OK, is it me or is anybody else sick &

[phoebe7165]

tired of BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE?!! I swear it has severely gone down the tubes the past few years. What's going on? I'm not ragging on anybody who works retail because believe me, I worked retail for alot of years, and I know what it's like. It's not easy, it's not the best paying job, but I never acted the way towards customers that I'm talked to. I'm as nice as I can be because I know what it's like to be on the other side of the counter.

I went to the local grocery store today, a store that I usually have no problem with whenever I go there, that's why I like going there. The cashier was an older woman, and not only was she rude to the elderly lady ahead of me who really didn't know how to use the credit card machine(I ended up helping her), but when she got to me, I wrote a check and gave her my I.D.. She kept my I.D. for a couple minutes, then while she was giving it back to me, snapped at me by saying "You didn't need to give me this because you're already in the system". I didn't appreciate her tone, so I said back to her "Well, I give it anyway whenever I write a check". By then, my stuff was already bagged up(I only had 3 bags), and picked up my bags and said to her "I never had a problem whenever I come here until now, and I don't appreciate you talking to me so rudely", then I walked out. Yes, I could've gone to the manager but I was so pissed, I'm afraid I would've just taken it out on him. Maybe she was in a bad mood, that's possible, but then she shouldn't be working with customers. I went to Wal-mart before that and wrote a check there, too, and gave her my I.D. Now, I know I'm in their system, too but did the lady say anything to me about that? No.

Then, a few weeks ago, I went to Lowe's, and while I was at the check-out, the girl ringing me up was yakking to another employee standing nearby who was doing nothing. She was so busy talking to her, she hardly said 2 words to me. I thinking "Hello, it's me, the customer, one of the main reasons the store stays open, can you not focus on me for 2 minutes?" It's like she couldn't wait the short couple minutes to ring me up and wait until after I left to tell her 'fascinating story'. Lowe's is not the only store this has happened in, either.

Am I'm looking too much into all this, am I'm just letting it get to me, or does anybody else feel the same way? It's to the point where I really don't like shopping anymore because you never know what kind of person is going to be ringing you up.

There's a store up north in the Mich./Ohio/Ind. area called Meijer's and when I'm in that area for my job, I always make it a point to stop at Meijer's and shop. I just love that store. It's just like a Wal-mart Supercenter but I think it's better. They have a few check-out aisles which are self serve and I'd be happy just doing that. I'm not saying that I think all stores should be self serve because that would put alot of people out of work, but sometimes it's nice not to have to face a human and deal with the attitude & unpleasantness. I keep e-mailing them to get them
to build a few stores here in Fla. If they built one in Orlando, I would drive the extra 45 min. to shop there.

I don't think I ask for much, just a smile and an acknowledgement, and maybe even a thank you or have a nice day. Am I asking too much?

[EricIdlefan]

But if you are on the other side of the service like I have been since working as a cook, cashier, clerk for the public, you would know how to treat people the way you like them too and be considerate when YOU are the customer!! People who have bad attitudes don't know what it is like to work with the public because they feel they don't need to know or have jobs not dealing with the public!!

[phoebe7165]

Originally posted by EricIdlefan
But if you are on the other side of the service like I have been since working as a cook, cashier, clerk for the public, you would know how to treat people the way you like them too and be considerate when YOU are the customer!! People who have bad attitudes don't know what it is like to work with the public because they feel they don't need to know or have jobs not dealing with the public!!

So, what you're saying is I have the bad attitude? Hey, I was in a good mood going into her line, then I saw the way she was towards the elderly lady, and I was STILL nice to her until she snapped at me. I'm supposed to put up with that?!! The last time I checked customers were the reason all the stores in this country are able to stay open!

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

I work @ a grocery store and always use the best of my manners. Im polite and courteous. Sometimes though Ill see how other cashiers are and how rude they act and it just boggles my mind. Given, not every customer is a gem, but I can honestly say in the 2.5 years Ive been working there, Ive had about 15 or so 'bad customers' and only about 3 or 4 that take it out on me. I always get the good customers, and I think partly is because Im nice to them. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Since I work with the public, I notice more now how other cashiers act when I go shopping @ Wal-Mart or whatever. A lot of them are nice yes, but I get so many that dont even ask how I am. I dont really care, but theyre supposed to ask anyways.

[Hollow]

Originally posted by EricIdlefan
But if you are on the other side of the service like I have been since working as a cook, cashier, clerk for the public, you would know how to treat people the way you like them too and be considerate when YOU are the customer!! People who have bad attitudes don't know what it is like to work with the public because they feel they don't need to know or have jobs not dealing with the public!!

Saying "I don't appreciate you talking to me so rudely" is rude? what are you supposed to do, say "god bless!! "?

[*MIBabe03*]

I work at a grocery store part time right now to make money for my college education. Overall, Iam pretty nice to the customers, but I have had my moments where I have been rude back to the customer. It depends on how rude they are to me.

[Georgia's on my Mind]

i work in public, i hate it. first of all i work at fye at a mall....about 65% of the people who come in are crackpots. seriously...they are all antisocial/rude/weirdos...when i first started working there i was really nice and tried to do my best with dealing with people...but it gets to a point where you just have to humor people, its not worth the energy to do anything else. ugh...its pretty sad that i dont care anymore....but i dont get paid enough to be any nicer than i currently am to people

[*MIBabe03*]

Originally posted by Georgia's on my Mind
i work in public, i hate it. first of all i work at fye at a mall....about 65% of the people who come in are crackpots. seriously...they are all antisocial/rude/weirdos...when i first started working there i was really nice and tried to do my best with dealing with people...but it gets to a point where you just have to humor people, its not worth the energy to do anything else. ugh...its pretty sad that i dont care anymore....but i dont get paid enough to be any nicer than i currently am to people

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that feels that way. I mean sometimes I will go and do a price check, knowing that the customer is wrong, yet I will tell them they are right because I don't want to hear them bitch and moan and yell at me. I gave up on caring about that stuff awhile ago.

[TheHappyBurgerMeister]

I also work at a grocery store in the deli. I don't have to worry about taking money though, but I RARELY hear people say please or thank you when they want food. Even though, there's lots of days where I'm in a bad mood or don't want to be there, I still smile to the customers and act happy. That's the one thing that bothers me with workers is when they actually SHOW that they are in a bad mood.

[Ewan's My Man]

Originally posted by safety pin
Saying "I don't appreciate you talking to me so rudely" is rude? what are you supposed to do, say "god bless!! "?

that was prolly the funniest thing i've heard all day...

ok, so I don't want to sound all "discriminating" but this is what happens in MY mall, it's the case in my mall.

So, all the anti-Hot Topic people are always going on and on about how weird that store is and they're all let's go to Claires! Claire's is the GOOD store. Weird people don't work at Claires. Yea...so ya go into Claires and it's a PIG STY, it's cluttered, there's earrings EVERYWHERE, and then you got the ONE obnoxious person on the phone, this is what the typical conversation is like:

"Hey baby...yea...oh, customer...no, I'm still here *rings up the stuff* yea, that party was great last night! *gives price, annoying laugh* yea, yea, oh hold on, other line...
HEY GIRL! Nah, I'm just on the other line with my boyfriend...*shoves the bag in the person's face*. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...*a person comes up and asks if they have something* omg, I know, I know, *to the person* what did you ask again? Oh, they're somewhere...maybe in the corner...yea...look there..."

They're OBNOXIOUS, yet you walk into Hot Topic the so-called "weird" store...and people ask if they can help you, they're ALWAYS polite, I have never once had a bad experience in Hot Topic, yet I've had only ONE good experience in Claires...

I don't mean to sound "discriminatory" to anyone who might work at Claire's or something, that's just personal experience...Hot Topic is my favorite store, my MOM even loves the people who works there.

I hate rude clerks, I really do, b/c I'm always friendly and nice...ugh.

[Adamantium]

I'm a bagger and can honestly say I'm nice to all the customers. However, sometimes a cashier will get rude (although most of them are nice, once in a while they have a bad day) I always try to make up for it by being EXTRA nice before the customer leaves the store. Not because I'm trying to get them to come back, but because I feel sorry for them getting treated the way they did.

As a result of working in a grocery store, I understand what other workers go through at other stores. So I try to be nice to them.

I get some real mean customers sometimes that make me feel bad for days. And yet, I can't find the courage to say anything back to them. I guess it's good since I won't get fired, but sometimes I just want to go off.

As for Phoebe, you're right. That cashier shouldn't have treated you the way she did. And if I was the bagger then, I'd have apologized to you for her.

Quote: Princess 2003
It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that feels that way. I mean sometimes I will go and do a price check, knowing that the customer is wrong, yet I will tell them they are right because I don't want to hear them bitch and moan and yell at me. I gave up on caring about that stuff awhile ago.

When I do a price check, the customer never believes me. They always make me feel like I'm stupid. And then when they go back with me and find out they were wrong and I was right, they don't even aplogize.

[Rhiannon]

I'm sick of people letting their kids eat candy and grapes and stuff like that, that they can get without opening a package or something. People should keep their kids under control

[phoebe7165]

Originally posted by Vera Wang
I'm sick of people letting their kids eat candy and grapes and stuff like that, that they can get without opening a package or something. People should keep their kids under control

I heard somewhere that technically that is shoplifting.

To safety pin(Sara) & TVAdam, THANK YOU!! for agreeing with me.

[PZelda]

Originally posted by Vera Wang
I'm sick of people letting their kids eat candy and grapes and stuff like that, that they can get without opening a package or something. People should keep their kids under control

AMEN TO THAT!!!!

[Nanny Fine]

I worked at Walmart for 8 years. It was HELL. I'll never ever EVER work retail again. Never. Working in the public like that every day, 40 hours a week was insane. People are SO rude. I've just never ever encountered in my life things I did while I was working there.

I feel bad for whomever said they work at FYE. Yikes. That would be worse than Walmart I think becdause it would be so many kids/teenagers and dealing with theft, etc. This is not a knock on teenagers before anyone starts I'm just saying that when I worked at the store I was in we had a lot of problems with groups of kids.

I love what I do now, working with kids. Mostly young, complete opposite of what I dealt with at walmart.