How would you feel if an adult treated your child or younger sibling like garbage over a soda? Customer service is the number one occupation in the U.S. many of the workers being young adults and teenagers. I am a sales associate at Holiday, who has to deal with people 24/7, and I’ve had my fair share of negative interactions with customers.
While working in customer service I’ve had several unsavory experiences, my most recent one being when my job switched to pre-pay only. This basically means you either have to pay for your gas at the pump or come inside to pay before you can fill up your tank. On each of the pumps there are at least 4 signs that let the customer know this. An older guy decided that he wasn’t going to read any of the signs and try to just fill up his tank first, which I have to authorize before he can.
Over the speaker outside I read off the spiel that my manager wanted us to say and continued ringing up customers but the man didn’t get the hint. I said it again and he still continued to try. He then moved to a different pump and did the same thing but this time the manager on shift had said something but he just wouldn’t listen. He came into the store yelling about our pumps being broken and how they needed to be fixed and when my manager told him again he stormed off. Don’t be like him.
Some customers aren’t directly rude, they just lack common sense. Aaron Byrd is an associate at Target and he has come across a few odd customers since working there. I asked Byrd when was a time when a customer grossed you out.
He said “It was my last customer and I was two minutes away from clocking out, and these two older ladies came to return five pillows. I asked her if she had a receipt and she said no so we used the card that she used to buy the pillows. She puts the card in the machine and pulls out a whopper. Yes bro a whopper!, and gives it to her friend and then she pulls out another whopper and takes a big bite using her purse as a plate. For each pillow I need her reason for returning and she takes a bite between each reason. When I got to the third pillow she took the biggest bite ever and the tomato fell into her purse. At this point I was over it and ready to go home. I did finish her return and but got off a few minutes late.” “That was the most disgusting thing ever and you know whoppers stink,” said Byrd when asked how the interaction made him feel.
In an article by Smiling Mind the author discussed the pressures that customer service workers face from customers. They say that customer service workers are burnt out from the verbal abuse, aggression, dissatisfaction and complaints about things that are out of the workers control. According to Smiling Mind, here’s how customer service workers can get through their strenuous days. Hold off on the multitasking because you are more likely to have an emotional reaction to something when you’ve pushed yourself too far, practice gratitude it doesn’t have to be the typical writing in a journal because who has the time to stop and do that during a busy work day just appreciate the little things that make you genuinely happy, and find a good way to decompress and relax after work.
When you are ready to check out at any store here are some things that you should consider doing so you aren’t “one of those ” customers. The first thing being don’t yell or be obnoxious when you don’t understand something. I promise if you’re patient and listen you’ll know what you need to know it’s not the end of the world. Second, don’t be on your phone having a phone call when you come to check out. Nine times out of ten you’re going to miss what the cashier is saying and we don’t need to hear you screaming on the phone at eight in the morning. Thirdly, be prepared when you come to the register because there are other people that need to be checked out as well and if you’re paying with cash or any type of coin make sure to unfold it and place it in the cashier’s hand. A major thing that will really prevent any bad interactions is to be respectful and have common sense, if you have those to you should be good.
