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Icebot 03-30-2021 02:06 PM

Is the customer always right?
 
As I am the employee, a customer was asking me to wait for her about a request. When the customer came back after a long time, she got mad at me for being in a different area, she was muttering in anger about me not being in that spot after telling me she’s got her eye on me.

But I think that was totally unfair of her to criticize me like that. I never meant to ignore her. I felt too uncomfortable to explain anything to her as she was muttering but the truth is I made sure I didn’t wander too far and I was only about 20 feet away at the farthest. And I did this for A VERY GOOD REASON. I did have other obligations to complete and I was able to do them by not wandering too far, I couldn’t spend too much time waiting and doing nothing because my workloads are huge and I have a very strict time limit. I felt just blindly doing what the customer wanted would have put me in an extremely uncomfortable and awkward situation, and I wouldn’t have time to take my break which I am entitled to, meaning skipping lunch and no bathroom breaks either.

Leo656 03-30-2021 02:14 PM

In the immortal words of Ben Affleck in "Mallrats": "The customer's always an asshole."

IndigoErth 03-30-2021 02:34 PM

Absolutely not. That line may have sprung from any and every company's focus on their bottom line, but unfortunately, a portion of the general public has abused it and become entitled and I'm tired of watching companies letting customers get away with really crappy behavior.

People like that women you describe are some of the ones that have pissed me off the most when I used to work in a store, because they seem to believe an employee is supposed to be their personal servant or treat them like a dog.

Sorry to hear you had to encounter one of those people.


One of my "worst of" stories...

I once had some middle aged women with a cane come into the store I worked for and appeared to have it in mind that the world must owe her something and had some kind of right to jump on the first person she sees inside the door with attitude full blast.

This one was kind of the reverse of yours in that I guess I was expected to fetch stuff for her across the store while she sit there. Acting like THAT? HELL NO. That was a rather big store, I am not running back and forth like a damn dog for someone acting like that towards me, sorry. She wasn't even alone, she could have had the other person do it or go into the store for her while she wait in the car. Bad enough she was only or initially just after pantyhose, something she could have gotten at a cheaper store with a smaller parking lot instead of deciding to go to the MALL, with a large parking lot and considerable walking distance, and then act like she can't handle it as soon as she gets inside. (Lady, it's a mall, you knew what you were getting yourself into!)

Thing that make me mad about these people is that they think the can just flip out and bully their way into getting what they want. But truth is, IF she had come in and was very nice about it, I'd have been happy to go the extra mile (and would have almost felt like it...) to help her out. But she didn't, and no, I'm not being anyone's dog and accepting abuse. I ended up getting a manager to deal with that b*tch.



A couple of the things I love about what I do now is that 1) people rarely shop for my company's product when they're in a bad mood so most people are pleasant, and 2) "sorry I don't work for the store" and don't have to deal with store customers, only those who want my company's stuff.

Leo656 03-30-2021 02:41 PM

It may not have been "good for business", but my gym boss would occasionally be selective about certain prospects. Like if someone was being a pain in the ass during the Tour, he might call me over to talk real quick on the sly and be like "Don't even hard-sell them, if they wanna leave let them leave."

At a few of the seminars and sales-training meetings I attended, they'd flat-out say "Don't go out of your way for someone who's giving you a hard time from the jump. If they're being a pain in the ass already, you can tell they're going to be a nuisance about every single thing, and over time they're going to take up an inordinate amount of your time just to deal with their constant complaints. If you get a bad vibe from someone, we simply don't need their business that badly."

Granted, a few of those gyms ended up shutting down (although Covid killed the last one) but that prediction about people being problem cases was true 100% of the time. There were more than a few "difficult" people I signed up who I sincerely regretted before very long. Give people an inch, they take a goddamn mile. "When people tell you who they are, listen."

Jester 03-30-2021 02:53 PM

In theory customer servants are supposed to do their best to please the customer, but it's a 2 way street.

I worked at a grocery store for 8 years and a lot of that time was at the customer service counter and there is definitely a limit to "The Customer is Always Right."

CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy 03-30-2021 03:08 PM

I think a more accurate statement for these situations is:

"The customer is the one with the money."

Iroh 03-30-2021 03:36 PM

The customer is not always right. Whomever coined that termed in history needs his or her ass whooped severely. If that person is dead, good riddance. During this age and time, certain people became uncouth in their actions. Trying to sass employees and managers to bend them to go against company policy. Anti-maskers and Karens trying to use their white privilege and getting their cards revoked is at the top of the list. I know everyone here have seen the videos of the lady getting arrested for not wearing her mask at the bank.:lol::lol: When she got tackled and arrested, that body cam footage was something from Benny Hill.:lol::lol: I am glad that working those jobs are behind me. I am my own boss and I love what I do. When I was in retail, my disputes with customers were minimal because I was always the one that was ready to take it to the streets. My favorite quote is always, "I am going to call corporate!" So! :tlol:

Icebot 03-30-2021 03:59 PM

Thanks everyone. I didn’t think so. A lot of of other customers wanted me to do things that make me uncomfortable and I had some other past experiences I feel are worth mentioning:

I read meters on some slot machines at a casino due to a state law requirement, I placed the slot machines out of service so no one could interfere with me doing my job. There were people standing by those same slot machines and it turns out they wanted to play on them. It turns out they were about to play them as I was putting them out of service only I didn’t know they were planning to play. When they discovered they were out of service, they were like “What the **** man, we were gonna have some fun on these and then this jerk turned them off, screw this place”. I think they left but if they had asked me nicely I would have politely told them they could play as soon as I’m done reading the meters and would even offer to allow the player to pick the slot machine I read first so that player could play sooner.

Another meter reading experience I has was, I put a slot machine out of service so I could read the meters and a player got mad at me and said his friend was in the middle of a game and was coming back soon, I was uncomfortable about turning it back on unless he stopped playing too (if too many people play, that changes the meter amounts and could cause a variance).

Another customer asked me why every other slot machine next to each other were out of service. I told him the importance of social distancing due to the pandemic. He remained irritated and acted like he’s never heard of social distancing laws or the pandemic, though I may be exaggerating a little as he was wearing a mask.

Iroh 03-30-2021 04:06 PM

I apologize that you had to go through the things you went through. Icebot, stay humble but strong-spirited. Learn a foreign language that is suitable for you. The world is open to you as a linguist. I have had the time of my life since I got my degrees. When you have the skills that is needed by all, you are hunted by the jobs and not vice versa. Stay strong.:):tcool:

Icebot 03-30-2021 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iroh (Post 1887084)
I apologize that you had to go through the things you went through. Icebot, stay humble but strong-spirited. Learn a foreign language that is suitable for you. The world is open to you as a linguist. I have had the time of my life since I got my degrees. When you have the skills that is needed by all, you are hunted by the jobs and not vice versa. Stay strong.:):tcool:

Thanks. All I know is a couple Spanish words and I learned them on Dora the Explorer. I see your name is Iroh, is that based on Iroh on Avatar the Last Airbender? I admire his way of staying positive, I might look for advice from him as well.

Iroh 03-30-2021 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icebot (Post 1887085)
Thanks. All I know is a couple Spanish words and I learned them on Dora the Explorer. I see your name is Iroh, is that based on Iroh on Avatar the Last Airbender? I admire his way of staying positive, I might look for advice from him as well.

You can say that even though I have been using this name waaaaay before Avatar ever existed.:tgrin: It means color in Japanese. If you have been paying attention to my posts after all this time, you will see that I am the only one here that has used different colors to my words on this forum. No one knows until now. Regarding Avatar, I was shocked when the character was introduced with my screen-name. He was my favorite character from the show too. Coincidence? NOT! :trazz: Stay positive though. Master Spanish and the world is yours. I have Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, English, and a little French under my belt. I was always hunted for employment and still am.:tcool:

IndigoErth 03-30-2021 05:00 PM

So that explains the colors...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icebot (Post 1887083)
I read meters on some slot machines...

People are so entitled anymore. Is it so hard to wait or are there not other machines for them to choose? God forbid people have a job to do.

Would you be allowed to fake it and just tell these nitwits that you have to check something to ensure that they're working properly so it doesn't negatively impact their game? Surely no one is going to want to lose money on a machine that might not be working right...far as they know. :trazz:



Thread reminded me that I got a rare, brief rude one today. Some lady looking for a pack of invitations with a print that matches some thank you note cards I have. Told her I don't have those (as I have literally never seen them) and she goods "Yes you do!" Wtf lady, it's a small section of stationary, if I'd ever had that I'd know, don't tell me what I have. lol What you see is what I have.

Maybe my company makes that, maybe the OTHER bigger Walmart (that may or may not be "full line" aka also sells our greeting cards whereas mine does not) does, but this one, no, sorry. And no, lady, I have no way of checking the other Walmart as I do not work for them, nor my company's stock in other stores. I can't even just look up items like that in my own stores -- I literally have to scan a a nearby item and flip through it, so obviously I can't do this from a different location.

Luckily, that one statement was all she gave me, and maybe it came out harsher than intended, who knows, but geeze lady. No need to be rude. Having overheard her and the man with her it sounds like they saw it online and just expected it to be in this store.

I'm waiting for the day when I run into that one terrible person who demands to speak to my superior and oh well, can't do that, I work alone and she isn't there. lol

Last Ronin 03-30-2021 07:26 PM

Oh Hell no. They are not right 99% of the time. They just want to hold power over other people since they hold no power of their own at their own pathetic job.

Iroh 03-30-2021 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndigoErth (Post 1887091)
So that explains the colors...

YASSSSSS! :trazz::trazz:

IndigoErth 03-30-2021 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Last Ronin (Post 1887106)
Oh Hell no. They are not right 99% of the time. They just want to hold power over other people since they hold no power of their own at their own pathetic job.

Reminded me of all the times I wished to know where some of those customers worked so I might (not really) go be a problem at THEIR job and borrow someone's destructive brat kids to take with me. lol

Storm Eagle 03-30-2021 08:10 PM

I worked in retail once. Whenever someone said the customer is always right, I wanted to slap the taste out of their mouth. They just sounded like complete punks to me, and they sounded like they were trivializing my feelings when it was said to me.

IndigoErth 03-30-2021 08:57 PM

Any of you guys that have worked in retail ever see stores allow customers to "return" OLD crap, with no receipt and it might not even have come from that store? Have seen it a number of times and find it disgusting that they're even allowing it to take place and let people think that is a perfectly okay thing to do.

Now, more often they did not give the person cash, but they'd give them store credit to use. Stores are just choosing to hurt themselves just to keep that person there. All the store can do it throw that returned thing out.

One of the worst... when I worked for JCP for several years starting around 2007, some woman brought in this old, bent curtain rod. Thing had obviously been used for a long time the way it was sagging from holding heavy curtains. It probably did not come from JCP and yet they gave her store credit for it.

Imagine just cleaning out grandma's house and expecting a store just to take all her junk and give you money or credit in return. (Is a yard or estate sale too hard?)

Just today, I found where presumably some Walmart employee had put a wooden Snoopy wall plaque on top of my stationary. It was our brand, but we only sell stationary in that store and a little bit of plush around certain holidays... not this thing, and it was clearly old, a bit worn, and no bar code. That place is often returning things and leaving them there for me that I know did not come from that store. I've seen a signed card that got returned and my fellow vendor there (from our competitor) says she sees them too... idiots who take these returns don't even open it... and even some of our Dollar Tree line of cards turned up once (unsigned), returned to Walmart for no doubt a higher price! (And a loss for the store since those can't be sold.) People are such crap.

GoldMutant 03-31-2021 07:35 AM

In New England, I can attest that many customers don't want to pay a lot. From using a lot of coupons to refusing to buy it for a few cents. Don't even get me started on fast food, either!

Retail literally has you bend over and abide by the rules. You screw up, the customer complains and you have to solve it. Fail to do that, and the manager comes out. You look stupid as a result.

I can't count the number of times working in the pharmacy this past year I have had the above happen. Fast food not as much; mostly correcting orders depending on my position. Either the front didn't give it out/bagged incorrectly/input it wrong. Or, the back isn't paying attention.

I seriously can't wait to leave the pharmacy in (hopefully) a year or two's time.

lonewarrior20 03-31-2021 08:44 AM

i work retail at a walmart but it's the produce section. what drives me nuts is when their demanding stuff from our cooler rather than what we have on the floor. we need to get rid of or older merchandise before we can put out new and other than some specific things most stuff on the floor is only a day or two old from when we put it out. the other thing that makes things difficult is we use carts to restock stuff and then we try and stay out of the customers way but when 4 or 5 people with carts are also in the aisle things get jammed. we also have a spot we call the bottleneck that's about 5 feet wide by the bananas and salad wall. they like to park their cart there to pick bananas or salad and block it so the only way around is at the other end of the aisle.

you can't ever seem to talk back to them, they ask for something that's out and you say you'll go check and 2 minutes later when your back with the rpc of stuff, their gone.

one other thing that drives me nuts is the ones that want to tell you their life story when your trying to work. i know they mainly do this because their lonely but when you see the supervisor glaring at "you" because you have to stop and listen because their not stopping and you need to move to another area to keep stocking.

and lets not get started on electric carts.

IndigoErth 03-31-2021 05:29 PM

Ah, yes, the talkers. I've had a guy at my BJ's (Costco competitor) get a bit put off that I didn't want to stop and chat with him. When I was in the middle of a stressful season change over and DO have a time limit I need to try to stick to.

He pretty much started off by asking if a pricey car he parked near was mine (uh, no?), and then insinuated that because the price of greeting cards are kind of expensive (which I will forever agree with) that somehow means that *I* must make a high income. Oh, right, I wish! Doesn't work that way, buddy, it isn't me who gets all that profit from my efforts or make up those prices.

I don't mind those people who chat for just a moment if they're shopping right by me. But this guy, he didn't like that I wasn't dropping everything to give him my attention... :trolleye: It's awkward to have to explain to someone that you're literally working and have to keep at it.

One side of my department in that store also has the narrow aisle issue. It's just barely wide enough for two shopping carts to squeeze past each other, and of course, is the side my seasonal section is on, so I spend lots of time with people making it harder -- fun! The aisle the fixtures create is short though, it won't kill people to go around the other side, but no, some idiots just want to shove their way through and go hitting my stuff and risk damaging it before it ever even gets out.

Had people doing that today at one of my other stores. Setting some of the next setup early, since Easter sold down a lot, and people (those not shopping for cards) just have to choose the aisle where someone is actually working and has all these boxes and whatnot sitting around, instead of an open aisle.


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