Working Retail; Angry Customers

[Spygon]

But did you not know everybody in retail are magic and can bring forth items out of the ether.

Happens to me all the time i work in a phone shop guess who is not that looking forward to the iphone 5 launch.Also do not blame the shop on iphone launch day blame the manufacturer who never "make" enough units so they can increase hype and sales.

Several times a month i am asking customer what would you like me to do and they just stand blank because when they think about it there is nothing either of us can do at that moment of time.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Ha, think retail has bad customers? Try working in the food industry. Imagine a place where everybody comes in hungry with low blood sugar levels and there's almost guarenteed to be a wait while the chefs cook it. Now factor in that you are their only line of communication between themselves and the kitchen and that you are pulling double duty as customer service as well as sales person.

That was my experience as a waiter.

Oh it was fun and I loved it but the number of times we get angry, hungry customers demanding to know where their food is because they've been waiting "half an hour"/"an hour"/"long period of time" and you go and check to find out the timestamp on their food says they ordered exactly 5 minutes ago and they've ordered well done steaks or something else that takes at least 15 minutes even on quiet days.

While you've been checking that for that customer (because woe betide you if you dont go check immediately after they ask and report back straight away), several new people have sat in your section and are looking around for you, a few tables need drink refills, there's food to go out to some tables, the bar is swamped and needs a hand and there're people from your colleague's sections trying to flag you down because their waiter is busy.

I'm a very laid back person but by the end of a 13 hour shift with no break or food when I've cycled 3 miles taht morning to get to work and have a 3 mile cycle home ahead of me after the clean up is done and the knowledge I have to do it all again tomorrow I start wondering why if I'm still able to be civil why can't everybody stay civil?

Examples that made my colleagues rage (keep them in mind when dining out ^^):
"I'm sorry sir but there's a half hour wait" "half hour wait? That's disgraceful *cue rant*" *look at the clock and it's 7pm on a Friday and try and explain to customers that people generally eat out at resteraunts at dinner time, paticularly on fridays*

"My table is dirty, can you clean it" *glance around the section and there are about 4 suitable clean tables and they've sat on the one table you haven't had time to clean*

*table of 20 people turn up during sunday lunchtime without reserving or calling ahead at all and then are shocked to find out we can't accomodate them, company policy was that you are not allowed to turn away tables so we'd have to tell them about an hour's wait which often they'd see as acceptable and then fill the bar area so nobody else had anywhere else to wait and the drinkers had nowhere to go*

a follow up: *we finally seat said table of 20 and they start complaining that their food is taking ages...there's 20 meals plus sides and only 3 chefs with enough room to plate about 20 meals at a time, an advised waiting time of 30 minutes that they were told when they ordered, and several other tablkes in front*

tl;dr When you dine out at a resteraunt at a busy time please remember that food takes time to actually cook and there are likely several tables in front of you. Allow 30 minutes for your main course to arrive unless you are told there is a longer wait be pleasantly suprised if it gets there earlier, don't expect it. We get that you're hungry but try not to forget your manners, whether you can physically see the queue in front of you or not you are queuing, be patient.

If you want fast food and instant gratification with the food done straight after you finish ordering then you want a fast food resteraunt.

 

[templar1138a]

Another reason I don't buy games immediately after they release (aside from it being, y'know, cheaper): Stores are much more likely to have them in stock.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Hahaaa.

I thought I was out of this when I left Waitrose and moved into the great wide world of International Student Services at university. No one gets angrier than spoilt Saudi rich kids whose dads have paid for them to have a UK education. We actually had to have one guy removed by the police and he ended up being deported, all because his grades weren't very good. This was a student with a 32% attendance rate and Us in every subject.

He ended up being deported?

I had some experiences with Saudi students but I've never had someone that bad.

 

[The_Waspman]

hm..i remember that type.
was in GAME one day when TBC was debuting and they had one going balistic. ranting, raving and getting high bloodpressure. why?
they had no more copies of the burning crusade expansion for him to buy.
he had not pre ordered it, it was nearly hometime on (i think) a friday night.

i realy hav no idea why he expected a copy when the manager and staff (many times) reminded people that if they wanted to make sure they had a copy, they should pre-order it. it didnt even cost a tenner (like some other pre-orders do now)

after seeing that freak out, i allways tell them now, grab me a pre order of both normal and collectors edition.
if i buy one, they have the other left over to sell to mister rageface.

0.o why, i think the capcha's mocking me...'little sister'

WOW fans are the worst. I've worked at GAME for the launch of the past two expansions, and they NEVER get them out to the stores in time. I had one guy going apeshit at me when he came in at the end of the day to pick up his preorder which the store didn't have in stock.

Now granted, I can understand being annoyed when you've preordered it and the store doesn't have it in stock, but I calmly and politely expalined to him - as I had done every fucking customer that day - that we hadn't had any copies delivered (we had managed to borrow some from the other store), that it was out of our control, and it was a distribution issue.

But the level of anger some people demonstrate...

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Hahaaa.

I thought I was out of this when I left Waitrose and moved into the great wide world of International Student Services at university. No one gets angrier than spoilt Saudi rich kids whose dads have paid for them to have a UK education. We actually had to have one guy removed by the police and he ended up being deported, all because his grades weren't very good. This was a student with a 32% attendance rate and Us in every subject.

He ended up being deported?

I had some experiences with Saudi students but I've never had someone that bad.

He tried to flip the Reception desk. The Reception desk that is built into the wall and floor. He was about 6'5'' and really big. It was actually pretty harrowing for a moment.

Generally if there are going to be problems the spoilt Chinese students start threatening to sue us, the spoilt Saudi students get loud and physcially aggressive and everyone else just get very obtuse.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

I once watched a customer have an epic meltdown when a manager wouldn't give her a 10% discount on cabbage (which woulda meant about 11 cents off) which the customer claimed was in bad condition. To recap the basics of that story, customer comes to register with head of cabbage which she says is in bad shape. Manager tells her that we don't put food items on the shelf if they're in bad enough condition to merit a discount (which makes sense), so she'll have to pay the extra 11 cents. Customer has total meltdown. I'm talking about screaming "I do this all the time! Are you calling me a liar?!?!?!?"

Point being that just because you're an adult, doesn't mean you're an adult. I feel like that was one of the first things I learned cashiering, is that people are immature morons. They'll throw a temper tantrum at the slightest provocation, and suffer delusions of entitlement. All you can do is wait for them to quit screaming, then give them the biggest stupidest smile you can manage, and say "Have a nice day!" Then try not to laugh as they walk off steaming.

 

[ZorroFonzarelli]

Sometimes we screw up; sometimes they screw up. Either way, there is no reason to throw a tantrum. (In this context) the whole point of going to buy something is for the sake of enjoying it.

I've been disappointed in going to buy a game that was sold out before, but I've never played a game that was so good that I berated someone behind the counter because I didn't get there first.

Getting riled up over not having something in stock is worse than pointless. If you see grown adults acting this way, you can thank our entitled, narcissistic society.

Vow that you won't raise your kids this way.


Two things I learned long ago was the art of dealing with an unreasonable, upset customer, as both employee and manager:

If you're not a manager: the longer they rant, and the longer you take it, and the longer the other customers see it, the more you win.

If you are a manager: you have the authority and responsibility to throw their butts out of the store if they cause a scene that potentially causes other customers to want to leave. Be careful - allow people to be firm so long as they keep their voice reasonable, but time's too short to allow people to infect others with irrational anger.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

All the horror stories. My philosophy is you should work in retail at least one time. You probably won't be so rude to the cashier after that.

I'll put the link here since it's a site full of these stories.
http://notalwaysright.com/

I was gonna post that too.

In any case, I feel for you OP.

 

[CAPTCHA]

Surely this situation is a failure on the part of the management. They underestimate the demand for a product and this results in a loss of sales and customer dissatisfaction. I'm not going to argue that people can't be entitled arseholes, but what do you expect when the western worlds main industy is one of service. The only way to solve the problem, for both parties, is not to give the customer cause for complaint.

 

[Eamar]

Ah, the joys of retail >.<

I work in a high-end chocolate shop and, while the customers are generally fine (certainly far easier to handle than the clientele at other places I've worked), we do get some genuine brats. That's the only word I can think of that accurately describes these people, and the saddest thing is that they tend to be in their thirties or above

The most recent incident that comes to mind is when a woman demanded I open up boxes of chocolates off the shelf so she could try a few. Several things to bear in mind here:

1) She wanted to buy the chocolates as a gift, so she was expecting me to open boxes, write them off and then, if she even decided to go ahead, sell her a whole new box.
2) We're talking about pretty expensive products- between £25 and £50. See above point about expecting us to write stuff off just to satisfy her whims.
3) The boxes were all selection boxes. Meaning they all contained a variety of different chocolates. Meaning she would have gained approximately nothing from trying any individual one from each box. I politely pointed this out. Still insistent.
4) We always have tasters available and we offer them to every single customer who enters the shop, including this woman, so they can get a idea of what the basic chocolate used in our products is like. Again, I politely offered this option, but to no avail.
5) All of our staff are very knowledgeable of our products and are more than happy to advise customers who are buying gifts and aren't quite sure what to go for (and no we don't just try to pressure everyone into buying the most expensive products). We do this all the time and, again, I offered this service. This was met with disgust.

Despite all my best efforts, she acted completely outraged that I wasn't prepared to just throw away valuable stock. She honestly expected to be able to traipse around the shop opening up boxes and eating free chocolate until she decided what she wanted (if anything); and of course, the consequences for me and for my manager if we'd had to explain hundreds of pounds worth of unsellable stock to head office never even entered her head. She just got angrier and angrier and eventually stormed out with the classic "I'll never shop here again!" line.

I still don't know whether to be infuriated or to admire her audacity. I mean, really!

I firmly believe everyone should work in retail/the food industry at some point in their lives. It's certainly made me think about how I treat staff when I'm shopping.

 

[Avaholic03]

How about you put up a sign saying "Sorry, we are out of ____" on the front door? Make it really obvious, so the people looking for that title don't even come into the store. And at least you save them the trouble of coming in and asking.

 

[Petromir]

Surely this situation is a failure on the part of the management. They underestimate the demand for a product and this results in a loss of sales and customer dissatisfaction. I'm not going to argue that people can't be entitled arseholes, but what do you expect when the western worlds main industy is one of service. The only way to solve the problem, for both parties, is not to give the customer cause for complaint.

Know many clairvoyants do you?

Few shops can carry that much stock (space is an issue) and over ordering has caused the closure of bushiness before. Then there are issues such as Suppliers not having the stock to supply your order or delivery issues.

And given some of the things customers will complain about your never going to get all of them.

 

[Eamar]

R: Hello sir, what can I get for you?
C: Double Jack and coke.
R: I'm sorry sir what was that?
C: Double Jack and coke... now.
R: Sorry sir, I didn't quite catch that...
C: What are you fucking retarded and deaf, Jack and Coke now.
R: I'm sorry sir, but I don't get paid to serve abusive cum stains who can't even muster up basic manners, if you can't be basically polite, then maybe you should fuck off and go drink elsewhere you shit smear.

Holy... I'm sorry, but you were way over the line there I mean, yes the guy was a dick but your response was completely unprofessional. It's particularly ironic that you were so rude while berating him for his lack of manners. And that you considered his (comparatively mild) tirade as justifiable grounds for removing him from the premises. I would expect to be fired on the spot, and rightly so, if I ever spoke to a customer like that no matter what they'd said first.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Anyone who's worked retail can tell you that the customer is never right... but you rarely get to say so to their face.

 

[aba1]

Ahhh I love these threads so many awesomely funny stories! The funny part is when the customers freak out they are essentially acting like toddlers throwing a tantrum because they didn't get the toy they wanted I have almost laughed in peoples faces over this before.

Anywho I think I shall contribute a story. I used to work at the grocery stores called price choppers. They were discount grocery stores so naturally the products were not as good all the time because it was discount. I would constantly get people complaining about how good the produce was despite the fact the place was a store for the left over produce that didn't get sent to Sobbys and other more expensive stores.

I remember one time a lady slipped on a single blue berry... that is right she slipped not on 2 blue berries but just 1... 1 blue berry. So naturally she fell on her butt so I walked over and asked if she was ok and offered my hand to help her up. When I leaned over to help her up she turned and looked up at me and give me this look like she just wanted to say say why would you make me slip how dare you push me over. Like I intentionally decided to leave just one berry on the floor by her to destroy everything she ever believed in because I am that dastardly of a fellow. I mean it couldn't be customers are ridiculous and rip open the berry packages and drop them all over the place constantly to mix and match them as they please so they get the "freshest" berries. So I help her up and she lets out one tear drop lips quivering so I ask if she is ok again and if she is hurt and the only thing she does is ask for the manager to make a complaint about me in a attempt to get me fired I can only assume.

Moral of the story many customers make assholes of themselves for no real reason.

What did your manager say? I've heard that a lot of managers are the spineless types that would push an employee under a bus to satisfy a demanding customer.

Oddly enough not a word I say oddly cause all the managers hated me because I was a teenager at the time and well most of the other guys my age were not exactly the best workers.

 

[thejackyl]

Try working food service... You start serving sub-human people at that point. This is from my experience at McDonald's

I had someone that ordered a Big Mac, without onions or pickles or something like that. Anyways they got up to the window and when I handed them the food, they opened the box and lifted the bun and claimed we made it wrong. So I went and let the cooks know we needed another one. Same thing happened. So again, I told the cooks and watched them make it (correctly btw). When I handed the sandwich to the customer she looks at it again, starts screaming at me and throws the open box at me. I got so pissed that I threw the sandwich back at them and slammed the window shut. My manager was standing behind me and after they drove off, he high-fived me.

Or there was the customer that spat at me over a McChicken.

Or when I was still a cashier at Wal-Mart: A customer comes up to me asking where something in our NATIONWIDE ad is. I lead them to where it would be, give a quick look and tell them we probably don't carry it since we are a smaller store. She threatened to get me fired and to sue the store for "false advertising", and walked out. (The ad even says "Not all items are available in all locations")

Or a more recent one (Happened yesterday):
A customer comes in wanting to pick up a Moneygram send to them. The cashier puts in the info needed and the register prompts "Money Transfer not allowed", I get called over and I call Moneygram and they say the reason that showed up is that a Moneygram can't be picked up in the same store it was sent at. So I told the customer that in order to pick up the money they'll have to go to a different Wal-Mart(and I told them about 5 different ones that are only 10 minutes away). She throws a fit because she doesn't have time. So she calls the person who sent it (Who was in Indiana now according to her, we are in Ohio), bitches at them to cancel it and resend it. And to do that the SENDER needs to go back to our store, cancel it, and resend it from somewhere else. (Which baffles me, you don't have the 10 minutes to drive to another store, but you have the HOURS to wait for them to drive from Indiana to Ohio?)

Oh, and of course they blamed me and the cashier, not the sender and not moneygram because it was their policy not ours.

 

[Zipa]

I work in retail at a plumbing and heating merchant, I don't work in sales any more but when I did god did we encounter some stupid people. My personal favorites are the ones that expect you to have every single part ever in stock in a tiny place and complain when you don't, the ones that want stuff that is nothing to do with us (car parts lolwut) and the people who haven't a clue but insist that they are right and I am not with my multiple years of experience and knowledge.

My personal favorite from many years ago though was we had a guy join the queue to be served, it was quite a long queue and he got more and more impatient as he had to wait (my colleague and I acknowledged him and said we would be with him asap ect, the usual courtesy stuff.) He finally gets to the front of the queue and turns out he is in the wrong building, he wanted to be next door at the builders yard for cement. We laughed so hard at him when he was gone.

So year whoever said the customer is always right, they can go fuck themselves.

 

[Erttheking]

Oh, I think I have just the website for you.
http://notalwaysright.com

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

It is stories like these that make me want to stay away from work with the public. Hats off to retail and food service people.