Current Events > Retail Workers: What little things do customers do that just annoys you?

(+) Yeah! (+)

NatsuSama posted...

Returning_CEmen posted...

Trying to get your attention by whistling or making a noise as if we are dogs.

I ignored these people.
Best part, since i was the manager, when they asked to speak to one and why I ignored them, i responded.."Sorry, I thought you were calling your dog because only a pet would respond to that."
They sometimes asked for the district number and I happily gave it to them. I was never afraid of corporate, that and I never got in trouble anyway.

I ignore them too
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iosifsvoboda posted...

Let me guess you guys also get pissy when someone gives you extra money so they can get a 5 or 10 back instead of 4 or 9 or pulls exact change out of their pocket and says "I guess it's my lucky day

If you get the money right away, I don't care. But digging in every pocket, every wrinkle in your purse, asking your wife/husband/etc if they have a few more pennies to avoid getting a dime back drives me up the wall.
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Side question: How do you all feel about the potential robot takeover of retail jobs?

Cleo_II posted...

Side question: How do you all feel about the potential robot takeover of retail jobs?

For grocery, I can't see it happening. At least, not until it's much more highly advanced, like 'scan a group of items all at once' advanced. People with more than just small orders are still too dependent on the traditional conveyor belt and cashier. Even those with small orders who use self-checkout, they're too dumb to follow step-by-step instructions.
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So many cranks in this topic.
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I don't work in retail anymore but when I did I didn't realise I could hate the human race so much.

"We close at 5:30"
Customer comes in at 5:29 and does something that takes at least 5 minutes.

Customers arguing that they've had to spend so long in the queue, who then don't have their stuff ready.

I had my first job at a supermarket when I was 17. I'll never forget the first few days where I was always with 2 guys in their 40's and instead of asking those 2 experienced, management level guys for help, customers would always ask me, the clueless 17 year old.

"It didn't scan, it must be free."

Oh, you are so clever, this is only the 246th time I heard that joke this week. Asshole.
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Autoparts here.


Generally speaking, people come to us because they expect we have some degree of automotive intelligence, so there's at least some sort of respect. This generally helps with customer interaction, because they just want someone to help out, and we happily provide it.


Unless it's a know it all DIY "mechanic." Claims to know more than you, and scrambles for any sort of superiority the moment their knowledge is challenged. Like a slap in the face, these masters of duct tape and WD-40 will stammer and regurgitate obvious, unhelpful, otherwise useless information about their cars, to prove to us that our database is wrong, and that we don't know what we're talking about.


The other really annoying customer is the one that gathers all their parts, then when told what their total is, asks us to hold on so that they can get their wallet from their car. Meanwhile, the line behind him shifts and ambles closer to the counter, leading to the awkward explanation of what the brain dead moron before them actually did.
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Manager at a full service car wash here. I could go on and on about the cesspits a lot of people feel comfortable driving around in, but I'll stick to people problems.

People on the phone. I kind of get it at a grocery store where you can largely avoid talking with employees, but buying a service requires some minimal amount of interaction, especially at our business where personal interaction is a selling point.

Not organizing your vehicle ahead of time and getting upset when we don't take all the stuff out of your car, vacuum around, and put it all back in.

Expecting a professional detail job for 17 dollars.

"You must be new to this job."
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Elmdor043 posted...

NocturneD85 posted...

At my job...

Customer: Do you work here?

*looks down at standard work attire and name tag*

This you?

Nope. But I can feel for that man.

Leanaunfurled posted...

If this was /r/IDontWorkHereLady, they'd then go marching up to the nearest manager to demand they fire you immediately.

Sure fire me at a job I don't work at. lol.
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I want to add a little more to this list.

-People who use the motorized carts but leave the cord dragging on the floor behind them.

-Our store bought some new style of shopping carts that are smaller and more confidante for light shoppers. Apparently kids like hang off of them still or just sit in the basket underneath which is not allowed and also dangerous. Most of the time when I tell them it's not safe and the parents will agree enough for the kid to get off, there were only a few cases were the adults ignored me. For that I just walked away thinking, "If your kid gets hurt it's your fault. I already warned you."

-I usually work ice cream sections and it's a nightmare to get any stocking done because everyone plus their grandmother decides to stop through there at the same time. Plus it's a smaller isle compared to the other ones for some reason.

-Someone throwing a food wrapper in the toilet. Don't know how they got it passed the door sensor but now I know that thing is useless.

-Half eaten food thrown or hid behind my items by customers. Obviously not paid for.

-Hot food thrown in the cold section and vice versa.

-Getting phone calls from customers for the dumbest things. People will call my department 80 percent of the time for left over boxes that we don't smash or cut up almost every day. This Easter we had a huge sale on eggs and had enough cardboard boxes to build a house with and no one wanted them. Once we tossed them, that's when the calls start up again.

-Customers who ignore the "we are now closed" announcement and continue to shop for another 5-20 minutes until finally confronted by the manager.

-Customers that insist they got an item at the exact same store the week prior despite the item in question has been taken off the market two years prior.
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"We will be closing in 15 minutes. Please bring your selections to a register"

That means pay now and get the fuck out before those 15 mins are up. It doesn't mean you have 15 more mins to browse.

TheVipaGTS posted...

"We will be closing in 15 minutes. Please bring your selections to a register"

That means pay now and get the fuck out before those 15 mins are up. It doesn't mean you have 15 more mins to browse.

stop running registers at closing time. they'll learn.

will never happen, though, because you won't get their money.
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This makes me glad I never got into retail.

...Well, I almost did, when I had been unemployed for too long, but luckily I got something in my field.
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Super Slash posted...

I work at Walmart in the toy department.

- Customers coming in the department just to fuck around. Literally. They'll pick up a laser sword and/or foam sword and just go to town, sometimes knocking things over in the process, but even if they're not, they're still being loud, obnoxious and distracting. What's even worse than that is when they'll take skateboards off the shelf and ride them up and down every aisle, or do the same with a bike, or take a Ripstik out of its box and ride it all over the place. I've had people absolutely refuse to stop and just give me a smartass look/remark when I try to get them to stop. I've also witnessed customers bouncing the inflatable balls up so high that they'll knock ceiling tiles off to the floor, or even bust a light attached to the ceiling. Irritating beyond belief. Don't do this in retail stores, people; you're distracting us from our work and making it harder and it's annoying as shit.

I work toys and electronics at super target and this is what makes me rage every day pretty much
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Is there anything that doesn't annoy retail workers? All I ever do is seem them complain.
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Guy comes up to the register today with a fidget spinner. The box is a little banged up but the spinner is fine. He asks me if I can give him a discount. I said no. He got mad and left. Whomever said the customer is always right was full of shit.
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Bringing your own bags, full stop. They don't fit in the turnstills, and are generally a pain in the ass to use. I have a coworker who had a customer that waited until she'd bagged everything in plastic to insist it be moved to her reusable bags.

And I work in the garden center of Walmart, so we're not constantly manning the registers back there, we have other shit to do, and people just walk up to the register and stand there stupidly like one of us is going to magically pop up and start ringing their shit out.

Oh, and our registers don't have belts like the ones up front do, so add "Assholes who bring a full cart of shit down there just because they wanted one bag of mulch." Take note that you can get mulch at Walmart at ANY REGISTER! They all have the UPC Book.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

"We will be closing in 15 minutes. Please bring your selections to a register"

That means pay now and get the fuck out before those 15 mins are up. It doesn't mean you have 15 more mins to browse.

Dude, my store was evacuated last week for a fire alarm (false alarm in the vents, by the propane), I was off, my mother was on shift and got an idiot who couldn't comprehend that the only reason we'd tell you to evacuate the store is for a FUCKING LIFE OR DEATH EMERGENCY! No, you can't finish your shopping jackass, the fire department wants everyone OUT NOW!
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Speaking of motorized carts, people that don't need them (usually teens) taking them has to be the worst thing someone can do in retail. If they want to do things that are shitty for the associates then fine, but what kind of asshole takes something and rides around having fun when some seniors need these to even get around? During my retail time I've seen teens taking them into the parking lot and the worst of all, two taking the only two we had and just joyriding and just leaving both of them in a single isle, blocking it completely, so I had to go over and waste time getting both so people that need them can use them and so people can fucking shop, kids are so dumb.
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Just had another one.

We have a big sign on our front door that says "OPEN 24 HOURS!!!"

Customer just walked in, came straight up to the counter, and asked "how late are you guys open?" -_-

I am 100% convinced that the best way to ensure somebody does not know something is to write it on a sign and hang it right in front of their face.
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Aristoph posted...

Just had another one.

We have a big sign on our front door that says "OPEN 24 HOURS!!!"

Customer just walked in, came straight up to the counter, and asked "how late are you guys open?" -_-

I am 100% convinced that the best way to ensure somebody does not know something is to write it on a sign and hang it right in front of their face.

Where do you work?
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IfGodCouldDie posted...

Where do you work?

24-hour gas station. I work night shift.
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Oh, I once had a customer get mad at me that I couldn't reprint his receipt from the previous day. Because his wife forgot theirs or something. Yes, it's totally my fault that the registers don't store the receipt for more than the last transaction they did, and it's doubly my fault that your wife forgot the damn thing.

In general though, there's "IT SAYS YOU HAVE IT ONLINE!" First, I doubt it says that, and even if it does, it goes by the electronic counts. Which are not always accurate.
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DirkDiggles posted...

Guy comes up to the register today with a fidget spinner. The box is a little banged up but the spinner is fine. He asks me if I can give him a discount. I said no. He got mad and left. Whomever said the customer is always right was full of shit.

I always wonder about "the customer is always right." What if a customer says that the customer is always wrong?

"do you have this in a Large?"
*checks* nope. Sorry but it appears we don't have a large in stock right now
"Why not?"

Seriously? You're asking why something is sold out?

We always get customers trying to get the plants cheaper. Sorry, that one speck of brown doesn't entitle you to 50% off. Then you get the ones who can't read the fucking label. "I thought it was only 3.74" Really now? With the word SAVE ahead of it you thought that was the price? The price is in a font at least three points bigger above it!

Then you get the ones who note that we're wasting water with our hoses that happen to have leaks in them but are otherwise fine. You don't pay for the damn water, what do you care?

TheVipaGTS posted...

"do you have this in a Large?"
*checks* nope. Sorry but it appears we don't have a large in stock right now
"Why not?"

Seriously? You're asking why something is sold out?

I never get "why not?" I get "Do you know when you'll get more in?" No, that's not part of my job to know. And if I do know, it's because I know it's considered out of season and will therefore NOT be coming in any time soon.
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I used to work stock and i would have interactions like this:
"Hey you're out of X-item that's on sale, do you have any more in the back"
No problem ma'am, I'll go check for you
*Checks small as fuck backroom and there's nothing there*
I'm sorry ma'am we appear to be out of that product at the moment, but you can go up front and get a rain check for it
"I don't believe you, CAN I SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER"
*Turns around and sees manager literally 8ft behind me listening to conversation*
He's right there if you want to talk to him
*Lady storms over*
"HEY DO YOU HAVE ANY OF X-ITEM IN THE BACK?!?"
>Manager answers with a simple "No."
"Oh, okay" *Walks away like she wasn't being rude*
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CrimsonAngeI posted...

Is there anything that doesn't annoy retail workers? All I ever do is seem them complain.

Just treat me with equal respect and not some sub-human like a lot of people feel like they can treat people in retail and everything will be peachy.
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I'm lucky that my store is so bad that people just stopped coming in. I really need to find a new job. It's commission based too which is worst. Last year at this time I was making about $6 more an hour.

Today since the company for whatever reason never turns the ac on or doesn't get it fixed, an old lady passed out in the store and had the ambulance come pick her up.

I used to have bad customer issues like you guys but today all I did was talk to one guy I worked with about how they should remake movies from his childhood like E. T. in ways that would get him mad. I told him that they should have E. T. Snapchat home, E. T. would have an obsession with fidget spinners instead of Reese Pieces, and that the kids should fly on those hover boards instead of bikes.
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CrimsonAngeI posted...

Is there anything that doesn't annoy retail workers? All I ever do is seem them complain.

Sure. The 80% or so of reasonable customers are just fine, sometimes great. But when you interact with literally hundreds of people in a day, ~20% of your interactions being shit is a shitload of crappy interactions.

I've haven't been in a service job for over 15 years, but I can easily relate to most of these complaints.

Yea i liked working retail because you can meet some really chill and interesting people. I actually liked selling and conversing with them....the majority of them are cool. but the small percentage of fuck heads just ruin it.

TheVipaGTS posted...

Yea i liked working retail because you can meet some really chill and interesting people. I actually liked selling and conversing with them....the majority of them are cool. but the small percentage of fuck heads just ruin it.

I've met a few cool customers that I'm acquainted with now, despite not knowing most of their names. I've been tempted to ask one of them if he uses Facebook.

CrimsonAngeI posted...

Is there anything that doesn't annoy retail workers? All I ever do is seem them complain.

Most customers are fine, actually pleasant. It's just there's a lot of assholes so you also get customers that try to make your job harder.
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Banjo2553 posted...

CrimsonAngeI posted...

Is there anything that doesn't annoy retail workers? All I ever do is seem them complain.

Most customers are fine, actually pleasant. It's just there's a lot of assholes so you also get customers that try to make your job harder.

Also the fact that a story about how I just had a 30-minute conversation with a customer about the Browns isn't nearly as relate-able as common idiocy that everybody's experienced. So you're far less likely to talk about it.

Working retail really isn't that bad, tbh. The job is usually fairly easy, and as long as you have a decent employer the pay isn't too bad either. I get overtime and health/dental benefits, as well as 2 weeks vacation to basically sit around all night and spend most of my time on the computer playing games or browsing the internet. I really can't complain about the job as a whole. It's mostly positive. But that's not nearly as interesting as the annoying moments.
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Aeriis posted...

I don't know how you guys all do it. I used to work retail and it sucked. I work as a waitress now.

And I don't know how you do that. I've seen some people treat waiters/waitresses like absolute scum. I'd have snapped on a lot of those people, but the wait staff always seemed to just shrug it off and move on like it's no big deal. I couldn't do that.
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Aeriis posted...

I don't know how you guys all do it. I used to work retail and it sucked. I work as a waitress now.

The fact my pay isn't dependent on quality of service helps.
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-Kids who like to hide in beer/soda displays like they are forts. Sure it's cute the first few times but it gets old when your kids are out of control.

-Customers who try to bring their entire shopping cart into the bathroom with them. I can understand your prescription medicines and purses but not a whole cart of frozen items and other stuff. We even have a sign that says to leave your shopping cart outside the restroom.

-Customers who are interrupting another customer who are you are trying to help first.

-My Sunday evening shift is never complete without someone driving up to me in the parking lot while I'm leaving asking if we're still open. I'm one of the last few people to leave and the parking lot is empty except for two or three cars, and yet you're asking if we're still open? (Nah, we're all on break for 12 hours) Wish my store would invest in a neon sign that says Open or Closed over the door. Hell, one time someone shouted from the road side to ask if we're closed while halting traffic.

-We have an inside liquor department which closes at 5pm on Sunday (closes at 9 every other day). Just a few weeks after we grand opened it, someone tried to rip open the automatic door to get some vodka around 6'ish despite the "closed" sign being there along with the hours.
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Aeriis posted...

I don't know how you guys all do it. I used to work retail and it sucked. I work as a waitress now.

I tried working as a waiter, lasted a week. It was too stressful for me. I didn't get any bad customers but my boss saw I was extremely uncomfortable and kindly let me go, thinking it wouldn't work out.

Retail makes me hate a lot of customers, but now I work at the store deli instead of a cashier. I love it there.
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Oh, I once had a customer get mad at me that I couldn't reprint his receipt from the previous day. Because his wife forgot theirs or something. Yes, it's totally my fault that the registers don't store the receipt for more than the last transaction they did, and it's doubly my fault that your wife forgot the damn thing.

I don't know how it is for all stores but at Walmart the only people who have access to transaction history are cash office, CSMs ( not sure if all stores allow CSMs to have this option ), sometimes support managers, and salaried managers. It is a pain to look up though because you have to know which register the customer checked out at and what time.
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As a customer I want to murder those brainless stupid !@#% old people on the self service.

Oh look there's THREE free machines over there, DO NOT FUCKING STAND LIKE A GODAMN MORON WAITING TO BE CALLED JUST FUCKING GO AND SCAN YOUR SHIT OUT GODAMNIT YOU'RE HOLDING UP THE LINE!

Malcrasternus posted...

Autoparts here.



Unless it's a know it all DIY "mechanic." Claims to know more than you, and scrambles for any sort of superiority the moment their knowledge is challenged. Like a slap in the face, these masters of duct tape and WD-40 will stammer and regurgitate obvious, unhelpful, otherwise useless information about their cars, to prove to us that our database is wrong, and that we don't know what we're talking about.

Theres also the complete reverse of this when you get the super pushy salesperson trying to get his commision, butts his way into your shopping experience, and after 30 seconds of speaking with them, you realize they have no idea what theyre talking about.
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ProfDE posted...

Oh, I once had a customer get mad at me that I couldn't reprint his receipt from the previous day. Because his wife forgot theirs or something. Yes, it's totally my fault that the registers don't store the receipt for more than the last transaction they did, and it's doubly my fault that your wife forgot the damn thing.

I don't know how it is for all stores but at Walmart the only people who have access to transaction history are cash office, CSMs ( not sure if all stores allow CSMs to have this option ), sometimes support managers, and salaried managers. It is a pain to look up though because you have to know which register the customer checked out at and what time.

I did send him to customer service, but I think at my store only the Cash Office can do it. And their employee has hours to make the post office proud at my store.


Oh, and people will ignore flowers for months, but the moment they're tossed into a cart to throw out, they suddenly want them. No, you can't have them now, they're out of the system and being trashed. Why would you want to be something that has been carelessly tossed into a cart?
On the opposite end, they try to buy flowers that haven't been checked in. And sometimes you get the idiots who don't comprehend that we need to count EVERY cart.
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Leaving their shopping cart in the parking lot. Use the corrals, you lazy piece of shit.
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Ahh...gotta love the morons who can't figure out the card reader when you've got literally 10 people behind them in line. -_-

I swear to God, this just happened about 20 minutes ago:

Guy: *brings stuff up to counter, asks for 2 packs of cigarettes, hands me one of his items and won't let go of the second item*
Me: I need to scan that item, sir.
Guy: Huh?
Me: The sandwich in your hand. I need to scan it.
Guy: Oh...
Me: Total is $15.96
Guy: *tries to hand me his credit card*
Me: *points at the card reader he's literally resting his hand on*
Guy: *swipes his card, gets error, machines says "insert chip"*
Guy: *swipes again, then looks at me like I'm an idiot*
Me: You have to use the chip, sir.
Guy: The what?
Me: The chip. You have to insert the card in the slot at the bottom so it can read the chip.
Guy: *puts card in backwards*
Me: Other way around, sir.
Guy: I don't want to use the chip. *swipes card again*
Me: Sir, if you have a chip card you have to use the chip. It won't accept the swipe.
Guy: *puts card in backwards again*
Me: You have to turn it around, sir. The chip needs to go in the reader.
Guy: *finally gets card in right, then immediately pulls it out*
Me: Sir, you need to leave the card in the whole time.
Guy: *puts card right back in*
Me: You need to take it out for a second now so I can reset it.
Guy: *finally puts card back in, then stares at first cash back prompt for genuine 5 seconds, eventually hits yes*
Guy: I don't want cash back. What the fuck would I want cash back for? (yes, he said fuck, and started getting pissed off)
Me: It just asked you if you wanted cash back, sir. You hit yes. You'll have to take the card out so I can reset it again.
Guy: This is bullshit, you need to get the broken swipe fixed.
Me: It's not broken, sir. If your card has a chip you have to use that. The swipe works fine otherwise.
Guy: *puts card in, I literally walk him through the entire process as gently as I can, until the last step*
Me: For credit, press no. For debit, press yes.
Guy: *presses yes*
Guy: I don't need a PIN. This is credit. This thing is fucking stupid!
Me: Sir, you hit yes for debit, so it's asking for a PIN. If you wanted to use credit, you needed to say no on the last option. You'll have to take the card out and let me reset it again. This time, just hit "NO, YES, NO" on the prompts.
*Guy finally gets it right, grabs his bag angrily like it's somehow my fault he's an incompetent moron who can't read or follow instructions, and walks out*

The entire store literally started laughing the moment he left. The customer behind him was making exasperated faces and shit behind his back the entire time. When he stepped up he said "I can't believe you have that kind of patience. I wanted to throttle him. There's no way I could've kept a straight face and stayed calm with a customer like that." XD
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I once had an old lady tell me she didn't have a PIN. I was genuinely baffled at how she could have a card but no way to use the ATM. I had to set my PIN when I signed up for the damn account.
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Aristoph posted...

The entire store literally started laughing the moment he left. The customer behind him was making exasperated faces and shit behind his back the entire time. When he stepped up he said "I can't believe you have that kind of patience. I wanted to throttle him. There's no way I could've kept a straight face and stayed calm with a customer like that." XD

I got pissed off just reading that lol. I'm so glad I'm done with retail.
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How old was that last guy TC?
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