be nice to retail staff week!!!

patrickstarfish

last week mandate launched a campaign for customers to go easy on the staff as its not always the staff members fault !

have you ever worked in retail??
post your stories here !

Nolanger

Why should we? - was in a Spar last weekend - €6 for a box of breakfast cereal.

helimachoptor

Nolanger wrote: »

Why should we? - was in a Spar last weekend - €6 for a box of breakfast cereal.

Had an emergency in the house and had to get toilet roll from the garage, 4 pack of andrex €6 what a load of c**p.

Rip off Ireland is still here.

JohnC.

Nolanger wrote: »

Why should we? - was in a Spar last weekend - €6 for a box of breakfast cereal.

Obviously that is the retail staffs fault then?

MrsMcSteamy

How about buying the shop branded items?? They are alot cheaper!

Sleipnir

Stop chewing gum while you're dealing with customers.

Cabaal

Nolanger wrote: »

Why should we? - was in a Spar last weekend - €6 for a box of breakfast cereal.

How is that the retail staffs fault they didn;t set the price they just work their,

JPA

Cabaal wrote: »

How is that the retail staffs fault they didn;t set the price they just work their,

Exactly, most complaints retail staff deal with are stuff they have nothing to do with.
Sterling prices aren't their fault, one product being discounted while another different product isn't is not their fault, the manager going in his break is not their fault, the economy is not their fault etc.

Cabaal

If you really have a complaint look for a manager they get paid more to listen to people's complaints

Acacia

Nolanger wrote: »

Why should we? - was in a Spar last weekend - €6 for a box of breakfast cereal.

helimachoptor wrote: »

Had an emergency in the house and had to get toilet roll from the garage, 4 pack of andrex €6 what a load of c**p.

Rip off Ireland is still here.

Because I'm sure on their minimum rate wages, the retail staff are delighted to spend extortionate amounts on basic groceries, too. :rolleyes: Once again, they do not set the prices!

It's this kind of attitude that makes working in retail a nightmare sometimes- customers whinging to you about something out of your control.

''Why should we be nice to retail staff?"

Because even though ''they only work in a shop'', they deserve some manners. Just because certain people (not anyone here) like to think they are above retail staff, it doesn't mean they should treat them like crap.

Btw, I don't live in Waterford, but from working in retail, I'd love if there was some sort of week like this where I live.

fozzle

It's been years since I worked in Waterford, but I do hope this gets supported by the public there. And if it does I'll be jealous!

It would take hours to write all my stories about the joy of working in retail. I'll just mention how much I "love" people who cry "I know my rights!!!" because either Paddy-Jo down the road told them, or they've been watching US or UK tv shows about consumer rights. It's worth noting that these rights are NOT the same in every country, they aren't even the same up North! Go crazy folks - go to the Citizen's Advice people and find out your rights. Don't just scream at retail staff who know better than you.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories

Specifically these should be worth reading:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights

*edit*
Here's something that should be beaten into everyones' minds from childhood:

This act also covers claims about prices. Actual prices, previous prices and recommended prices of goods and services must be stated truthfully. Where a price is stated it should be clear what particular item it relates to. It should be the total price and there should be no hidden extras. If a retailer makes a mistake the buyer does not have the right to demand that the goods be sold to them at the marked price.

brendansmith

Yep, this is about par for this forum, the op askes for stories about posters experience in retail and right off the bat the whole thread goes off on a tangent about the price of cheerios. :rolleyes:

I worked in a petrol station and watched in amazement as a guy cleaned his entire car with our window squeegie thing and water as he neglected to the open carwash about 3 metres from where he was standing.

A top psycologist mind. Think about it

fozzle

I once had a customer pick up a towel (in a soft furnishings store), wipe her child's chocolatey face with it, drop it on the floor and walk out. :rolleyes: That's some serious class.

JohnC.

If you decide you don't actually want that frozen veg or burgers, or refrigerated meat or dairy, the back of a bread shelf isn't an appropriate place to dispose of it. And if customers think about it, destroying stock for no reason does also contribute to higher prices, to cover the waste you make.

BBM77

patrickstarfish wrote: »

last week mandate launched a campaign for customers to go easy on the staff as its not always the staff members fault !

have you ever worked in retail??
post your stories here !

Mandate should also launch a campaign to teach their members some manners, especially in Waterford. If I had a Euro for every time I was severed by a dog ignorant staff member in Waterford I would not have to worry about the recession.

deadhead13

Its a two-way kind of situation.

Not The Real Scarecrow

Always feel sorry for staff in supermarkets at the tills.Seen it a load of times in Tesco's where the person at the till greets the customer polietly and are subsequently ignored or looked at like dirt by the rude customer or the one thing that completely drives me nuts is where the person refuses to pack their own shopping and waits till every thing is scanned through , says nothing and waits for the poor till person to either help em or just straight out pack the bags for em , while the que gets bigger.
Reckon you'd need the patience of a saint to work in most retail outlets so I fully support being nice to retail staff.They take alot of crap and to be honest I've had more positive experiences with retail staff than I've had with supposed professional people.

wmpdd3

No amount of extra money the manager gets would make it ok for you to listen to unreasonable customers complaints!

Thankfully it's the one absolute gentleman or lady that you get to meet every day that makes dealing with the public so enjoyable.

See a similar thread here:http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055472197&page=2




for a good laugh though

patrickstarfish

try being a butcher just after xmas when a woman rings you about there being no meat on the turkey that she bought .
we ask her to bring in the turkey and when she does it turns out that she had loaded all her shopping on top of the turkey (which flattened it)
and then she cooked the turkey upside down in the baking dish which in turn makes it impossible for it to be carved!
what an idiot!
and to make things better that b4 we discovered all this she was mouthing off to everybody about being ripped off !!
is it the staffs fault for her stupidity ?

brendansmith

patrickstarfish wrote: »

try being a butcher just after xmas when a woman rings you about there being no meat on the turkey that she bought .
we ask her to bring in the turkey and when she does it turns out that she had loaded all her shopping on top of the turkey (which flattened it)
and then she cooked the turkey upside down in the baking dish which in turn makes it impossible for it to be carved!
what an idiot!
and to make things better that b4 we discovered all this she was mouthing off to everybody about being ripped off !!
is it the staffs fault for her stupidity ?

There is a type of woman like this in Ireland, who has the right idea ie if you are not getting satisfaction, go and complain.
However she has no common sense whatsoever and thus all her good intentions collapse back on top of her.

Complaining to managers is something believe it or not that Irish people are not willing to do. I am trying to get out of the habit of 'well they just wont get my custom next time' behaviour. Dont worry about making a scene, if the service was sh!t, everybody will agree.

Mossy Monk

Be nice and pleasant to me and I will gladly reciprocate

patrickstarfish

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT ?????
MY ARSE THEY ARE !!

these ppl must have no friends !!
attention seekers the lot of them !

Gadgie

I'm always nice to retail staff. Even though a lot of them treat me like dog sh*t.

abouttobebanned

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Be nice and pleasant to me and I will gladly reciprocate

I agree with this. Remember the girl in intermission that worked in dunnes...if I came across a girl like that I'd have to pass some kind of remark about her manners. If someone was genuinely nice to me behind a counter, I'd have to reciprocate, no matter how my mood was.

brendansmith

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I agree with this. Remember the girl in intermission that worked in dunnes...if I came across a girl like that I'd have to pass some kind of remark about her manners.

As would i. There is no place for that in retail!:mad:

Adyx

Does this include barstaff?

ziedth

Oh my god I could tell you stories People,

I've been working in Retail since I was 17, Seen it all. I worked in Traceys on the Quay (Many run in's with wineo's). But the worst bar none is the assholes I had to constantly deal with in superquinn, To many to pick a best story but one of my Fav's is one christmass an old one opened up a Box of quality street the opened up a tin.

She happily then proceeded to poor the contents of the Tin into the box before closing it and going down to the checkouts. I didn't see it but seemingly she went mental one someone pulled her up on it, Started claiming we were a biggot company because she was from the north.

lassykk

I worked for 7 years in treacy's/centra on the quay and have had many mixed experiences over the years:

- People who had a go at me about prices were always a pet peeve of mine. As if a 14 year old would have anything to do with the price of the bottle of vodka they were buying

- The reaction people used to get when asked for ID was another one. I'm 23 now and sadly look older but I still carry ID with me in case some one asks me for it. Its not my fault if people are too lazy to carry a 1mm thick card along with them in their wallet. Again I didn't care what age people were but I did care about been sacked if caught serving under age kids.

- The most aggresive incidents I had were with people who are so pathetic that they couldn't wait for the off-license to open at 8a.m. or even worse 12.30 pm on a Sunday and would threaten violence and even on occasion enact violence to get their fix.

On the other hand I've had many positive experiences working in retail

Many people who came in were genuinely nice people who I got to know some of them pretty well over the years and would still stop to talk to them since I left and there were always a few rough looking characters who turned out to be ultra polite and courteous.

It all depends on the person. I've been served my horribly ignorant people and have served people of the same nature. There's not a whole lot I could do about it but how much does common courtesy cost on either side?

jimmmy

Nolanger wrote: »

Why should we? - was in a Spar last weekend - €6 for a box of breakfast cereal.

Those lucky enough to live near the border can get it in N. Ireland for half that....or less.

I agree you'd need the patience of a saint to work in most retail outlets so I fully support being nice to retail staff too.

patrickstarfish

we had a woman in once who had bought a deepfill pie slice from our deli and bearing in mind that it was pre cooked, she claimed after NUKING it in the microwave for 3 minutes when she went to actually eat it a beetle/like insect jumped out of it and ran across the table and she demanded a refund !!
like WTF???
you would think she was dying the way she was carrying on !

she was not impressed when i asked her if the insect had a red cape and underpants !!:D

Nolanger

How about a be nice to dole office staff week?

Willow2ft3

Staff should always get the credit..its not their fault things are wrong in a certain shop......they are staff aswell as managers. Managers are also doing what their managers are telling them to do...you try being a f**king manager listening to the bulls**t. I like cake.

deisemum

I find most retail staff are fine, some more helpful than others but what I don't like seeing is some prat manager having a go at shop staff in front of customers on the shop floor.

That's like a red rag to a bull for me as I hate to see someone humiliate someone like that and maybe it's because as I get older I have less tolerance for such sh1te behaviour that I waste no time in pulling the manager up on it and letting him/her know what I think of their unprofessional behaviour.

Equally when I'm shopping I don't want to be witness to staff members squabbling or being nasty to each other. Not too long ago I happened to be browsing in a children's clothes section of a department store when my thoughts were interrupted by one member of staff having a go at 2 other colleagues who were about 15 - 20 feet away.

Not only was she bang out of order with that carry on on the shop floor but the colourful language she was using especially in a children's sections was disgraceful. Luckily I didn't have any children with me at the time. I got hold of a manager and let him know my feelings on the matter.

Fortunately most of my shopping experiences have been fine and the negative ones and by far in the minority.

I think some of the more ignorant and unhelpful staff seem to be in the more "upmarket" shops, jaysus if you want to see stuck up snobby staff then you'll come across some right yokes in Brown Th*mas in Cork. I haven't yet seen the likes here in Waterford, not yet anyway.

cooranig23

In Dunnes, I told my manager about a particular breakfast cereal the customer was looking for, he was really busy at the time and says 'Tell her we don't have it'

so I did

Later on that day, I noticed that there was like 15 cases in the stockroom

Max Powers

cooranig23 wrote: »

In Dunnes, I told my manager about a particular breakfast cereal the customer was looking for, he was really busy at the time and says 'Tell her we don't have it'

so I did

Later on that day, I noticed that there was like 15 cases in the stockroom

You work there, why didnt you go look for it yourself

Finnbar01

My compliants about retail stafff are:

- They don't make eye contact.
- They lack manners.
- They talk to each other when serving you.

Dan133269

cooranig23 wrote: »

In Dunnes, I told my manager about a particular breakfast cereal the customer was looking for, he was really busy at the time and says 'Tell her we don't have it'

so I did

Later on that day, I noticed that there was like 15 cases in the stockroom

That's pretty common practice. I posted here a while ago about how my manager in a supermarket in town used to have the motto "fcuk the customer". Genuinely, if a customer requested any special treatment, like us going to search for stuff if it wasn't on the shelves, his motto was "fcuk the customer" and we shouldn't search for it

Ballybrickenman, tell us about some of the bad experiences you've had by shop assistants?

Potential-Monke

I've noticed alot more impolite staff in Waterford than i have in Limerick. I get the general feeling from most of them that they don't want to be there. They should just quit if they don't like it that much. I worked in retail (and even worse, customer care) and know what it's like, so they have no excuse. Being nice and friendly is part of the job, and if you can't do that then you shouldn't be working that job, and have no right to complain if someone gives out about their attitude (i'm looking at a certain female in Spar on Barrack St...)

On the flip side, the staff of GameStop, Centra on the Quay, Centra on John St, Spar in Ferrybank, and most pharmacies are dead on.

wmpdd3

i think most staff are great, its not very often i meet someone dreadful... customer service desk in the hyper,not so good...

deisemum

I think customer service has improved a lot in the last year or two. I haven't come across too many that stand out and when I have I've brought it to the managers or head offices attention.

skinnyboy

I'm working in retail for 8 years and have seein some crazy stuff and ignorant people,but if I go into work and I'm having a crap day and don't feel like being there it don't matter I'll always be polite to a customer say hello ask how they are and say thank you and a smile it costs nothing and gives the customer a good impression on the garage itself and more often than not the customer will return,be rude to a customer you might never see them in your store again.

cooranig23

what do people think when they see people slapping their children in supermarkets
it's horrible, it makes me cringe, there are ways of discipline, but I would never slap a child

GrandBlaa

Potential-Monke wrote: »

On the flip side, the staff of GameStop, Centra on the Quay, Centra on John St, Spar in Ferrybank, and most pharmacies are dead on.

I wholly agree with the above stores, especially Centra on the Quay. Great staff who put TONS of cheese in your deli sandwiches I literally mean fistfuls of cheese, it's great.

There are shops though that are known for either cranky staff or just poor service: Shaws for one and the staff in Monsoon are very cliquey. Hypermarket / Supervalu too.

Kotek Besar

Finnbar01 wrote: »

My compliants about retail stafff are:

- They don't make eye contact.
- They lack manners.
- They talk to each other in a foreign language when serving you.

Agreed. FYP btw.

ziedth

Hypermarket staff I have always found pretty poor in terms of friendliness. Superquinn are always friendly but then they are paid to be so it's not genuine. Best in town by some distance in my opinion is Debenhams.

I have worked in retail for the last 10 years (for the most part) and I just hate bad customer service. Granted, customers can be horrible and Christ I have learned recently how rude they can be as I never worked in discount retailing until recently but it's your job to at least pretend to be helpful and smile.

Kotek Besar

ziedth wrote: »

Best in town by some distance in my opinion is Debenhams.

+1

deisemum

ziedth wrote: »

Hypermarket staff I have always found pretty poor in terms of friendliness. Superquinn are always friendly but then they are paid to be so it's not genuine. Best in town by some distance in my opinion is Debenhams.

I have worked in retail for the last 10 years (for the most part) and I just hate bad customer service. Granted, customers can be horrible and Christ I have learned recently how rude they can be as I never worked in discount retailing until recently but it's your job to at least pretend to be helpful and smile.

I've got to disagree about Debenhams, well the childrens section anyway unless you're happy with staff shouting abuse peppered with colourful language across the shop floor at other staff.

There's only one member of staff that I've encountered in Superquinn that's repeatedly as unhelpful as possible and she's known for it. The rest I've found very helpful.

ziedth

deisemum wrote: »

I've got to disagree about Debenhams, well the childrens section anyway unless you're happy with staff shouting abuse peppered with colourful language across the shop floor at other staff.

There's only one member of staff that I've encountered in Superquinn that's repeatedly as unhelpful as possible and she's known for it. The rest I've found very helpful.

I'd love to know who that is, I worked in SQ for years and management take a VERY dim view of bad customer service. Some of the soundest people you'd ever meet in there but some prize cocks balance it out

abouttobebanned

Old thread is old.

BlaasForRafa

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Being nice and friendly is part of the job, and if you can't do that then you shouldn't be working that job, and have no right to complain if someone gives out about their attitude (i'm looking at a certain female in Spar on Barrack St...).

Haha think I know who you're talking about.

I don't think staff need to be beaming with happiness while working but they should be somewhat positive and responsive when asked reasonable questions. They don't need to be super-ingratiating but neither should they fix you with a dead-eyed stare and mumble "dunno" in response to a request.

wasislos

its not 'fagnks' its 'thanks'

its not 'queers' its 'cheers'

haha