And thento complain about the delay at customer services getting their refund when ultimately they have wasted their own time buying the items they don't need in the first place! :eek:
Are they shopaholics and buy stuff that they don't actually need?
A lot of customers who come through my checkout often say to me: "I only come in for some milk/bread/coffee..." and they buy another £20 's worth of goods. No wonder this economy is in the s**t with such weak willed people around. :rolleyes:
The thing that p***es me off at the moment are customers that don't say anything at all when you serve them. Had 3 or 4 of them like this on Saturday. No greeting, no thank you...nothing. I do wonder how on Earth they function in the wider society with other people. :rolleyes:
That bugs me too, and the same thought goes through my head with these people.
There's also a checkout lady in Wilkinson's who is exactly like this, although she does actually open her mouth to mutter how much the bill comes to, but apart from that, no smile, no greeting, thank you, goodbye, nothing from her. Miserable cow. Now when I get to the checkout, I avoid hers and will go to any other one, even if I have to wait a bit longer.
Really had to bite my tongue the other day. A person comes in (woman 40ish) and I am busy. She goes up and takes an Item from the window display and asks how much it is. I said sorry but the items in the windo are not for sale at the moment.
She replies that its stupid and rants on about how I should put a sign up ra ra ra its not right.
I was so tempted to point out that to get to the item in the window she had moved a sign saying "PLEASE DON'T TAKE ITEMS FROM THE WINDOW":mad: so what bloody use would another sign be?
That bugs me too, and the same thought goes through my head with these people.
There's also a checkout lady in Wilkinson's who is exactly like this, although she does actually open her mouth to mutter how much the bill comes to, but apart from that, no smile, no greeting, thank you, goodbye, nothing from her. Miserable cow. Now when I get to the checkout, I avoid hers and will go to any other one, even if I have to wait a bit longer.
Now that would be a personal challenge to me, big smile....every single bloody time!!
There's also a checkout lady in Wilkinson's who is exactly like this, although she does actually open her mouth to mutter how much the bill comes to, but apart from that, no smile, no greeting, thank you, goodbye, nothing from her. Miserable cow. Now when I get to the checkout, I avoid hers and will go to any other one, even if I have to wait a bit longer.
The staff in the Wilkinson's local to me are always really good, but I was once served in a different branch by the worst ever. Bear in mind, having worked in retail myself, I always make an effort Hello, thankyou, etc... this guy uttered not a single word.. not even to confirm the total price, no thank you / goodbye . Nothing.
Woman in the charity shop came up to the counter asking to try on six items-the policy is a maximum of four at a time,explained this to the customer and said she could leave two behind the counter whilst she tried on the other four so she gave me two to put aside. Came back ten minutes later,dumped all four,seperated from the hangers,on the counter,said she wasn't taking any of them and no longer wanted to try on the other two and left. Only one of the hangers still had the size cube on it as she'd dropped the other three cubes in the fitting room,and two of the items she'd ripped the price tag off so I had to send them back up to the prep room to be retagged before they could go back on show. She was just a complete and utter time waster.
I have to confess on the rare occasions I had to take my children shopping when they were under three I always let them pick something to snack on round the store... crisps, raisins etc that came as a multipack... I always paid though... once my youngest chose grapes as his treat I stood there like an idiot wondering how that was going to work... an assistant stacking nearby recommended paying first at the cigarette counter with a barely repressed smirk at my baffled expression. :o:o
This thread has got to be the best one on DS.
Ive read every single page, yup right from the beginning and its really helped me in between slow times at work haha!!
I worked in retail when i was 16, lasted a year and promised myself i would never go back... I have ended up in customer service on the phones which is practically the same thing. doh.
I worked for one of the big four, and there are many many stories i remember. The first being the time i had a complaint put in about me, which resulted in me nearly getting a disciplinary!
I worked "part time", so was contracted to 13 hours, but definitely worked a lot more towards 30.
One night, about 8 o'clock, i'm sat on my checkout and the store is really quiet. A middle aged woman, dressed up like she's very high up in an office somewhere, comes to my till and she is on the phone.
Me "Evening!"
Lady *shoots an evil stare at me and carries on talking*
So i roll my eyes and ignore her, put her pint of milk through and wait for her to give me the money. I give her the receipt and start to tidy up my station. Lady shoots another evil stare and marches off, i don't give it another thought.
About 10 minutes later, one of the team leaders comes over and takes me off the till to have a word with me. She asked me if i remembered a lady who came through my till dressed in a smart skirt/shirt, i said of course and asked why. I was told that she had gone to customer services and made a complaint about my attitude (fair enough - when people are rude to me i turn into a silent petulant teen, and still do now) and the fact that she wasn't given any help with her packing. I laughed and told my team leader she only had a pint off milk, which in my eyes doesn't need a bag and certainly doesn't need someone else to pack it for you!! Team leader wasn't happy and says i should offer it to everyone no matter what. She said this time she wont discipline me but next time she would....? I still don't understand this logic a good few years on!
A major thing about working in a supermarket is the lack of help the managers give their staff. I remember all ours did was go out every weekend and sleep with each other, and then if the shop ever got busy they would run around and not know what to do.
I know people keep popping into this thread to have a go at all the workers here, but they really have to understand that for every nice person you meet/talk to in work, there are a fair few others who cloud the niceness.
The nicest people i have ever met? Working in the supermarket, i wasn't very well but as it was busy i was asked to stay instead of going home. So there i am, feeling like death when my next customers come through. Lovely old couple. The old guy took one look at me and started laughing and said "poor duck you hungover are ya!?" (it was a Saturday) I told him no, i was only 16 and didn't have any fake id and i wasn't feeling too well. He found this really funny so i found it easier to talk to them. The old dear starts going on about how i need to get some orange juice to make me feel better and to get some on my break and bring it down. I told her we weren't allowed drinks down on the shop floor without a receipt in case they think we have stolen them. She was really shocked at this. I finished helping them pack, they paid, told me to get well soon and i carried on with the next person. About 5 minutes later, the little old dear was back, she had been to the kiosk, brought me a bottle of OJ and handed it to me with the receipt. I could of cried. 8 years on i still remember that lovely couple
A major thing about working in a supermarket is the lack of help the managers give their staff. I remember all ours did was go out every weekend and sleep with each other, and then if the shop ever got busy they would run around and not know what to do.
I'm glad i'm not the only one to have seen that happen. happened at all 3 McDonalds I was at in my younger days. You could tell when they had a bad night as they were always arguing and bickering. Thankfully karma came back on one of them. She was sacked for a racist comment. I know its bad of me but i just threw back my back and laughed when I heard. She managed to avoid the consequences all the complaints I made about her and ended up messing up herself. Brilliant!
I wish customers would stop buying things for a small amount and then paying with large notes. We were completely running out of change tonight and we don't get more until Friday.
Had my first total b*tch of a customer today. She asked for me a bag and I was just finishing scanning something and she barked at me 'hello!, I asked for a bag' rude cow and to top it off she came without any money so the trolley full of shopping had to go back.
I really don't know why I bother in my job sometimes...
The shop I work in is probably 70 percent own brand products and any questions we are asked about them can be quite easily resolved by one of us in store ringing our customer service helpline.
However on the products that aren't made by us the only thing we can do is look for a phone number on the box and ring that or advise the customer to do this themselves.
Anyway today a lady came to the till with a packet of crackers not made by us and as she was paying she told me the crackers had seemed harder lately and had they changed the recipe. I replied politely that I wasn't aware they had but she could contact the makers and they could give her an answer. She then snapped back ''I know I can do that, I was just asking if anyone else had commented the same'' . In fact she hadn't asked that, just if the recipe had changed. I then answered that no-one had said the same and she gave me a dirty look and walked off shaking her head.
I'm getting close to not bothering giving advice to customers anymore as they are never satisfied with any answer.
This reminds me, I had a customer return once, with a half eaten chocolate bar, saying it tasted 'funny' and asking for a refund. Carried out the refund, even thought it was a fair bit of paper work for what would have been a 30p chocolate bar at the time. Sure enough, on later inspection, the wrapper had a 'new and improved' flash on it - I presume on subsequent purchases, that she eventually got that the recipe had changed!
Seen this in the Daily mail website today - reminded me of this thread (or rather, some of the customers you have to put up with! I have every sympathy, I worked in retail for years and nothing would persuade me to go back).
One night, about 8 o'clock, i'm sat on my checkout and the store is really quiet. A middle aged woman, dressed up like she's very high up in an office somewhere, comes to my till and she is on the phone.
Lady *shoots an evil stare at me and carries on talking*
So i roll my eyes and ignore her, put her pint of milk through and wait for her to give me the money. I give her the receipt and start to tidy up my station. Lady shoots another evil stare and marches off, i don't give it another thought.
About 10 minutes later, one of the team leaders comes over and takes me off the till to have a word with me.
I was told that she had gone to customer services and made a complaint about my attitude
I laughed and told my team leader she only had a pint off milk, which in my eyes doesn't need a bag and certainly doesn't need someone else to pack it for you!!
Team leader wasn't happy and says i should offer it to everyone no matter what. She said this time she wont discipline me but next time she would
Something similar happened to me, last year, customer on phone, so I ask if they have any bags
To which up goes the hand, excuse me !, Im on the phone, I continue to pack, and total her shopping, now there other customers waiting, so I tell her, thats £34, and again she puts her hand up, do you mind:mad:, I talking to someone, to which I reply, there other customers waiting
she pays, but is annoyed at me interupting her call, and makes a complaint, now no way was I facing disceplinery, if I was I would challenge it, and that usualy does the trick
This would be my advice to anyone in retail if they're given a warning about something trivial. I was given a warning about till shorts once, which managers are supposed to do, based on the company guidelines of these things; but it's a bit unreasonable if said manager and others use your till while you're on breaks, because they can't be bothered to do a count. No way I be reasonable unless that till is solely operated by me.
As it stands, legislation goes in favour of the employee and while employers will try to intimidate you, the last thing they need is a the hassle and expense of a tribunal.
I was given a warning about till shorts once, which managers are supposed to do,
others use your till while you're on breaks,
Have had this plent of time, my till is short of £100, £150, and the biggest amount my till was short....£270
Usual thing are done, questions, did you give the correct change, cash back, did you count you change..float
I used to go through all of this, but was getting fed up, that it looks like the blame was on me, so I took a stand last year, I'll answer the question, but at the end of the day, I want to know if you have found the missing £200
So now if my till they dont ask me, as I have stated if you have prooof I took the money then prove it, alos pointed out, why would I take money out the till, I need this job, and wont do anything to risk it, including theft
Customers who are aggresive to colleagues, has become a lot more common in my shop over the last couple of weeks.
Colleague got shouted at and prodded in the chest by some woman who said he was scanning too fast on the tills.
Also colleague was abused on self scan by a madman, who said the self scan till had stolen his money and hadnt given him change, screaming and shouting at my colleague, and threw his hot chicken at her that he had brought off the Food to Go Counter.
Complete nutter he was.
Off course management and security did nothing as usaul, weak as water the lot of them.
I was insulted once by a customer, I have red cheeks. And I have always hated this. The customer shouted at me what the F***s that on your face. I now wear foundation to cover it up everyday without fail.
Once I was apologising to a customer who I had asked not to sit on our display table. She spouted off that I was rude blah blah blah. I said I was sorry if I gave that impression blah blah blah.
She said that I was insincere in my apologies. She knew I was insincere as I had "Dead eyes".
Nice.
I was getting a cold but sometimes you feel worse when you just wake up and today is my day off so I thought give it a go.
My first customer asked me to reach an item which I was perfectly fine with.
As I am up the stepladders a woman with her push chair wanted to come in the front door her push chair wouldn't fit so she tried to open the second door which had a lock on it.
Clearly I am up a ladder and serving someone so I call over "if you give me a moment I will unlock it for you". This aparrently was not good enough and she proceeded to try to ram the bloody thing off its hinges I called over again yet she stll kept yanking at the door.
During this a lady comes to the till and wishes to pay I say i'll just be a moment I am dealing with this customer (again not good enough as her complaining showed me)
I finally get to the door and I explain again the door has a lock I will open it for you now. She continued to smack and push the door as I was unlocking it.
Now I thought maybe she doesn't have very good English which would explain everything.
Well her next few sentances showed me that wasn't true! I asked her if she heared me call over she said she did but it wasn't good enough. How I was in the wrong and useless all the usual insults So presumably this makes it fine to nearly rip the door off its hinges.
So the woman who wishes to pay is still at the counter and grumbling under her breath when I get there.
Then I ask her if she wants a bag informing her they are 5p each.
She just went off on one. I am wrong aparrently it shouldn't be allowed. how shes worked in shops and they never charged and why did I (meaning me) come up with this Ideaand how can they let me do it and i should be fired for it!
Yes dear they should fire me for doing what I'm told.
All the time, customers just dont trust us and think we are lying, and thatif they ask another colleaguegthey will magically make an item appear out of thin air.
I was in sains last week, asked if they had the brand of lime pickle I like - she said no, sains don't stock that one and never have done.... She was wrong as we normally get it from another branch, but she was adamant they never did it...
I was in sains last week, asked if they had the brand of lime pickle I like - she said no, sains don't stock that one and never have done.... She was wrong as we normally get it from another branch, but she was adamant they never did it...
Maybe that particular store didn't sell it? Personaly I would have double checked for you anyway because I have worked in places that have neglected to tell the staff when they have discontinued or started stocking a new item.
I was stood at the counter the other day (i work in a charity shop) and the woman came up to me and said "go and get me this in a smaller size".
I guess she did not understand how a charity shop works.
Some funny woman came up to me the other day and just said
"one item is fragile"
I was completly baffled and said "i'm sorry can I help?"
her reply was and she shouted it
"DON'T YOU WANT MY DONATIONS THEN? I CAN TAKE THEM SOMEWHERE ELSE THATS MORE GRATEFUL FOR MY HELP" then she huffed and puffed and glared at me.
You would have thought I told her to eff off the way she reacted.
Comments
And thento complain about the delay at customer services getting their refund when ultimately they have wasted their own time buying the items they don't need in the first place! :eek:
Are they shopaholics and buy stuff that they don't actually need?
A lot of customers who come through my checkout often say to me: "I only come in for some milk/bread/coffee..." and they buy another £20 's worth of goods. No wonder this economy is in the s**t with such weak willed people around. :rolleyes:
That bugs me too, and the same thought goes through my head with these people.
There's also a checkout lady in Wilkinson's who is exactly like this, although she does actually open her mouth to mutter how much the bill comes to, but apart from that, no smile, no greeting, thank you, goodbye, nothing from her. Miserable cow. Now when I get to the checkout, I avoid hers and will go to any other one, even if I have to wait a bit longer.
She replies that its stupid and rants on about how I should put a sign up ra ra ra its not right.
I was so tempted to point out that to get to the item in the window she had moved a sign saying "PLEASE DON'T TAKE ITEMS FROM THE WINDOW":mad: so what bloody use would another sign be?
Now that would be a personal challenge to me, big smile....every single bloody time!!
I've tried it on a few occasions, but she's really not worth it. There's only so much misery I can put up with
The staff in the Wilkinson's local to me are always really good, but I was once served in a different branch by the worst ever. Bear in mind, having worked in retail myself, I always make an effort Hello, thankyou, etc... this guy uttered not a single word.. not even to confirm the total price, no thank you / goodbye . Nothing.
Ive read every single page, yup right from the beginning and its really helped me in between slow times at work haha!!
I worked in retail when i was 16, lasted a year and promised myself i would never go back... I have ended up in customer service on the phones which is practically the same thing. doh.
I worked for one of the big four, and there are many many stories i remember. The first being the time i had a complaint put in about me, which resulted in me nearly getting a disciplinary!
I worked "part time", so was contracted to 13 hours, but definitely worked a lot more towards 30.
One night, about 8 o'clock, i'm sat on my checkout and the store is really quiet. A middle aged woman, dressed up like she's very high up in an office somewhere, comes to my till and she is on the phone.
Me "Evening!"
Lady *shoots an evil stare at me and carries on talking*
So i roll my eyes and ignore her, put her pint of milk through and wait for her to give me the money. I give her the receipt and start to tidy up my station. Lady shoots another evil stare and marches off, i don't give it another thought.
About 10 minutes later, one of the team leaders comes over and takes me off the till to have a word with me. She asked me if i remembered a lady who came through my till dressed in a smart skirt/shirt, i said of course and asked why. I was told that she had gone to customer services and made a complaint about my attitude (fair enough - when people are rude to me i turn into a silent petulant teen, and still do now) and the fact that she wasn't given any help with her packing. I laughed and told my team leader she only had a pint off milk, which in my eyes doesn't need a bag and certainly doesn't need someone else to pack it for you!! Team leader wasn't happy and says i should offer it to everyone no matter what. She said this time she wont discipline me but next time she would....? I still don't understand this logic a good few years on!
A major thing about working in a supermarket is the lack of help the managers give their staff. I remember all ours did was go out every weekend and sleep with each other, and then if the shop ever got busy they would run around and not know what to do.
I know people keep popping into this thread to have a go at all the workers here, but they really have to understand that for every nice person you meet/talk to in work, there are a fair few others who cloud the niceness.
The nicest people i have ever met? Working in the supermarket, i wasn't very well but as it was busy i was asked to stay instead of going home. So there i am, feeling like death when my next customers come through. Lovely old couple. The old guy took one look at me and started laughing and said "poor duck you hungover are ya!?" (it was a Saturday) I told him no, i was only 16 and didn't have any fake id and i wasn't feeling too well. He found this really funny so i found it easier to talk to them. The old dear starts going on about how i need to get some orange juice to make me feel better and to get some on my break and bring it down. I told her we weren't allowed drinks down on the shop floor without a receipt in case they think we have stolen them. She was really shocked at this. I finished helping them pack, they paid, told me to get well soon and i carried on with the next person. About 5 minutes later, the little old dear was back, she had been to the kiosk, brought me a bottle of OJ and handed it to me with the receipt. I could of cried. 8 years on i still remember that lovely couple
I'm glad i'm not the only one to have seen that happen. happened at all 3 McDonalds I was at in my younger days. You could tell when they had a bad night as they were always arguing and bickering. Thankfully karma came back on one of them. She was sacked for a racist comment. I know its bad of me but i just threw back my back and laughed when I heard. She managed to avoid the consequences all the complaints I made about her and ended up messing up herself. Brilliant!
The shop I work in is probably 70 percent own brand products and any questions we are asked about them can be quite easily resolved by one of us in store ringing our customer service helpline.
However on the products that aren't made by us the only thing we can do is look for a phone number on the box and ring that or advise the customer to do this themselves.
Anyway today a lady came to the till with a packet of crackers not made by us and as she was paying she told me the crackers had seemed harder lately and had they changed the recipe. I replied politely that I wasn't aware they had but she could contact the makers and they could give her an answer. She then snapped back ''I know I can do that, I was just asking if anyone else had commented the same'' . In fact she hadn't asked that, just if the recipe had changed. I then answered that no-one had said the same and she gave me a dirty look and walked off shaking her head.
I'm getting close to not bothering giving advice to customers anymore as they are never satisfied with any answer.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2095049/Why-robotic-shop-assistants-need-wiring.html
Something similar happened to me, last year, customer on phone, so I ask if they have any bags
To which up goes the hand, excuse me !, Im on the phone, I continue to pack, and total her shopping, now there other customers waiting, so I tell her, thats £34, and again she puts her hand up, do you mind:mad:, I talking to someone, to which I reply, there other customers waiting
she pays, but is annoyed at me interupting her call, and makes a complaint, now no way was I facing disceplinery, if I was I would challenge it, and that usualy does the trick
As it stands, legislation goes in favour of the employee and while employers will try to intimidate you, the last thing they need is a the hassle and expense of a tribunal.
Have had this plent of time, my till is short of £100, £150, and the biggest amount my till was short....£270
Usual thing are done, questions, did you give the correct change, cash back, did you count you change..float
I used to go through all of this, but was getting fed up, that it looks like the blame was on me, so I took a stand last year, I'll answer the question, but at the end of the day, I want to know if you have found the missing £200
So now if my till they dont ask me, as I have stated if you have prooof I took the money then prove it, alos pointed out, why would I take money out the till, I need this job, and wont do anything to risk it, including theft
Colleague got shouted at and prodded in the chest by some woman who said he was scanning too fast on the tills.
Also colleague was abused on self scan by a madman, who said the self scan till had stolen his money and hadnt given him change, screaming and shouting at my colleague, and threw his hot chicken at her that he had brought off the Food to Go Counter.
Complete nutter he was.
Off course management and security did nothing as usaul, weak as water the lot of them.
Once I was apologising to a customer who I had asked not to sit on our display table. She spouted off that I was rude blah blah blah. I said I was sorry if I gave that impression blah blah blah.
She said that I was insincere in my apologies. She knew I was insincere as I had "Dead eyes".
Nice.
I was getting a cold but sometimes you feel worse when you just wake up and today is my day off so I thought give it a go.
My first customer asked me to reach an item which I was perfectly fine with.
As I am up the stepladders a woman with her push chair wanted to come in the front door her push chair wouldn't fit so she tried to open the second door which had a lock on it.
Clearly I am up a ladder and serving someone so I call over "if you give me a moment I will unlock it for you". This aparrently was not good enough and she proceeded to try to ram the bloody thing off its hinges I called over again yet she stll kept yanking at the door.
During this a lady comes to the till and wishes to pay I say i'll just be a moment I am dealing with this customer (again not good enough as her complaining showed me)
I finally get to the door and I explain again the door has a lock I will open it for you now. She continued to smack and push the door as I was unlocking it.
Now I thought maybe she doesn't have very good English which would explain everything.
Well her next few sentances showed me that wasn't true! I asked her if she heared me call over she said she did but it wasn't good enough. How I was in the wrong and useless all the usual insults So presumably this makes it fine to nearly rip the door off its hinges.
So the woman who wishes to pay is still at the counter and grumbling under her breath when I get there.
Then I ask her if she wants a bag informing her they are 5p each.
She just went off on one. I am wrong aparrently it shouldn't be allowed. how shes worked in shops and they never charged and why did I (meaning me) come up with this Idea
Yes dear they should fire me for doing what I'm told.
Ok rant over.:)
I was in sains last week, asked if they had the brand of lime pickle I like - she said no, sains don't stock that one and never have done.... She was wrong as we normally get it from another branch, but she was adamant they never did it...
Maybe that particular store didn't sell it? Personaly I would have double checked for you anyway because I have worked in places that have neglected to tell the staff when they have discontinued or started stocking a new item.
I was stood at the counter the other day (i work in a charity shop) and the woman came up to me and said "go and get me this in a smaller size".
I guess she did not understand how a charity shop works.
Some funny woman came up to me the other day and just said
"one item is fragile"
I was completly baffled and said "i'm sorry can I help?"
her reply was and she shouted it
"DON'T YOU WANT MY DONATIONS THEN? I CAN TAKE THEM SOMEWHERE ELSE THATS MORE GRATEFUL FOR MY HELP" then she huffed and puffed and glared at me.
You would have thought I told her to eff off the way she reacted.