Working in retail management without a doubt has it's crazy moments, and the behaviour of some customers is at the top of the list. Of course I can't ask my customers why they do these things because that would just be downright rude, and I would have phone calls and e-mails pouring into the Corporate headquarters at an alarming rate.
So here it is folks. I'll list some of the crazy things that customers do, and ask you as customers why you do these things.
Everyday a customer asks me " Do you work here? " while I'm standing there with my company shirt with the company logo as well as a company name tag. The first reply that comes to mind is " No, I just wear this company shirt with my name tag because it's a new fashion trend ! " , but of course that would be rude, so I just bite my lip.
So customers, why do you do that ?
While walking the sales floor, I notice a counter that needs some straightening. There are no customers in sight, so it's a perfect opportunity to front out the counter and pick up the stray merchandise. Then all of a sudden ten customers come out of the woodwork, and they are right on top of me before I know it. I walk away and go on to another chore, and the customers go about there way. After the customers go away, I return to the counter, and the ten customers are right back there on top of me again.
So customers, why do you do that ?
I walk up to the checkout lanes and I notice that register number one is backed up about eight customers deep. The customers are looking at me with that " why don't you do somthing about this " look, so I call a couple of employees to open up registers two and three. Then I tell the customers that are backed up on register one that registers two and three are open, and they groan and moan, and a couple of them complain because they have to walk down to register two to check out. Then to top this off, several more customers walk right past registers two and three, with the register's lights on, and then line up at register one and start griping because they have to wait in line to check out. Then one of them says " I'm on my lunch hour and I'm in a hurry to get back to work, or I will be late ". I really want to ask them why they are shopping on their lunch hour instead of eating lunch, but again I just zip my lip. After all, it's not my fault that they decided to shop at my store on their lunch hour when most of my employees are at lunch themselves.
So customers, why do you do that ?
Our store opens at 9:00 am, the sign on our front door clearly states that. I'm up front at 8:30 am putting the money in the tills, and a customer comes up and tries to come in. He pushes on the door, and it doesn't open. Then he pushes and pushes the door some more, then he walks to the exit doors and starts pushing on them. Confused as to why the doors won't open, he then notices our store hours that are clearly posted on the front door. Then he sees me at the cash registers, and then he starts looking at me through the front door as if I'm going to let him in before we open if he keeps putting pressure on me with his eyes.
So customers, why do you do that ?
I notice that several shopping carts are out on the parking lot. We are a bit shorthanded at the time, so I go out to bring in the carts myself. Buisness is quite slow at the time, however several cars drive by, and once they see me bringing in the carts, they all park and go inside to shop. ( Buisness tip here for you retailers. If buisness is slow, have one of your employees go out to the parking lot and push around a few shopping carts whether you need carts inside or not. You will be covered up in no time! )
So customers, why do you do that ?
Really customers, I would love to hear your comments as to why you do these things. I also welcome comments from those of you who work in retail or any public job.
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Comments: 101
However, like Janet, I too often get asked if I work at the particular store I am shopping in. Wonder why that is.
Yeah I get that too when I'm grocery shopping with my coat on. Many of my customers often are asked if they work at my store. Like you said, wonder why that is ?
Yes, we retail employees owe or customers good customer service, yes we owe you a simple " Thank you " , and yes we appreciate you. But for goodness sakes why do you do these things ?
Hey, what about the fat guy who weighs about 1000 pounds walking down the middle of the aisle not letting anyone else pass, and thinking that he's the only person in this world ?
up, so you drag a 50 ft. ladder and get one and it's not the one they want. I've had to bite my tongue so many times it's almost forked now. They get irratated in line and and take it out on the cashier. Times I wished I had rubber gloves as one woman pulled her money out from between her boobs, in the summer. lol So yes, employees get rude as does the public. Funny article, thanks for the chuckle.
Customer had the galloping trots in the store isle. Steps out of her underwear and keeps right on going, she leaves a trail all down the isle. No Joke.
First cust. of the day on New Years Eve( i am hung over from the night before) I work in the office, A father comes up to the office and the child looks right at me and throws up. I jumped out of the line of fire just in time,
Manager catches shoplifters, goes outside to get the tag number, they jump out of the car and start to hit the manager in the head with pocketbooks,
Another shop lifter caught and calls in bomb threats to the store(of course, I work in the office) so I am the one who receives the calls.
Another annoying one, Why , is it that if the item is not marked, this is the one that the cust. picks, to hold up the line until someone gives the cashier a price check??
why, does the cust. who writes checks not have all of the inf. for the store filled in on the check, and the ID ready for the cashier. No they hold up the lines to fill in the name of the store(when alot of stores has a store stamp) then they have to look for their ID?? People,who work with the public deserve so much more respect than they get.
My other beef is the person with 25 items standing in the"express" checkout line... you know the one with 10 or 15 items or less clearly lit above the register?!? ... and the cashier just checks them on out without saying anything about it!
Sorry, I am an anti-shopper... I absolutely detest shopping and want to get in and
out of whatever store I am at as fast as I possibly can!
This isn't necessarily a retail store story, but I think it applies since the post office is a retail establishment. I started to type it here, but it got so involved, I decided to make an article out of it rather than taking up your space here Tim.
You can view it here: viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976878324
Thanks for the writing inspiration, Tim :)
I'm a little confused about the ten people appearing once you get a chance to clean up a counter. I'm not sure I understand how this happens.
Why do people in motorized wheelchairs expect me to jump out of the way when they decide to go down aisles. I'm sorry they are in motorized chairs but I don't always hear them when they come up behind me like that. My kid actually saved me from one of these manaics the other day. The cochlear implants are great, but they don't distinguish that motorized wheelchairs are behind me. I'm tempted to get a bumper sticker and wear it on my back when I'm in the grocery store that says "if you can read this you are too close"
It was also good to hear about customers complaining about other customers! lol
As for the other things. I dont do them. I used to work in a retail store. People can be plain rude. No respect for the employees.
On the other hand, I have met some truly wonderful customers.
My complaint is that cashers talk to people they know for 5 minutes after the sale is rung up and paid for. I am just standing there waiting.
I guess I was taught some manners and being aware of "space" and all.
I could never work retail. I'd be telling people off left and right.
You can't expect a part time minimum wage employee to do BACK FLIPS for the customers or for the company.
Yes, I address poor customer service head on, but I do consider that these employees aren't making enough money to take a lot of bullcrap from anyone.
So Patricia, tell me what brand of cleaner or disinfectent should we use in our mop buckets when we mop up poop from our floors ?
What brand of cleaner/disinfectent should we use in our mop buckets when we clean up your feces from our floors? Also, what smell to you prefer? Do you like pine, lemon, fresh air, summer breeze, strawberry, jasmine or should we just use plain water? If any of these options offend you or disturb your nostrils, should we just leave the feces on the floor?
Patricia, that's a little harsh isn't it? Yes, the customer comes first. However, how far should that be extended? Are you saying it's ok for a "me" shopper to inconvenience not only employees, but every other shopper in a particular retail store?
Tim, I can't believe someone complained about the pine smell. Should I assume they were not in the store pre-pine to witness the *other* smell? lol!
I have to snicker at Lisa's "shut up Travis" aside. That's too funny!
I guess perhaps I'm in the minority but I don't display any of that behavior you are asking about.
I'm in the process of developing a disinfectent that smells like " feces "
LMAO! Yeah, then they'll be pissed off because it's not the right brand of toilet paper!
I used a roll of Charmin toilet paper to clean up some spilled Moonshine, and that caused a chemical reaction that resulted in a fire. When the Fire Department arrived, customers complained because the firemen shoved them out of their way to put out the fire ! lol
LOL Travis! Like I said- I couldn't work in retail. I'd be telling people off way too much and I'd lose my job. "Hi, welcome to Walmart... did you REALLY think you ought to leave the house with those pants on???" "Hi, welcome to Walmart- I hope you intend to keep all 9 of those kids quiet while they are here" or "Hi Welcome to Walmart" "Hey, I said hello to you-the correct response would be hello back!" LOL, yeah, I can just see it
Some people don't appreciate the work that artists put into their craft. And then some people are just snobbish fools.
Wal-Mart ? I did that for 15 years also.
Sometimes I don't know which is the worst..Wal-Mart or the JW's ? Both are evil as far as I'm concerned.
You mean the "Do too" aisle? That's because Timothy cleaned it up!!! Just follow the pinesol/jackdaniels/highkarate/oldspice/lysol/vinegar smell. It'll be there right where they keep the pooper scoopers
"Excuse me, this machine took my money."
(Open coin box to find it empty)
"Oh, uhm, it must have been this one."
(Open coin box to find it also empty)
"Well, it was one of these machines."
"I put $5 in this dryer and my clothes still ain't dry."
(Open coin box to find 3 quarters)
The EPA was called in after tried that! lol
I have no clue what an avatar is ( no offense intended )
No, really- it's the picture that you put in your profile that displays next to your postings :D
The guy is an American Icon.
Is Gloria Estefan under "G" or "E"?
(On the phone) Can you get my CD and have it waiting for me when I get there?
Where is your personal shopper?
Do you know that song they're playing in all the clubs? The one that goes 'I love you baby'? No? Why do you work here then?
I finally quit after one Christmas. I just couldn't look at another customer.
I grew up with that philosophy and whenever I worked with the public that was the rule. Today, I'm not sure who is right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYbxUCmLosY
In those days, people put shopping carts back when they were done with them. if someone left a cart in the parking lot, another customer usually took care of it. Inside the store, if a customer had a problem, store employees would fall all over themselves trying to fix the problem. Customers were more informed about the products they bought, and so were the sales clerks selling these products.
It was a pretty neat situation but then in the late sixties, the system started to disintegrate. As the links between manufacturing and the customers got fewer and fewer the mutual respect customers and retailers had for each other go less and less.
Now, after thirty-plus years of our economy removing all contact but the "point of sale" from the customer/retailer relationship we have a nation of customers who know absolutely nothing about retail and retailers who know absolutley nothing about customers.
There's an old saying, " He's not dumb, he's just ignorant." This means you can't do what you don't know. In a nut shell, neither side of the sale knows anything about the other side anymore, so how can they act like they do ?
Things have drasticly changed since I first started working in retail back in 1978.
Do you really think that people shopping at your store and wait til a crownd has gathered then wait still longer til they see doing something just to storm you at your most inconvient time.
Do you really think people have nothing better to do than do drive bys on stores til they find one where someone is bringing in the shopping carts and that is they go to.
I was not suggesting that your employees had a bad attitude towards cutomers, I was suggesting perhaps you are a tad burned. Maybe you should seek another career
I agree with George C. Respect only works both ways. You have to give it to get it