Rude and /or Malicious consumers

[manta2g]

As a customer I try to avoid doing theese things, as a retail clerk there isn't a day that gose by without 5 out of the 7 happening, it's a really bad day when they all happen more then once.

So What I am wondering is why do they do it? What makes people think that they can get away with such behavior?

I'd love other peoples insite on this.

Manta2g

[Solaris]

I'm not yet in sales, but I have bore witness to the trend with customers coming in with big bills like an hour after the store opens. The employee would rant about that person for several minutes to other customers. It bugged the other customers too that someone paid for a small amount of items with such a large bill.

I saw it happen to a friend of mine who worked for 711 in California, needless to say, he was pretty upset with that customer as it yanked his till down and he had to struggle in getting small bills for the large one he had from that customer. He was so upset about it, I took the fifty dollars and gave him change for small dollars so he wouldn't be so stressed out about it.

But that does bug cashiers and other people in the industry.

Beth

[Guest Jaxxy]

As a customer I try to avoid doing theese things, as a retail clerk there isn't a day that gose by without 5 out of the 7 happening, it's a really bad day when they all happen more then once.

So What I am wondering is why do they do it? What makes people think that they can get away with such behavior?

I'd love other peoples insite on this.

Manta2g

I've done the pay-for-something-with-a-fifty thing before, at the beginning of the day, but only when I had no choice... I was so embarassed and apologetic I think the clerk was more worried about me than the change!

But I've been a bag lady (my, to me, endlessly entertaining term for it) at a grocery store and omg... people can be so particular. I don't mind, but when they hover over you... urgh. I mean, I always tried to be super-attentive and helpful to start with, so it'd hurt my feelings when they were all mistrustful and sharp with me (I was awfully thin-skinned and somehow managed to take it personally).

I guess it's like anything else... people have their own things going on and can't see past the tip of their own nose sometimes. Though some people really shouldn't be that way, and are just being spoiled. Either way, when I get all grumbly about them as a customer service person, I try to envision them having a hard life (so I don't have to choke a bitch... or cry like one).

I hope it gets better... must be bad for you, if you had to come post a poll about it.

Strange customers would be that hard on you... you're such a helpful person. Want me to come up there? !!!

[shinigamiinochi]

I've worked in retail for five years and I've seen everything from shoplifters to stupid parents. People are so arrogant and they seem to think that the rules don't apply to them. If a sign says 'no dogs', I don't care how 'little and cute' your dogs are, they aren't allowed in the store. My job is not to clean up after kids, despite what one obnoxious customer said to me after I told her to tell her kid to stop trashing the store. Bags and paper are not free. People keep taking dozens of our bags and the paper we wrap glass items in, not seeming to realize that those cost us money and we need them for other people, too. People wonder why I have such a nihilistic view of humanity, well, after working in retail, I have seen more bad behavior than good.

[Avarion]

I used to work at my local convenience store and the first few weeks were fun because the people I worked with were relaxed and good to be around, but after a while even their good company wasn't enough to keep me from coming home at night in a foul mood, sometimes on the verge of tears. Customers drove me absolutely insane.

I don't know why common sense is called 'common' because it appears to be completely absent in about 85% of people. Good manners and courtesy are also absent in the same percentage. I remember a guy came in once with a backpack slung over one shoulder, and as he turned he knocked a jar of sauce off a shelf. The glass smashed, sauce went everywhere, and the shop was really busy. He muttered 'oh sorry' but didn't bother to offer to help clean up, or even pay for it. At the time I was on shift with just one other person, and she was swamped on the tills, and everybody in the queue could see I had to deal with the mess because glass isn't exactly the safest thing to leave broken on the floor. Yet people had the nerve to glare at me, cross their arms, roll their eyes and huff as I was cleaning.

Another time when the shop was incredibly busy a man was absolutely adamant I'd taken a £20 note from him and argued with me for about 10 minutes, holding everyone else up, even though I knew he'd given me a fiver. My position on tills was right in view of a CCTV camera, so I actually offered to replay the footage to prove to him that I was right, but he slunk off for me to deal with everyone else. When the shop went quiet, he came back in and said 'sorry, I gave you a fiver, the £20 was in my pocket'.

I only worked there for about a year and a half but I never, ever want to work in retail ever again. Some people are convinced the guy or girl stood behind the counter is a robot with no life outside of work, no thoughts or feelings, so they hurl all kinds of abuse with no remorse and think they can get away with murder. Nobody deserves to be treated with such disrespect or indignity. I remember all the times I'd just signed onto my till, with only two £5 notes and a £10, and somebody would pay for a pack of Polos or chewing gum with a £20 and not even bother to apologise for the inconvenience it caused me.

I think I've lost what little faith I had in people after working there...!

[foeofthelance]

Ive been working in the same resturaunt for close to seven years now. You think retail has it bad? Good grief, the list of complaints. First, its an Italian resturaunt in a heavily Italian town. So everyone orders not off the menu we give them, but off what they remember their grandmother making them. Then there are the people who simply don't speak English. If I walked into a bodega and started asking for rollos I'm sure they'd be horribly confused, but apparently I'm supposed to understand that "rollo with cheese" actually means whole wheat toast, one egg, and swiss cheese? What the frak? And I swear they must all use the same translation service, as they all ask for medium coffee, then look confused when I try to explain we only have large and small. At this point I don't even try to explain it anymore, I just plunk two different sized cups down and let them point.

And before anyone thinks I'm picking on just one group, understand I've had to go through this with Chinese, Latinos, Italians, and Russians alike. (we can sort of tell by the way they curse at us, and occasionally based on looks.)

The worst though? Happened only a couple of days ago, and was a perfectly homegrown asshole. We recently decided to open for breakfast, which means we open at 6:30 in the morning. We have plenty of signs up proudly proclaiming this fact. Anyway, it's a little after seven thirty, I've got several customers up at the counter sipping coffee and eating sandwiches, chatting with each other and watching Good Morning America, when I hear the door start to rattle. Well, ok, I live in NY, and we're going through a bit of a heatwave. The door is thirty years old, aluminum, and sticks a bit when it expands. There's aguy yanking on the door, kinda looked like Danny DeVito's uglyh bastard cousin, with an ass I could have used as shelf space. I run over to open the door just as he starts walking away, and call him back, since the bosses want to try and drum up business. He starts ranting at raving about how the door is locked, which means I'm a liar since the signs all say we're supposed to be open. I try explaining that the door is stuck, but he's not having any of it. I'm just an asshole and a liar. (Ok, I admit to being an asshole, but only to people I don't like, and certainly not to customers Ive never met before. Not a liar though, I try to be honorable.) I apologize, having nothing better to do as an option and take his order. Sandwich and coffee to go.

Ok, I place the order, pour the coffee into a cup, place it and a lid in front of him, and turn to get the milk and sugar for him when he starts ranting at me that he wants the coffee to go. I try and explain to him that it is to go, (its in a papercup!) but that:

A) I don't drink coffee, so I don't know how to mix it

B) This isn't Dunkin' Donuts. We actually want people to get the right stuff in their coffee, so we let them mix it themselves.

C) Even if the other two didn't apply, he never told me how he wanted his coffee in the first place.

At this point several of the customers, all regulars, have decided the floor show is much more interesting than GMA, and so are sitting there shaking their heads trying not to laugh at all of this. His order comes up quickly enough, I bag it, ring him up and get him on the way. He gets as far as the door ebfore he starts hollering at me again, accusing me of locking him in. Why? Dumbass was trying to pull on a door quite clearly marked PUSH. But no, I must have somehow locked the door behind him, despite the fact that he followed me into the resturaunt int the first place. B)

I swear, the only thing that keeps us sane is the steady supply of porn several of our customers send to my boss...

[DemonGoddess]

You know what the scary thing is? Far too often, we have to TAKE this because "the customer is always right". Well, sorry, being the customer does not give these people (and no, it's not the majority of the customer base, it's just a few that tend to be real asses) the right to be abusive just because THEY happen to be having a bad day. B)

[Kyouryoku Senshi]

A few times I've had customers trying to insist that they know our policy. I work for Starbucks and we used to give out free coffee during the five minutes it takes to re-brew when someone orders a cup of coffee. But, technically we weren't supposed to be doing it, but many barista's nationwide would do it. So we stopped, since we'd be loosing lots of profit. Imagine there is a line to the door, we've suddenly had to re-brew and are giving free coffee (excluding latte's etc) to those who are ordering it. By the time the five minutes is up, the person behind the person who got the free coffee now has to pay. Well that wouldn't be fair, because they would insist on getting it free too because the person in front of them did. An this continues.That's a lot of profit lost. What we do now is offer them an Americano (espresso shots and water) at the same price. So, whenever we're on our re-brew once in a great while, we have a customer that insists it should be free and in their own words "It's your policy." Well, genius, I work here and you do not. You'd be surprised how many people get impatient over waiting 5 minutes for coffee!

[Kyouryoku Senshi]

You know what the scary thing is? Far too often, we have to TAKE this because "the customer is always right". Well, sorry, being the customer does not give these people (and no, it's not the majority of the customer base, it's just a few that tend to be real asses) the right to be abusive just because THEY happen to be having a bad day.

I hear you on that. My husband and I worked at a grocery store a little over a year ago. He told me one time this lady claimed she had broken her tooth over chewing a piece of gum. He was so tempted to say *cough* scammer! *cough*

[Psychostorm]

I actually got fired several days ago because a customer was being abusive and I said "fuck you" to her. lol

[shinigamiinochi]

yeah, I wish I had the financial security to do that. My customers not only abuse me, but each other. A few weeks ago, there was a woman with her very annoying child. This kid was the kind that said no and screamed at the drop of a hat. Her father had to get her out of the store while the woman paid for the rest of the stuff. So, she got her stuff out of her cart and bumped into the woman behind her. She turned and snapped at her, telling her to back up and let her get her stuff out. The woman behind her did so, rolling her eyes. The mother continued to get her stuff out, grumbling about how rude the other woman was being. She continued to go on like that while I rang her up. The woman behind her started to whisper and chuckle about the mother's insane behavior and the mother turned to her and said 'go ahead and laugh, you stupid bitch, I guess someone as ugly as you can afford to laugh!' and stormed out with her things. At this point, all I could think was 'I know where your daughter gets it.' I mean, really, it's hard to believe people like this are out there.

[saucywench20]

Wowsers, now this is a topic near and not so dear to my heart...

I used to work as a sales clerk at one of the largest retailers in the country in the accessories section of the store (where they sell purses, fake jewelry, and all that jazz) in my sophmore year in college (I'm a junior now) and I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life.

I've pretty much experienced everything on that checklist through the clerk end:

-customer buying something worth $3.00 with a $100 dollar bill.

-customer pretty much throwing a tantrum trying to get my attention when she had 4 other clerks helping her.

-customer knocking over a display case of earrings (the large spinning kind with over 200 sets of earrings on it) see me coming to check what had happened, turned her nose up at me and complained how 'slow and lazy' store staff was to not follow her around with a broom apparently before leaving without buying a single thing (she was lucky another store clerk got there to calm me down, I was ready to tear the face off of that cactus thighed burlap sack from hell.)

-customer complain loudly about not getting any customer service when there were 2 clerks and 30 other customers, she didn't care that it was mother's day and that everyone (and their mothers) were there, when a third clerk approached her to see if needed help she screamed in her face to 'get lost!'

-customer tried to get a huge discount ($80 dollars) on the small mountain of clothing she was buying (a total amout of over $200 dollars) when there was no sale.

-customer complain about a non existant spot on a sweater on clearence and tried to get the price down (normal price $30.00, clearence price $7.00) and it was a beautiful sweater to be honest.

-customer brought back a cocktail dress she bought on clearence a few months ago and tried to return it, I said no and she screamed at me for 10 minutes until a manager came and punked out giving her the return. He looked like he was about to scold me but didn't...my co-clerk that day said that I looked like I could set him on fire with my mind.

After a week, I quit. At that point I could have cared less if I had to live under a bridge because of it. I know that had I stayed, I know I would have slugged someone.

The customers, for the most part, were incredibly abusive (I notice that the customers where I worked, who happened to be mostly female, were always just plain evil to the female clerks, a population I was a part of. Anyone else notice that?) and I never got any help from management.

Management would chant 'the customer is always right,' like some psychotic mantra. Ten times out of ten it sounded like they were trying to convince themselves.

The only time I was ever defended from an angry customer, who was screaming at me for 20 minutes straight because the store didn't carry a purse in the color she wanted, was by another customer. It was a police officer who just got off duty and told the lady that she had no right to scream at someone that much better looking than her for an ugly purse.

I was ready to jump the counter and kiss him for that!

So yeah, it sucked. It made me practically throw myself in my studies to avoid ever having to work retail again!

[Mourningstar]

Not only did I spend a couple of years working in retail, but it was in a pet shop, no less!

So not only did I have to suffer through the usual sucky customer -asshattery, there were added bonuses, like people thinking that we were the handiest, dandiest and free babysitting center around, also there were tons of customers who needed whatever pet was trendy at the time, only under no circumstances should the animal, its food and other necessities cost anything, it should also not shed, not need grooming, not make noises, not need its cage/terrarium/tank cleaned, not need exercise...

I'm just lucky my boss also worked for the local SPCA, so she didn't mind when I had to turn down a sale in order to preserve the animal's welfare. B)

[Ezriee]

I've never done any of those things. My customer service experience is limited to phone contact mostly and even those people were asses. Years ago when i worked at Fred Meyer/Kroger, I had someone actually want me to give them a refund on a pizza sick that had less than two inches left of it because it had pepperoni and it gave them heartburn...yeah right, you ate most of it!

I try not to cause people more grief in their positions...

[bookworm51485]

As a customer I try to avoid doing theese things, as a retail clerk there isn't a day that gose by without 5 out of the 7 happening, it's a really bad day when they all happen more then once.

So What I am wondering is why do they do it? What makes people think that they can get away with such behavior?

Humans, by nature, are inconsiderate pigs. And parents are doing lousy jobs raising their kids because they want to be friends instead of disciplinarians. So when they get older, they can't function in society with even the slightest bit of consideration.

I worked in a library (I know a lot of people probably think this is an easy job but believe me it's NOT) and the kind of things people would do or let their kids do would shock you. One of the more extreme incidents were the poop issues. For a period of time someone was crapping all over the library, in the bathroom on the floors, walls, all over the seats, trailing it out into the lobby, on the pathway behind the library heading to the employee entrance, on the floor in front of the bookdrop (in which they rubbed a children's book and then placed it into the bookdrop with the rest of the books).

Yeah.. then of course there are the screaming brat children that run all over and won't shut up. And then when our security says anything, parents get an attitude. We have stuffed animals on top of the shelves, as a point of reference. Parents will take them down for their brats to drag around and ruin and when we say no, again, get an attitude.

They pull books off the shelves for no damn reason, and some idiots try to reshelve them (though somehow they can never manage to do it right despite it being in ALPHABETICAL AND NUMERICAL ORDER!!!!)

Then of course, there are the people who ruin books/DVDs/CDs/etc, but never want to pay for them. The people who lose them but insist they returned them. The people who get an attitude when you tell them how many fines they have, when it's their own damn fault for letting the fines add up in the first place.

The generally disgruntled people who come in pissed off looking to piss someone else off. The drunks (yeah, we've gotten some of those too). The juvenile delinquents (had to call the cops on them a few times). The violent and belligerent (again, had to call the cops).

I'm not there any more and despite how well it paid ($11/hour), I'm actually glad. It was too much stress. Crappy customers and bosses who expected you to kiss those crappy customers asses. I could have a perfectly pleasant look on my face, but I'm supposed to smile like I'm the frickin Joker all the time.

[Zhaladjin]

You know what the scary thing is? Far too often, we have to TAKE this because "the customer is always right".

I SO hate it when people use that sentence as an excuse to try and make you do whatever they want. You know what else I hate? That stupid joke everybody thinks is original when they see an article without a tag: ,,There's no price on this, does that mean it's free?"

[shinigamiinochi]

I heard that EIGHT times today! I got so annoyed with it, the first month that I was working, that every time I hear it, I respond: No, it's not free, it's just so much money that we couldn't fit the number on that itty-bitty tag. Jackasses.

[Zhaladjin]

People are so arrogant and they seem to think that the rules don't apply to them.

Ah yes, concerning that: hagglers. Especially the arrogant ones who know you're not in charge of the prices and demand to see the chef so they can make some kind of a deal for a discount. Please die. Or move to a country where it's part of the local culture.

Can't help but sharing this with you though: a friend of mine also works in retail and she also has to deal with hagglers, and a lot of them use the "I saw it at a lower price in another store" argument to get something for cheap. Everytime she hears that, she just flatly tells the customer they should go to that store and buy it there, and her boss simply approves of it. She even went as far as telling a customer to fly to India because the item in question is cheaper there.

[bookworm51485]

Can't help but sharing this with you though: a friend of mine also works in retail and she also has to deal with hagglers, and a lot of them use the "I saw it at a lower price in another store" argument to get something for cheap. Everytime she hears that, she just flatly tells the customer they should go to that store and buy it there, and her boss simply approves of it. She even went as far as telling a customer to fly to India because the item in question is cheaper there.

Well in the stores where they promise price matching, this isn't completely out of line.

[Goddess of Passion]

Some years ago, I was working at a Mc Donald's store. I could tell you stories... Once a man wanted to pay a coffee with a 100$ bill. I have to add that I don't live in the US...

Knowing how hard their job is, as a customer I always try to behave and be nice to the salesmen.

[thenighting-gale]

I used to work in a truck stop with a little convenience store/gift shop...it was BRUTAL. My managers would get SOOOO angry with me when I'd have to call asking for more change, when my first 5 customers for the shift bought things under $5 with twenties, or fifties, I had a guy buy a pack of gum with a $100 once. I had to call my manager to bring me more cash before I could accept his payment. God I hated that about retail.

And once when i was in a dollar store I had like 7 things but only had a twenty, and the clerk looked at me with this OMG look... I laughed and asked if she wanted me to pay with debit, she looked so relieved, she didn't have enough change, and it was no trouble for me but it looked like it made her day!

And I get so mad when i go into a store and all the clerks are too busy gossiping with their friends and texting and stuff to help me, when I actually plan to buy something. I've thrown some clothes I was holding down on a table and stormed out on several occasions. If you were helping another customer, I would be happy to wait but they were just gossiping. Grr made me so angry...

Another time I had the clerk snap at me and FREAK out because I finally found a bracelet that I had wanted for a long time, but I wanted to try it on to see if it was scratchy on the inside, but she flipped out on my so I put it down and told her off. That made me very mad. I was going to buy the jewelery and maybe some other things for presents but I just walked out of there.

makes me not like shopping....

[bookworm51485]

Another time I had the clerk snap at me and FREAK out because I finally found a bracelet that I had wanted for a long time, but I wanted to try it on to see if it was scratchy on the inside, but she flipped out on my so I put it down and told her off. That made me very mad. I was going to buy the jewelery and maybe some other things for presents but I just walked out of there.

I remember once when I was younger, my family went to Church's chicken to get some food. My brother asked for no ice in his soda and the girl put ice, so before she could add the soda he interrupted her and asked for no ice again. She got pissed and threw the ice across the kitchen.

At the time it was kind of shocking but now it's pretty funny:)

[Anonymous_Nanotyrannus]

I worked in a very small grocery store for 4 years as my high school job. I hated it. A huge chunk of my faith in humanity grew violently ill, suffered, then finally died (and is still rotting) at the registers there.

The elderly (who I thought I got away after quitting there only to run into again at my newest job) were probably among the biggest offenders when it came to bad customers. These weren't people who were confused about an ad or misread something. No.

These were downright obnoxious people who spat in my face, swore at me, harassed me and would try to bully me into giving them deals. They weren't beyond throwing stuff onto the counters if they didn't get their way and storming off.

For example, when the store would have a particular item on sale Buy One Get One Free, the store would have the items' original price cut in half. So if an item originally cost 5 dollars, it would cost 2.50. It's just splitting the cost between the two products.

This was so that customers who did not want/need to buy two items, could buy one and still enjoy the deal, unlike most stores who made customers buy two products to get the deal (the first product would ring up full price and the 2nd would ring up free on the slip).

People did not like that and did not like that the 2nd item had a price and insisted on getting it for free, EVEN AFTER A VERY SIMPLE EXPLANATION and math lesson and store policy.

People still threw a royal fit over it. They did not like getting charged for the 2nd grocery. Needless to say I had a lot of Breyer's Icecream hawked at me.

[Psychostorm]

People are shit

[greenwizard]

My boyfriend works at McDonalds. He came home one day and told me about a customer who wanted the pickles on his cheeseburger arranged a certain way. He'd keep opening up the sandwhich to check, and of course the pickles would move when he did this and he'd send it back and yell. He did this fourteen times until my boyfriend left the grill and threw it at him and told him he could eat it or get the fuck out. His boss didn't yell because fourteen times is a bit riddiculous and he was making a scene.