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Surly shop assistants

Gothenso

My pet hate.It seems to be getting more common these last few years.Typically your young teenage girl,she won't even acknowledge your presence at the till.Tot up the few items and grunt €17 at you.Is it so hard to even feign a pleasant demeanor for the brief transaction ðŸ™„My Sunday night rant.

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BuboBubo

I find most shop staff pleasant and helpful. I was shopping in Carlow today and I didn't encounter any surly shop assistants. Argos, Tesco, Lidl, The Range, Sports shop in Fairgreen, Mc Cauleys, Roadhouse Cafe - no surly staff whatsoever.

The last time I encountered a surly one was in a German supermarket in Enniscorthy, she was having a spat with her manager over holidays (through the earpiece/headset) whilst slapping and firing my groceries in my general direction. I'd be upset too if someone was messing with my holidays tbf.

The next week I encountered the same assistant and she was in great form, friendly and chatty. Hopefully she got her holidays sorted out.

Mister Vain

You think they're bad here, you should go to Budapest. They literally throw the receipt at you.

Gothenso

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

If their boss is paying them as little as they can legally get away with (which is nowhere near a living wage), then why should they do more than they have to? You got your cancer sticks, what more do you want?

Do you work a minimum wage job ?

EPAndlee

There's nothing worse than a friendly shop assistant, trying to chat to you. Just give me my change and let me leave

Stephen15

I generally find them friendly. Dunnes Stores staff seem to be very friendly so do Lidl staff. There used to be a few rude people working in my local Centra but they've all been replaced by friendlier staff. Although I do find some of the Polish working in shops can't seem to crack a smile if they're life depended on it, also some of the Pakistanis working in petrol stations come across as downright rude.

CalamariFritti

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

It's not reasonable to feel entitled to more than the bare minimum of service from someone who is probably earning the minimum wage.

Do you think being miserable to your customers all day and openly show contempt of your job is much of an incentive to your employer to ever pay more than minimum wage or give you a promotion?

iamwhoiam

I had a lot to buy last week and shopping for an occasion had me in lots of shops
Was in Next , New Look , M and S , Dunnes , The Range , Quiz , Clarks , and a few others . Plus in at least three supermarkets and I met only nice pleasant staff . Not one single surly one and a few lovely ones .
Go on OP give them a smile

Yer Da sells Avon

Gothenso wrote: »

Do you work a minimum wage job ?

There is no such thing as a 'minimum wage job'. The minimum wage is merely the lowest amount of money you can legally get away with giving to someone in exchange for their labour. I've worked in shops, but my employers had the decency to pay more than the minimum wage at the time - because retaining their staff and ensuring they were happy/content to be there benefited them too.

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Do you think being miserable to your customers all day and openly show contempt of your job is much of an incentive to your employer to ever pay more than minimum wage or give you a promotion?

Do you think paying someone as little as you can legally get away with gives them any reason to be cheerful?

CalamariFritti

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

Do you think paying someone as little as you can legally get away with gives them any reason to be cheerful?

What I think is this. Ok Im at a stage in my life where I have to do this job. Hopefully this isn't going to last forever but for the moment it is what it is. Being miserable all day and showing it off like a badge isn't going to make my life any better or more cheerful, quite the opposite. It's also not going to increase my chances of making it out of this position, quite the opposite.

Nobody owes you a better job, it has to be earned.

Gothenso

CalamariFritti wrote: »

What I think is this. Ok Im at a stage in my life where I have to do this job. Hopefully this isn't going to last forever but for the moment it is what it is. Being miserable all day and showing it off like a badge isn't going to make my life any better or more cheerful, quite the opposite. It's also not going to increase my chances of making it out of this position, quite the opposite.

Nobody owes you a better job, it has to be earned.

Well said.

super_furry

Everyone is an arsehole.

gctest50

Esse85 wrote: »

I blame management here, they should be monitoring how their staff interact and communicate.

I'm sure you're lovely but have you seen what they have to interact and communicate with though ?

Ken.

Apply for access to R&R op. Lovely threads on their to rant about customers and shop assistants. Apply here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057757954
Read the rules in the op

CRITERIA FOR ACCESS
A minimum of 50 posts on boards.ie
A minimum of 3 months on boards.ie
A relatively clean record (this is at the mods discretion)

Subscribers bypass the time and postcount restrictions (please mention in your request if you are a subscriber). Please note that the moderators decision is final with respect to access.

Yer Da sells Avon

CalamariFritti wrote: »

What I think is this. Ok Im at a stage in my life where I have to do this job. Hopefully this isn't going to last forever but for the moment it is what it is. Being miserable all day and showing it off like a badge isn't going to make my life any better or more cheerful, quite the opposite. It's also not going to increase my chances of making it out of this position, quite the opposite.

Nobody owes you a better job, it has to be earned.

If I buy Aldi's 'Morning Harvest Honey Nut Flakes of Corn' for €1.50, is it reasonable of me to expect them to be as nice as the Kellogg's version (€3.99)? They're like bits of cardboard dipped in sugar, as opposed to delicious, sun-ripened flakes of corn, drizzled in smooth, clear honey and encrusted with handfuls of chopped nuts.

Alas, you get what you pay for.

MuffinTop86

What is it about people who walk into shops and get weird power trips?

I rarely find a rude retail staff member. If you walk up to the till and say hello and it’s not said back, that’s rude of them.
If you have a face like a slapped behind because you think you’re superior and they should be the first with warm greetings, it explains why you don’t get friendly people.
Or smelly people. It’s hard to make polite conversation when you’re holding your breath.

Failing that, you can always be one of the “get me a manager’ toolheads.

Solomon Pleasant

I really dislike people coming into a shop and expecting staff to be kissing their feet, grateful for their mere presence. It’s an obnoxious, arrogant manner of behaviour which is so prevalent in Ireland.

Most people who give out stink about staff have probably never been in their position before.

Dealing with the public is tough, probably tougher than whatever job you have. So next time, try cutting the minimum wage earning shop assistant some slack.

CalamariFritti

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

If I buy Aldi's 'Morning Harvest Honey Nut Flakes of Corn' for €1.50, is it reasonable of me to expect them to be as nice as the Kellogg's version (€3.99)? They're like bits of cardboard dipped in sugar, as opposed to delicious, sun-ripened flakes of corn, drizzled in smooth, clear honey and encrusted with handfuls of chopped nuts.

Alas, you get what you pay for.

I dont buy that service. I buy from a shop. What peoples wages are like in there is none of my concern.

You completely ignored my point anyway. Do you think it is in any way beneficial to anyone or anything including themselves if lowly paid people do the sourpuss all day long?

I meet people every day in the street and I dont get paid anything for interacting with them. I'm still quite nice to them unless they're not nice back to me. Its just the way I am or manners or something.

But for the record. Most people in shops are actually quite nice I think.

anewme

Worked in retail in a past life.

never again.

Customers were assholes.

Saw one who abused us back in the day abusing a girl in Woodies (so I got revenge and ate the head off him) it was a bit of payback.

Ps. I’d you pay 15 for a nest of tables that takes six months to come from Taiwan... then you need to manage your own expectations...it’s gonna be a crock.

brianregan09

There are far more ignorant customers than there are staff , Some customers think your not worth the **** on there shoe while dealing with you

10 years in Retail so I know , and I'm always as polite as polite can be, but you get some real dickheads that come into shops

Yer Da sells Avon

CalamariFritti wrote: »

You completely ignored my point anyway. Do you think it is in any way beneficial to anyone or anything including themselves if lowly paid people do the sourpuss all day long?

I don't think it's beneficial or, on a more basic level, a good way of passing the time between clocking on and off, but I also wouldn't blame anyone for not feeling able to paint a smile on for the entire day when they're probably not appreciated by their employer.

branie2

They probably worked in Ryanair at one stage.

oneilla

Putinbot wrote: »

Apply for access to R&R op. Lovely threads on their to rant about customers and shop assistants. Apply here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057757954
Read the rules in the op

CRITERIA FOR ACCESS
A minimum of 50 posts on boards.ie
A minimum of 3 months on boards.ie
A relatively clean record (this is at the mods discretion)

Subscribers bypass the time and postcount restrictions (please mention in your request if you are a subscriber). Please note that the moderators decision is final with respect to access.

Seems like a good time to request this because my one gripe with shop tellers is WHEN THEY PUT THE RECEIPT INTO YOUR HAND AND THE COIN CHANGE ON TOP!!! Urgh :mad:

Greentopia

Alun wrote: »

I find the shop assistants here pretty friendly on the whole. If you want surly, go to Germany, they've got surly off to a fine art there.

And they're all on minimum wage there too, which is less than in Ireland. Three years training for €8.84 an hour. No wonder they're surly!

To the OP- I find shop assistants here friendly in all my local supermarkets. It helps when you have a warm friendly manner yourself and don't treat them like your personal servants. The checkout girl in my local Lidl went out of her way last week to help a customer who needed assistance bring her bags out to the car for her and couldn't have been nicer to deal with when it was my turn.

They have a hard job and I always smile and say hello and treat them respectfully. You get back what you give in my experience.

dd972

It's an extrovert people person's job, I stopped using my local Centra because the bird behind the counter had this odd 'thing' about me, like smirking every time I came in and cracking funnies with a co-worker on other occasions, funny thing is I'm the sort of punter who just wants to buy their stuff and clear off and would also side with the staff if they were getting grief off a scummy customer, she was just a f***ing tw*t.

Try_harder

My favourite one is the one who asks me to put things in the bagging area.

I mute her, then were good

Yer Da sells Avon

Careful what you wish for, OP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhoRiaikec4

scamalert

Nothing worse then standing in queue and one blobbers with customer, or when two know each other then its like ****ing break time :mad:

throw stuff get scanned pay up, out the doors, wanna chat OP join AA or some church group :cool:

Donald Trump

Surly? You can't be serious.

I am, and don't call me Shirley

r93kaey5p2izun

The vast majority of shop assistants are pleasant and helpful. But there's a significant minority who are not. The scene in Intermission is funny because it rings true. I worked in retail for over a decade. I had several surly coworkers and they invariably made life difficult for themselves.

Graces7

Never met a surly checkout person. But then I treat them like....people. Smile, not frown. Always find them helpful