Not to mention given how customers treat employees. Just because we're in retail doesn't mean we don't care.
My store happens to have better customer service than most. The majority of the employees care about the job, even if it's just because it means they have a better chance of keeping it.
Recently, a 19-year-old co-worker of mine suffered a minor heart attack. She's okay for now, but she shouldn't be getting heart attacks at her age.
The cause? Stress. From what? All the employees are nice to her. What's been bothering her? She recently had a run-in with a particularly unkind customer, who decided to yell at her for doing her job.
Sometimes, people don't like customer service. Fact is, much of it is somewhat regulated. What employees are expected to do is laid out pretty clearly in catch-all employee handbooks that do a poor job themselves of portraying good customer service. If we don't follow corporate's customer service instructions, we get yelled at and written up--resulting in a lost job if the habit persists.
Here are a couple of examples. I was hired by a large retail chain about a year ago. They hired me for being creative and quick on my feet, being able to present myself well and competently as an individual, and being good with people. The managers liked me a lot and I was praised for doing a good job. I had few if any problems with customers.
After some months, some other place I had applied to called me up--they wanted to hire me. Another large retail chain, but not quite as large. They, however, have what they call a 'Service Journal.' Essentially, they have pamphlets that break down how every customer should be treated--very cookie-cutter. What you should be thinking, how long it should take until a customer is acknowledged, how to approach a customer, what to say, how to say it, how to recommend something (and, of course, to always recommend and comment on something), how to read a customer, how to respond to a customer...
It takes the life out of customer service. The general manager of this second place loved me--I was really nice. The other managers and all of the supervisors couldn't stand me--I didn't follow the customer service procedures. The customers liked me, but that didn't matter.
I still work at the first place. I don't at the second. They eventually stopped putting me on the schedule (it was a lower manager that worked the schedules) or asked me to leave early after working for one hour.
The first place, now, is considering using these Service Journals--it's a growing trend with large retail chains. It's a shame, but I have little to no control over this. The point is that a) customer service varies by company and by location and that 2) sometimes we have no choice about how we approach customer service. We may want to give good service, but company policy restricts us. Stupid, but true.
Working retail isn't always an easy job either. I may be good at what I do, but I've had times when customers weren't happy. I work in a relatively large store, and a large number of people need my help. All too often, I'll be helping a customer find an item in one part of the store--when I get back to the information desk, I'll be encountered by another customer, "Well, I've been looking for someone to help me for fifteen minutes!" As if I was playing games in the back of the store. Why do I have to get the complaints? it's not my fault.
