Retail Workers! What are your customer pet peeves?

[Commander Shep-herd 64]

What do some customers do that really grind your gears? I particularly hate slow customers, as in slow packers. I work on checkouts and I usually finish scanning their shopping and wait for what feels like a while for them to pack. I understand that if they're old, they're probably not going to be as quick, but I've seen younger people who are slow and older people who are quick at packing. Another thing is when something is waiting in line at the till between two customers with huge shops with just one item. It's like that's what the self checkouts are for. Finally, where I work, we have vouchers and sometimes they come in books for the customers to rip out at home and show the relevant voucher for me to scan. Sometimes though, someone will come with the whole damn book and be like 'see if any of them work'. So I have to check through the book, seeing which one's will work and ripping out the ones that do, while there are customers waiting in line to be served. There should be rules put in place for customers to abide by, honestly. Right, rant over.

 

Vent below, o fellow workers of mine!

[NamelessHorse 59]

I used to work retail, hated every minute of it. I couldn't name just one thing.

 

Customers who can't read price tags, especially when a multiple quantity price was lower than a single price.

Customers who don't understand I can't just trade an item when they need to return.

Customers who don't understand common courteousy or manners.

I hate working Sundays the most. Every was fresh from Church, having been forgiven by the Jesus for being assholes the previous week,so they can go forth and be assholes anew.

Then there are the customers who get pissed off because there is no help in the store, which is a legitimate complaint in itself, but they think bitching at the minimum wage cashier will fix everything.

 

I do plant work (manufacturing), which has its own problems, but I still like it better, usually.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Marble Didymus

[Ziltoid the Omniscient 286]

When people go back to shop while you're partway through checking them out and have a line behind them. Which in turn holds up the line,

 

The people that don't take tax into account.

 

The people who try to sweet-talk a fake sale price and then try to start an argument over it in hopes they're shitty attitude gets them discounted

 

Line-cutters.

 

People that ask to go 'check in the back' 

 

The 'It doesn't scan so that means it's free' line

 

The 'Amount OK? If I press No. It means it's free, right?' line

 

When co-workers don't cooperate and leave you to do most if not all of the extra work other than being a cashier.

 

Obvious shoplifters

 

The 'samplers' (People who open stuff before buying it)

[Shanks 10,816]

Idiot parents: simply put parents who don't watch their kids, I bring a lot of stuff in and out of the backroom everyday and there have been a lot of times where I have nearly run over a kid because their parents didn't watch them closely enough. Many of these parents don't even watch their kids in the damn parking lot and let them wander in front of cars trying to back out which with equally stupid drivers makes it that much worse.

 

Overly critical customers: most customers I have interacted with don't fit this category but every now and then I run into one that will tear me apart for even the slightest mistake. I had this one customer who had a bunch of coupons which he apparently didn't bother to tell me about until after I already put his order through yet I was apparently the one at fault. The coupons were nowhere to be found until he pulled them out and told me about them after the fact. There was another customer that threatened to call the health department if I didn't check every single egg carton on the shelf because he found a contained that had a cracked egg. The jackass then yelled at me again (he said "do it now!) when I went to go get a shopping cart to put any said broken egg containers in should I find them. A decrepit old hag told me that I needed to count the change back to customers which I do most of the time and offered to show me how if I didn't know how as if I were some drooling idiot.

 

People that ask for something and then dissappear: seriously if you want me to get something from the back is it that hard to wait for maybe a minute or so? I have a of responsibilities and tasks on a daily basis I am a backup checker (which sure as hell wasn't my idea) in addition to being a dairy clerk and I don't want to waste my time trying to find something only to have the customer that asked for it to be gone.

 

The people who try to sweet-talk a fake sale price and then try to start an argument over it in hopes they're shitty attitude gets them discounted

Those people aren't even worth arguing with so I just say to "hell with it" and give them what they want so they will get the hell out and I can keep the line moving.

[NamelessHorse 59]

Customers who get mad at being carded.

Customers who think they're the only person I ever ring up.

People who think they get a discount because they spent so much.

People who get nasty because I asked them to repeat themselves.

 

Don't miss retail. At all.

[Cirrus. 1,089]

I work at a hardware store and know a lot about electrical (not as much as a certified electrician) and do a lot of other stuff there so the good thing I don't have to deal with the registers (besides technical issues). I've been there a while so I've gotten pretty good at shutting "problem customers" down "politely" when they start their B.S.

 

 

I ONLY help people with stuff I am 100% sure on. Otherwise I recommend they consult an electrician.

 

Things that customers do that irk me:

• They want a cord with A PLUG (PRONGED END) ON EACH SIDE so they can power their backwards Christmas lights because they are too lazy to re-hang them the right way. The other reason why they want one sometimes is to back-feed their house from a generator THROUGH A WALL OUTLET. The kicker is when they say, "I know I bought one here last year" (Fact is they never bought one anywhere EVER.)
• Sometimes I help customers with 3-way switches (a light controlled by two switches, as in a stairwell) or GFCI outlets (outlets with the two little buttons, commonly in bathrooms.) Those are the two most common things people need help with BECAUSE they aren't that simple to figure out. When I explain it in the simplest way I can- they still think it's too complicated and get mad and sometimes argue about it. Sometimes they go ask the manager and he tells them basically the same thing. Then they usually leave even more mad.

 

So mainly the thing that sucks with retail (in my case) is when you help someone with the simplest solution you can come up with and they still don't like it and argue.

Edited January 4, 2015 by steve88

[Ziltoid the Omniscient 286]

People that dont pay attention to when only certain items are on sale, or that dont read the part about looking for like blue dots and stuff like that.

 

People who let their kids trash the toy aisle (also, parents themselves who trash the toy aisle)

 

People with a full shopping who cant find one thing, and then decide to buy nothing and just abandon their stuff

 

People who forgot their money.

 

When people get mad for getting carded. Or that get mad when I dont sell them cigs/alcohol without a card.

Idiot parents: simply put parents who don't watch their kids, I bring a lot of stuff in and out of the backroom everyday and there have been a lot of times where I have nearly run over a kid because their parents didn't watch them closely enough. Many of these parents don't even watch their kids in the damn parking lot and let them wander in front of cars trying to back out which with equally stupid drivers makes it that much worse.

 

Overly critical customers: most customers I have interacted with don't fit this category but every now and then I run into one that will tear me apart for even the slightest mistake. I had this one customer who had a bunch of coupons which he apparently didn't bother to tell me about until after I already put his order through yet I was apparently the one at fault. The coupons were nowhere to be found until he pulled them out and told me about them after the fact. There was another customer that threatened to call the health department if I didn't check every single egg carton on the shelf because he found a contained that had a cracked egg. The jackass then yelled at me again (he said "do it now!) when I went to go get a shopping cart to put any said broken egg containers in should I find them. A decrepit old hag told me that I needed to count the change back to customers which I do most of the time and offered to show me how if I didn't know how as if I were some drooling idiot.

 

People that ask for something and then dissappear: seriously if you want me to get something from the back is it that hard to wait for maybe a minute or so? I have a of responsibilities and tasks on a daily basis I am a backup checker (which sure as hell wasn't my idea) in addition to being a dairy clerk and I don't want to waste my time trying to find something only to have the customer that asked for it to be gone.

 

Those people aren't even worth arguing with so I just say to "hell with it" and give them what they want so they will get the hell out and I can keep the line moving.

 

Oh, I don't argue with them. I have people to do that for me. If worse comes to it, and if it gets far enough i'm not hesitant to call the cops on an unruly customer to have them escorted off the premises.

[Thuja 3,659]

It wasn't the customers that annoyed me the most, it was the front manager that did.  I was the quickest at checking people out especially when we were busy, I would scan their items, get their money and they would go.  The front manager kept telling me to slow down and talk to the customers more since it was more, "customer friendly," and somehow it was good for business to go slower.  People tended to prefer whatever register I was working at because I was fast and didn't talk their head off.  I always tried to think of it like this: I don't want to stand around all day waiting in line to go home, I just want to get my stuff and go.  

 

Though there was this one time I was packing this guy's groceries, I thought I was doing a good job and then he starts complaining.  For starters, at that job, we weren't even allowed to pack people's items for them, they were supposed to do it themselves.  Secondly, I can't read minds, how am I supposed to know what you want if you say nothing about it?!  I don't miss that job all that much.

[NamelessHorse 59]

 I always tried to think of it like this: I don't want to stand around all day waiting in line to go home, I just want to get my stuff and go. 

 

This. Seriously. People can wander around the store for hours, but as soon as it is time to check out, they want it done as fast as possible, and a lot of managers don't understand that.

 

Another pet peeve is that they liked us to refer to someone by their last name if we caught it on their card/check. I wouldn't do it, and I hate it when it is done to me.

 

 

Speaking of checks, I hate them. Especially when the damn machines won't read them.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Marble Didymus

[Shanks 10,816]

It wasn't the customers that annoyed me the most, it was the front manager that did.  I was the quickest at checking people out especially when we were busy

I know when I check out I decide which line to wait in I consider many factors such as how many customers are in each line, how many items they have and if anyone is paying with something that might take a while to process like a check or a WIC check (those things are ridiculously complicated) and of course how fast the cashier in question is. I wish I was faster as it is my least favorite part of my job and is the part of my job and is actually the hardest on my bad knee (it is one of the many reasons why I am trying to become a Receiver).

[Ziltoid the Omniscient 286]

It wasn't the customers that annoyed me the most, it was the front manager that did.  I was the quickest at checking people out especially when we were busy, I would scan their items, get their money and they would go.  The front manager kept telling me to slow down and talk to the customers more since it was more, "customer friendly," and somehow it was good for business to go slower.  People tended to prefer whatever register I was working at because I was fast and didn't talk their head off.  I always tried to think of it like this: I don't want to stand around all day waiting in line to go home, I just want to get my stuff and go.  

 

Though there was this one time I was packing this guy's groceries, I thought I was doing a good job and then he starts complaining.  For starters, at that job, we weren't even allowed to pack people's items for them, they were supposed to do it themselves.  Secondly, I can't read minds, how am I supposed to know what you want if you say nothing about it?!  I don't miss that job all that much.

That's like...the opposite of the store I work at. We're required to be more 'customer friendly' yet not dawdle with checking them out. (If there's a line and all) And we bag their items, even help them out to their cars if they request it. Here, It's good for business to go at a steady pace, to make the customer feel 'welcome', and stuff.

[Eternal Night 61]

A lot of mine were already listed here so I'll put a few that I either didn't see or would agitate me to no end. 

 

People not understanding how price checking works: i can't tell you how many customers I've gotten that would try and price match without bringing in the advertisement or pulling up the webpage on their phone as proof and expecting me to just take their word for it then get mad about me refusing to price match. 

 

People thinking price matching means that I can accept a gift card from another store: I don't even want to get started on this one, you would think this would only happen like once, but this season.... i have no comments... I don't even know where people would begin to get this idea from.

 

People who get mad when I can't find something outside my department: I don't think i need to explain myself here.

 

 

I have a whole bunch more but it would be a novel...

[Cirrus. 1,089]

In addition to my retail problems above, I have to say that my heart goes out to you guys who work a grocery (or similar store) check-out.

 

If I had to deal with all the stupid coupons that those kind of stores have to deal with, I know I would go nuts.

 

@,

 

Speaking of checks, I hate them. Especially when the damn machines won't read them.

LOL- checks are SOO annoying. I mean it's 2015, get a damn debit card already! :okiedokielokie: 

Edited January 4, 2015 by steve88