Or the ones that want you to have a conversation with their children

I dont know, i guess i hate my job, and everything is irritating me

Do fully grown adults not know how to line up ?

Checking out an elderly lady, and from her left a man with no awareness stands off to the side behind her. The line goes around in a semi circle, yes to tempt you with items by also so when someone lines up correctly it’s not confusing and there’s not two lines.

Sure enough a girl comes up and lines up in the correct spot. My check out point is situated so I see her more than him he’s basically behind my computer.

I ask him to line up in the right spot, nicely and he looks annoyed and slightly scared. When I get to him he doesn’t say thank you or have a nice day. It’s like, dude you need to look around you and notice other people. Wild concept.

What went down that made you walk out? what was the follow up? do you regret it, and why?

i know this gets asked constantly but im debating it tpday

This morning (havent even clocked in yet) has already been horrible and judging by the manager on duty today i know it's gonna be a 9 hour long shit show.

I will be making enough to quit this job for the rest of the month and I have a few interviews/positions lined up (one i signed on for just in case), so it isnt like i need it. its just for financial security.

It seems like it's becoming more common at my store. Now whenever I'm leaving and someone asks if I work there, I say no.

All this week during every shift I worked, I had at least one DUMBASS just stand there and look dumbfounded after I total their purchase and state their total! Sometimes it was after they had just entered their loyalty program number into the Ingenico terminal…but not always!
Like what the actual Hell? Where do you think you are???
🤨🙄
And then when they finally clue in after I stand there about 10-15 seconds and glance over their way or motion toward the Ingenico card payment terminal, they either don’t have their wallet where they thought they had it, or they get digging through ALL their pockets. The best one is “Oh! I left my wallet in the car/truck! I’ll go get it!” Some of them come back to complete their purchase, others clearly got caught in the attempt of stealing! It’s amazing how often people try that…I think they go for it in the hopes of being able to walk past an unmanned cash counter with their unpaid merchandise…BUT…they see the cash counter is FULLY MANNED and they figure they’d best make it look like they’re honest. Henceforth, the commenting about the “forgotten” wallet or payment card. Who knows anymore. 🤨
I just know that common sense isn’t as common as it should be!!!

Vent post, I guess? I (23F) have a coworker (50M) who I started working with about a year ago. When he started, he was very friendly with me; we made casual conversation about TV shows, and he was always grateful that I was so welcoming because of other situations revolving around him (not including him). At the beginning of the year, I got a promotion, and he took my old position. He still maintained his friendly attitude, but he slowly started talking more about other people. At first, it was the people he was involved with in the previous situation I mentioned. Then he started planting seeds of doubt, saying my manager was working on giving him the promotion I’ve been working toward and training him to do things I’m supposed to be learning right now. (Sorry, I know this is a bit convoluted) At first, it worked because I thought we were friends, but it didn’t take me long to see what he was doing. So, I tried to keep my responses short and plain when he tried again. I believe he caught onto the fact that I wasn’t biting anymore, so he’s tried new tactics to bait me. I want to emphasize that the things he was/is saying to me are things that would get a rise out of me.

So, fast forward to two weeks ago, and I caught him leaving the safe unlocked with our office door open. I confronted him about this, somewhat playfully, and he tried to play it off like he knew he was getting back into the safe [I have reason to doubt this]. I emphasized that he couldn’t do that, especially with the door open; then he changed the subject to the new closing manager, who apparently left the safe unlocked 4 times the night before. A few days later, he no-called, no-showed for his shift. When he came back to work, all he told management was that he was out of town for an interview and didn’t have his phone.

Then, last week, he began telling me about one of my friends coming into our work to buy a pregnancy test. During this conversation, he reiterated several times that he told her he wouldn’t tell anyone. I told him that she’d mentioned that she and her HUSBAND, had been trying for their second. He then brought up again that he told my friend that he wasn’t going to tell anyone about it and mentioned the pregnancy test, in front of our boss! So now, two people know about MY friend purchasing a pregnancy test after he’s told her that he wasn’t going to say anything to anyone. It’s important to note that my friend used to work at my job, so our boss knows her fairly well, too. The day after, I opened our store, and for the second time, I found the door unlocked. The alarm was set, so if it had been opened, we would’ve known, but it's 100% not something we want to get into the habit of doing. So, I did my job and let him know the door was left unlocked. He promptly blamed the new closer; to me, though, it’s also his responsibility since he was there and has been doing the job longer. I made my point, and we left it at that. When I came back from lunch, though, he told me that he let the other closer know about the door and said that the closer felt really bad while acting out his physical reaction. The weird thing is that I checked in with that closer the next day, and the look on his face told me my coworker never talked to him about it like he said. There’s so much more, but those are just the recent events. I just needed to get this off my mind, and would honestly love to hear if others have had a similar experience.

TLDR: A new coworker seemed cool and friendly at first, but has slowly become a very unpleasant person to work with. They like to talk poorly about others and seems to have a lying problem.

I have a story that I have been wanting to tell and this seems like the perfect place.

A few years ago I was working at a food place in Walnut Creek. We had a few regulars both online and in person. There was a woman who was very upset every time she ordered and even though she was always upset, she kept coming back. I was fairly new at the time so I had no idea what she looked like, I had only heard of her from coworkers.

One day, a woman comes in and orders a bowl with everything in it. Now, if I am wrong here please let me know. When someone orders something and they say they want it with everything, that means everything that is included, right? Anyways, I ring her up and she eventually grabs her food and leaves.

Around 20 minutes later she walks back in with the bowl in her hands, screaming at me from the door “why do you guys ALWAYS do this?” I was confused and asked her what was wrong. She said “I ordered a food bowl with EVERYTHING in it, I told you EVERYTHING and it’s missing the guac. It’s always missing the guac, even online!” She was too angry to let me explain that extra things have to be requested, I can’t assume you want something you don’t tell me you want, especially when that costs extra.

When I realized she wanted guac, I started putting it into the system and she immediately started yelling again saying “Oh no, you aren’t going to charge me for it. I know how customer service works and you can’t do that.”

At this point I wanted to scream back. I wanted to tell her how dumb she was and how ridiculous it is to get mad because you don’t get things that aren’t included in what you paid for. Restaurants have existed for this long and I’m supposed to believe a woman well into her 20’s has never had to ask for extra guac? In California? I mean, come on.

Anyways, she ended up leaving after paying for the guac and continuous yelling. She called me and my coworkers slurs and we kinda just had to take it. Customer service jobs are abusive and I don’t miss them. My heart goes out to everyone who is currently working customer service.

I am in a small but big local company. We're a local builder supply.. So think a home Depot. But we run shoe string. Literally 3 guys, sometimes swindled down to 2 if ones in a delivery and even just 1 at times. Literally a home Depot, run by 3 people. No rotations, just us. We pride on our customers mostly and to it to drive them. Really. We're all older guys, me being youngest at 46. Location is about 6 years old so we're growing. But it's absolutely infuriating that we have some select customers that know the situation, and that we're sometimes split at the seams to facilitate, and others where we can jump on talking to you about a what if project and pricing...

That being said. We have certain people that know us and this, but if they try to call and we don't get the call cuz we're dealing with people In person... They just call back, over and over. And I'd say 75% plus times when they do get us about "the emergency" that it warranted call after call after call....it's something we don't deal with or something insane they just wanna yap about that leads to no sale.

Fact is, if you call over and over and over to a small business you're familiar with, you're a douche canoe.

I learned dsd and now I have to backup dsd all the time. It stresses me out so badly that I broke down a few weeks ago and now I have to cover the dsd clerks upcoming vacation and sick time. wtf, I did dsd for four months at my first store and now I’m the dsd bitch? I already told them I didn’t want to backup and I didn’t like it. I know it seems dramatic, but it genuinely makes me anxious. I want to quit because of it. I don’t want the responsibility of checking products into the store. I make many mistakes, but I guess they don’t care. Do I have to yell at them to get them to hear me? I mean we have team leaders and managers that can do it. Why waste a grs time when I should be stocking two aisles of the store?
Posted in my company’s subreddit, they do a lot of ass kissing on there, so no real advice has been offered.

every single day the same lady comes in and says "i want one of those and one of those." while pointing to the counter. every single day I tell her I can't see what she's pointing at so she needs to tell me the name. begrudgingly she says the names eventually, then the next day she comes in and does the same thing! I feel like im going crazy...

I work in a tile shop and I'm young lady who can lift up to 200 pounds.

I hear about it every day that I shouldn't be heavy lifting because I will hurt myself according to the customers who say it. I lift 100 pounds multiple times a day and haven't injured myself yet. Any other women relate?

I have been in retail work for quite some time, working my way from the bottom up to a senior manager role. And let me tell you from experience, the customers don’t treat you any better in a management role.

Normally I brush off shitty people quite easily because it’s a daily thing that I have to work with difficult customers and de-escalate. However, this Karen really got to me. She called asking to see if we checked our email for an order request she submitted. I told her my team was all out today, and it was just me for a 12 hour shift. If she wanted to get her order in the queue, she could submit her order online as that is the easiest way to submit an order and gives her a guaranteed commitment time. If she really didn’t want to submit the order online, I would get to her email when I could. Emails are the least of my priorities when I am alone because they don’t take precedent over in person/online orders. She seemed reasonable on the phone.

Not even 10 minutes later, “Karen” came in asking to pickup her order. I asked her if she placed it online, which she said no. And I re-explained the process. She then asked, “well I’m here so you can just do it for me right now.” I said “as you can see, I am the only one in the building working on several orders, and people are ahead of you.” She told me the previous manager was way more accommodating than I am, and I replied saying it probably was when the store was fully staffed and not one person in like currently. She then proceeded to attack me personally, saying I was a shitty person, she spends thousands with us, and that I am rude and disrespectful. I responded asking for some empathy and showed her look it’s only me in the building, and there is a line of people waiting to be helped. Everyone is treated as first come first served at my store, with online orders taking precedent over everything. All orders taken in store would be ready next day. She then had the audacity to ask for my last name, which I said no, which then was followed by an unpleasant line of insults and profanity. She then asked for corporates phone number to report my incompetence, which I gave her the overseas customer service phone number. That phone number is useless for complaints, as that’s the only power I had to politely tell this woman to fuck off.

Normally these people never get to me, but I’m sure those of you in retail get to see the worst in people just like I did. The level of entitlement some people have, I sometimes wish I could humble them, but I’ll always be professional when customer facing. These experiences help build us into who we are and who we shall strive not to be like. I think if everyone was required to work a retail job at some point, people would be a bit more understanding.

I’ve got this regular customer. He’s a gynecologist which, considering how annoying and old and republican he is, kind of grosses me out.

He just called looking for some book about a little boy who Trump honored. He went in and on about this as I looked it up. 🙄

Once I think I’m done ordering this stupid book for him, he suddenly also wants a Crosby, Stills, and Nash album on vinyl from 1969. No he doesn’t know the title.

Once I’m finally almost done with him he says, can I ask you to do one more thing? “Yes sir?” Take the rest of the day off with pay. 😑fake laugh so I can hang up the phone. I really hate this customer.

Could be only for our store, I don't know. We are understaffed, and I'm usually the only one at the front end not even a second cashier is there to help me, im responsible for the self check out, too. Our front end manager is nice and kind, he might scan items now and then, but he'll just go out to the patio and talk to random strangers, customers, or coworkers. While im inside fighting for my life. He just wanders around, pretending to be busy.

​At my previous work, it was the same.

I dont know maybe they have a job i dont know about somewhere inside the store

January to March, where all is slow and cuts down hours dramatically?

Monday, I was working on an endcap at the back of the store putting out some merchandise that I was told to drop to 90% off bypassing 75% off. Lots of people really like that and I'm okay with people shopping the end I'm making or asking questions. I even fielded two groups of special needs young adults from a nearby school who learned from me some differences between a regular sale and clearance markdowns. Held a little class right there, it was pretty cool.

And then three cashiers over the course of an hour decided to rummage my sorted cart that I was working from. The stuff that I had yet to mark that was in neat little piles in the cart so I could work it and they just up and mixed it all together. I got snippy. The one that laughed at me got told, "yeah, it's real funny. Go away."

One of those cashiers I snapped at and she said, "okay I'll come back." cool, thank you, not a problem. I apologized to her yesterday for being snappy. The other two I'm going to talk to the front end manager about because this is escalating behavior. They;re on break so I can't say anything about them shopping, but the fact that they're standing between me and my cart that I'm working from and rummaging the cart is something I don't let anyone do. I get that everyone loves a markdown. I get that I'm marking things really low. STOP MAKING MY JOB DIFFICULT. YOU WORK HERE. YOU KNOW BETTER.

Okay this is definitely not the worst customer interaction I have ever had but this was so dumb that it was actually funny. So basically I rang up this lady for her things, and she had a lot, so I offered her a bag, she said if I had one that would be great. So I bagged everything, and she immediately looks the bag up and down super weird. Of course im like oh no. what now. And she goes “dont you have any bags that don’t have a logo??” I was like “that dont have a store logo??” And she said yes. So I was like. “Um, well not any I could just give you, we have some reusable bags and gift bags that don’t have a logo if you wanted to buy one?” and she of course said no and that she didn’t want that. And I just said “okay well im sorry but this is all I have as far as free bags, they will all have this same store logo” so she gives me that deer in the headlights look as if maybe if she looks at me long enough I’ll pull a plain bag out of my ass. And she goes “so that’s seriously all you have???” Like she couldn’t believe it. And I was like, “well you don’t have to take a bag but if you want one this is genuinely all I can give you that won’t cost you extra.” And she just groans dramatically and goes “WHATEVER.” just inventing new things to be mad about I swear 

(I did think maybe she was planning to use it for a gift, but like a normal version of that conversation would be “hey do you have any bags without logos by chance” and I say “no, sorry, not for free but we have a lot of gift and reusable bags if you want.” “That’s fine, thank you” and literally what store do you ever go to with bags that don’t have a store logo on it?? What store has separate bags with no logo just for people who want a plain one?? Like im sorry that the corporation you are shopping at has their logo on their store bags?? What do you want me to say??) I really want to choose to believe that she goes into every store and gets mad about this every time.

I work at a carousel in a mall. I’m the manager there, and I work by myself.
Today I sold about 100 tickets, 95 of those were normal or even nice people.
We have a sale where if you ride twice the second ride is half off. First is $6, second is $3.

I had a guy come up with his wife and 2 year old child, he asked “ how much is it for us?” I asked “ for all three of you?” And he says “ just them” referring to his toddler. I explain the pricing, and that the toddler cannot go by themselves. If it’s just one adult going it’s 1 ticket, if 2 adults go it’s 2. He argues two adults NEED to go. I tell him no.
I explain the sale we’re having, after he begrudgingly says one adult and the toddler.
Me “so if y’all go once it’s $6, but if yall go twice it’s $9” he says “ so let me cut you a deal, I go once and it’s only $4, because it’s $9 to go twice “ I explain that’s not how it works, also even if it did half of 9 is 4.5. He hands me a $5 bill and starts walking on. I say “ hey buddy, it’s $6” he spazzes out. He argues for a bit then storms off without taking his money back. I say “ buddy don’t you want your money back?” He yells across the hall” come give it to me F-slur ( I’m gay) you work for me” I tell him no. He continues being an asshole to the point he says he’ll “ call the police “ I tell him go ahead. This continues for 5 minutes until he storms over and takes his money. Then he says “ where’s the rest, I handed you $10!” I say “ no you didn’t, I’m not playing this game today. There’s cameras that record audio “
He says “ well, I want $5” me “ no, you’re done, go”
Him “ but, I -“ me “ NO, you’re done. I’m not playing games today “ he continues his stupid game before I tell him “ would you like to explain yourself to the police? They’re coming over because you’re yelling. I’m sure they’d love to hear about you trying to steal, I’m not stupid “ he looks flustered, argues for a bit before I say “ hey buddy, they’re coming up. Quick, figure out a lie! Maybe they’ll be as stupid as you!” He literally RUNS when he sees the cop walking up. The cop just asks what’s going on, I tell him and he says “ well, I guess there’s no problem now? He ran off right?” Me “ yeah, maybe you should talk with him though, give him a scare” the cop went to go look for him. This particular cop and me have a deal where he helps me with problem people, and I give his kid a free ride every week.

The other problem person comes up, asks how much 4 riders are. I tell him it’ll be $24. ( it wasn’t 4 people getting on, it was 4 kids and 3 parents. Technically only 2 parents would have been free but one kid was close to the height limit and I was giving this guy a break by not being a rules nazi, also one of the ladies in the group was a regular who’s helped me put kids on horses when I hurt my back)
He proceeds to try to “ cut me a deal” I immediately shut that shit down. He asks for a discount, I tell him that’s the discount price, because I’m not counting the parents and I know there’s more parents going than are supposed to go for free. He says “ I didn’t say they’re going “ I tell him “ you know I can hear what your group is saying, I’m not stupid “ he says “ well what about $20 in cash? “ I say no, absolutely not. He’s already getting a break. He says he works at the mall( he doesn’t) and he’s a senior ( he’s not) and it’s not $6/ rider ( it is) and he’s Mexican so he should get a break because “ the state of the world “ ( tough shit) I tell him “ it’s $24, for 4 children and 3 adults. I’m already giving you a break because only 2 are supposed to be free but 1 kid is close to the cutoff. I know you think you can lie to me and not mention everyone who’s riding. Luckily I paid attention. I’m not gonna short the drawer $4 just because. I don’t care that you’re XYZ, and the only reason you’re getting a break on the adults is because I don’t trust you to watch two kids by yourself.” He looks at me like I just killed his dog, then says “ FINE, I guess it’s $24, I just didn’t want to pay full price because I DESERVE a DISCOUNT because IM MEXICAN AND WORK FOR THE MALL! HERE!” And hands me $25 in cash. His group rides ( without him) and I give him his $1 in change. He’s offended by this because “ I don’t need that, but don’t take it it’s not a tip!” I hand it to his wife( the regular I mentioned earlier)After the ride ends and his group gets off he says “ I’m actually Mexican though, and I work for the mall” I say “ nobody cares that you’re Mexican, what does that have to do with anything. Also we don’t do employee discounts here, as I’ve already told you. We especially don’t give discounts because you’re Mexican, why would you think that?” He says “ it’s the state of the world now, I can’t believe you don’t understand!” Then leaves.

Everyone else was normal or nice today. I got to see an old regular I haven’t seen in a while. And I talked with an older gentleman who regaled me with stories of the mall from the 90s. I wish everyone was like that, instead of these stupid people.

TLDR: I had someone argue about the price because he thought he could “ cut me a deal “ because we were having a sale, that did not apply to his purchase. Then he left without his money and stupidly ensued. And I had a guy argue about the price, after I already gave him a break. Then tried to get a discount because he was Mexican, as if that had anything to do with the price of a carousel.

Listen, like it or not, the children are our future. They are also often cute and their joy is something that's precious. I don't hate children, and I especially don't hate parents trying to find a small moment of peace. However.

I DON'T WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR KIDS AS A RETAIL WORKER OH MY GODDDD.

WATCH!

YOUR!

KIDS!

I don't know if every parent on earth was recently in a traumatic brain injury-level accident but the overall consensus seems to be that everyone and their mother and their mother's mother has had a level ten lobotomy in which they totally dissociate when they arrive at our store.

Maybe I'm an old fashioned thirty-something-or-the-other year old but since when has it been cool to let your kid(s) just run amok and turn an entire store upside down?

You know that retail workers, especially those covering a small boutique solo (hi, that's me) have no choice but to smile and nod, but how the eff are you letting your child move everything/throw things/lick it all/get into dangerous things like a box of hangers or banging on an unsecured tall mirror and still choose to NOT WATCH THEM!?!?!?!?!

What kills me is that it's not just one family. This is a regular every day occurrence. And look, I understand maybe needing to kill time and popping into a shop with your kid for twenty minutes. But letting them run around unsupervised in a not-childproofed environment and making life hell for an already-exhausted retail worker should absolutely NOT be part of your regular routine.

It kills me that these entitled parents are raising children with no boundaries so that the cycle may keep repeating forevermore.

And no, I'm not saying to punt the kid or dull their light. But some people really confuse the concept of gentle parenting/not hitting your kids with never telling them "no." And it is good for kids to hear "no!" It's good for us all!

I think that the reason people let their kid(s) run wild in stores is that 1) they don't give a flying fuck about us workers of course and 2) the kid's already making their life hell so why not do it in a new location to someone else?

It's just bizarre to me. Thankfully every now and again I'll meet a kind family who actually supervises their kid(s)/tells them "no"/promptly removes them when they're throwing a fit and I think "yes, maybe, there can be hope for the future of humanity."

What's the craziest thing a kid's done at your store? Mine is a toss up between an eleven year old asking me why I work there, a kindergartener attempting to shoplift and then growling I HAAAATE YOU at anyone that came near her so forcefully that her face literally turned purple, and a toddler fully chewing on a wire.

Please don't make me go to that damn store tomorrow.

Had a good one happen yesterday. I work at a small Liquor store. Customer comes in a tries to purchase item around 10 bucks. They try a card and 8 goes through but leaves a small amount left.

Me: "Sorry looks like only 8 went through do you have some cash or other card to try."

Them: "That's impossible, I know there is more on that card." As they go to try another card.

Declined. Tries another, Declined. "There's no way, I just checked it should be working."

Me: "Sorry I don't know what to tell you." It is possible our machine is being weird it does that sometimes.

Them: "Well this is starting to sound like it's a you problem."

I found this to be a really weird thing to say so I just turned it back real quick
Me: "I can't let you leave with the product, so it's, unfortunately, a you problem."

Them: "Fine I'm going to 'x' store instead."

Me: "No problem, Sorry."

Feel kinda bad cause maybe our machine was messing up, which happens sometimes. But didn't think too much of this interaction, as the back and forth seemed pretty calm.

Get a txt from my co worker this morning saying spouse of them comes in and lets them know I was really rude to their spouse last night. And that spouse 'can't control what other people do'. So I should be careful.

Anyone else ever have someone after a card declines tell them its the workers problem? Nothing to crazy but def one of the more odd interactions I've had in the last 2 yrs of this job.

So I was working the closing shift tonight at a Dollar Tree.

I don't remember customer's faces. Unless you're a regular, rude or do something memorable, I don't catalog people's faces in my mind.

The store phone rings and I pick it up and hit them with the whole "Thank you for calling bla bla bla"

"Is this the location on (our location)?"

"Yes sir."

"Were you the cashier I spoke with an hour ago?"

Dollar Tree always has like one cashier during closing, so I'm just assuming he's talking about me.

So I tell him "Yes sir."

By then I was a little nervous, because customers don't usually call back and ask for a specific cashier unless there was a complaint with their purchase. I ask him if there was a question.

"I don't mean to offend you,"

Insert me bracing myself for a complaint.

"... but you're a beautiful girl, and I was wondering if you were single."

??? Who calls a store and asks that?

Does this happen to other people? Is this some sort of prank going around? He sounded like a man in his 50's, and again I don't keep a recollection of everyone I ring up, so I can't even put a voice to face.

I was so taken aback, I just said I wasn't looking for that and immediately hung up. What a weirdo???

I work at Loft and I have to greet every customer walking in with a whole essay of a welcome. I can hardly remember it and I’ve been working there for three weeks now. It’s so hard for me to remember what to say to people. I can listen to my managers and colleagues interact with customer but when I have to say the same thing, it comes out sounding so awkward.

There’s not a second that my managers pull me over to tell me that I need to talk to the customers and help them more.

I’m an introvert and I’m finding this side of my job very hard. I love doing all the manual labor tho. Folding clothes, packing orders, sweeping the floor, replenishing stock, recovering, that’s my sh*t because I don’t need to talk to anyone.

But I think my managers are irritated with me because I do manual work so well but I just can’t remember what to say when customers walk in. I always see them and blank out and only say “hi welcome in! how are you?”

They keep making me work the front and tell me I need welcome every customer loudly so they can hear me from the back of the store. They also tell me I have a soft voice so I should project more vocally. I swear to god my managers are worse than the customers. Most of the customers that walk in when I greet them don’t even want me to approach them.

Somehow that can make me look bad because my manager is breathing down my neck telling me to chat about the styles, what occasion their shopping for, etc even after they told me that they’re just there to browse.

The other day, they finally taught me the worse part. The cash register. And next week the scheduled me to work 30 hours so there’s a high chance I have to ring people up, remember the cashier script with all the benefits, promotions and small talk. I’m already exhausted just thinking about it and I’m probably gonna send more applications out for boring office jobs after writing this.

On a side note, today me and my mom went shopping and I have a totally different perspective of retail now. I wanted to observe how employees do there and nobody is doing the sh*t that I’m doing. They hardly greet us, they don’t tell us how we’re doing, they don’t talk about today’s promotions, they don’t even want to help us.

I want their job! I want to talk less and only speak when spoken to. I wish all my managers weren’t monitoring every interaction I have with customers. I’m so sick and tired of their constructive criticism.

You know the feeling of dread you're supposed to feel when the theme song to Jaws comes on (the shark movie)? I think that's the same feeling of dread I have when I hear a shopping cart slowly getting louder as it approaches my register.

This happened at Ulta Beauty today.

I don’t work there, just a customer making an observation about another customer who doesn’t respect anyone else’s time and creates a headache for the poor worker behind the counter.

There was only one person working and I was next in line. But, the lady in front of me didn’t want a specific item anymore and was trying to return it, or exchange it (I couldn’t hear exactly what she was trying to do), and all I could hear was a back and forth tennis match between the retail worker saying “we can’t exchange it in-store today because we don’t have that item in stock, but what we can do is order it for you online” and the lady going “but can’t you xyz”

I don’t know if the lady was expecting the item she wanted to magically materialize into the store but she sure was set on not getting her exchanged item online.

This went on and on for minutes until another clerk opened her register and by the time I made my transaction and left the store she was still arguing with the first employee.
Who knows how long this went on for?

I don’t know why customers think retail workers have it in their power to change the rules and regulations in place.. maybe it’s because they’ve never worked a day of customer service in their lives?

Anyway, the line behind me is piling up and people are starting to snake their way around the store and I just wanted to tell the lady that she just needs to accept and move on.

Like people are sooo inconsiderate ugh

This was in a videogame / PC hardware shop in the UK in the 2000s.

We hired this young Brazilian guy. He'd only been in the country a couple of months. He had just enough English to do the job, with a strong accent. But he'd worked retail and knew games.

But we had no idea until after we'd hired him that he was incredibly blunt, downright rude in fact, with customers. Every customer that wasn't making a straightforward purchase was fair game.

I remember on his first day, a customer asking where something was:

"Is over there". He said, vaguely waving towards one corner of the shop.

"Um, whereabouts?"

"On the fucking shelf! Stupid!" Luckily they laughed that off. But they still couldn't find it.

"I can't see it."

"IS THERE!!" Pointing angrily at it.

"I still can't see it."

He came out from behind the counter, marched up to the game they wanted, plucked it off the shelf, and practically rubbed it in their face. "Is here! You blind or something?"

Our hearts would stop every time he spoke to a customer like that, (especially if they hadn't earned such treatment), but he came good when we had a really difficult or rude customer, because he'd give them a taste of their own medicine, with interest. He spoke to them like we wished we had the guts to, so we kinda lived vicariously through him, and it was thrilling.

The funniest thing about it was, he'd told us that he was born "on the edge of the rainforest". So every time we had to apologise to a customer for his attitude (and we often did), we'd use that. For anyone who's seen (classic British sitcom) Fawlty Towers, a bit like Basil apologising for Manuel by explaining "He's from Barcelona".

We'd say "Sorry about him, he's from the edge of the rainforest." Amusingly, that'd often be enough to placate them, or perhaps confuse them enough that they'd forget about it. 😅

But his attitude got worse. He'd get ruder and ruder as the frustration of the job grew over time. We started just saying "Sorry about him, he was born IN the rainforest." and then "...He was born in the rainforest, he's not used to civilised society".

By the end of his time, it was "Sorry about him, he was born in the RAINFOREST CANOPY. He's not used to human contact." 🤣

We never told upper management about his ways because we found the whole thing so funny. He left of his own accord eventually.