I worked night shifts this whole month and some people really made me wanna ask them to leave. I actually did to one couple who was just looking around messing everything up and I politely asked them how they were gonna pay since we were about to close cash payments. They left immediately.

Working in Retail myself, I've heard of stories of people coming in 5 minutes before closing only to do an hour's worth of shopping. It's kinda inconsiderate when that happens especially when taken in consideration that employees have to follow closing procedures.


I have a few tips for grocery shoppers:

-WARM shelves aren't meant for COLD food. If you don't want a refrigerated item, give it to an employee or put it back somewhere that is temperature appropriate.

-If you're going to take and consume food off the shelf while in the store, then you damn sure need to pay for it. This isn't your refrigerator.

I feel your pain. It's even worse working in a restaurant.

We close at 9PM. And when you place an order at 8:58, now we have to wait to clean up the cook area, we have to wait to wash the dishes, wait to turn off the ovens, wait to clear the cash register, etc!

I hate people who do this. It's so annoying. We just have to deal with it though.

Oh, and some more:

With Smartphones, ATMs, and toll free numbers, it shouldn't take any effort to CHECK YOUR BALANCE before you go into the store. People constantly try to buy much more than they have in their bank account, and that's super annoying.

Same goes for those who tote WIC Checks. Check the expiration date AND follow every letter to a t. You're not getting whole milk on a voucher thay says 2%. Don't try it, or pick it up unless you want to pay for it with cash.


Backshop/Go-Backs can be brutal. Nobody wants to keep do that for their WHOLE SHIFT.

Just because the store is open doesn't mean all the departments are open.I t doesn't even guarantee you that a manager would be in. Don't ask for the deli at 2 in the morning, because no one's gonna be open.

This.

People that don't understand this are obnoxious and they don't even know it.

First off, those of you in this thread that are thrashing us employee members need to take a chill pill and bug off. What we're actually saying in this thread will ACTUALLY HELP you become better appreciated as customers; believe me, even the slightest consideration will ultimately make the retail/fast food employee take extra time to help you. Being as rude as most of you are in this thread, I can tell that no employee actually likes you nor will do anything extra for you (even managers will talk **** behind your back, trust).

If you (the customer) want genuinely sincere and helpful customer service in any store, do so by being polite and considerate. Doing that will guarantee that the employee will go beyond their required duties to help you.

Otherwise, we as employees will do the absolute minimum to help you. And management tends to support us on that; even they will get tired of your entitled snotty attitude. And no, the whole 'customer is right' shtick is no longer applying in the current retail industry anymore; most businesses are starting to realize that choosing the side of the customer will ultimately hurt the most important core of their success; the employee. So be careful how you use that phrase because it can and will backfire on you.

Oh please. That's not our problem if they're unemployed (I know some people who were unemployed because they're genuinely awful). What we are telling you is to have some decency and common sense as a customer. Even management will refuse to serve you if you continue this self-entitled attitude. We as a business don't need every single customer to be successful; only the ones who treat us with respect and dignity.

Besides, I find that it's only a handful out of every 100 customers that tend to act like assholes that this thread is aimed at anyway.

nnn my managers are like that too. We treat every customer with due respect and dignity until they give us reason not to.

Which is pretty much 99% of the time anyway.

!!!

That also reminds me. What you non-retail members don't realize is that we don't get overtime pay outside certain seasons; forcing us to serve you beyond our scheduled shift and/or store closing time gets us in trouble usually.

This applies especially to retail clothing stores (stores like Walmart are a little less strict but nonetheless emphatic about not going overtime).

Right?

Which is why when I get the customers who are especially appreciative, I got the extra mile to make sure they're happy AND I make a point of remembering their names.

Remind me to never serve you ever.

There's a reason why you should NEVER go in at the last minute.

It's rude to do so because there are policies and procedures that need to be done on time.

And the closing employee may or may not need to take public transportation at a certain time if they don't want to be home late.

!!!

I generally don't mind helping many customers anyway but it's really the rare rude ones that I aim my comments at (ergo, most of the rude members in this thread for example).

!!!!

I love you, my fellow employees. #RetailFraternity4Life

Personal experience says that the customer is 99% wrong most of the time but because they are very nice and considerate, I tend to make sure they go home happy. Which is what good customer service is born from. Rude customers who demand the most unreasonable requests are the ones who get the boot (and we employees get punished for).

When I worked in Fast Food, we literally locked up at closing hour. It's easy because we lock the doors from the outside, turn all the outside lights off.

When I worked in Retail though, it was a mess. When I was in charge of closing (instead of the manger) I would say at 10 mins to close, "Attention Customer, this store closes in 10 mins. Please finalize purchases now. Purchases cannot be processed after closing time, we apologize for the inconvenience".

And I'd stand at the door, until close, telling people who walked in, that "no sorry, we are closing and it's not our decision to close the tills".

People would argue, but it's incredibly easy to say that we cannot process the purchase because that's what Head Office encourage.

Most managers are too scared to approach people.

Let me guess, you have your own car and/or don't have to work till 10 - 12pm at night.

Most people in Retail DO NOT get more than a minimum wage, and very few hours a week. They don't have money for a car, and have to use public transport.

A Customer holding them up, could easily cost them a Taxi, which means the hours they just worked would be thrown out the Window on the way home. They just did a day shift.

I lived 40 mins from home, and I needed to get the Bus and Train. A Customer once held me up 30 mins and I missed my bus. I just did a 7 hour shift.

The taxi cost me $90+. I only earnt just over 100 that day (BEFORE TAX). I literally worked 7 hours ( no break) and I might as well have worked 30 mins.

All because a Customer couldn't wait for tomorrow (and argued with us, despite the fact there was a 24 hour Kmart in the next suburb).

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Sorry that you have the luxury, but a lot of people don't. As soon as I became floor manager, I didn't let Customer hold up the workers who needed to go home.

Till closes at 10pm. Sorry, find where the stuff you want is and come back first thing tomorrow (6am).

People don't need to throw their wage away because you want to browse the store and can drive there whenever you like.

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And inb4 "find a job closer to home", when parts of Australia have almost no jobs going because of all the immigration, there's more people than jobs.

I was one of 2500 applicants for a local Retail store, and it was the only major job going within Public Transport. Another was a Supermarket next to my street (I was so pissed ngl) but they wanted people younger than me (I was 19 at the time).

I had to stay behind 45 minutes later after my shift (closing the store) and I'm getting paid extra. Other than that, if I close 30 minutes later I do not get paid. Or it's really unlikely.

This thread. Literally thanking all my fellow retail staff (or people with common decency) for supporting this.
Another issue I have is when people bring hot food to the store, like McDonald's or Subway.
Lord, I've been standing on my feet all day and haven't had lunch, so it's really annoying when I can smell a delicious Big Mac and I'm starving. Or even so, it's even worse when they leave a mess on the floor, like a spilt drink or fries.

Dear Retail Customers,

For your safety, please don't stand behind me while I'm carrying. 👀
Thanks.

The worst thing as a manager is when people ask one of your employees to speak to the manager on duty and are shocked when it's a baby-faced 19 year old, then try to talk down like you ain't worked your way up and know how **** works. I've had one old bat try to educate me on my store's policy on lost credit cards.

And some people wonder why their prices are rising. You're part of the ****ing problem if you're creating shrink! It's disgusting.

As far as WIC: We only get compensated for what's on the list. The store can get fined/takes a hit if we let the WIC vouchers cover something that they're not supposed to.

Ddd I went through this whole thread just to see if anyone mentioned it, but they didn't so...

It annoys me when people can't be ****ed to put their carts back after they bring their stuff to their car. A lot of places do pay people to take the carts back, but that doesn't mean you should purposely put your cart of the way to get to. It's even worse when people do it in places like dollar stores. There is nobody specifically hired to deal with the carts so that's just extra **** you're making them do for no benefit to them.

Most places have janitors - are you going to go there and purposely dirty up the floor because "it's their job to clean it?" It makes you the biggest asshole.

I don't even work in retail, nor have I ever, but it's honestly stupid how entitled some people are. "Oh, they get paid to be nice to me and tend to my needs, let me go out of my way to be a nuisance to them!" is basically what people think when they do some of these things. They get paid to put up with your ****, yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to be so purposely inconsiderate.

Maybe someone peed in your cereal, but that's not the retail employee's fault...