On Wednesday night a young couple came in looking to buy a fish tank and had seen one they liked but the price label below it said £12.99. They were really nice and polite and genuinely thought that was the price but I offered to check it for them because I knew it wasn’t. The actual price was £59.99! They didn’t get angry, they just seemed really disappointed. Y’know when your parents say that to you “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” like it’s so much worse? Well, I did feel kinda bad.
However, it turned out the girlfriend is the deputy manager of a jewelers and is a stickler for pricing; get the price of a ring wrong and you could end up losing thousands. So she asked for the address of head office, which I said they could get from customer service, and I also suggested they talk to the manager before they left.
Unlike the guy who was complaining about the price of the canvases, I totally understand where this couple were coming from. The price was wrong, full stop, and although the description on the label didn’t fit the tank, it was above head height so it was hard to read anyway. I was really fortunate that they were so laid back otherwise I would have been on the front line facing a full on customer bitch attack.
So, while the girl went off to customer service I stayed behind with the guy and tried to work out some order with the remaining prices. Over half the fish tanks were incorrectly priced! And I dread to think what the rest of the department was like. I tried not to make excuses and blatantly said that the guy who ran that department was incompetent. I know I shouldn’t say things like that to customers but they both worked in retail so they know what it’s like anyway. It was ages before she returned from customer service and the first thing she said was the behaviour she’d seen from the staff over there was disgusting. Way to rub salt in a wound!
Apparently Scary Mary had been eating behind the desk and swearing loudly and someone else had been drinking a bottle of pop. We were just waiting for the manager to come over when she said to me “Don’t worry, I said you were exceptional” which made me feel slightly better but I still felt ashamed on behalf of the people on customer service.
In the end the manager gave them 20% off the tank and assured them that the guy on that department would be fired, blah blah blah. I was like yeah right, but I’d thought he’d at least get written up for it. All that’s happened is he’s got a bollocking and been told to get the department in order. Big deal, that happens every few months or so and guess who was one of the people who had to pick up the pieces last time. Yeah-me.
a) It shouldn’t be left to get like that, and b) it shouldn’t be other people that have to sort out that department while the guy gets nothing but a slap on the wrist. Discipline is a really big problem in our store. No one is afraid of the consequences if they don’t do any work because there won’t be any.
I really hope that couple do write to head office because the company won’t listen to anyone else.
Something I found funny though was how the people on customer service couldn’t stop going on about how much of a bitch the girl was when I thought they were some of the nicest, understanding customers I’ve ever had. It just shows how some customers can be ordinary nice people in other circumstances but shops seem to bring out the worst in them, it just depends what side you find yourself on.

Tags: rude, anger!, worst, customer, disgusting

I started this blog so that I could rant and rave about customers to my hearts content, but more and more I’m finding myself equally frustrated with other retail workers.
I’ve touched on this before in “Consumer Rage” a while back.
Street sellers especially annoy me. I was stopped a few weeks ago by a woman who was offering £350 worth of hair treatments for £55. I turned it down but she would not take no for an answer. Pay by cheque, she said, put it on your credit card, borrow money from your parents, and then she expected me to write down my card details in the street, not to mention I didn’t have a clue who she was. When I still refused she started calling me crazy. I wish my mouth wouldn’t stop working when I get surprised. She got away unscathed. Then last week I noticed a group of girls trying to sell the same offer and I’m really glad they didn’t stop me. I know I’m supposed to love my fellow retail slave but I think I would have snapped. I guess that’s what’s meant by “going postal”.
I’ve also heard some very dodgy things about Phones 4 U. They’ve never been one to be trusted but they’ve been offering cash in hand to customers to get them to sign up to contracts. Someone was offered £50 out of the salespersons own pocket to get him to sign a contract on the spot (he declined), and a guy from work was persuaded to take out a whole new contract, despite already being on one and only going into the shop to try and get his old phone repaired, with £200 in cash to go and pay off his old contract with. Sound a bit weird to you? Reading on the internet it sounds like a lot of people have had problems with them. Not only does their customer service suck but they downright lie to get you to sign up. That must be what commission does to you. Why do companies still pay commission?
This really gets to me because when I go shopping I want to be treated the same as how I treat my customers (which is good, by the way) and I hate to see people getting paid the same as me and getting away with a lot more shit than I do. It’s also because salespeople and companies like the aforementioned are the reason why customers are so distrustful of the rest of us. Even if I just try and recommend a product that’s better suited to the customer than what they’re looking for, some will immediately dismiss it because they think I’m trying to get more money out of them. They’re even suspicious of why we don’t offer a full parking refund over 60p. One lady said to me “It’s very interesting that Asda refund the whole amount whereas you only refund up to 60p. Very interesting.” Jesus Christ woman! Asda is owned by one of the biggest, multinational companies in the world, that’s how they can afford to offer you a full refund. What is interesting is that you expect to come into town and not have to pay for your own parking!
Ahh...I’m back to customer hating again.

Tags: annoying, companies, rude

Carolanne, of Retail Hell Underground, posted about something which I, fortunately, haven’t have much experience of: Sleazy-ass dirty customers! Although I haven’t had any really bad, pervy customers, I do have to work with a couple of sleazy-ass dirty male colleagues.
One is just plain creepy. I think everyone finds him creepy, male or female. I just don’t think he’s very “socially well-adjusted”, rather than sleazy. He doesn’t know the right things to say to people, or maybe he just has the weirdest sense of humour of anyone I’ve ever come across. He says the strangest things sometimes. But there’s quite a few disturbing rumours floating round about him, which I don’t thoroughly believe, and everyone jokes about going round to his house. I do my best to avoid him, because he does freak me out a bit, and just incase he is some sex predator. Not that I’m suggesting he is, but just in case.
The other sleazy colleague always tries to joke about going out for a drink.....constantly. There’s stuff floating round about him too but he’s not half as creepy as the other guy.

As for pervy customers, the only one I can remember is an old man who told me I had a dusty arse, but that was it. Hardly a sleazy-ass dirty stalker shopper.
The fact is I always have a dusty arse because I find excuses to sit on the floor so I'm not on my feet all day. Half the staff have told me and I'm past the point of caring.
There is a much worse example of a pervy customer in Carolanne’s post. Yuk!
Y’know that game: Fuck, Marry, Kill? There should be one to categorise the disgustingness of sleazy-ass dirty customers, ie. Shiver, Puke, Die.
Shiver - I wish I hadn’t heard that; Puke - nauseas and possibly mentally scarred; Die - kill me now!.
Mine only reach Shiver, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Tags: customers, worst, rude, disgusting

I think customers behaviour can be likened to road rage. Being in a shop has the same effect on some people as being in a car and can cause them to stop thinking rationally and forget that they’re actually talking to other human beings. Nothing else matters but themselves and their money and they will curse, shout and threaten until they get what they want. I’m going to call it consumer rage.
The worst thing is though, I could become a perpetrator of it myself if pushed. Usually if service is a bit slow and I can see the cashier is struggling, I’l say to them it’s fine, don’t worry about it, but I have got a bit angry sometimes when there’s absolutely no excuse for crappy service. I was in Matalan a few months ago and it took 15 minutes for me to get served with 2 tills open and only 3 people in front of me. There was absolutely no reason for it except that the woman on one till was so ancient she should have retired 30 years ago (ok, not her fault but she shouldn’t be working at all) and if the guy on the other till walked any slower he’d be going backwards. Currys is also really bad for crappy customer service. I’d get written up if I did some of the stuff that’s happened to me there.
But to be honest, if you can get away with it, why not. I don’t blame them for trying to do the least amount of work possible. The pay only covers getting out of bed, anything else you do is extra. Minimum wage = minimum effort.

Tags: rude, worst

To tie in with the entry about customers who don’t believe a word you say, I’ll tell you about this awful woman I had a few months ago. I don’t think it would have mattered what I said to her, she was angry and I just happened to be the first person she spoke to.
She’d come in looking for A4 wiro sketchbooks saying we hadn’t had any in for weeks. I explained to her that it was exam time and all the kids needed them so they were selling out probably within the day. I didn’t get a chance to say anything else to her because she lauched into this tirade about how I was fobbing her off with excuses, that I didn’t know anything and I was being dishonest. Even as she walked away she continued to shout abuse over her shoulder. There was no “Can I speak to your manager?” or “Can you have a look if there’s any in the back for me?”, she was just another hillbilly with knife skills who wanted any excuse to shout at someone to make her feel better. I was completely dumbstruck. I know the sketchbooks were getting restocked regularly because we have a delivery of them every week, but she’d obviously been unlucky and just come in at the wrong time….every time. I went to look for her later, only to tell her she’d never get a sketchbook from this store again, but she’d already gone. I’d never seen her before and I’v never seen her since, which is a little bittersweet because I was so disappointed in myself for not speaking up the first time that I looked out for her for a few weeks after just so I could make her grovel for a sketchbook. I’v never got my revenge >:o(

Tags: customer, rude, revenge