Rude customers

Blondie86Star · 07-01-2006 10:44PM #1

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I nearly cried today after the way I was treated. I work in a well known clothes shop in the city centre, most people we get in are nice, but of course you do get the occasional rude customer. Firstly they these people treat you like c**p, throwing credit cards, money etc at you. I don't see how anyone could be so disgaceful. Some Custmoners feel they can do/say anything to you. If you dont have something most people are ok about that, but you get people who roll their eyes, huff and give you a mouth full. Today this little brat was runnning around the store throwing stuff off shelves, his mother was literally nowhere to be seen. I was standing near him putting some things back and said (in a really nice way) 'Would you not like to sit on the chair over there?' To which i feel a tap on the back. 'How dare you talk to my son like that, called me an 'utter disgrace' to the company, saying how i should be ashamed of myself for addressing a child like that. this went on for about 5 minutes, non stop yelling. Other customers stood up for me luckily, but I just dont understand the 'sanity' of some people. What stories do you have?

casanova_kid · 07-01-2006 10:46PM

can you not just **** them out of the store?

qz · 07-01-2006 10:47PM

Just walk away from them and go back to your business. Let them shout at thin air.

angelofdeath · 07-01-2006 10:52PM

yeah i agree, shrug them off or call the manager or something but don't stand there and take crap from them

xzanti · 07-01-2006 10:52PM

I can totally sympathise with you.. I worked in a clothes shop when I was at school and some of the bast*rds I had to deal with was disgraceful.. I remember one guy came in one day looking for a pair of PJ's for his daughter and because I misheard his question he hurled abuse at me.. I was only 16 then but if it happened now I wouldnt have taken it... I think if someone is really abusive your boss will generally side with you (id like to think so anyway) I know they say the customer is always right but there has to be a limit.. In my training for the job I was told that some customers will just come in looking to let off steam after a bad day in the office etc... But you have to "kill them with kindness".. Feck that, I just wanted to kill them full stop

Pigs

casanova_kid · 07-01-2006 10:54PM

xzanti wrote:

I can totally sympathise with you.. I worked in a clothes shop when I was at school and some of the bast*rds I had to deal with was disgraceful.. I remember one guy came in one day looking for a pair of PJ's for his daughter and because I misheard his question he hurled abuse at me.. I was only 16 then but if it happened now I wouldnt have taken it... I think if someone is really abusive your boss will generally side with you (id like to think so anyway) I know they say the customer is always right but there has to be a limit.. In my training for the job I was told that some customers will just come in looking to let off steam after a bad day in the office etc... But you have to "kill them with kindness".. Feck that, I just wanted to kill them full stop Pigs

Sorry that's hilarious, i presume you misheard PJ's the way i think you did.

xzanti · 07-01-2006 10:56PM

casanova_kid wrote:

Sorry that's hilarious, i presume you misheard PJ's the way i think you did.

No I just asked him to repeat his question and he went off on one... He was a total pr*ck... and there was a bang of drink off him too..

Eminem · 07-01-2006 10:57PM

I dont have a story but no one should be dam riude like that .your are there there to help people as much as you can and to do you job not to givin out by prople who jump the gun and dont listen :mad:

casanova_kid · 07-01-2006 10:59PM

xzanti wrote:

No I just asked him to repeat his question and he went off on one... He was a total pr*ck... and there was a bang of drink off him too..

Sorry, i thought PJ's-BJ's, dirty mind working overtime.

Atrocity · 07-01-2006 10:59PM

I delivered a while to restaurants and hotels during the past few summers; most people are lovely but I always came across the odd bollo*ks. I never worked in a shop, but I imagine you get all types of rude and annoying people.

Your story is interesting, It displays yet again the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of parents who are incapable of believing that their children can do anything wrong. I don't think there's anything you can do. People are stupid.

aphex™ · 07-01-2006 11:15PM

Yeah alot of people will try to let off steam any way they can.

Once worked in a newsagents on Baggot street. On a Saturday morning some ejit comes in and starts asking for different things... generally confusing as he is clearly hung over but I kept up with him. ANYway after all this I get "Wheres my fiver???". And he keeps yelling at me for his fiver (I'm gave him the correct change, and this guy doesn't look like he generally gives a damn about such small money) so I offer to give it to him out of the till (planning to put it back in out of my own cash later).

Of course, offering him the fiver isn't good enough and he goes off ranting and raving and coming back in and shouting at me then leaving several times.

So just as he comes in again I'm lifting up the phone to call the cops and i hear in a calm voice "Oh, here it is..."and a very short "uh sorry".. he picked it up on the sweets next to where he had been standing.

I still should have called the cops because you can't really act like that to anybody these days. Was annoying because it was my last day and the guy next to me was always trying to blame things on me and must have blabbed about how it was my fault to the boss.

To top it all off the big boss (who you never see and comes in twice a year) had just come in too.

Just goes to show people will do whatever it takes to ruin your day even if you offer them a solution.

Nowadays if somebody does something like that I just ask them why they have to take their problems out on me or is everything ok at home with the wife!

xzanti · 07-01-2006 11:15PM

casanova_kid wrote:

Sorry, i thought PJ's-BJ's, dirty mind working overtime.

:v:

Binomate · 07-01-2006 11:26PM

You should have called security.

cee_jay · 07-01-2006 11:31PM

I used to work part time in a supermarket during college
One day a regular customer called me a cow, pig, b*tch, every name under the sun really because of a queue at the checkouts and I could not serve her as my checkout was being closed (it wasn't even busy at the time)
She was so vicious she actually reduced me to tears (once she left I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of crying in front of her!)
Customers around who heard what was going on (you couldn't help not!) actually intervened and told her she was out of order and I had done nothing wrong - one actually complained to my supervisor about the manner in which I had been treated
But nothing was said to her, and I requested she be banned from the store!
Only thing was I was told I never had to serve her again because of it - every time she came in after that she would specifically queue at my till - I used to ring my bell, get up from the till and stand at the back until she was gone.

In my opinion there is no reason to treat someone like this or in the way previous posters have been treated - and people have to put up with this type of abuse every single day!
Store owners need to forget the mantra "The customer is always right" as this is not always the case.

LundiMardi · 07-01-2006 11:35PM

i work as the complaints manager for a particular irish company. I always have people on the phone complaining about meaningless ****.. I believe in respect, and you get what you give.

Even though in my position i have to act nice and all, if a customer is out of order, i ****in let them know about it!!

Don't take **** off anyone, just be civil about it. Of course i'd be sacked if i told someone to **** off. So i choose my words carefully, but the words i do choose are getting the point across if you know what i mean.

Mina Loy · 07-01-2006 11:50PM

I work in a Deli in a busy Dunnes.. I know it's not the same enviroment but I know exactly what you feel. Old women/middle aged women in general are ****ing bitches. Most men who come are little pervy/creepy.... but it's the women who piss me off. bah.

bluedolphin · 07-01-2006 11:51PM

some people are just plain ignorant...
i've worked in fastfood joints where you get all classes of people and sometimes being honest about it, the scummier and rougher looking the customer, the more polite and understanding they were if they had to wait, for example for a special order of the standard burger minus everything standard about it. some people couldn't get why it wasnt an instantaneous order. doh.

i served many customers who ranted to me about the length of the queue, how long they'd been waiting etc. before continuing on to place their order. i mean in a city centre outlet at lunchtime on a saturday, what do you expect?! it's not as if all of us at the tills were lolling about the place joking and fooling around deliberately trying to delay everyone. we were doing the best we could.

however i did meet the occassional customer who restored my faith in human compassion, one comes to mind who sympathised greatly with me working in there when it was mid-20 degrees outside and jam-packed and had no problem waiting for her order. My smile of 'thanks and enjoy your meal' was a lot more genuine to her to be sure!

McGinty · 07-01-2006 11:59PM

To the original OP, that woman was totally out of order, but you can take great comfort in this, when her darling son is 15 or thereabouts kicking the ****e out of her because she is so wet, totally into trouble, and will make her life hell, that is usually what happens to brats like him and their sappy parents.

I've worked in shops, hotels and customer service so I've met all kinds and have come across a lot of abuse, probably explains why I've become a student in my later years, these people have severe problems, ie@ self esteem, unfortunatley these inadequate people take it out on decent hard working people like ourselves, try to keep in mind that they act like this because deep down they feel pathetic, it is a weakness in them, not you. A person with self respect and class wouldn't act in this manner and I am sure you;ve met people like that.

RandolphEsq · 08-01-2006 12:06AM

i worked in a clothes shop and you did get people coming in looking to take their frustration out on you but i just didnt give them a response and just shrugged my shoulders if they complained that we didnt have something they wanted.
also,its soo annoying folding clothes and then 2 seconds later some old women have everything unfolded and thrown on the ground.ahhh soo frustrating,what a ****ty job just folding clothes all day

leeroybrown · 08-01-2006 12:11AM

Thankfully I havn't had to do too much customer service work but from what I've seen mothers with young children are the worst. The majority of them are fine but there appears to be a group who think tht everyones shop is a playpen for their child. The child of course never does anything wrong and after it has walked it's path of distruction they will either try to ignore everything or attack any shop staff who try to say anything.

kaimera · 08-01-2006 12:20AM

ah barwork...the joys it brings :rolleyes:

if my bro was here, he'd have stories.

My problem is being civil...too civil tbh. I'd be the one to let it roll off my back slash ignore it but it would rile me so damn much.

Only got the better of me one saturday afternoon; had just started my shift and in comes said customer. He's an ass at the best of time, a nuisance that even the boss thinks so.
There's me, reading the paper. Acknowledged he came in but he went to the corner and started chatting to the two guys in. I went back to reading my paper.
Bout 10 mins later "You payed to read the paper?" i here.
Look up and he's looking at me from the corner.
"Well atm I'm reading the paper. I didn't hear you order anything so.."
He gets all uppity at that, going on about how he's a regular here for x y and z and how he was in earlier so I should know what he drinks.
I said he wans't there when I started my shift so how makes no difference to me.
Starts swearing at me, so I said basically said "Do as everyone else ****ing does and order in a polite manner. Noone else has a problem doing that"

Even one of the guys in the bar told him to drop it.

Ignorant ****. Should have barred him when he asked me too.

wanker.

Sparky · 08-01-2006 12:23AM

I think as a customer when you give the staff a bit of respect, you get treated better, after all staff are human also not machines.

Ive to deal with people everyday (except weekends) and once you can deal with people who are just like what the OP explained, you can deal with anyone.

Obviously the parent of the child you rightfully said a few words to, spoils them and their punishment will be having to deal with a right brat later on in life.

Same suitation happened to me in a house where the child aged 4 came in and smiled at me and then grabbed my stanley knife from my tool tray, a legged it after her to get it back, because you know kids and knifes dont mix, i got her right before she left the garage just by the shoulder, to her she thought she was playing so i gave a half smile and "now dont do that again because you could get hurt"
The mother was waiting in the kitchen and when i came in she roared at me "what gives you the right to speak to my child in that manner"
I informed her that she took my knife trying to play with me and its dangerous and i didnt want your daughter cutting herself by accident.
"well you should learn from you lesson not to leave your tools lying around so"
A 3 minute debackle happened on where i informed her that my tools were all in my tool tray, where else other than on me could i put them.
and just when i thought things were sorted to make matters worse she demanded i reduce her bill because i assulted her child.
Thank god at that stage the father came in and brought her to her sences.
Sound man also

mysterious · 08-01-2006 12:53AM

Blondie86Star wrote:

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I nearly cried today after the way I was treated. I work in a well known clothes shop in the city centre, most people we get in are nice, but of course you do get the occasional rude customer. Firstly they these people treat you like c**p, throwing credit cards, money etc at you. I don't see how anyone could be so disgaceful. Some Custmoners feel they can do/say anything to you. If you dont have something most people are ok about that, but you get people who roll their eyes, huff and give you a mouth full. Today this little brat was runnning around the store throwing stuff off shelves, his mother was literally nowhere to be seen. I was standing near him putting some things back and said (in a really nice way) 'Would you not like to sit on the chair over there?' To which i feel a tap on the back. 'How dare you talk to my son like that, called me an 'utter disgrace' to the company, saying how i should be ashamed of myself for addressing a child like that. this went on for about 5 minutes, non stop yelling. Other customers stood up for me luckily, but I just dont understand the 'sanity' of some people. What stories do you have?

Mother's aint stupid , if their child is bang out of order, they be should deal with, however that mother was probably stuck up and didn't like the fact that you took control of the situation, seh didnt however so she want to belittle you and huff and puff and make you out to be the rude one, also of course she might let it be seen as an embarrasment that someone sees her precious child did a bad thing, and distract the attention from her to you!,

some people just can't leave whatever Sh!t at home, and can't keep their issues to themselves, instead they think they can act stroppy and be rude in public! It should not be tolerated.
Now mind you i nearly lost it one day over a complicated issue, but later apologiesed and was not all my fault, it was in a shop and to this day I regret it, Its not right to air public laundry.

All sympathies to you:)

mysterious · 08-01-2006 01:04AM

Sparky-s wrote:

I think as a customer when you give the staff a bit of respect, you get treated better, after all staff are human also not machines.

Ive to deal with people everyday (except weekends) and once you can deal with people who are just like what the OP explained, you can deal with anyone.

Obviously the parent of the child you rightfully said a few words to, spoils them and their punishment will be having to deal with a right brat later on in life.

Same suitation happened to me in a house where the child aged 4 came in and smiled at me and then grabbed my stanley knife from my tool tray, a legged it after her to get it back, because you know kids and knifes dont mix, i got her right before she left the garage just by the shoulder, to her she thought she was playing so i gave a half smile and "now dont do that again because you could get hurt"
The mother was waiting in the kitchen and when i came in she roared at me "what gives you the right to speak to my child in that manner"
I informed her that she took my knife trying to play with me and its dangerous and i didnt want your daughter cutting herself by accident.
"well you should learn from you lesson not to leave your tools lying around so"
A 3 minute debackle happened on where i informed her that my tools were all in my tool tray, where else other than on me could i put them.
and just when i thought things were sorted to make matters worse she demanded i reduce her bill because i assulted her child.
Thank god at that stage the father came in and brought her to her sences.
Sound man also

I hate when some parents make out their children have halos over their heads, it gets me well fumed. "oh my kids would never do that, how dare you give out to them" etc. Heard many stories like you described.

One thing I just can't hack is when some parents just act intolerant and irresponsible in public or at other's people house, fine dont mind kids getting loose or anything like that, but when a kid does something very bad and the parents don't correct him/her and its becomes very difficult not to take control.

Macha · 08-01-2006 01:16AM

Bar work is the worst - I used to work in a Irish pub abroad. The place was jam packed on a Friday evening & I tell a table of about 10 that they can´t pay individually as it takes to long (also was the policy of the pub after 6pm).

One lady turns around & asks my "Why are you in such a bad mood? Do you have your period or something?"......:eek:

Needless to say, they werent even given the time to finish their drinks before they were out the door. What made it worse is that it was a woman. At least the rest of the group looked suitably ashamed.

Note to rest of world: people who work in hospitality are people too.

Rb · 08-01-2006 01:24AM

Blondie86Star wrote:

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I nearly cried today after the way I was treated. I work in a well known clothes shop in the city centre, most people we get in are nice, but of course you do get the occasional rude customer. Firstly they these people treat you like c**p, throwing credit cards, money etc at you. I don't see how anyone could be so disgaceful. Some Custmoners feel they can do/say anything to you. If you dont have something most people are ok about that, but you get people who roll their eyes, huff and give you a mouth full. Today this little brat was runnning around the store throwing stuff off shelves, his mother was literally nowhere to be seen. I was standing near him putting some things back and said (in a really nice way) 'Would you not like to sit on the chair over there?' To which i feel a tap on the back. 'How dare you talk to my son like that, called me an 'utter disgrace' to the company, saying how i should be ashamed of myself for addressing a child like that. this went on for about 5 minutes, non stop yelling. Other customers stood up for me luckily, but I just dont understand the 'sanity' of some people. What stories do you have?

Poor Blondie86Star.
I work in a clothes store myself and put up with as$hole customers all the time, not surprisingly its all older women (~40) who seem to want to cause an ordeal. The male customers and younger females just seem a lot more laid back.
You were right in approaching the child and she was wrong for how she acted towards you, you should of either called a manager or security which most likely would of asked her to leave.
And the sick thing is, if you hadn't said a thing to the child and it injured itself (for instance pulled something down on itself), you can bet the mother would have freaked at one of the staff over it .
So in future just get a manager, you're there to sell clothes(and assist in the sale of clothes) , not to put up with crap from psychopath customers. Thats the managers job

mysterious · 08-01-2006 01:24AM

taconnol wrote:

Bar work is the worst - I used to work in a Irish pub abroad. The place was jam packed on a Friday evening & I tell a table of about 10 that they can´t pay individually as it takes to long (also was the policy of the pub after 6pm).

One lady turns around & asks my "Why are you in such a bad mood? Do you have your period or something?"......:eek:

Needless to say, they werent even given the time to finish their drinks before they were out the door. What made it worse is that it was a woman. At least the rest of the group looked suitably ashamed.

Note to rest of world: people who work in hospitality are people too.

It probably is if there's drink involved, but a comment like that , yikes,

Blondie86Star · 08-01-2006 01:26AM

My manager was on her lunch break so I didnt have the authourity to kick someone out. I really wonder how some people are brought up, I would always treat a sales assistant how I'd like to be treated, even before i got into retail, and you get better service. As for children like that, how parents bring up kids today is beyond me

Elessar · 08-01-2006 01:31AM

While being rude is certainly out of order, I've observed over the years that complaints, which people are entitled to make about prices/bad service etc. are often confused with giving out to people/being rude to them. Family and friends have often received looks of complete disbelief and often disgust from employees when we make legitimate complaints about things. It's as if the employee cannot comprehend that anyone would ever complain, ever. The people I know never raise their voice or use foul language or blame the employees themselves (unless it was about them), but they often get looks as if they had 2 heads. By definition we're a nation of moaners but we never complain. It's rare that someone would actually agree with us, and resolve to sort out whatever the problem is.

alleepally · 08-01-2006 01:32AM

I've been in retail in my own business for almost 4 years and I can attest to many of the comments here, especially re: badly behaved children and parents attitudes if you dare to stop a mad child in a shop. I can also say that it is only the parents (especially the mothers) of Sorcha and Oisin who will take great umbrage if you dare to try and control them. The parents of Britney or Darren will apologise for their childrens behaviour.

It is also the parents of Britney and Darren who are the most mannerly and appreciative of the service they receive. I have only ever been at the receiving end of rudeness and bad manners from Sorcha and Oisins parents.

Oh, I could write a book on this subject but the publisher would want to put it into the fiction category and they wouldn't believe half of it.

Rb · 08-01-2006 01:33AM

Blondie86Star wrote:

My manager was on her lunch break so I didnt have the authourity to kick someone out. I really wonder how some people are brought up, I would always treat a sales assistant how I'd like to be treated, even before i got into retail, and you get better service. As for children like that, how parents bring up kids today is beyond me

If theres no manager around, just say something along the lines of "If you'd like to make a complaint the manager will be back from their lunch in X minutes or so or I can take your number and have one of them call you".

If they persist just tell them that if they continue to shout/yell etc that they'll be removed from the store.

I know what you mean though, the way we sales assistants are treated is ridiculous sometimes.

I would have hated to have worked where you work at the start of the sales btw, plenty of d1ckhead customers I'd say

Rude customers

Comments