The Customer Isn't Always Right

As someone who has worked in retail for ten-years I feel saddened by the lack of nice customers these days. Granted you do still get the odd nice customer but not as much as you used to. Customers today are demanding, sometimes so unrealistically demanding you wonder whether or not they are pulling your leg. They are impatient, aggressive and some don’t even speak anymore, some just grunt. And the worst offenders of all are the mobile users! There is nothing ruder than talking on the phone when you are being served. Many a time I have been stood waiting for a customer to end their call so I can finish their transaction all the while my queue is growing but I don’t know if they need a bag, or gift receipts, I can’t even say hello or did you find everything you were looking for? But I can guarantee you they would still say it was me who is rude.

So many people say shop assistants are rude or unhelpful and you know what they really can be. I have received some shockingly terrible customer service over the years and as a result of this I like to give the best customer service I can. Giving great customer service isn’t easy, it means being smiley and happy for ten-hours a day every day and if that wasn’t difficult enough, imagine being nice and helpful to rude people. In the past I have had to deal with a lot of abuse over frankly very small and insignificant problems, for example I have been sworn at, threatened, called stupid, ugly, told my voice is annoying, I could go on and on. When I say, we are abused over small and insignificant problems, I truly mean it, I have received a barrage of abuse over the 5p carrier bag charge. Customers act as if it is me personally charging them and I want to shout “IT IS NOT MY DECISION IT IS THE GOVERMENTS!!!!!” You explain that it is against the law to not charge for a carrier bag, you even explain what charity the money goes to but nope that’s still not good enough and the abuse continues even as they are walking away they are still chuntering away to themselves. All you can do is take a deep breath and prepare for the next abusive customer.

Customers are given the option to rate the service they receive in certain stores online, the one I work in certainly does and that’s fine, but what about staff? We have to sit and read the negative and sometimes completely incorrect feedback and it’s all so unfair. I don’t agree with it at all, especially when they can’t remember the member of staff’s name and they describe them and use words like “frumpy” or “overweight” or “bad hair”. It’s almost like a form of cyberbullying and the staff are defenceless! We can’t disagree with the comment, we can’t give our side of the story, we are just sitting ducks. There have been times where I have received negative feedback and you remember the customer and think “That’s not how it happened! I bent over backwards for that customer, I truly tried to help and because they didn’t get the exact thing they wanted they have decided to ruin my day and in some cases, knock my already quite low self-esteem.

We live in a time of great impatience, where everybody wants everything yesterday and at half the price. People expect more and demand the impossible. We are there to help but we are still only human. Self-service checkouts may be machines, but the people working in retail are not.

Why do people think being rude is the best way to get what you want? If a customer is polite then I will do everything I can to help them, I will even go above and beyond for them. But if your rude then don’t expect me to be helpful. As they say you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

One thing I have noticed lately is how customers are rude before you even open your mouth. I’ve gone to say hello to them and before I can even open my mouth they are attacking me. “I don’t have my receipt but you are going to refund this for me! I don’t want an exchange I want my money back and if you don’t give it to me then I’m going to Trading Standards at the local paper about you!” And this is all before I’ve even said hello! Please tell me why do people do this? Why does this make me want to help you? Why can’t we all be civil to one another? “Hello and how are you today?” “I’m very well thank you, how are you?” “I’m very well thank you, how can I help you today?” How hard is that? I may work in a shop but I am still a person and if you want respect you have to earn respect, it’s a two-way street.

I used to love working in retail but it’s just not the same anymore, the customer may be crucial for a stores survival but their killing it for me. The customer may think they are always right, but in my experience the customer is sometimes wrong too.

By Robert Stratton