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For all those who work in retail/customer service...

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I hate it when I fold up the customer's clothes during the transaction and somehow it's not good enough, and they just pick it up, shake it out and fold it their way. :frown:

Reply 61

*pitseleh*

Rooftopcowboy

the most common seemed to be the infamous "do you work here?" that customers stupidly say, when your stood behind a till in full uniform, name badge etc

Remember some woman coming up to me in Superdrug on my lunch break and asking me where the sandwiches were - I just sort of pointed vaguely said, "I think they're over there somewhere, but I can't be sure as I actually work a few doors down". Silly billy.

I think the whole customer service thing is going to far now, sure I don't mind being friendly with the customers, say Hi and Thanks etc, and chat to them if they start up conversation. But some shops I've been in (such as M&S) the staff have started asking what your doing that day etc its like I only came in to buy a sandwich, not to socialise. I think sometimes it can be off-putting to customers if the staff are trying to be their best freind!

Eww - I find that really intrusive. A smile is nice, and if there's any real reason for a bit of conversation to take place then it's fine.. but I don't really want to go through my plans for the day in a shop surrounded by strangers.

Only time I've ever truly wanted to scream at a customer was when I worked in Game, and some guy came in with a Gamecube in a carrier bag - turned out he'd left his four-year-old grandson alone with it, and the kid had changed the default language to Japanese. :laugh:

So he dumped this carrier bag on the counter, explained the situation and asked me to go and fix it. Now, Game aren't responsible for repairs - they just sell the stuff, and any repair work after 28 days of purchase has to be organised through the manufacturer... and besides, I can't read Japanese. I politely pointed this out and he grumbled a bit.. so having a merciful impulse I suggested that that evening, I'd go home and have a look through the settings on my own Gamecube so that he could call the shop the next day and I could tell him which buttons to press in which order to get to the language page - which was obviously something I wasn't obliged to do; I was just trying to be nice. But instead of saying yes please, he picked his bag up and stormed out of the shop loudly bemoaning the "useless staff" who "don't know how to do their jobs properly"! I was so cross.. and I don't usually "do" cross. Ungrateful twerp.. hope it's still stuck on Japanese to this day. :p:

Reply 62

starcarton

anna_spanner89

Or when they can't control their kids..let them go riot in a shop and spill juice, and god knows what else on the stock..

try working in a toy shop....

we had a load of kids throw burgers and ketchup all over our windows a couple of weeks ago... and guess which muggings had to clean it up :s-smilie:

Reply 63

*pitseleh*

Fjarskafinn

I hate it when I fold up the customer's clothes during the transaction and somehow it's not good enough, and they just pick it up, shake it out and fold it their way. :frown:

Worked for Quiksilver for just over two years, and people actually used to ask us to slow down when we folded things so they could see exactly how we did it so neatly. :p:

I'm not fussy about how people fold clothes, but I do get annoyed when staff don't bother at all and just bunch stuff up so it's all wrinkly and then shove it in the carrier bag. :frown:

Reply 64

buttons_andbeads

Old male customers who stare at my chest and say "I'm not looking at your chest, I'm reading your name badge!"

Also customers who insist on saying my name at the end of every sentence, I know I'm wearing a name badge but it's creepy when people you've never met before call you by your first name..

Reply 65

fatal

today a woman was really snippy when I offered instant replacement cover on her kettle. right to be honest, I have to meet targets, I don't I lose my job, sorry for trying missus but don't be a cow. all the customers today were annoying actually.

Reply 66

anna_spanner89

lol has anyone been an annoying customer themselves??

I have.. :frown:

at tesco today there was a 2 for £3 offer on cadburys icecream..it just said, 2 for £3 on cadburys daily milks, strawberry dream ice cream..

came to the till, it wasn't £3 for both..but £3 if you bought 2 cadbury dairy milks.... or 2 strawberry dream icecreams..

and the woman was a bit rude..when i told her it wasn't signed she just threw the recipt at me!

Reply 67

C.o.o.k.i.e

You don't happen to work for Homebase do you fatal??

Reply 68

SuicidalLemming

I work in a shop that started as just a little shop, and has got much bigger over the past 2 years...and because I've been there since it opened I'm often the one the other employees go to when they have a problem or a customer asks for a supervisor (coz technically I am their supervisor lol)
Its always funny when some grumpy old woman asks one of the employees (who are all mid 20's to mid 40's) to talk to their manager/supervisor & because my boss isn't in a lot, they get me...the look on these middle age womens faces when I come out and say "Hiya, how can I help you" is hilarious...they tend to look at me in a way that says "You're a small skinny blonde girl who is still in her teens, how can you be a supervisor?" It makes me laugh every time.

Reply 69

linkdapink

I work in the post office, just in the little post shop (so we're not really behind the counter, we just sell the envelopes and the collecting stamps pretty much) but we get all the fricking complaints!!! It's not even my job, I have absolutly nothing to do with the actual post office (which is even different from Royal Mail, so when I get complaints about the mail, I have to explain its a completely different company!). But the most annoying things that have happened to me:

1) The other day while I was serving a customer, after taking a 3 month break from work being at uni and all, I had someone else interrupt to just "ask a question" about whether we sold "aerofoils" and all I said was "I'm sorry, I don't think we do, but I'm not sure" - purely because I had no idea what she was on about. I heard her mutter "so you don't even know what you sell? hmph". Then she went to the other member of staff "Do YOU know if you sell airmail letters because SHE obviously doesn't" - Well I know what an AIRMAIL LETTER is, not an AEROFOIL?!

2) I was working over the strike period (because I'm not part of the union) and everyone was shouting at me about how ridiculous it was that we were on strike, and I always made a comment, that I WASNT! I was COMING IN to work and DOING MY JOB. And also while I was working, I had only been working for about a week by that point, and a manager had come to help out, who had no idea about anything - so basically he was learning from me. And then I would have people ask me questions, and when I said "I'm sorry, I don't know, I've only been working here a week" they would say "can you ask HIM!" and when I explained that he wouldn't know either, they say things like "well I don't know why you're even open if you don't know what you're even DOING!"

Reply 70

Tweety-Bird

Fjarskafinn

I hate it when I fold up the customer's clothes during the transaction and somehow it's not good enough, and they just pick it up, shake it out and fold it their way. :frown:

That happened to me once this old lady took out the coat that i folded and stood there folding it again!!! I was new as well so I just gave her dirty look :biggrin:

Reply 71

fatal

C.o.o.k.i.e

You don't happen to work for Homebase do you fatal??

nope good ol' currys :smile:

Reply 72

jjbristol

can i ask all the females on tsr to PROMISE, for the good of the human race, that they will NEVER, i repeat NEVER, become one of the grumpy, rude, spoilt, uneducated middle aged and old women who seem to account for well over half of the female populous in this country!!!

please, for the sake of our grandchildren lol let's turn women decent!

Reply 73

unknown demon

A quite stupid and somewhat disgusting customer came to the customer service desk asking for a refund. I asked what product/problem? The reply was 'underwear, don't worry I've cleaned it, I just don't like it.'

I was mortified and explained to her this was not possible and then the tutting, sighing, irratating conversation followed.

'Listen lady, I'll just call my manager and you can talk to her and explain what an incomptent lazy git I am.'

People like that really are the bane of my work.

Reply 74

jjbristol

lol it's always the women customers, my experience anyway. spoilt little tarts

Reply 75

Levity

fatal

nope good ol' currys :smile:

So many people react all crazy when you ask them about the cover. My dad's one of them, he was like "Can you believe it! I bought a £20 kettle and they asked me if I wanted a cover on it!! Can you believe it?!?" which is such a weird reaction, if you don't want it does it matter if they're offering it?

I had a funny guy yesterday, he was like:
"We can add a three year instant replacement cover to your iron for ten pounds. This means if anything happens to it in three years, you can bring it in and you'll get a new one straight off the shelf. Would you be interested in adding that?"
"Nahhh there's no point, I end up buying a new iron every year or something, they always break!"
"Yes... With this service you wouldn't need to pay for an iron again for three years, so if your irons only lasted a year each you'd save £70"
"But they always break after a year!"

It's quite frustrating when you get a customer, and you're just thinking, "seriously, what are you on about?", but you can't say it, so you're pretending what they're saying makes some small portion of sense...

Reply 76

jjbristol

another thing that i hate is customers who moan about the price then still buy the products!!! it makes no sense, if customers are willing to purchase at a given price then of course the price will be at that level, it's called supply and demand it's not rocket science!!! anyway companies are businesses, not ****ing charities! these people are obviously poor for a reason, they know **** all about economics or business. when i've been at work serving people i sometimes wonder whether democracy can ever work considering so many people are so ****ing thick

Reply 77

fatal

Levity

yup i really don't understand why people don't take it on laptops espesh!
My strike rate for whateverhappens is shocking, the other day I told a woman all about a camera, she came back and a workmate took the sale and got instant replacement on it! I was raging! I really hate it when people come in and tell us that tescos are selling way cheaper tvs, I then point out that their tvs are cheap because they are really bad quality. :redface:

Reply 78

Gemz87

This thread makes me so happy that I put in my notice last week :biggrin:

Reply 79

suek

*pitseleh*

Used to get asked that in loads of shops I didn't work in, especially on lunch breaks when I was in uniform.. but sometimes I still get asked now when I'm in my civvies - I haven't worked in a shop for about three years! Remember some woman coming up to me in Superdrug on my lunch break and asking me where the sandwiches were - I just sort of pointed vaguely said, "I think they're over there somewhere, but I can't be sure as I actually work a few doors down". Silly billy.

This reminds me of something that happened to me not long ago. I was in Sainsbury's - I have never worked there, and I was wearing jeans, some sort of top and a black jacket - looking at cushions for my mum. I phoned her, and started describing the patterns, when a woman comes up to me and just blurts out "where are the eggs?" I'm on my phone, blatantly not in a Sainsbury's uniform. What is with people these days!