Bitter? Me? Nah.

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Why is it that someone is deemed a coward for posting their opinions that is viewed by various users on the internet, even when it is public by definition? I get so peeved by people who have the audacity to say that I'm a coward for posting my views on various websites, especially when they are pullng a double-standard by doing the same thing themselves. So, what does that make you, you pious idiots? That's right -- a hypocrite. Seriously, if you want to make a good argument, start it off by basing it on logic rather than prattling on like an idiot.

Another thing that peeves me off is the fact that I am put in the position of doing till work by myself because I go through an overload phase when I am overwhelmed by the amount of customers that come in the shop. It blows. Why, oh why, do these f*** know-it-all kids who come up to me with questions as to what the colour of the sky is? What's the point? To make me look like an idiot? Please. Do I care what the colour of the sky is today when I am too busy working voluntary inside the shop, you dolts?

Oh, and I have recently realised that I can't do sweet FA to the customers if they are acting disruptive in the shop because of this stupid saying: "The customer is always right." So, if some unruly, disruptive teenager can f*** around with the merchandise while his family doesn't do f*** all to correct him, it's okay, and it was wrong of me for trying to be reasonable AND for taking his hands off the clothes rail he was leaning on. So much for discipline.

Heh, and my autistic friend suggests that I should get over my worries. Well, I would like to see him manage the till since he is so sure of himself.

Another thing that gets me is that people think I can "get over" my autistic-related problems. How f*** uneducated can you get then that? I argued this towards one of the people who manages the shop there, as well as getting paid, that autism is something that you just don't get over. Oh, but she can't spell, and I'm made to look like I'm making excuses for my mental handicap.

Meh.

Why do you get overwhelmed, PeaGuy? You need a hold button for the till, like they have for telephones. "The customer is always right" doesn't apply to everything, Pea. If they're acting disruptive, of course you can tell them off. But I don't think leaning on a rail is disruptive. If they ask stupid questions like that, just tell them to go outside and take a look for themselves or s**t. I reckon your autistic friend is right: You're only volunteering, why does it worry you if they're disruptive? Their questions can only bother you if you worry about being made to look stupid. Ignore them, tell them to go figure it out themselves or something. Why is it worrying you?

peaguy don't take this the wrong way but I think you need some counseling you seem to be taking things out onto complete strangers online.

I've talked to you in PM you seem like a good person, why don't you give it a shot?

thepeaguy,

i understand the frustration you feel doing customer service related work. i also understand why you feel the need to vent your anger about the crap you have to deal with at your job.

i think that the worst incident that happened to me, while working in retail, was the time a customer called me an "insulent little b***h." all i did was ask her to pay the money that she owed. what really pissed me off was the fact that i received a verbal warning off my boss for it! why? because after this crazy woman had gone on a five minute rant, listing all the things that she hated about me, ending with "...i hate your attitude, i hate this shop and i hate you!" i lost my ability to resist defending myself and replied, "oh, really? the feeling is mutual."

to add insult to injury, my boss let the the woman off the money she owed and gave her some gift vouchers on top of that!

when you are working in a place where the people you encounter treat you like s**t (even if they don't directly tell you what they think of you) everyday, it is impossible not to take some of it personally. the best form of catharsis i found was writing down every stupid thing customers said to me at work. now i have a notebook full of gems that people have said to me during my time in retail. i have toyed with the idea of putting them on-line somewhere, but i'm not sure if anyone - other than myself - would find them amusing.

oh and while i'm in rant mode, i may as well get this off my chest: one place where i worked had a damaged piece of carpet on the shop floor. the manager made several requests to the company's head office for it to be fixed / replaced as it was a potential health and safety risk (to customers and staff). well, one day a woman came up to me and claimed that she had nearly tripped over this piece of carpet. her exact words were "if i was an old lady and i had tripped over the carpet, i could've broken my hip." this confused me, for a moment, and i didn't know how to respond because she wasn't an old lady, she hadn't tripped over the carpet and she hadn't broken her hip. i apologised about the carpet (even though it wasn't my fault) and said that i would report the incident to my superiors.

encouraged by compensation claim culture, this woman decided to take things higher, herself, and complained to the customer care line. this resulted in me being told off by my regional manager because, apparently, when this woman had spoken to me, i "looked" as though i didn't care! the cheek of it! if he'd done his job properly in the first place and replaced the stupid carpet, the incident never would've happened!

well i hope that this woman who made a complaint about me enjoyed whatever free stuff she was given as compensation for someting that never even happened, because i nearly lost my f**king job over it! some people are so selfish, it really is beyond belief.

Yeah, customers are rarely right, but a lot of times managers seem to be in denial of this truth and bend over backwards to make sure the idiots feel "loved" enough to spend another $20 at the store. Managers are like bad parents who give in to every single temper tantrum, and give bigger and more substantial rewards as the tantrum increases. There is a wonderful comic that discusses the Retail Sector of the business world.



I do this, too. And I am eventually going to write a book filled with anecdotes of customer stupidity. I am sure there would be a large audience of people who would find such things amusing. And the ones with names to go with faces, like the idiot who THREW A CAN OF PAINT AT ME (it missed) and left his wallet on the counter...oh, revenge will be sweet.

Writing things out helps, so rant all you want. Anyone who has ever had a job ANYWHERE understands what it's like to work under an incompetent, and in the retail business especially it seems that the rate of pay is inversely proportional to the competence of the employee: the bigger the idiot, the bigger the paycheck.

I get overwhelmed because of crowds and having to manage the till on my own when I could really do with a helping hand from someone to alleviate my anxieties. Does that answer your question?



Really? Well I always thought that if some 14-15 year old chav who goes around the shop dropping the display signs and leaning on the rails while laughing his face off at the person behind the till -- me -- then he is clearly being disruptive, simply for for being a dick.



I did, but that doesn't make it less annoying.



Yes, he would be right if he had some experience handling customers, despite his difficulties, in that respect, and then I would pay heed to his advice. But since he hasn't been on the till, and he is only working there because I'm around and his mother forced him too, he has got some nerve saying that I shouldn't worry too much.

I might be volunteering, but I do take pride in the work that I do, and I don't want to let my superiors down. The charity shop exists to support hospices for those who are terminally ill, and it makes me angry that there are customers who would show a lack of respect towards the people that work there for a benevolent cause, paid or voluntary.

Tell me, Danlo, when you give out advice, is it because you had the same experiences, or is it to make someone feel stupid for having problems? It might look minor to you, but it isn't to me since you haven't dealt with my life daily. And besides, I have a right to vent my issues here because this is the appopriate forum to do so. How would you like it if someone told you that "you worry too much" for your issues? You wouldn't be happy then, now would you? Of course, you would probably give off a false impression that such things don't affect you since you think you're "above it all and nothing affects you". Save your Napoleon complex for someone that believes your BS; such people don't exist in the real world.

Oh, and thank you, Hecate, for sharing your experiences with me.

I just thought I'd chime in here to mention that there is a site for exectly this kind of BS, http://www.customerssuck.com There's a forum where you can post all your sucky customer stories, and read other people's which will almost always make you feel better.

I can't really give you a straight answer to your first query as I don't really understand why anyone would be called a coward for posting their views, if anything posting your views shows that you actually have the balls to put them across as that is what you've done in the first place, right?

As for your work I used to feel your pain. The whole thing about 'the customer is always right' is a load of BS. In my opinion, a high proportion of customers are a***holes, a breed of individuals who find it more difficult than most to be polite and are sometimes chavs who misbehave for their own amusement and everyone else's annoyance. In your case it sounds like the vast majority of the time they are annoying little chavs. I remember having to work in a clothes shop and, when I started there, the shop was having a major sale so we got loads of customers to the point where sometimes you couldn't move for people. The sorts we got in were cheeky chavs and ratty a***holes. Polite people were rare. And when I was manning the tills I would serve a large number of people in a small space of time and I found this stressful. We also had signs around the shop stating that those who wish to return an item should go to Customer Services not the tills. Of course you would always get several complete idiots who would come to the tills to return an item and when I used to say sorry Customer Services deals with returns, they would then (partly understandable I suppose) rant about how they'd been stood in the queue for 15 minutes blah blah blah. Now, I tend to just answer things honestly and a couple of times I would reply with stuff like 'and how is that my problem?' or 'you should learn to read the signs that are actually placed ALL OVER the store', my polite way of saying don't undermine me or shout at me when you're at fault. This attitude got me into trouble a couple of times but I didn't really give a s**t at the time. I was right not the customers and the shop was shutting down anyway so why they were worried about whether customers were going to come back or not was beyond me.

Oh and no you can't really 'get over' your autistic related problems, whoever thinks this needs a hard slap and to get an education as they obviously don't understand ASD's that well. You can adjust or adapt to stuff to the best of your ability and thats all that you should expect of yourself (as you probably know) so yes I can understand why this annoys you.

Make sure you title it and place it where the customers can see it.

In your case, I might give out advice to make you feel stupid for having problems. In this instance, it was purely to help. This is "The Haven", right? I have quite likely experienced a lot more than you have at the till, albeit on the phone. You try listening for 10 minutes to a grieving family member give their life story and pretending you care; being sworn and yelled at because the Coroner's Office promised the post mortem would be done TODAY and the body released in time for a funeral TOMORROW. I posted only because I think my advice would help you.
Something else for you to think about: What makes you think the kid knocking things over is laughing his face off at you? I know it sounds like a broken record by now, but you should take a step back and stop thinking it's an attack or similar directed at you. If you automatically assume it is benign, I'm sure you'd be a lot less worried by the kid knocking things over. Personally, I'd think the person telling me I "worry too much" was on something. I'd attribute my Zen-ness to the fact that I barely keep a consciously formed thought in my head. What a nightmare it would be if I listened to them. It's when I listen that things go awry.
Another thing, but I really dislike your attitude to people who try and help. You just reel off the insults, lacking entirely in tact and subtlety, intending only to shock and make people feel hurt and angry. What point is there in antagonizing people when you're in here asking for help? If I were to post a "thepeaguy" post, I would now be writing how you are only sympathy seeking, and how you should stop your incessant whining. It's not nice, is it? Yet you deal it out, ceaselessly, and are now expecting us to listen to you and help you out. It is a measure of the people who have tried to help you, even though you are so poorly lacking in reciprocation.

Yeah, this is the thing that really p***es me off. It isn't just something you could snap out of. Same with depression. It fills me with rage every time somebody who is having serious emotional problems is labeled as an "emo" as if the person could just snap out of it.