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The holidays are really getting to me, i am now chain smoking before i go into my retail job (thankfully it's only a two day a week thing), and almost all of the fun people I worked with are gone.
so this thread is for those of us that work in retail or customer service, and the things that annoy us about the general public.
This means no complaints from people about how terrible your service was at XYZ Co. because more than likely either you were being a jerk, or the person serving you at XYZ Co. has to put up with a bunch of idiots trying to micromanage them. So don't even bother.
Some things I hate:
1. I really hate it when people use my name tag to their advantage when i'm trying to help someone else. yelling out my name is not going to make me want to pay attention to you any more, i'm clearly helping someone else and you can wait 30 more seconds, it will not kill you.
2. PEOPLE COMING THROUGH THE LINE ON THEIR CELL PHONE. If I ever opened a store, i swear I would make a policy that if you come through the line and get checked out while talking on your phone about stupid crap to your stupid friends, you have absolutely no reason or right to complain if you think your order was wrong or you were overcharged. More than likely, we did ring you up right and gave you the right order, but since you weren't paying attention when your hard earned money was being exchanged, you're now making up crazy things that we don't understand.
3. People that don't understand that "we open at X:00 am" means WE OPEN AT X:00 AM!!! and, no we can't "just get you something really quick" because more than likely there isn't any money in the register yet. if you can't wait 15 minutes then move along and we don't really need your business anyway.
4. Why is it ALWAYS "I've been waiting for 10 MINUTES!!!" why is it never 5, or 15, or the more accurate 30 SECONDS (because i just rang you up)?
5. Complete whack jobs, please don't come through my line. Yes i'm talking to you, crazy man that yelled at me because i didn't have enough quarters in the register to give you because i had 20 people in line and one roll of quarters left, with no one in charge to give me change. i'm also talking to you, even crazier man, that yelled at me over what finger i was using to press buttons on the register. apparently he thought he was so important that i was paying enough attention to him to flip him off over and over as i pressed buttons on the register. get. over. it.
generally, everyone is nice, but there's always at least one person per day that is completely off their rocker.
I used to work with the public and now sit in a cube in silence surrouded by the same wacky co-workers days after day. I miss interacting with humanity. I feel like I live in a cave all day. Isn't it funny how we only remember the good and not all the irrational rude customers? I guess the grass is always greener....
--how about those customers who come in late and make you stay open late?
--how about those customers who like to sigh and roll their eyes over anything that takes up their precious time?
--how about those customers who make hissing noises or go "psst" or snap their fingers to get my attention?
those customers and many more made me say, "No more!" to customer service jobs years ago.
I pretty much 'retired' from retail years ago after being a 'customer service slave',I went through all that and more and one day told my manager I was going to work in the back of a warehouse somewhere never to deal with the public again.
I did customer service work several years back and had my life threatened because their tv wasn't fixed when they came to pick it up so I know how crazy customers can be. I told the guy if he had a beef take it up with the tv tech. It's been awhile since my last job and the thought of working customer service again if I have to doesn't thrill me.
I worked part-time at Blockbuster while I was in college. What a horrible company to work for, and also a great opportunity to experience horrible customers, though they were a tiny minority. It's just that they are the most memorable. You can have twenty nice customers, and one lousy one, and when you go home for the day, guess which one is going to be at the front of your mind? Then there are the not necessarily horrible customers, just the endless dumb questions, like "Do you know that movie with that guy?" (And I do mean that the customer would say exactly that.) My favorite was the indignant older lady (but not a nut-job) who was very upset upon learning that we charged money to rent movies. "But I don't have to pay at the libraray!," she wailed.
BUT, that was years ago, and now that I no longer work retail, I see it from the other side again. That is, unfriendly and lousy customer service!!
I worked part-time at Blockbuster while I was in college. What a horrible company to work for, and also a great opportunity to experience horrible customers, though they were a tiny minority. It's just that they are the most memorable. You can have twenty nice customers, and one lousy one, and when you go home for the day, guess which one is going to be at the front of your mind? Then there are the not necessarily horrible customers, just the endless dumb questions, like "Do you know that movie with that guy?" (And I do mean that the customer would say exactly that.) My favorite was the indignant older lady (but not a nut-job) who was very upset upon learning that we charged money to rent movies. "But I don't have to pay at the libraray!," she wailed.
BUT, that was years ago, and now that I no longer work retail, I see it from the other side again. That is, unfriendly and lousy customer service!!
Yea that sux doesn't it? Here I was,held to all kinds of high standards of customer service yet when I was a customer in a place and I got crappy service it would bother me that much more that why weren't they held to the same standards?
As for the stupid customers,I got to a point where I just felt like reflecting their stupidity right back at them but of course I had to bite my tongue to avoid backlash from management.
I did end up working with a guy who was a great role model though,he would be fair but yet not let himself be abused by the customers. Wasn't the warmest guy in the world and most customers didn't really prefer to deal with him but he was efficient and that's what I admired.
My favorites are the ones who buy one small item and hand the clerk a fifty. I watched one guy do this on a Sunday morning, and I thought the cashier was going to flip! She mumbled, 'We're not a bank, ya know'.
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So don't even bother. 
