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Hmmmmmm I must be insane then. I work in health care and yes there have been moments where I've absolutely despised dealing with a certain mind set. However, there is the other side of the coin when you bond with a family members and my patients. That can be both satisfying and rewarding. There's always good, there's always bad. The key is keeping the bad in perspective and not letting it consume you. I think kindness has worked best for me when dealing with a stressed out angry person. Most of us don't want to behave like rectums but we all have a breaking point. People like that just need a verbal hug.
See, that sucks. What is the best thing a customer can do that will make your day better?
There's a few who I had great interactions with whether it is a regular who will tell a joke or just give a smile or someone new that you end up talking with for 10/15 minutes. I was working the close of the NFL Experience in Phoenix last week and one night I had a great 15 minute conversation with a Seattle fan about Phoenix amenities, sports, the game etc while he was charging his phone until I had to go and do my closing duties. It's people like that that don't tax my body with customers, it's the ugly ones who do. These are the customers I love. As I said though if you sprinkle in one or two of the real bad ones, that don't take no for an answer or like that woman Mod cut (referenced post # has changed). who just couldn't mark the price in her phone or a google spreadsheet or something and instead had to get me who could have done other duties to help other customers and tie me up for at the least a good minute and a half. You can be amazed in what you can do to improve a retail location in a minute and a half.
Quote:
Originally Posted by katie45
Unfortunately one rude customer can ruin your entire day; even if the remaining customers were pure angels.
Exactly. One ***** from the aforementioned post #[Snip.] and your day is shot no matter how many smiles and jokes you get from others because it takes the wind out of your sails, the swagger out of your stance and the spring out of your step all because of the WTF moment.
And I know it doesn't mean I "hate people," it just means I don't like people in that context.
The more I work with the public, the more I hate people. Sad, but true. They are awful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by masmartbottom
Thank you, but I prefer literal definitions and direct associations.
For myself, I have never thought I was "paying someone's salary" when I went into various stores and shopped. The idea is beyond absurd to me. I thought I was going in and buying stuff I wanted...how silly of me.
Of course you are. If a company does not have decent foot traffic, probably first thing they will do is cut down on staff or hours. Especially a small business. When one is doing well, you won't find the owner on the floor as much as they will be able to afford to hire more help. It's directly related.
First rule of retail taught to me by a dear friend: try to sell enough stuff during the day to at least cover your own pay, even if you don't make commission.
Lol I sell probably thousands of dollars of stuff in a day...more than I make in months!
As a cashier you may ring up thousands, but you don't sell it.
Don't forget that every product that passes your register has to support many costs, including:
Other employees salaries
The wholesale cost of the product itself
Rent
Central office administration
Utilities
Markdowns on products that don't sell
Advertising
Insurance, accounting
Freight in
Credit card fees to the bank
Plus many more
Hmmmmmm I must be insane then. I work in health care and yes there have been moments where I've absolutely despised dealing with a certain mind set. However, there is the other side of the coin when you bond with a family members and my patients. That can be both satisfying and rewarding. There's always good, there's always bad. The key is keeping the bad in perspective and not letting it consume you. I think kindness has worked best for me when dealing with a stressed out angry person. Most of us don't want to behave like rectums but we all have a breaking point. People like that just need a verbal hug.
This is why I'd be terrible in a job dealing with the public all the time. It would consume me.
The first time I had a real interaction with the public I was dealing with a very sensitive topic for the person. She had to fill out paperwork that she insisted she already filled out. The bad part was that she couldn't write because her wrist was broken and I was asked to write her information down for her (with rolling eyes from the service reps). Walked into the room and the woman was in tears saying she'd already done this and why did she have to come in again and the wait was so long that she is going to be late for an appointment that she desperately needed to make and she didn't have time to sit there and dictate to me when she'd already done it all before.
The staff simply didn't believe her because the paperwork wasn't on file. I looked for it and discovered that we lost it, but saved a digital copy so I know she did fill it out. So I let her go. It was our fault, not hers, and no one believed her because she seemed hysterical.
I would never want to end up so callous and unbelieving because of these bad experiences that you ignore people in distress and don't treat them with respect anymore. I don't think that would ever happen to me, I would just internalize everything and get ulcers.
Even now, I don't interact with the public much but I did answer phones and will get calls from people that want help and it's stupid how many of them say, "no one else would listen to me. Thank you." I don't answer phones anymore, but the person who does at my job told me about someone calling her asking for help on something they didn't know anything about and she laughed at their stupidity and told them it's not her problem. I had to bite my tongue.
Jobs where you deal with the public all the time are not good for anyone, from what I can tell.
A lot of my coworkers don't ADORE our customers, but I really find that I can't stand most of them. They are what I put up with for a paycheck, basically.
I know the problem is somewhat me. But at the same time, a lot of these people are just awful.
Is it somewhat normal to really not like customers while working as a cashier? If it wasn't for my paycheck, my awesome coworkers (and especially one specific one) and ...uh...my paycheck...I don't know how I could work there.
I'd say it's perfectly normal to hate on customers. It really depends on the customer mix you have but most of the general public is quite honestly, dumber than a box of rocks and nasty to deal with. From my experience the retail chains and Big Box places and Malls have the worst customers. Your independent and mom+pop stores usually won't have this kind of customer mainly because people go to the Big Box and chain stores mostly because they're cheaper (or thought to be) and you get the goofier people because of it. Also, a local owner won't tolerate someone coming in the store and acting like an ******* or trashing the place because scaring away other customers will hurt an independent a lot more vs. Wallyworld. It's a trashy crowd that usually shops at Big Box and the chains and most people in the retail world know it.
With that said, if you truely can't stand the customers at all I'd get out of the place. It doesn't get better over time and will wear you down. Service jobs in general are high turnover because the public is a bunch of rude idiots and because most retailers don't let their employees do the job properly. I hate a good chunk of customers at our store (in the Mall of all places) but I thankfully don't deal with them a lot so it's more manageble for me.
Hmmmmmm I must be insane then. I work in health care and yes there have been moments where I've absolutely despised dealing with a certain mind set. However, there is the other side of the coin when you bond with a family members and my patients. That can be both satisfying and rewarding. There's always good, there's always bad. The key is keeping the bad in perspective and not letting it consume you. I think kindness has worked best for me when dealing with a stressed out angry person. Most of us don't want to behave like rectums but we all have a breaking point. People like that just need a verbal hug.
Sometimes it is things the customer could easily do themselves (even if it is a minor hassle) others not so much. I've been annoyed with small things as a customer as well as bigger things. As a person working with the public sometimes you have the ability to fix things, other times you have to work within the system and have no leeway whatsoever. The problem is the reaction from the customers. Some you cannot make up even if you wanted to try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basilide
This is why I'd be terrible in a job dealing with the public all the time. It would consume me.
The first time I had a real interaction with the public I was dealing with a very sensitive topic for the person. She had to fill out paperwork that she insisted she already filled out. The bad part was that she couldn't write because her wrist was broken and I was asked to write her information down for her (with rolling eyes from the service reps). Walked into the room and the woman was in tears saying she'd already done this and why did she have to come in again and the wait was so long that she is going to be late for an appointment that she desperately needed to make and she didn't have time to sit there and dictate to me when she'd already done it all before.
The staff simply didn't believe her because the paperwork wasn't on file. I looked for it and discovered that we lost it, but saved a digital copy so I know she did fill it out. So I let her go. It was our fault, not hers, and no one believed her because she seemed hysterical.
I would never want to end up so callous and unbelieving because of these bad experiences that you ignore people in distress and don't treat them with respect anymore. I don't think that would ever happen to me, I would just internalize everything and get ulcers.
Even now, I don't interact with the public much but I did answer phones and will get calls from people that want help and it's stupid how many of them say, "no one else would listen to me. Thank you." I don't answer phones anymore, but the person who does at my job told me about someone calling her asking for help on something they didn't know anything about and she laughed at their stupidity and told them it's not her problem. I had to bite my tongue.
Jobs where you deal with the public all the time are not good for anyone, from what I can tell.
This was a great reaction to defuse a situation and make things easier for customers facing a potentially dangerous situation and diffusing it rather than it becoming a much larger issue that would become problematic for the company and its employees. If you can make someone smile and diffuse a situation then you did right.
Op, I worked retail over 10 years. In the end I despised my job and everything that came with it. It's time to move on.
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