their anger on retail staff
- People who rush in, grab something, barge to the front, slam some money on the counter, stick the product in your face and fuck off without a word to anyone
- People shout at you, occasionally they throw things at you to. Just the other day I was told it's fucking disgusting that we'd sell this customer a cold pie (which was hot, it came out of the oven 2 minutes beforehand) and he threw it at me.

Just things like that. General lack of manners, being rude and impolite, or impatient, or just generally unpleasant. Yes, they pay my wages, no they don't have to be an asshole to me; I'm just doing my job and I try damn hard to do it well.

Edit: Oh, and if you bark 30 different things at me, yeah I'll forget something. I can remember a lot of stuff at once but some people really do go nuts with it.

Also:

- "Could you hurry up and serve me first I'm going to miss my bus/train/taxi/date/hairappointment!!" No, get in the que, or fuck off to whatever you should have left time for.