Blaming the Staff

[Saelune]

So in the Retail Dissapointment topic, someone posted about their dislike of the staff at a store for being incompetent and likely just some school aged teens looking for money.

Now, Im guessing many of you are or have been teens who have worked at some retailer or something and gotten blamed for being incompetent at your job.

Is this ok though? Most of these jobs are not exactly career worthy and thus unlikely to get specialized people in those spots. I also bet these positions are revolving as people quit when they find better work or no longer need the extra cash and a new money hungry teen gets hired in.

I am more talking about smaller problems, such as not knowing what you are talking about on a specific topic or about a specific item. Someone who is rude or knocks everything over in the store is another issue.

 

[Arcadia2000]

I got "in trouble" over stupid crap. By "in trouble" I mean "LOL that was hilarious don't do it again." Some kid had a dollar coin. Any reasonable person knows that coins in circulation have virtually no additional value in general beyond their original value as currency. I traded a kid a regular paper dollar for a dollar coin and her mother who thought this was fine at the time then went home and decided that I had ripped the child off by "purchasing" this obviously valuable treasure for a pittance of what it was obviously worth, which would be nothing beyond the fact that I really like dollar coins, and managed to somehow find the information on our district manager who doesn't just give that info out to the average person and called him and ranted and raved about it. And then after the apologies the laughter began. Slap on the wrist, no harm no foul. We did offer her a $10 gift card which she has never come to get. And every time someone sees a dollar coin, the laughter begins again.

 

[Adam Galli]

When I worked in a grocery store while I was in highschool, I always did my job as good as I damn well could. There were so many people working at that store that someone had to pick up the slack and when I was there it was me. I prided myself, and still do, on going to work and doing the job a good as I can that particular day. It makes me feel good when I get my paycheck knowing that I actually earned my money.

 

[Motiv_]

Yeah, this happens alot unfortunately. I used to work as a waiter, and sadly whenever the kitchen would screw something up[footnote]over cook/under cook food, add unnecessary toppings, etc[/footnote], the waiters and waitresses usually took all the shit for it.

I had a woman once state that she wasn't going to tip me for her 65$ meal because I didn't put enough ice in her refills.

Or the vegetarian couple who poured their drinks on me because the cook added bacon to their salad.

Good times, good times.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Yeah, this happens alot unfortunately. I used to work as a waiter, and sadly whenever the kitchen would screw something up[footnote]over cook/under cook food, add unnecessary toppings, etc[/footnote], the waiters and waitresses usually took all the shit for it.

I had a woman once state that she wasn't going to tip me for her 65$ meal because I didn't put enough ice in her refills.

Or the vegetarian couple who poured their drinks on me because the cook added bacon to their salad.

Good times, good times.

It sucks that you guys in the US rely on tips just to make a decent wage.

 

[x0ny]

I worked in many places during my teenage years, from 4 star hotels to McDonalds. The diners at the hotels were mostly fine, it was the customers at fast food joints which cheesed me off. They were either trying to get free food, or finding an excuse to use the "I'm not lovin' it" line.

Now I work in a Take Away as a chef but I also work at the front counter sometimes, and one time a lady called up to say the food was disgusting, because the rice was partially stuck to the container, and that the chicken wasn't seasoned properly. So I said "Our other customers haven't had a problem with our food, and the fact that you find our food disgusting is just your opinion alone and we don't compensate based on opinion." I promptly ended the conversation. She then calls back posing as a lawyer saying the chicken was half cooked and that the kids have been throwing up all night, so I asked her where she got her law degree from, she struggled for a few seconds, so I hung up on her. She proceeds to call back another 3 times, but I just ignored her until she gave up.

 

[Aurgelmir]

So in the Retail Dissapointment topic, someone posted about their dislike of the staff at a store for being incompetent and likely just some school aged teens looking for money.

Now, Im guessing many of you are or have been teens who have worked at some retailer or something and gotten blamed for being incompetent at your job.

Is this ok though? Most of these jobs are not exactly career worthy and thus unlikely to get specialized people in those spots. I also bet these positions are revolving as people quit when they find better work or no longer need the extra cash and a new money hungry teen gets hired in.

I am more talking about smaller problems, such as not knowing what you are talking about on a specific topic or about a specific item. Someone who is rude or knocks everything over in the store is another issue.

I did "pick on" some of the GameStop employees in that thread, but that is because I feel GameStop wants to be a specialist shop, and by that I mean the employees should know a thing or two about games.

I do know of record shops that was very picky in who they hired, because they were considered a specialist shop... guess which record shop survived long after people thoug hthe CD was a dead medium?

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I pick on everyone, staff are nothing special.

 

[thylasos]

Only times I've gotten crap from customers is screwing up a drinks order, due to the incredibly loud music in the bar and not being able to hear what the guy said, in spite of asking him to repeat it twice.

Eventually had to pay for one of his four vodka-red bulls for the guy jut to get him to stop shouting at me.

Aside from that, I generally haven't had jobs directly interracting with customers.

Oh, also, lads at the football stadium who shout at me for removing the bottle-caps and refusing to give them to them, thus depriving them of an opportunity to throw them at the players.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Someone who is rude or knocks everything over in the store is another issue.

And is epically covered here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.70218-The-Customer-Is-Always-Wrong

 

[Vidi Kitty]

I kinda don't like being competent at work. I'm one of maybe 3 people in a Wal-Mart who can tell you more about a computer than what is on the box, and every other employee knows this.

Also new tech in the store for some new online order program, and everyone has been fighting with it for weeks even after I walk them though it in great detail.

None of this is a problem though when you compare it to what the customers bring to the table....

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I don't think it's ok to be rude to staff, to the point where I would disassociate with someone who did it in my presence.

If you're in a shop, you're probably asking for specifics on one of thousands of products in that shop. It might be nice to get a well-informed answer 100% of the time, but it's not realistic, so shouldn't be expected. Besides, internet penetration is at more than 80% these days, if you're buying something of worth...self-educating before you go to the shop is a no-brainer.

I maintain my belief that good-service in bars and restaurants is more reliant on the customers than the staff. I've done that kind of work. The people who are nice, are a pleasure to deal with and make the job easy. There is no pleasing the assholes.

 

[Tsaba]

I think we as adults need to be a little bit more understanding towards them, but, if the pricks aren't busting their balls trying, then they don't deserve any pity.

 

[Tallim]

In my experience age has little to do with it when it comes to retail. The people out on the shop floor will always take the flak for screwups made by higher ups.

 

[Sandytimeman]

What I love, yesterday I was working grill back in our McD's their was only one girl doing Frys, Window, Headset, and Counter. And I was doing Grill, Table, and Wall (basically fried goods other then fries)

She has to park a guy while she brews some coffee for him. He comes in a minute later and calls her lazy and stupid, while she is juggling the jobs of like 4 people.

Also number one complaint we get, is people order a Sausage biscuit, and get a sausage biscuit but they are pissed because..they wanted a Sausage egg cheese biscuit for just a dollar.

 

[FarleShadow]

Treat the waiter well and he will do so in kind.
I'm not saying go to any great lengths as a customer, but basic manners go a long way.

 

[Phishfood]

This doesn't really count as retail as such, since it was a contractor but when they supplied us with software then their support consisted of answering every quesion with "dunno." I was not impressed.

I wouldn't expect a standard retail employee to know everything about every product however. If they were that smart they wouldn't be working in retail.

 

[Craorach]

I wouldn't expect a standard retail employee to know everything about every product however. If they were that smart they wouldn't be working in retail.

This is the biggest thing I hate about working in retail. The attitude that we somehow are not as good as you.

I'm an adult who works in fast food... could I have done other things with my life? Probably.. ill health and circumstances eventually led me here however. I get this all the time, especially when I'm working day shifts.

A job is a job, and I work hard at mine even if it is socially looked down upon and paid so little many people would never get out of bed for it.

I see people in my workplace treated like dirt by customers all the time.. because they seem to think that these people, who either due to age or circumstances are working one of the lowest paid jobs avialable are lesser human beings.

This is how it works.. people in these industries are one of two kinds..

A. Young teenagers working their first job.
B. Adults who are doing whatever job they can find for whatever reason.

Both of these groups need to be encouraged.. A because they could be at home living of their parents, and B because they could be at home living of the state.

Many of these people actually work hard.. however long term retail work is demoralising and wears you down after awhile. Customers and the companies we work for constantly demand the best, fastest and most accurate service, while wanting prices as low as possible.. which means our pay as low as possible... all the while smiling and acting as if everyone is your best friend.

We're expected to tolerate the most obnoxious behavior when we don't make mistakes, and when we do we're even expected to allow ourselves to be screamed, sworn and threatened because apparently forgetting someone's fries is deserving of that treatment. If we dare stand up for yourselves, even in the face of the most obnoxious abuse, we can be reprimanded or fired. If a customer demands to speak to a manager they can often make any accusation they please and be rewarded with refunds, free products or the humiliation of the staff member.

Other industries are, increasingly, refusing to allow this sort of treatment from either the customer or their staff towards others.. but the retail industry seems to be stuck in a timewarp, where "they're just retail staff, they don't matter" is the only thing people think.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

This doesn't really count as retail as such, since it was a contractor but when they supplied us with software then their support consisted of answering every quesion with "dunno." I was not impressed.

I wouldn't expect a standard retail employee to know everything about every product however. If they were that smart they wouldn't be working in retail.

That's pretty contempitble. Are you genuinly dumb enough to believe that we're living in a perfect meritocracy?

 

[Phishfood]

Heh, I seem to have touched a couple nerves.

I've worked in retail, my experience was that the staff there genuinely were pants on head retarded and they made it quite clear they had NO tollerance for those of us just passing through while in education.

As for any group of people being better or worse, I didn't say that. I've worked with plenty of people who thought retail was the best thing ever and were perfectly happy there, because the alternative was being a parasite. Fair play to them. I'd also point out that I'm never rude to people who are doing their jobs.

The basic fact is that retail IS horrible work, hence my point - smarter people do anything they can to get the fuck out of there. No, the system ain't perfect. I'm struggling to get out of my current job (which I now hate) but in general, it does work.