Why do we suffer rude and ignorant waitress and shop assistants

Gingerspice99 wrote:

I'm not asking for small talk just a plain ole please and thank you would do me

i was going to just tell you to get over it and go to nicer places BUT this kinda struck me as wierd

besides taking your money they are serving YOU you are the one who should be saying please and thank-you imo........you ask the for a drink you say please they bring it for you they say thank-you.

i have only ever had **** service in places like mcdonalds burger king etc etc and decent restaurant does not tolerate rudeness.....they may not chat with you or smile but they do their jobs as best they can.............this is because they are working for better pay than mcdonalds and are probably working for tips which fast food joints dont neither do shop workers and the vast majority of both are either foreigners who are not looking for a career or people who are working threw summer holidays or mid terms therefore they couldnt give a **** and im sure if i ever worked somewhere like that neither would i

bottom line is if you want better service your going to have to pay more than minimum wage for it

Leon11 wrote:

Me and another guy are doing a 46 seater section between us on a friday night. The guy had just taken an order from a table, walked to put the order through and proceed

<snip>

st happened. I made a point of showing him up and embarrassing him in front of 40 odd people, he said it didn't matter that what happened, it wasn't good enough etc, so I just took to talking to his gf/wife and took the order and got it put through.

fair play to you i would said "so you waiting for 10 mins while we make sure someone does not swallow their tongue and die is not good enough" and if he replied with anything other than "im sorry you are right let us know when you are ready" i would of pretended i couldnt hear him so he had to speak so the rest of the place could hear him

As you mentioned you get great service and manners in America.

But imo if I lived over there I would get so pissed off at their chirpyness and probably go Chuck Norris on them.

It just all fake so you feel like you have to tip. Gah!

I've gotta side with the "customers are idiots" way of thinking, tbh. I've worked in various customer service jobs on and off for the last few years, and have had to deal with a phenomenal amount of ignorant, rude and astonishingly dim customers in that time. People who misread "Special Offer" signs and then take out their anger on me; people who don't understand why they can't return their broken MP3 player without the receipt, box or earphones (and a woman who, honest to God, wanted both a full refund and a replacement item); people who can't be bothered to look for stuff on the shelves themselves and demand you fetch it for them, despite the rather large queue building up behind them; people who bitch about the price of what they're buying (as if I can actually control that); and so on, and so forth. Thankfully, I'm working in a storeroom at the moment at Argos, but I had to cover on the collection counter yesterday and it reminded me of just why I was so happy to get away from customers.

The thing is, it's not even the stupid questions that bother me. We all have our stupid moments, and if someone's polite and friendly then I'm always polite and friendly back to them. It's the sheer rudeness that most people display when dealing with service staff that gets me - people assume if you're on the minimum wage then you can't possibly have had more than a primary school education and, when you tell them you can't help them, will either repeat their request slower and louder, tell you you're wrong (...about the stock in the back room of the tiny shop where I work 5 days a week?) or demand to see a manager (at which point there is nothing in this world more satisfying than saying "I'm sorry, I'm the most senior staff member in this branch"). Some people seem to feel entitled to not just polite behaviour, but boot-licking kow-towing "Oh thank you, kind sir, for deigning to shop in this fine establishment!"-style adulation, and the fact is that when I'm at the end of a 10-hour shift, they're not going to get it. And I can completely understand why people who have worked longer or more steadily in service than me have become pissed off to the point that they're not friendly to anyone any more, because there's nothing like unrelenting abuse day-in and day-out to really drain the life out of you.

I think another huge part of the problem is what Leon11 mentioned above; people (and management) expect service at lightning speed, but without any loss of quality of service. If you don't mind queuing for 15 minutes longer at your local Xtra Vision while I fetch a range of DVDs off the shelves for the tool who wants "A good movie, but nothing too scary, or boring, or childish, or girly, or boyish, or long, or short", individually synoposise each one and then search through the entire system for his account because he didn't bother bringing his card and can't remember whether it's under his name, his mam's name, his girlfriend's name or his dog's name (only to realise it's in another branch altogether and he needs a new account set up), all the while with me taking my time and ensuring that it doesn't feel like I'm rushing him, then fine. Equally, if you want a prompt and efficient service, then a good chunk of small-talk and chatter has to be sacrificed along the way, people who want you to act as their personal shopper will be given the run-off, and people who ask stupid questions will be subject to eye-rolls and scorn. Someone above complained about people calling "Next!" as they hand you your change; you'd be complaining just as much if you were waiting an extra minute in the queue because every delicate customer before you was given enough time to feel special and valued as they walked far enough away that the cries of "Next!" didn't hurt their feelings.

(I think if there's one thing we can learn from this thread, it's that everyone hates everyone and we all love having something to complain about )

Arrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

This is driving me mad

I hate the service you receive when you go into shops like its too much trouble for the shop assistant.

...


Why do you care?

Looking over this thread, the places people are complaining about are Dunnes, Tesco, Spar, Mcdonalds etc.

Who give's a flying f*ck if the person behind the till is rude or ignorant, these are get in get what you need and leave places. If the person is incompetant and f*cks up your order, yeah then you can have a nice rant, but I doubt that you run into that many incompetent people. Who cares if a shopkeeper is rude, just buy your stuff and leave.

Same goes to pubs for the most part, if you're out on a saturday night you just want to be served and get back to your friends.

Let people get on with their job, regardless if they hate it or love it.

The same goes for cafes or restaurants - you order your meal they take an eternity for them to bring your drinks - they never make eye contact and walk away when you are talking to them.

This on the other hand is a problem and can be easily solved by either complaining or just walking out. Either way that employee will recieve a swift kick by his manager to get his act together.

I've only ever worked in the stocktaking end of retail (shop floor, mainly grocery and hardware) and I'd back both the ignorance of customers, and the majority of that ignorance coming from the more well off as being true. I've also worked for a well known directory enquiries company (where I was told by my team leaeder to stop being so friendly, it made people call back and it also made them talk for longer) and now work in reception part-time.

People look at those who serve them as being below them, as a general rule. Do I think that going the way of America where people vie for tips and work on commission in every situation is a good idea? No, I really don't. Perhaps in the restaurant industry, where for the main part people will tip if they feel the server has provided service worth rewarding, but not in retail. I was getting a quote for a rather expensive item from a well known company recently, and not only was I put under phenomenal pressure to buy the item from the vendor that day and at that time, when he rang me back the next day (early sunday morning!) I had to yell at him and hang up to get him to stop talking and calling me back. So commission works in some instances, but not where it makes the person you're dealing with pushier.

Everyone who has worked in the service industry believes that everyone should work in the service industry at some point so everyone appreciates everyone else. It sounds great, but people will still have sh!t days, take it out on the wrong people, and have the sh!t mood spread around. It's only if you smile at someone that you become a freak. I love my local supermarket at home, because the people will actually make small talk with you. I don't want someone else to pack my bags for me, they have other things to do that are actually in their job description and I'm not that bloody lazy. I know talking about the weather to a million* different people every day can be intolerable, but at least they make the effort. I found the Super Valu where I lived last year was the same - the checkout staff were very, very friendly, got to know your name if you shopped there regularly, appreciated you remembering their names (which is common courtesy, imho, if you see them every other day) and went out of their way to help you if you needed help.

I don't think you should have to work in the service industry to treat people fairly - I think instead people should be taught to treat others as they want to be treated as kids, and should grow up believing that the person in front of you might need an extra minute, and you should give it to them if they need it, or the person behind the counter might have to take a delivery of 20c coins so they can give you your change or whatever. I believe it's only polite to say hello to the person serving you, even if they don't say it to you, because so what if they don't say it first. I also HATE when people leave their rubbish on tables in fast food restaurants. Regardless of whether there's a person there who can clear up after you, they know the tables that are being occupied and will go around to clean them, it's no excuse for leaving your rubbish behind like a scumbag.

Deleted User wrote:

One of the things that really pissed me off were the people who came into the shop looking for somethin that we didnt ever sell. When you told them that we never stocked it, they wouldnt believe you, then tell you again and then invariably tell you that their friend got whatever item it was here last week.
You know they are wrong and the customer knows they are wrong but they steadfast will not acknowledge it. Then they sometimes demand to know why we dont stock it. As if you could just snaap ypur fingers and a truck full of what they wanted would just appear!
And people wonder why shop staff can be so sullen. Its because we spent all f****** day dealing with retards. It tends to wear people down. That said. if someone came up to me and asked me something poliely I would have gone out of my way to do something for them.

Ever think its the opposite way around. that it is ye day time staff workin in supermarkets who are just lazy cnuts and dont deserve the pay ye get. i work night shift in a supermarket and trust me, only checkout staff tend to have to work. anyone working in any other position does sweet fùck all. and i know this from experience. the night staff are the ones who pack almost the whole store and have to clean up after day staff and ive been in during the day doing shopping and what not and either there are no floor staff in sight or they are all out back having a chat.

as for the whole, we never stocked it attitude or its not in stock attitude..... complete bollox most of the time. as i said i work in a supermarket on night shifts so i know pretty much everything that we stock. my parents went into a branch and couldnt find what they were looking for. they asked a staff member and he said they didnt have it, so they asked a manager they saw on the floor and he said they never stocked it. by the way, this was their own brand product. i knew 100% the store sold it so i went back down they next day and there was a whole shelf of the stuff.

also from experience there is always a stock of almost everything out in the back stores, staff just dont want to go through and break down cages to get it for you cos day staff are lazy cnuts.

rant over:mad: