Thought of posting this to 'Traumatize them back', but my response wasn't particularly traumatising and I don't think the Karen even really got it, so I want to vent.

Regular customers are a retail store's bread and butter, I know this, and after 5 yrs at this convenience store; I try to engage those folks personably as friends, not just clients. I try to remember their jobs, kids, hobbies and of course; their product preferences. I know, that if I see somebody coming in, and pull their favorite cigarette brands down, ready as they get to the register; they're going to appreciate my customer service.

Well, about a year ago, a Karen started working near-by to our establishment and chose us as her go-to cigarette stop. While I did recognize her face when she came in; after two or three stops, she seemed to expect me to know her orders ahead of time, and got a little huffy when I had to ask her what she wanted.

Again, it's been a year, so the other night she was disgruntle that I had to ask yet again what she did she want? (I knew it was cigarettes, and what brand; I just couldn't remember if she wanted 'longs' or 'shorts')

To respond to Karen's accusation that, "I should know this!" ...I explained to her that life and age, had afflicted me with 'short-term memory loss' which is a verified, medical thing, and add to that the high number of individual preferences people had every day - she wasn't so special that I'd remember her.

Karen counter-whined, "But everybody has memory issues!"

"Okay" I replied aloud, "I'm just trying to explain why I don't remember you."

I'd LOVE to not have memory-loss, but sorry Karen, I can't control it, just for you.

Im having a high fever with vertigo and my body is in so much pain i can hardly walk. I told my manager about it and she doesnt seem sympathetic about it. proceeds to scold me saying its too last minute (i texted her at 5am, my shift starts at 2pm). and when i tell her my symptoms, she ask me if i can come later. Got a doctor's note but manager still said to find a replacement, if not i have to come to work. I have 3 days sick leave from work. Doesnt reply me when i said i could not find any replacement and did not offer to help to find. im too exhausted due to my sickness, i couldnt sleep properly. What should I do..

So I work in service based retail. Customers come in for a service, not a product. I am semi-trained as this is a newer field to me. I work at store A, but store B needs extra help, so I volunteer to go do 2 days a week.

Today was supposed to be my first day at store B. I was supposed to get there at 10am, but I’m always early and got there at 9:40. Store is completely locked, lights off. I waited until 10, for a random woman who turned out to be an employee’s MOTHER to show up, give me a key, take a spare, and leave.

Nobody else is there. District manager texts me “good morning” at 10:01. I immediately called her, no answer. Sent a text, no response. Tried calling store A, no answer. Then there’s a knock at 10:05. A customer with an appointment. I had to turn them away, because logins are specific to location, and I had no login. Called district manager again, she finally answers, only to tell me that 45 mins before, both employees called off, and she can get me logged in remotely, but that I would be there alone all day.

Both employees were also new, and not managers. So the district manager wants me to be there, set up my login virtually, and take the other appointments, walk-ins, drop-offs, and all calls for the whole office, by myself. When I have only done 6 solo services alone at my other office and don’t even know where everything I need is located in the software yet.

No. I went home. Store B can suck my butt. It’s no wonder they only have 2 employees and had to get help from stores in other towns. I had to drive 30 mins out of my way, only to tell them I was not comfortable and was going home. Can you be any more unprofessional??

No, I can't walk around with you to find every item, we are short staffed and I need to help customers that need help in my own department. I'm not going to read the instructions for you all the time AND give you an in-depth explanation on how to use the product. I don't get paid enough to give you professional advice. If you can't follow basic directions, that's your problem. You are wasting my time and energy by asking me multiple questions in a row and giving me unnecessary explanations.

And some of the questions you are asking me aren't even related to my department, stop asking me questions that aren't related to my job after I tell you that I'm not in that department. If I figure out it's not related to my department, I will send you to someone else. There are some reasonable customers, but the majority of the ones that come to the store I work at are whiny, needy, petulant, and helpless. What? You can't imagine putting in the work yourself and demand easy solutions to problems that require more effort to fix?

And I can't always guess what you need with your vague descriptions of the products you want. Why don't you learn to be more self-sufficient instead of not lifting a finger? "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" . I wish we were allowed to teach customers how to be more independent rather than spoiled and helpless. Quit being so fucking spoiled and whiny!

I got scolded by my manager when a customer called to complain about me. I was so fed up with customers asking me if I work here, that I started saying no or saying that I dress up like an Ace Hardware employee for fun. Other times, I'd say yes in a really annoyed tone or give them a disgusted look. How stupid are you if you cannot clearly tell if I work here if I am wearing a bright red vest with keys on my neck and holding a clip board. I probably was a bit too abrupt with the lady that complained about me, but can you blame me?

She asked if I work here and I had enough, so I said no, then as soon as she walked away I said, "Ma'am I work here, if you looked more carefully, you can clearly see that I work here". I only offered my help after I felt bad about how stupid and clueless she is. Why the fuck are you asking me if I work here? I'm not allowed to say no anymore or else I will get in trouble..

Edit: Yeah, I admit, I was a prick. It's just a nuisance being asked if I work here constantly when I am stocking shelves.

Edit 2: This happened about 6 months ago and yes, in hindsight I realized I was an asshole in that situation.

Edit 3: I get why someone would ask if a vendor works there, but it's still stupid to ask if someone who clearly works there if they work there WHILE wearing the store's uniform. I stand by my opiniom that it's still a dumb question. Most of you defending the moronic customers are missing my point. If someone clearly works there and wants their attention, why not just ask for what they want?

BACKGROUND: Employee at a clothing store, 7 years.

CONTEXT:

1.) Recently, this customer checked out a luggage with me. There were lots of red flags like she handed me the price tag instead of bringing the luggage closer or setting the luggage on the counter. The department # matched, but I found it odd that it's a med/large size luggage but the price point is a small lugguage. I kept staring at the lugguage and debating if I should go to the luggage section to double check. But I also kept focusing that the department # is right and kept it moving. (It was also later in the day when I realized this woman has done this before expect with clothes. I caught it that time; my brain is so slow.)

2.) Last year, I helped ringed up a customer that had two shirts. I found it strange for one the shirts. In the back of my mind I thought, "Isn't this a brand sold at the other side of the store? It should be more than what the tag says." Again, I kept it moving.

(There was also another time a customer returned items. I questioned in my head why it was in a clear plastic bag when it's not an online order. It came from another loction, so maybe they did it differently there.)

MAIN TAKEAWAY:

Of course, looking back my intution was right. I'm so disspointed in myself. A mistake is a mistake and I'll learn from it -- how do I actually learn though? How do I grow my confidence? How do I stop being impatient (feels like I'm always in a "let's hurry up and get through as many check items/sales as I can mode"). Please tell me other people go through the same thought processs/I'm not alone. How do I learn to trust my intitution more? How do I stop being lazy and pause for a moment to check? It may just be clothes or an item but I feel like this carries to other aspects of my life. I also feels like it's a rookie mistake when I have been here for seven years. I hate the feeling the customers think I'm stupid and they feel smug for getting away with it. (But the times I caught the prices changes, I don't feel proud yet here I am replaying my failed moments again and again.)

Last night at like 11pm my mom told me she has to be gone for the entire weekend due to work, and that she needs me to watch the kids, so I have to call out(I already had time off for Saturday because I had plans but now they're cancelled) so this morning I called my boss and she told me it's last minute (6 hours before my shift starts) and that is have to find somebody to cover my shift, and that if not, I HAVE to come in. I told her I'd call, but we only have 2 other guys that could cover me but they're both off today and won't come in.(I don't blame them) What do I do? Cuz I'm not coming in, my siblings are young.

Update: My boss said that if I don't come in it'll be No call-No show(even though I called and communicated), and I said I'd have to just take the L. Bite the bullet an take it.

I just need customers to stop doing things. There's so many little things they do that are irritating.

So my list of customers need to knock it off (some may be specific to my workplace and country)

• Stop facing the bargodes towards me. I know you think you are helping, you are not. I know where the barcode is and I can find it faster than you can.

• Stop making me do four separate transactions for you. My till forces me to log in every single time. I have to type 14 characters every single time and it gets a little difficult when you've got people staring at you while you're trying to do so.

• Stop telling me you refuse to use the self-checkouts because you are deeply concerned about my job. Nobody wants to be a cashier, It is literally one of the worst jobs in the store. Frankly people who say that are usually the worst people on this planet.

• Stop seeing that I am not directly behind the till at that particular second and screaming out to the whole store asking if anybody works here. I'm like 3 ft away just doing another task because I cannot stand there and stare off into space the whole day, I will get fired.

• Stop waiting until you have already paid to ask me about a bag. Plastic is banned in our city and even if it wasn't businesses have been charging for plastic bags for about a decade now.

• Stop being angry with me because my company does not have paper bags and we only have reusable bags for $2. Trust me nobody that you can actually talk to has anything to do with any of these decisions.

• Stop getting angry when I ask you if you have a loyalty card with the store. I literally have to, It is my job, if I do not ask everybody I could potentially get fired.

Thank you all for coming to my TED talk about how much I hate fucking retail. Please list your customers need to stop in the comments we can all commiserate and be miserable together lol

So let me get started with my background: I work at a rather large Discount Shop in Germany and we stock about 5.000 Items in my store.

I have now finished my first year christmas and new years season in this store and holy ... customers are something.

We have a shopping cart reposit system and the carts get stolen from the property like they cost nothing. (each cart is about 400 ($415) to 700 ($727) Euros worth, with brakes that lock if you go off our property)

Otherwise customers aren't basic functioning humans either. There's no spacial awareness e.g. I needed to refill water thats about 700 kg (1543 lbs) of water plus the 250 kg (551 lbs) of palett truck we drive in the store (usually asking for Attention) and people still just go in front of me without seeing that this huge ass water pallet that needs to be put in place is right behind me and i need to stop in like seconds. If you then say anything there comes a "Why didn't you say anything". Ma'am or Mr I did before you went right in front of me and made it hazardous.

Otherwise customers aren't the brightest either like they throw obviously items that need to be in a refrigerator or a freezer anywhere but not where it stays cold. That usually accumulates to about 20 to 30 kilogram worth of food thrown out just because of that. For me it seems food has gotten to cheap (it hasn't) for people. They don't care about these resources anymore I was told as a child.

Well let's go on the the brightest of the bright one my absolute Highlight.

I'm a university student working partime there having the right sometimes to lead the shift due to personell shortages. One Lady went upt to me and asked about a diverse category of questions about the product she held in her hand. And I replied politley "Ma'am I can't give you the exact details about this specific product due the fact that I'm only a parttime worker. The information you can find sureley om the back side where all the ingredients and hazards are listed". This starting it all then she went on with "You need to know this you work here and I demand you to know it. I won't read what stands there this ain't good service. [...a lot more i switched off at some point..] I want to speak with the store manager" Now to understand this exactly i need to add theres the "Filialleitung" which is the Main-Manager of the store and then there are up to eight "Stv. Filialleitungen“ which are assistant managers and if you are leading a shift you automatically are one of the "Stv. Filalleitung". Since I was alone as manager for that shift she already spoke to the manager of that shift. I pointed only to the Name Batch that said "Stv. Filialleitung" and explaining "Ma'am we are currently on low personell therefore I fill todays post as the manager. Again I can't help you but if you would like to know more about the item just give it to me for a second and I'll read through to see if I can then anwser any of the questions you told me" as I'm quite young this lady didn't want to accept that I'm the manager for that shift and berading me about how unpolite it is that i don't awnser her questions. Be told she didn't want me to give read through the ingredients because "this wastes just her time".

Well all this accumulates to the next day where the actual main manager is there and I also and she storms right at him telling him in front of other co-workers how bad I am how I should be fired and what not. Well my co-workers that saw and overheard the conversation jumped in and told my manager that I was absolutely calm and did even offer a way to solve the issue. This making him aware of her general behaviour, asking me to check the cameras in the office. Him being very suspicious of her and trying to calm her down sending me away to talk further. Turns out a quick look into the security cameras this lady stole right in front of my eyes but i didn't notice it due to her constant screaming and berading. As i came back with the evidence she denied it and tried blaming me that due to my lack of service she forgot to show it at the check-out. Let's say this ended with me filing an official criminal complaint on behalf of the company.

Well that was my first year in this store. I was before in one very calm small store where I have never had such encounters and the maximum was the occaisonal person not greeting me at the cash-register.

I still think its fun there and it keeps you up but people need to learn manners urgently again.

I had a customer today and I simply can’t move on from the interaction. It’s currently 5am and I haven’t been able to sleep because of how mad it’s made me. I work in an outlet shopping centre, and work in a relatively ‘high end’ store (most things at a retail price is $130+, but we usually sell it for 50% off) I am 22F, and occasionally work as the supervisor when all my managers are away. I am a short and the most least intimidating person so I feel like sometimes I’m taken as a joke. I had one of the girls dealing with this man and his mother (I’m assuming, he’s like in his 30-40s and she’s in her probably late 60s) and she was telling him how we don’t issue refunds unless the item is obviously faulty and a factory fault. Again, AS AN OUTLET SHOPPING CENTRE THIS IS NORMAL. You are shopping for a good price and you’re basically getting second hand items that couldn’t sell in a main store. We offer gift cards and exchanges, but not refunds. It had gotten to a point where the girl dealing with it had to pull me in because he refused to listen to her and became quite hostile. I reiterated the policy, and he understood it was on the receipt. However, he believed that it should be written else where since once you’ve bought it your locked into that policy. Now I can understand where he’s coming from, HOWEVER, the only reason we don’t have it on the counter is because customers were PICKING IT OFF OF THE COUNTER and my manager is on annual leave and none of us know how to order it in. He claimed to have tried it on in store, bought it, put it on at home and realised it’s too long. Now, quite frankly, that’s not my problem. You’ve bought them at a good price, you can get it hemmed and it’s still cheaper than you buying it full price with the right length. He refused the gift card because he couldn’t use it online, and the next store available is 40 minutes away. You have 5 years to use it. I kept telling him I’m sorry this is my policy, you only get a refund if it’s faulty. He got a bit sassy with it and said ‘then I’ll make it faulty’ like ???? HELLO? DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF???? I ended up having to issue the refund because 1. I’m not dealing with a grown man who spits the dummy and 2. You’ve come to do this with your mother who is just as insufferable, I’d rather not go back and forth with 2 children. I’m visibly unhappy, and to really dig into the situation I said ‘I hope you understand I don’t know what could happen to me now, considering I’m going against my store policy’ they didn’t even bat an eye. I could get fired if my managers were like that, and thank god they’re not. As I’m doing it the mother is chiming in saying ‘obviously your system allows you to do it’ YEAH KAREN, FOR FAULTY ITEMS YOU STUPI- whatever. BARELY scraped a thank you from them at the end, and the girl with me is saying ‘don’t shoot the messenger, this is our policy we don’t make it’ and they go ‘no we understand that and we’re not shooting the messenger’ hello? Are we apart of the same conversation? You just bullied a 22 year old retail worker into giving you a refund when you very much don’t deserve it because the item was literally perfect and again, YOURE SHOPPING OUTLET. I just hate how people have the nerve to treat you like absolute shit, get what they want, and don’t even have the humanity to treat you like an equal or give you a ‘thank you, I’m so sorry for the trouble’ when they act like you’re scum. I hope they get 3 flat tires and insurance doesn’t cover them.

Working in retail has become almost impossible. These corporations pile on unrealistic expectations, breathing down our necks for sales quotas, customer satisfaction scores, and continue to leave us understaffed and over worked and then turn it on us like we're the issue.

To make matters worse, customers treat us like absolute garbage. They are disrespectful and rude. They are entitled and refuse to listen to anything we say. Call us every name in the book if we can't satisfy them. We're expected to absorb this abuse with a smile, further draining our mental energy.

The constant stress, pressure, and emotional exhaustion has turned retail into a never-ending nightmare. Many of us are burning out, feeling undervalued, and questioning our self-worth.

I wish corporations and customers would recognize the human cost of their expectations. I'm tired of clocking in every day and doing the best I can just to clock out feeling numb and questioning why I even bother working retail anymore.

I have a new job working in a betting shop. I've only been there for 3 weeks and I'm doing okay but obviously I have a lot to learn.

Today was quite busy as the betting shop is quite a busy shop anyway but it's also Saturday. I had a good day and was proud of how I handled situations despite still not knowing the job fully.

Towards the end of our shift I was the only cashier as the other cashier was doing a cash declaration to sign on her till. I had three people around me trying to put bets on. This one guy was waiting and another man ran up demanding I put his money on and I saw that as his race is about to start and just quickly put the bet on. This had happened multiple times in the day with lots of different people and customers seem to be okay with letting other customers who were in a rush sort of push in.

During this process I got a bit flustered because it was busy and the guy that was originally at the counter missed being able to put his bet on. When I noticed him walk away I said sorry and I felt really bad. He then started saying things like "no. You were ignoring me and taking his money over mine like my money is nothing and now you say sorry"and he was quite rude. This was also a customer I had been serving all day and he also knew that I was a new starter.

I got an adrenaline rush which made me cry so I went out the back just to pull myself together. I could hear him shouting things like "that b**** didn't take my money" which obviously made me feel worse.

I completely understand why he was upset and I genuinely feel bad but I can't imagine speaking to someone the way he spoke to me.

The thing that upsets me the most is I just couldn't stop crying. Every time I thought I'd calm down and I was okay, I would tear up again. I cried all the way home for about an hour and a half.

This is my first proper bad day where a customer has been like this with me. I've had customers get annoyed with me but not on this level.

I just wondered if anyone else fancies sharing a similar experience or even just having their own little rant? Just so that I can rationalise it and see that it isn't just me being completely useless.

I had an extremely frustrating and seemingly fraudulent experience with The Children’s Place, and I’m curious if anyone else has dealt with something like this. Here’s what happened, step by step:

• 11/5/24: I went to The Children’s Place store and made a purchase, buying multiple sizes of items to ensure they would work for my family.
• 12/4/24: I returned to the store to return the sizes that didn’t fit. When the cashier tried to process the return, they claimed they couldn’t because the receipt showed a card number (last four digits) that didn’t match any of my cards. I was confused and told them I did have the original card I used, but they refused to help me. They said they couldn’t give me store credit either and handed me a card with their customer service number.
  • I went home, printed my credit card statement, and confirmed the purchase was indeed made on my card. I called the store manager, who still refused to help and said I had to call their customer service number.
  • I called my credit card company to file a dispute, submitted a complaint with the BBB, and opened a support ticket on The Children’s Place website. The customer service phone number (1-877-752-2387) was useless—it disconnected after saying they had high call volumes.
• 12/4/24 - 12/31/24: I called their customer service number at least 10 times a day during business hours, but no one ever answered. Every call ended with the same automated message saying, “Please call again later.”
• 12/9/24: I received a response to my BBB complaint stating that their district manager would call me to resolve the issue. That call never happened. From the BBB post, it seems they considered the matter resolved simply by saying they’d call me.
• 12/31/24: I finally reached a live customer service representative after nearly a month of daily calls. However, they only offered me a $30 reward credit, even though my purchase was over $40. I told them I have no intention of shopping there again, so the credit is useless to me.
  • They also said the issue couldn’t be resolved because it was an in-store purchase and over 45 days had passed. I explained that the in-store manager told me the only option was to call customer service, yet customer service was now telling me the manager could have resolved it but didn’t.

I’m left feeling helpless, frustrated, and like I’ve been scammed. The lack of accountability, the misprinted receipt, and their conflicting policies make no sense.

Has anyone else had issues with The Children’s Place? Missing or incorrect receipt details, unhelpful store staff, or being stuck in an endless customer service loop? How did you resolve it?

I'm a cart pusher. I've posted quite a bit about my job experience here, but I haven't done so in a while, because it's just been the same old shit.

Well, today, it started raining about 1.5 hours into my 11-6 shift. It was mostly a low, steady drizzle punctuated by moments of downpour that caused me and my coworker to retreat into the bay. We were getting soaked over time.

I started telling my coworker that I was seriously considering clocking out at 2:00 PM and putting in PPTO (protected paid time off) for the rest of my shift, because I didn't wanna go home and then come back to this. And I was cold and wet and just miserable.

After a while, I heard my notification alert sound go off (Bella Thorne saying "Huhuhuh, fuck your ass" in her song, "Pussy Mine"). My phone routinely doesn't connect to the store's shitty Wi-Fi, and my mobile data was turned off, so this could only be a text message. Perplexed as to who would be texting me, I checked, and I figured it was probably a team lead at the store. They told me to see them before I left.

So I walked into the store (I was already in the bay), and, sure enough, the team lead that often gets on my case about a lot of stuff (including checking my phone while on the clock, even though my coworkers are much more brazen about their phone use) was waiting just inside the door.

She asked if I was leaving. I said probably. She asked why. I said I was cold and wet and miserable. She said we've got raincoats and stuff. I mentioned I've used that stuff before, and my clothes got just as wet. She said, if I have to leave, I need to let a team lead know, not send [coworker] "as a messenger". Which...I never specifically told him to tell her; I was merely letting him know, so he'd have the information.

She also said an assistant manager wanted it made clear that I'm not supposed to walk over to Circle K during my breaks. She said she's observed me doing that a lot, and she said there's "just no way" that I can go there and come back within 15 minutes. I told her that I just grab a drink or a snack and use their self-checkout. She was like "Oh, okay, well, I'm just passing along the information." I asked her why I couldn't go to Circle K (it's a quick walk through a path in a very short forest between our parking lot and their backyard). She said no one is allowed to leave the property during a break. (I've been doing this lately, because I find it counter-productive to give my money back to my employer, and I just want to avoid being in the store as much as possible.) I told her that my mom (who used to work there) would leave the store on her 15 and go home if she needed to do something. The team lead smiled and said she loved my mom, because she was "fiesty" and told the customers what to go do with themselves.

This immediately rang false to me, and I informed her that my mom was fired (in late 2015, I believe), because she was on SCO, and she and a customer had a dispute over something, and she told the team lead, privately, "She is lying." The team lead twisted that into my mom calling the customer "a liar". She was taken off SCO and put on a register until the manager arrived, during which time, she informed me of what had occured and that she might be in trouble. She was eventually called into the manager's office and fired, which she then informed me of. So, yeah, they totally just wanted to get rid of my mom. When I finished my story, the current team lead basically just said "I'm sorry." Don't know if she was sincere, though.

The team lead said it was up to me if I wanted to go home, and they have enough coverage. I asked her how long that the rain was supposed to last (I don't want to use PPTO needlessly). She said it was in its last bit, and, by the time that I got back from lunch, it would be over. I decided to leave for the day.

Spoiler alert: it's still raining.

I absolutely despise when a customer is mad at me for something ridiculously stupid even though it's store policy and usually a perfectly reasonable rule and asks to speak to a manager, then when the manager arrives they give the customer exactly what they want and suck up to them, even though they are literally not allowed to. It's even more annoying when the pest of a customer gives you that stupid smug look afterwards.

I used to work at a McDonald's and the managers expected you to call in for someone to cover your shift if you are sick. I should not be expected to call anyone, let alone have their numbers. When I call you saying I'm sick, that's when YOU find a replacement.

I have a giant bright sign that says "This checkout is closed" yet I constantly have people asking me if the checkout is open. What do you think?

Every year during the holidays my small business gifts our clients Sugarfina gift mailers and we spend a pretty decent amount. This year, as I started the gifting process I purchased $250 worth and received free shipping (sent directly to client). The very NEXT day, I added the same amount/items to be sent to a different client and the shipping minimum changed to $300. I emailed Sugarfina about this and they responded by saying they change their shipping minimums closer to the holidays ($300 minimum for free shipping on CANDY seem crazy). On top of that, I signed up for their marketing texts/emails and none of the codes even work (their website is also super glitchy). They currently have a promo right now to get a free gift with purchase of $160 so I added the code and noticed that the "free gift" is a Halloween item. I'm spending $250 per order + $34 on shipping for holiday gifts in December and your "free gift" is an unsold/sale item from Halloween?? For a "luxury" candy brand, this years experience has been very disappointing

Is it just me or is there always at least one customer a day that always gets an attitude over the phone? We have some guy call in six pizzas and asked to pay over the phone. And we are not allowed to take payments over the phone anymore because of our new online ordering system. And we are told to "redirect" them to use that system. So I ended up telling him that and he basically said "well Domino's let's me pay over the phone." Like we're not Domino's. And Domino's is a big corporate while the store I work at is a family-owned business. So of course we're not going to have the same policies. Then the God decide to ask if he could pick him up and then get someone to pay later. I would think it was common sense that we can't do that because the fact that he could steal them. Then he decides to ask for a manager. And when they start asking for a manager and the owners there were supposed to give it to the owner. So I gladly did. in according to the owner he went on a whole rant on how he should be able to pay over the phone and what happened to customer service.

Like we were willing to make his pizzas he would just have to order them online if he wanted to go ahead and pay. To me it's just honestly getting ridiculous

This made my work a living hell. I can't take it anymore but no other job is calling for a fucking interview and if it wasn't for this damn smile thing I would even love my job For more context read one of my previous posts about me ranting for being told to smile more

Constantly, 1 coworker will walk away to go to the bathroom, and other coworker will walk away to go talk to the CSM, leaving me to be the only cashier. I never say anything because i don't like confrontation. But it's like, one of you can wait until the other has done what they need to do

Or 1 will walk away to do whatever, and the other will step away to talk to a customer.

I can't go to anyone because they're tired of listening to me

Why do you need to keep walking towards employees (with a mask) who are already 2 feet close to you? Or point your fucking finger a few inches away from someone's face wearing a mask to ask if that's the right direction? I have to physically block some people from getting too close with my cart.

I'm already sick and these people keep walking way too fucking close just to ask a question.

I'm sure as many of y'all are aware, in retail, our companies/management require us to bring up add-ons such as extended warranties, store credit cards, membership rewards, etc etc. It's not necessarily something we WANT to bring up, but nonetheless we're REQUIRED to as part of our job, with some of us even being graded on the number of conversions we get, etc.

This has happened a lot during the entirety of my time in retail, but it's always especially apparent when it comes to the holiday season, which is a retail worker's favorite time of the year (/s). A customer will come in, buy product x,y,z, and when I'm going through the motion of selling them the product(s), I am required by my company/management to bring up the aforementioned things like extended warranties, store credit cards, membership rewards, etc etc. And then the customer will just straight up cut me off all rude like or give an extremely rude "I don't need any of that✋🏻" Have you never worked a retail job before? Have you never been graded on quotas or conversion rates before? Because it clearly shows...

At this point, just order the damn thing online and pick it up in store or straight up have it delivered to you if you're not willing to allow employees to do their job or straight up disrespect them but cutting their sentences off.

Me telling customers which side of the store something's on: "It's against the back wall/next aisle over/other relevant location." points to indicate direction

Customer: clutches pearls "Don't point!" Apparently physically gesturing to accompany my words is being rude, rather than an attempt to communicate clearly.

On the flipside we have....

Customer: "I want that one." points from far enough away that I'd have to share the same physical space as the customer to see which shelf they're pointing at, let alone which item

Me: trying to mentally math which of two things in the third row customer was pointing at "I'm sorry, I can't tell which item you're pointing at."

Customer: "If you open the cabinet I'll point to it."

Uh, no.

Me: "What do you want me to get out of the cabinet?"

Customer points again. This time I can see he's pointing at the second row but am still unable to mentally math the angles for products that are next to each other.

Me: "Can you please tell me what product you want me to grab?"

Customer finally walks up and touches the glass door (edit to add: in the exaggerated motion of pulling his entire arm back to stab his finger at the glass)... and the products are small enough I still have to fucking ask him which of two hanging centimeters apart he's even pointing at! And going off the look on his face you can tell he thought I was the one making it unnecessarily difficult even though I never stopped him from just speaking.

So apparently pointing is polite communication and using your words (or expecting others to) is incredibly rude.

.

I mean... I'm no linguist/behaviorist/whatever. Have I just completely missed the point of pointing all my life?

I’ve worked at a beauty section in a certain Canadian drug store for three years now and I am not okay. I don’t know what’s worse, the toxic management or the toxic customers. Every day that I walk into this store I just feel so sad and discouraged. Nothing me or my coworkers do is ever enough, we’re never told that we’re appreciated despite bringing in most of the money yearly in store and having the highest customer service ratings in all the departments. I need to post about this because I feel like I’m going insane. I went to post secondary school so I could find a non retail job that pays well enough but I don’t have 5 years experience in my field so I guess I’m not hireable even when I lie about my experience lol. I went to school for graphic design and the program I took covers social media and marketing so I’m essentially being exploited to run the stores social media account while not even really being paid enough to make my student loan payments. I’m just truly at a loss and I’m struggling with depression. Most days when I wake up to get ready for work my body feels like it’s 1000 pounds and I feel like I’m moving in slow motion. My mental health is bad enough that I could take a leave but I can’t afford the pay cut that comes with it. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up for before I lose my shit on an entitled customer or before I commit toaster bath in Minecraft. I’m losing money because I keep leaving early because I can’t handle being there. I just really don’t know what to do.

Why do some people think it’s okay to stroll in 2 minutes before closing and act like they have all the time in the world? They see us cleaning up, turning off lights, and still say, “I’m just browsing.” Then they get annoyed when we remind them we’re closing. Like, no, I don’t want to stay an extra 20 minutes because you suddenly needed a last-minute shopping spree. Respect the hours, please.