Advice from retail workers needed.

missfrilly

Hello

I just need to ask something .
Recently I have noticed that a customer or to be more precise a group of customers have been making grossly exaggerated complaints about a member of staff. One customer in particular. I know for a fact that she has lied and exaggerated . I know that a part of working in retail (unfortunately) is having to put up with uncalled for abuse ...the customer is always right and all..however I feel that this particular situation will get out of hand. The staff member is beginning to get upset and the rest of the staff cannot believe what is happening.

Can anything be done here or is it really a case of having to take it?
Generally I feel there is an utter lack of respect for retail workers ( not everyone of course) and to be honest I feel that for me at least, enough is enough.
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eth0_

A group of customers...victimising one member of staff in a shop?
That sounds far fetched to me. Are you sure there's no validity to what they're saying? There's no smoke without fire, etc etc.

missfrilly

eth0_ wrote: »

A group of customers...victimising one member of staff in a shop?
That sounds far fetched to me. Are you sure there's no validity to what they're saying? There's no smoke without fire, etc etc.

yeah .absolutely sure. Other members of staff have noticed it.In fact two of the customers followed another staff member to lunch and as they were walking down the street they ranted and raved about the girl .It was bad enough for the staff member to come back and say that she would serve these people anymore because if they continued a solicitors letter would need to be sent to them.

Ian Beale

missfrilly wrote: »

yeah .absolutely sure. Other members of staff have noticed it.In fact two of the customers followed another staff member to lunch and as they were walking down the street they ranted and raved about the girl .It was bad enough for the staff member to come back and say that she would serve these people anymore because if they continued a solicitors letter would need to be sent to them.

Let the manager know,if its that bad he should bar them.

Deadeyes

Sounds like a personal vendetta, do these "groups" of customers happen to know each other either friends or family perhaps?
Reminds me of an incident I had once. In a petrol station they were doing the stamps for gifts thing one stamp for every fiver of petrol. A man got two quids worth but I gave him a stamp anyway(being mister generosity). Boy was he not happy, I told him the rules and he left in a huff. My boss had been standing around the corner and witnessed all this, there was no one else in the shop. So the next time I came into work my boss told me that a woman had come in to complain about the horrible, aggressive, rude swearing assistant who had verbally abused some poor man in front of her in the queue. She failed to mention that A) she wasn't there and the man was her husband. Basically she was trying to get me sacked from my job because of a bloody stupid stamp which wasn't worth squat. My boss told her to take a running jump, but I wonder how things would have played out if my boss hadn't witnessed the incident.
That and a hundred other similar stories from having to deal with the public have left me with a complete lack of respect for your average member of the public, oh and an overriding desire to smash peoples heads through windows when I hear/see them complaining to/about shop staff for something that the cashier has no control over.
Anyway that's the end of my rant. As Ian Beale said make the manager aware of the situation and bar them if necessary.

DanOB

Deadeyes wrote: »

Sounds like a personal vendetta, do these "groups" of customers happen to know each other either friends or family perhaps?
Reminds me of an incident I had once. In a petrol station they were doing the stamps for gifts thing one stamp for every fiver of petrol. A man got two quids worth but I gave him a stamp anyway(being mister generosity). Boy was he not happy, I told him the rules and he left in a huff. My boss had been standing around the corner and witnessed all this, there was no one else in the shop. So the next time I came into work my boss told me that a woman had come in to complain about the horrible, aggressive, rude swearing assistant who had verbally abused some poor man in front of her in the queue. She failed to mention that A) she wasn't there and the man was her husband. Basically she was trying to get me sacked from my job because of a bloody stupid stamp which wasn't worth squat. My boss told her to take a running jump, but I wonder how things would have played out if my boss hadn't witnessed the incident.
That and a hundred other similar stories from having to deal with the public have left me with a complete lack of respect for your average member of the public, oh and an overriding desire to smash peoples heads through windows when I hear/see them complaining to/about shop staff for something that the cashier has no control over.
Anyway that's the end of my rant. As Ian Beale said make the manager aware of the situation and bar them if necessary.

hold on, why was he angry? You gave him a stamp when he didnt deserve one! He should have been thankful!

Deadeyes

DanOB wrote: »

hold on, why was he angry? You gave him a stamp when he didnt deserve one! He should have been thankful!

One wasn't enough he wanted more. You'll always find there are people who think they deserve more and from my experience it's usually the people who are pretty well to do to start with. I'm not talking silver spoon are anything but the "I'll have you know I'm the managing director..." or worse their wives.

DanOB

Deadeyes wrote: »

One wasn't enough he wanted more. You'll always find there are people who think they deserve more and from my experience it's usually the people who are pretty well to do to start with. I'm not talking silver spoon are anything but the "I'll have you know I'm the managing director..." or worse their wives.

yeah i know where your coming from.. was he a bit like 'Charles O'Carroll Kelly'?

Hanley

It's a real neauva riche problem in my opinion. All of a sudden classes scumbags have some money and they think it entitles them to some special status.

Further reinforces my opinion that class has no relation to how much you earn.

Deadeyes

DanOB wrote: »

yeah i know where your coming from.. was he a bit like 'Charles O'Carroll Kelly'?

TBH it's been that long since I worked with the public that all I remember are incidents and not so much the actual people, but Hanley's right to a certain degree it seems you can sometimes get treated with greater decency and more respect from the roughest looking scumbag than from some be-suited professional.

Gillo

Or worst of all the "I pay your wages" crap you get, I've been very tempted a few times to point out that as a taxpayer I also pay their's (happened a few times with nurses & teachers).