"The Customer Is Always Right"

[Minigiant]

(Minigiant works in Sales)

That saying is blankity blank.

I don't believe in abusing the staff. I don't abuse or disrespect you. You don't abuse or disrespect me.

Unless you are a fan of the rival sports team. Cowboys fans are always wrong and they gets what they get. Which is my pity for fans of the Cowboys. Pity is 2% discount.

 

[cranberry]

In the past few years, I found that the people behind the counter are detached, and have a bad attitude. They don't even have the motivation to do the basics like "good morning, or thank you, have a nice day, etc. This is surprising to me because when I was their age and working in retail, you could not act that way toward a customer without a high risk of being fired.

 

[Pedantic]

In the past few years, I found that the people behind the counter are detached, and have a bad attitude. They don't even have the motivation to do the basics like "good morning, or thank you, have a nice day, etc. This is surprising to me because when I was there age and working in retail, you could not act that way toward a customer without a high risk of being fired.

That might well be changing social norms. There's just about nothing more uncomfortable for me than a forced conversation, I recall a recent frustrating moment at a fast-casual restaurant with an enterprising young man, just determined to ask where I was coming from, where I was going, was that a book, what was I reading.

I wanted him to say "burrito or bowl? Protein? Any salsa?" and be done. I think the expectation you're owed anything beyond the service you're actually receiving has generally started to change.

 

[cranberry]

That might well be changing social norms. There's just about nothing more uncomfortable for me than a forced conversation, I recall a recent frustrating moment at a fast-casual restaurant with an enterprising young man, just determined to ask where I was coming from, where I was going, was that a book, what was I reading.

I wanted him to say "burrito or bowl? Protein? Any salsa?" and be done. I think the expectation you're owed anything beyond the service you're actually receiving has generally started to change.

Yea, I don't want an involved conversation with a retail worker either, but I don't think thank you or good morning reaches that level.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Yea, I don't want an involved conversation with a retail worker either, but I don't think thank you or good morning reaches that level.

I'd say that the level of involvement is probably cultural. There has been a trend toward a false friendship (like Starbuck insisting on marking your cup with your given name instead of your family name...) or familiarity (like when you're a returning guest and the staff says "Good morning, Mr XYZ" instead of "Good morning, Sir". That trend kind of subdued recently in my experience...

I agree with you, though, that the other extreme is as jarring. Some academics theorize that the post-pandemic era of limited social interactions has caused many people to lose the habits of socializing, resulting in more tense interactions or more limited interactions : Knock the rust off your social skills after pandemic setbacks

If true, it might explain both observations: customers complaining about staff being uncaring and retail workers being yelled at more often (as customers no longer know how to deal with frustration except by yelling).

 

[MGibster]

That might well be changing social norms. There's just about nothing more uncomfortable for me than a forced conversation, I recall a recent frustrating moment at a fast-casual restaurant with an enterprising young man, just determined to ask where I was coming from, where I was going, was that a book, what was I reading.

There's a big difference between brief pleasantries you might exchange with the clerk at a retail store or the person handing you a paper bag with your meal in it through a window and a forced conversation. During a social situation, of which an economic transaction counts, if I address you by saying hello it's not unreasonable to expect a response and the reverse is true. Can you imagine if I walked into Pizza Hut and when the nice cashier says hello I just responsed with, "Large pepperoni with extra sauce" how big of a jerk that would make me? It's like that cashier isn't even a person to me.

I wanted him to say "burrito or bowl? Protein? Any salsa?" and be done. I think the expectation you're owed anything beyond the service you're actually receiving has generally started to change.

I fear a lot of people simply have anxieties about what should be normal interactions with other human beings in face-to-face situations.

 

[FrogReaver]

I have 3 thoughts on this

1. The business screws something up and inconveniences the customer with no form of compensation offered for the customers time and aggravation, generally by not empowering employees to do anything else than say sorry. (Ex: Incorrect takeout order. Way incorrect estimated time for pizza pickup, grocery store charging incorrectly by only fix is to go wait forever at the customer service counter for someone to come, Subway in particular is notorious for having 1 employee making sandwiches so if there’s ever 3+ customers showing up at same time you go from a minor wait to a very long one). A one time mishap for any of this is probably forgivable, but these experiences are quickly becoming commonplace, at least in the U.S. Very frustrating and the implicit message from the business is ‘we don’t really care how it impacts you when we screw up’.

2. It doesnt help that most employees don’t have any deescalation training. That they never admit any fault on the businesses part, and that typically they are powerless to actually do anything even approaching a fair resolution to the issue.

3. I don’t agree with yelling, screaming and cussing at the employees, but I’ve had so many lie to my face, or make snide remarks, and I do think it’s fair to call out those things when they are doing them. Most simply cannot handle being called out for their own crappy behavior.

 

[FrogReaver]

I'd say that the level of involvement is probably cultural. There has been a trend toward a false friendship (like Starbuck insisting on marking your cup with your given name instead of your family name...) or familiarity (like when you're a returning guest and the staff says "Good morning, Mr XYZ" instead of "Good morning, Sir". That trend kind of subdued recently in my experience...

I agree with you, though, that the other extreme is as jarring. Some academics theorize that the post-pandemic era of limited social interactions has caused many people to lose the habits of socializing, resulting in more tense interactions or more limited interactions : Knock the rust off your social skills after pandemic setbacks

If true, it might explain both observations: customers complaining about staff being uncaring and retail workers being yelled at more often (as customers no longer know how to deal with frustration except by yelling).

I think the 2 culprits are most likely cell phones (distractions from the moment) and social media generation in full swing (grew up with social media so less in person interactions). The trend was happening before Covid as far as I could tell, got worse after, but still same trend.

 

[Retros_x]

As someone who worked a lot of retail in their younger years - yeah, f* that. Some customers are such idiots, it can absolutely ruin your day. If you are unsatisfied with the business, write an email to customer service but leave the clerks at their peace, they are underpaid and overworked, most often not at fault for your problem and can't change anything about it anyway.

And even when they are not greeting you respectfully enough, maybe consider they had a rough day and/or at the end of their shift. At the beginning of a day I was always super friendly with customers, smile on my face, greeting etc. but at the end you just want to go home and wait for that last 30 minutes that feel like 3 hours to be finally over.

Nowadays I am always careful to treat the clerks good as a customer and try to be patient if they are slow and forgiveful if they make an error (wrong exchange as a classic example). When I realize that they are wrong, I don't act like they lied to me, I act like they don't know better. Usually they don't get anything for lying to the customers, in most cases they are just wrong. Which is ok. Maybe they started working there recently, maybe the just never had to handle something similar, maybe their supervisor lied to them so they tell wrong stuff to customers.

I can count on one hand the incident were clerks were truly rude to me, but I witnessed so many naughty word customers. When I have something to complain, refund whatever, I never get snide remarks or unfriendly comments by the clerks. Because I treat them respectfully and friendly, even when they are wrong. Usually I get what I want.

oh and btw the rude customers are usually 50 years plus - because some here seem to want to make a generational debate out of it. I only had once truly rude customers that were younger than me. Its interesting because often older folks seem to suggest the young people get more rude and rude. But older folks can be the biggest twats, but because they started their insults with "Hello" and end it with "good day" they think its ok to dump their crap on others. Using formalities doesn't make you friendly, just formal. Being friendly makes you friendly.

 

[Corinnguard]

As someone who worked a lot of retail in their younger years - yeah, f* that. Some customers are such idiots, it can absolutely ruin your day. If you are unsatisfied with the business, write an email to customer service but leave the clerks at their peace, they are underpaid and overworked, most often not at fault for your problem and can't change anything about it anyway.

And even when they are not greeting you respectfully enough, maybe consider they had a rough day and/or at the end of their shift. At the beginning of a day I was always super friendly with customers, smile on my face, greeting etc. but at the end you just want to go home and wait for that last 30 minutes that feel like 3 hours to be finally over.

Nowadays I am always careful to treat the clerks good as a customer and try to be patient if they are slow and forgiveful if they make an error (wrong exchange as a classic example).

I have worked retail for the last 28 years, the last 4 as a closing shift supervisor/manager-on-duty. The majority of customers who come into my workplace are okay. They get what they want, and I ring them up and send them on their way. There are, however, a minority who try to throw that saying around because they come in with a set of expectations and ignorance riding on their shoulders. They expect things to go their way and have a hard time accepting that's not how reality works. They also expect that as an employee you know things that they don't. Like why their coupon wasn't accepted by either your cash register or the self-serve kiosk machine. Trouble is, as an employee, you don't really know the answer to their problem any more than they do.

I also try to be friendly with the customers and I am an introvert. At the end of my shift, I want to go home and recharge my batteries.

One of the upsides to being someone who works in retail is that you have been on both sides of the counter. You can relate to those behind the counter and treat them fairly, and you can relate to the customer if they had bad day of their own.