It's time to stand up for the little people

[ChristineES]

Maybe it would do good to remember that people who work in service jobs are human beings too. I always try to be pleasant to them. Usually it is fine, the service person is kind enough. But once in a while you get a really cranky person waiting on you. I remind myself (silently) that this person is probably tired and has been checking groceries or whatever all day long.

It does go both ways, however- Some people are very rude to service personnel. But at other times the service person is very rude to a customer for no perceivable reason (although there is also times when it is for a reason )

 

[Hope]

I used to work as a cashier at a grocery store, and I remember full well my frustration with some of the customers. I'm so glad those days are over.

My favorite memory though didn't involve me getting into an argument with a customer, but two customers getting into a fight with each other. It reminded me of something on Jerry Springer.

I was on the register of one of the 15 items or fewer lanes, there was a long line of customers, and the guy I was ringing up wanted some cigarettes. So he told the bagger girl what he wanted, and she went to customer service to get the cigarettes. Well, she brought back the wrong kind. He got all in a miff, and told her again what he wanted, and she tried again. Bless her heart, she got the wrong kind again. By now the guy was in a foul mood, and muttering under his breath something rude to the poor bagger girl, he marched over to customer service himself to try to procure his particular brand of cigarettes.

Well, while he was at customer service, and out of earshot, the lady who had been standing in line behind him, looked at me and the bagger girl sympathetically, and declared the way that man was treating us was inexusable. I agreed, but knew I had to keep my mouth shut. The lady then said she would say something to him when he came back. And she did. The next thing I know, I, and this long line of customers, are witnessing a slew of cuss words and foul names being slung back and forth between this man and lady. It nearly came to blows, the man was so ****** off. But the lady held her ground, and after the man stomped off, vowing never to return to our store (good riddance!), I thanked the lady for defending me and the bagger girl. She was one cool customer I'll never forget.

 

[Mathematician]

Kroger sees customers as $$$ and workers as -$$, and unfortunately that is reflected in our management. One of my coworkers was being ripped on by both a manager and a customer for dropping a bottle of milk and having it go everywhere -- the cashier and supervisor even offered to get the customer a new one, but she demanded she get it free right there at the cash register, even though you can only do that at customer service.

I have no love for corporations and in typical Leftist fashion I'll not bow down to their pretty guidelines which place workers on the bottom. I've decided if I think you're being excessively rude and I'm not in a financial pinch, whether I'm a customer or working, I'll give you a piece of my mind. If I'm getting payed $6 an hour I'm not going to be royal to the company.

 

[Scuba Pete]

The Power of Nice is huge and can benefit everyone at any time. As a Service Manager for Goodyear, I saw my share of unhappy people with blown out tires. Many of them had come prepared to fight to get a new tire for free. Yet, I never gave out a free tire... not ever, and I was stinking nice about it.

Now, %99.9 percent of the time, a blown tire is the result of improper inflation. That's right, it started out as a tire going "flat", but you rode it for several hundred miles partially inflated. I know that as the customer is walking in with their shredded tire, but the trick is to act like I actually care. So I stop everything and go out and commiserate with them.

"Whoa, that tire sure looks in rough shape!"
"Yeah, I can't believe that it blew like that!"
"I imagine it was a BIG surprise. Did anyone get hurt?"
"No, I kept it on the road, but what are we going to do with this tire? It just blew up for no reason!"
"Well, Mr Customer, first of all, I am GLAD that everyone is OK. These types of catastrophic failures can be dangerous and rather un-nerving. It seems that you handled it rather well and stayed cool in a serious situation. Just give me a few minutes and I will have one of the guys break it down, and lets see what actually happened. After all, if this resulted from the way the tire was made, we can pro-rate that tire for you. Do you have a phone number I can call you at?"
"I am stranded at the moment, so I'll have to wait."
"Sure, unless of course, we can get you a ride to work? We'll pick you up when your car is ready."
"Great, I'll get some things out of my car!"
"By the way Mr Customer, did this come from the right rear?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"We just see %80 of these types of failures come from that position. I'll give you a call when we have things figured out."

Now, I have them all set up for me to play detective even though I know that the tire took a nail and destroyed itself before I call them. Remember those Explorer/Firestone blow-ups? That's right, they were mostly from the right rear tire and all that I saw were GROSSLY under-inflated. I am glad that I didn't work for Firestone!

But the point of the matter is to get the dissatisfied customer to relate to you being conscientious. Take the lady who was miffed at being held up. "I'm sorry maam, but I would have done the very same for you." would probably have difused the situation. No, that won't work for everyone but at least you made an effort to be pleasant. I can't tell you how many times I got accolades from those customers who had come in to fight for a new tire but had to buy one instead. Semper sucre!

 

[Mathematician]

If I got payed enough to care, I would have gone out of my way. "You get what you pay for" is something corporations should have to deal with as well.

 

[gnomon]

I would have to agree with Reverend Rick and Scuba Pete on a couple of points. One is that customers, and in my line of work, educators can quickly spread the word of poor service that will hurt business. It's better to respond with kindness. In most cases, customers are upset for a legit reason or a minor misunderstanding.

However, there are some instances where a customers action is inexcusable. Being a manager, I have on a few occasions told someone they could leave the store or just politely hung up on them. Anyone who becomes verbally abusive or physically threatening towards myself, an employee or another customer is no longer a customer but a disruption.

In the first jobs I held I would give back more than I got from rude customers. I'm surprised I was never fired. After time and having to deal with issues of stalkers, individuals groping themselves, shoplifters, solicitors...and even a man pretending to be deaf walking around in the store trying to get some money...customers irate over general service issues or just being snotty don't really faze me. Actually, other than the rare types listed above, it's the attitude of people who walk into the bookstore and treat it as a library, study hall or personal lounge that irritate me the most. They use the store's facilities and furniture, treat bookshelves and displays as their study desks, meeting tables or coffee holders, do not bother cleaning up after themselves and offer the employees no recompense but taking up the employees time away from legit customers.

But it's still a hell of a lot better than most other jobs I can imagine. I've accepted that many of my fellow Americans are basically spoiled and wish to be treated that way.

Sometimes when people have money they think that they are above others and can talk to them anyway they want to.

That's the key. Many people feel that as long as their spending money than they have carte blanche to behave however they see fit. The ********.

 

[Mathematician]

I think the disagreement lies in the fact a lot of workers aren't getting paid enough to care. If you're getting close to minimum wage, why should you be expected to tolerate such behavior? I do go out of my way with nice or even emotionally-mute customers. I've given a someone's kid 50 cents out of my own wallet just so he could buy bubble gum. I keep pennies in my pocket for whenever someone comes up a few pennies short. I double bag alcohol regardless of whether or not I'm asked to. I grab the reciept and give it to my customer so they can leave 10 seconds faster than if I put their money away first.

But if I'm not getting paid at least $8 don't expect me to treat someone kindly. When it becomes more gratifying to get fired yelling at a customer, it's the company's fault. I get paid less than Wal-Mart and yet I'm expected to give CostCo treatment [$11-13 dollars an hour]. Heck no.

And I'm not talking about little cases, either. Or when the worker is at fault.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If I'm getting payed $6 an hour I'm not going to be royal to the company.

And the funny thing is some companies expect brand/company loyalty for such low wages. When I was working at a gas station, one of my bosses pet peeves was when I would show up to work with a full fountain cup from Speedway.

But if I'm not getting paid at least $8 don't expect me to treat someone kindly. When it becomes more gratifying to get fired yelling at a customer, it's the company's fault.

I get paid less than Wal-Mart and yet I'm expected to give CostCo treatment [$11-13 dollars an hour]. Heck no.

IMO, 8 an hour is still abit short. I recently found out I should have been making between 9.25 - 9.50 an hour at the gas station, rather than 7,25, which I would have stayed for. By now, I would have been well over 10 an hour, maybe 11, depending on the trainer's bonus/salary cap. That somewhat covers all the bs that place makes the employees put up with, and I will never see a local job that pays that much.

I do kinda regret quiting my job at Dollar General's DC though. After just four years, casepack workers went from starting at 9.50 an hour, to 17 an hour, as long as they consistently met the minimum hourly rate. One benefit was not having to exceed it for a full raise.

 

[ChristineES]

The customers have no say in what the clerks get paid, so why punish them?

 

[Scuba Pete]

The customers have no say in what the clerks get paid, so why punish them?

Hear, hear!

Life is a collection of small decisions. The more diplomatic you try to be, the more diplomatic you will become! It's not just a switch you can throw when you feel like it.

If you agreed to do a job for a certain wage, then merely do it or find another, better paying job. There is no need to change your values over a dollar or two per hour. If you don't like the pay grade of your current skill set, build another (hopefully a more lucrative) skill set. I am in my third carreer and each time I try to do a bit better.

 

[Smoke]

There's been times at work where I've broken worker policy to get back at a customer. I'm not your slave. For example, it was relatively empty one time and this family with a crying child had about 30 items. I was in the fast lane and told them I'd take them. Well, this old lady comes up right afterwards and instantly tells them, "You know this is the fast line right? It's for fast orders." I told her [nicely], "I took them. It wasn't busy." She gives me an ugly face. After I'm done with the family she tells me, "You shouldn't have done that. Don't do that again." After I scan all her items, she looks down at her watch and remarks, "If you hadn't taken that other family, I'd be out of here by now." That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I told her, "I'm sorry, you can take it up with Customer Service. I only listen to my manangers." The look on her face was worth it.

I really don't blame the old lady for being irritated. There's no point in having an express lane if you take people with more. When I am king, express lane clerks who aren't busy at the moment will stand there waiting for the customers with ten items or less. I know some stores have a policy of taking anybody in the express lane, but I've always thought it was a half-assed policy.

I know what you mean about working with the public, though. When I worked in cosmetology, I had at least one or two customers a week storm out in a huff because I told them they couldn't leave their children unattended in the reception area while they got their hair done, and couldn't take them back into the work area, either. And a couple months ago I got tired of a woman's bad attitude and verbal abuse and told the stylist (who had already finished wrapping the woman's hair for a perm) to take the rods out of her hair because we would not be serving that woman that day or any day. When the woman refused to leave the premises, I called the cops on her. I have also sent customers out the door for refusing to allow a "white girl" or a "black girl" to do their hair, and constantly had to confront customers who were trying to get something for nothing. ("I didn't get a haircut, I just got my ends trimmed." Heard that one every day.)

 

[Smoke]

If I got payed enough to care, I would have gone out of my way. "You get what you pay for" is something corporations should have to deal with as well.

Well, that's the problem. These corporations pay scab wages and treat their employees like dirt, so why should the employee care?

About 3/4 of the time, if I ask a fast food clerk for ketchup, they give me ten or more packs. The teenagers who bag groceries at a certain store will sometimes put every single item in a separate bag, and then put all those bags into another bag. Unless I miss my guess, these are just subtle ways of taking revenge on the company.

But I don't understand people who are abusive to fast food clerks. It never pays to **** off teenagers who are handling your food. If I find it necessary to complain about something, I never go back there.

 

[Smoke]

The customers have no say in what the clerks get paid, so why punish them?

You have a say in where you do business, though. People who shop at Wal-Mart for the low prices have to understand that underpaid and disgruntled employees are part of the deal.

I have a tip for getting better service at fast food places, though: Never go in the evening when the high school kids are working. Always go before 3pm, when the old ladies are working. You'll get better food and much better service.

 

[ChristineES]

I can't argue if some people think that it is OK to be rude to poor people because they can't afford to shop at Sears or whatever and can really only afford Walmart. Nor do I even want to. Since I am polite to clerks, I think they should be polite to me, too. I sympathize with clerks who get rude customers, and I also sympathize with customers who get clerks who are rude for no apparent reason. If a clerk is rude to a rude customer or vice versa, then they are only lowering themselves down to the other's level.

 

[Smoke]

I can't argue if some people think that it is OK to be rude to poor people because they can't afford to shop at Sears or whatever and can really only afford Walmart.

I don't really buy the argument that people shop at WalMart because that's all they can afford. WalMart is chock full of items that are absolutely unnecessary for anybody, and if these people are so desperately poor, why are they wasting their money on such crap? We don't shop at WalMart, even though we could really use the savings, and we know people who make five times as much as we do, or more, and still shop at WalMart. When I did shop at WalMart, I never noticed that the other shoppers were limiting their purchases to rice, beans, and cornmeal, either.

But I don't mean that it's okay for WalMart clerks to be rude to WalMart customers. What I mean is, you have to look at the reality of the situation. One of the ways WalMart can offer such low prices is that they treat their employees like crap. It might be nice if people could be overworked, underpaid, without benefits, unappreciated, and treated like common criminals by their employers and still have a good attitude about their job, but human nature is such that those people tend to be in the minority. Basically, if you shop at WalMart you're making a deal with the devil, and clerks with less than sunny dispositions are part of the deal. When you shop at WalMart, you help to make such behavior profitable.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Yeah, I for one try to go out of my way to be nice to the clerks, the waitresses and all of the "little guys" of this world. There is no need to make their day any harder than it already is. I must admit that I have been rewarded for being nice far beyond my hopes or imagination. But then, I don't see civility and respect as something that I "sell" either. No matter what my pay scale, I try to be kind to those around me. No, I am not always successful, but my rate of success seems to improve with time.