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

(+) Yeah! (+)

I work at a dealership, and I love when people demand to be put in a loaner vehicle for routine maintenance that takes 45 minutes. Or even better, when they waltz in after 5pm for various things because their salesperson promised we'd "take care of it for them".

There really needs to be a Festivus-type day for retail workers (in other words, a day where retail workers get to say anything their heart desires to customers, shitfaced or not, and they just have to sit there and take it).
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Ex-Kefiroth posted...

CircleOfManias posted...

"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.

And this is only the 246th time I've read a post about a retail worker complaining about this particular stupid joke.

Because it gets old VERY fast.
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I comanage a fireworks store in PA and thankfully don't have to work the register during the busy time, but the barrage of stupidity has made me numb to everything over the years.

I've had people bring pets in, which is against state law and they slipped by the door guy, and their dog pissed in the cart which obviously dripped on the floor, then get mad when I tell them they have to take the dog outside because "it just pissed on our floor". And they sat and watched as I had to mop it up and sanitize the cart, not once offering to help. But that was a big thing.

One little thing though? Customer pays with $100s, gets bill checked by pen, and cuts the same "I just got done printing them today!" joke while smiling to themselves. Thankfully I'm to the point where I blankly stare back right into their eyes and embrace the awkward silence.
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But I did just print it bro
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The Great Muta 22 posted...

One little thing though? Customer pays with $100s, gets bill checked by pen, and cuts the same "I just got done printing them today!" joke while smiling to themselves. Thankfully I'm to the point where I blankly stare back right into their eyes and embrace the awkward silence.

Next time that happens, say "Looks like you did. This is fake." and pretend it's actually counterfeit. it's fun watching all the color drain from someone's face.

This one's not so much annoying as it is entirely confusing.

Whenever I put the customers stuff into a plastic bag, I always make sure to put the handles together and hold them open when I hand it to the customer in order to make it easier for them to just put their hand/fingers through the hole and grab it. I'd say at least 75% of the time they just grab around the bag itself underneath the handles instead. Like...the hole is right there open for you to grab it. Just use it. But no, they gotta grab it like it's a paper bag. And more often than not they fumble with it and almost drop the thing before they walk out because of it. O_o
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^If you have your fingers in the handles too, I'd probably do the same thing until I took it from you.
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2 jobs I decided early on to never ever do

(1) waiter
(2) retail
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Tag for latter
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Redlining at the Wal-Mart...

Are you open?

...

No, I stand outside my till for my breaks.
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EyeWontBeFooled posted...

Redlining at the Wal-Mart...

Are you open?

...

No, I stand outside my till for my breaks.

HAte that shit. Almost as much as I hate people getting in line after the light's been cut and throwing their shit up. Bitch, I have shit to do in my actual department, find a line that's fucking open.
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In my city there's a ban on single use plastic bags, and paper bags are 5 cents so at least half of the people bring their own disgusting ass bags. A lot of the time I get them literally thrown in my fucking face
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Harpie posted...

In my city there's a ban on single use plastic bags, and paper bags are 5 cents so at least half of the people bring their own disgusting ass bags. A lot of the time I get them literally thrown in my fucking face

Gloves should be mandatory, because that can present a health hazard.
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EyeWontBeFooled posted...

Harpie posted...

In my city there's a ban on single use plastic bags, and paper bags are 5 cents so at least half of the people bring their own disgusting ass bags. A lot of the time I get them literally thrown in my fucking face

Gloves should be mandatory, because that can present a health hazard.

They should. They don't even offer gloves where I work, I have to buy my own. So many times I've touched dog shit/puke/other nasty substances because of this

Smells gross too :/
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I love reading these topics.
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Aristoph posted...

Also the people who come in like 5 minutes after we stop selling alcohol (1:00 a.m. for our liquor license) and get mad that I won't sell them beer.

Bonus points if they say something like "can't you just make an exception this one time???" as if I'm to one who set the rules and I'm just not selling to them because I don't like them. It's fucking illegal, you dumbasses. If we get caught with a receipt for alcohol that has a timestamp of 1:00 or later, we lose our fucking license. And how long do you think a gas station is going to last that can't sell alcohol? But yeah, fuck it, I'll cause our entire business to collapse for your 12-pack of pisswater. -_-

When I worked at a grocery store, we couldn't start alcohol sales until noon on Sunday. But every week, people would climb under the barricades to grab some liquor to try and buy early. They'd hold up their watch and say "look, it's noon already" or "c'mon, it's 11:58, close enough". Nope, until my register says 12:00, I'm not selling. Don't care if your drunk ass is suffering the shakes, I'm not getting fined and fired because of you.
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"Which of these shoes do you have in a 11?"

Like bitch am I supposed to remember our entire inventory. Tell me what shoe and I will go look.
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Harpie posted...

EyeWontBeFooled posted...

Harpie posted...

In my city there's a ban on single use plastic bags, and paper bags are 5 cents so at least half of the people bring their own disgusting ass bags. A lot of the time I get them literally thrown in my fucking face

Gloves should be mandatory, because that can present a health hazard.

They should. They don't even offer gloves where I work, I have to buy my own. So many times I've touched dog shit/puke/other nasty substances because of this

Smells gross too :/

You have every right to tell the customer that you will not be using their bag that smells of cat piss.
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Harpie posted...

They should. They don't even offer gloves where I work, I have to buy my own. So many times I've touched dog shit/puke/other nasty substances because of this

They don't offer gloves in the first aid kit or Janitor's closet? That has to be an OSHA violation.
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Being on the phone.

Talking to me when not prompted.

Not talking to me when prompted.

There should be a retail workers union
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iosifsvoboda posted...

There should be a retail workers union

There actually is a Retail Worker's union. It's just most people don't give a flying fuck about them since Retail isn't a job you try to make a career out of.
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Oh, people who buy large purchases they can't load themselves, and don't bother bringing their own help.
Followed up with people buying things they can't fit in their vehicles. I once saw a coworker trying to fit a 65" TV into a fucking Chrysler Sebring. IT WAS WIDER THAN THE CAR!
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When customers come in after jewelry person goes home and then wants to see everything instead of just a couple items. I have plenty of other stuff to do than spending half an hour at the jewelry counter when it is supposed to be closed.
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My department handles propane exchanges. I have seen some nasty looking tanks, but today I got one that was covered in something brown and sticky. Rather someone else did, and I had to move it to get to a fresh tank. That tops the tank that looked like it was from a drug lab as most disgusting. That tank was dry.

So customers who utterly wreck exchange items and leave them for us to touch.
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Ugh...

So there's a group of landscapers that come in around 11 or midnight almost every night. They're all Mexican, and mostly really nice guys. But one of them is this short little asshole (like seriously, I don't even think he's 5' tall) and he always acts like he doesn't speak English. Every time he brings up his stuff I tell him how much the total comes to and he just stares at me for a second before looking at the display for the price. And when he wants a bag he just points to the bags and kinda mutters something unintelligible that's practically a grunt. God forbid he ever try to ask for cigarettes... -_-

The thing is...I've heard him speaking English with other people. He's had long conversations with one of my co-workers that works during the day, and I happened to stop in one time and overheard them. He speaks perfectly good English. He barely even has a fucking accent. >:-|
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Old people that will stab you over 25 cents
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There's always at least one idiot per night. Already had my first one tonight.

Guy: How is your coffee? Is it any good?
Me: I don't drink coffee, so I couldn't really say personally. Lots of people like it, though.
Guy: Oh, you don't drink coffee at all?
Me: No, sorry.
Guy: Ok...well what about your cappuccino? How is that?
Me: O______________________o
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.... Sir... That's literally still coffee...
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Crazyman93 posted...

.... Sir... That's literally still coffee...

XD I know, right? I just don't get how some people function in society sometimes.

Just had another gem a moment ago.

Girl: *starts grabbing a 6-pack of beer out of the cooler*
Me: Ma'am, it's too late to buy alcohol. The cutoff is 1 o'clock. You're a just couple minutes too late. Sorry.
Girl: Can't you make an exception?
Me: No, ma'am, there's no exceptions.
Girl: But I was just here like 2 nights ago and they sold me beer at 1:30!
Me: No they didn't.
Girl: What do you mean "no they didn't"? How do you know?
Me: Because I was working 2 nights ago.
Girl: Well, maybe it was 3 nights ago, I dunno.
Me: I was working 3 nights ago, too. And before you say it, I was working 4 nights ago as well. You did not buy alcohol here at 1:30.
Girl: Are you calling me a liar?!
Me: If you're claiming that you bought alcohol from this store at 1:30 in the morning at any point this past week, then yes, I'm calling you a liar. Because I've worked every night this week. Have a nice night.

I'm going to have a big smile on my face for a couple hours from that one. XD
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*customer calls store, machine voice thanks you for calling the store at this location and prompts for department selection*
*call comes up to customer service office*
Me: "Thanks for calling, how can I help you?"
Person: "Is this the store located at this address?"
Me: "No, we're at x location, which is two miles west of where you're trying to reach"
Person: "Oh okay thanks for nothing bye"

I dunno man.
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Xenozoa425 posted...

*customer calls store, machine voice thanks you for calling the store at this location and prompts for department selection*
*call comes up to customer service office*
Me: "Thanks for calling, how can I help you?"
Person: "Is this the store located at this address?"
Me: "No, we're at x location, which is two miles west of where you're trying to reach"
Person: "Oh okay thanks for nothing bye"

I dunno man.

Worst part of this one is that most big stores you can look up the location on the internet, usually with the phone number.
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iosifsvoboda posted...

There should be a retail workers union

RWDSU brah
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Its the little things.

Talking on a cellphone the entire time they are at my register. Putting stuff up on the conveyor belt and still talking during the time they pay for their groceries and when they leave, not saying a word to me. Have some decency to at least acknowledge I exist. I'm not asking for the whole shebang, just common courtesy.

I've had a guy pay me with an envelope of dimes before. He told me there was 20 dollars worth of dimes, and then walked off. He was right, and his purchase came to exactly 20 dollars so no tip.....

Another guy said to me during Christmas time that he hated Christmas and everything about it, and would rather be at home drinking a beer and smoking some of his pot. I just smiled and said Merry Christmas as he was walking away. Guy is scum, I'm surprised we haven't banned him from the store yet.

Oh, get this one, this one actually burns my blood a little. So our store opened up in 2015 and a guy comes in roughly once a week and all he does is bitches and curses off the cashiers, telling them that they are useless and just makes them feel like shit. We actually had female cashiers break down and cry and have to be removed from cash because of this guy.

We ended up getting him banned from the store permanently early in 2016. He didn't steal anything, but my god the satisfaction of seeing him get removed from the store forever. I was this close to decking him the next time he came to my cash.

I think my favorite line that annoys me is "you look tired", bitch, I know I look tired. I don't sleep properly because I can barely afford to keep my house, my car and feeding myself. I'm mentally stressed from this fucking job. I can't afford to quit, and no place else that pays more is hiring. I'm on a waiting list to go back to college, but I still have to work while I go to college, meaning I have to take distance courses, making me even more tired. Course..... I can't say that to their face, just to my coworkers who feel the same way.



Also, a little side note, if your cashier does a great job at customer service and he serves you once a week, Why no tip? I mean you deal with a waitress for less than a minute maybe once a year, maybe twice at most. You see a cashier who has given you amazing service constantly every week for a year, least you could do during christmas time is offering him a dollar or two. Nothing special, but it would be nice to get a little something extra for all I've done during the year. Damn grocery store won't give me a year end bonus despite me going on 5 years. They gave me a 15 dollar gift card FOR THEIR STORE. Couldn't even give it to me in cash so I could grab Mcdonalds or Mexican on the way home.

Ivany2008 posted...

if your cashier does a great job at customer service and he serves you once a week, Why no tip?

Well, for starters, Walmart Corporate policy, as one example, prohibits its employees from taking tips.

Ivany2008 posted...

I've had a guy pay me with an envelope of dimes before. He told me there was 20 dollars worth of dimes, and then walked off. He was right, and his purchase came to exactly 20 dollars so no tip.....

Interesting little fact: You're under no legal obligation to take the money as payment. Over 20 coins of one denomination isn't considered legal currency.
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Crazyman93 posted...

Ivany2008 posted...

if your cashier does a great job at customer service and he serves you once a week, Why no tip?

Well, for starters, Walmart Corporate policy, as one example, prohibits its employees from taking tips.

Ivany2008 posted...

I've had a guy pay me with an envelope of dimes before. He told me there was 20 dollars worth of dimes, and then walked off. He was right, and his purchase came to exactly 20 dollars so no tip.....

Interesting little fact: You're under no legal obligation to take the money as payment. Over 20 coins of one denomination isn't considered legal currency.

Where I work we are allowed tips, as long as we declare any tips that are of a large amount, like over 5 dollars. Most I've gotten tipped was 20 dollars, and it was my only tip the entire year.

Aristoph posted...

Crazyman93 posted...

.... Sir... That's literally still coffee...

XD I know, right? I just don't get how some people function in society sometimes.

Just had another gem a moment ago.

Girl: *starts grabbing a 6-pack of beer out of the cooler*
Me: Ma'am, it's too late to buy alcohol. The cutoff is 1 o'clock. You're a just couple minutes too late. Sorry.
Girl: Can't you make an exception?
Me: No, ma'am, there's no exceptions.
Girl: But I was just here like 2 nights ago and they sold me beer at 1:30!
Me: No they didn't.
Girl: What do you mean "no they didn't"? How do you know?
Me: Because I was working 2 nights ago.
Girl: Well, maybe it was 3 nights ago, I dunno.
Me: I was working 3 nights ago, too. And before you say it, I was working 4 nights ago as well. You did not buy alcohol here at 1:30.
Girl: Are you calling me a liar?!
Me: If you're claiming that you bought alcohol from this store at 1:30 in the morning at any point this past week, then yes, I'm calling you a liar. Because I've worked every night this week. Have a nice night.

I'm going to have a big smile on my face for a couple hours from that one. XD

nice
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Honestly, I take a bit of satisfaction in letting some ass throw their crap up and expect someone to show up, then show up and make them move it to the other register.

Actually there are three, but one is mostly an ad hoc workstation. And yet if I'm standing there on the phone, someone will still ask if it's open. Yes, the register covered in misplaced product, damaged merchandise, and peg hooks is clearly open. And it's not rude at all to interrupt people on the phone, I have no idea what your mother was thinking.
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Shop where I work
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I work as a retail associate for USPS.

1. At least a few times each day, I'm not even halfway through ringing up the postage and/or the overall sale and they've already gotten their debit/credit card out. They're swiping like crazy and wondering why no beeping or anything. If not that, they fail to see the slip sticking out the chip reader that CLEARLY says "SWIPE CARD - CHIP READER COMING SOON" and try jamming their card in.

2. When I'm done with my current customer and the next person in line is either engrossed in a conversation or using their phone, I call out "I can help the next one in line" - I swear to God that person has gone deaf.

3. I've had customers recoil when I tell them how much it costs to send something (whether Priority Express, Priority, First Class, or Retail Ground (used to be Parcel Post)). Had some of those start spouting "I SPENT LESS BUYING THIS THING, PRICE TO SEND IT IS RIDICULOUS, I'M GOING TO UPS!" When that happens, I mutter under my breath, "Good luck, bub - UPS costs even more".

4. Closing time is clearly on the outside - doors are closed by then. More often than not, some dumbass comes knocking on the door to the retail area, wanting us to send their package although we are closed and we're dealing with the last ones who came in before the doors closed. You snooze, you lose.

I've had/heard of some real doozies ever since I started my current position a little more than 2 years ago.
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I guess I should actually contribute.

Expecting your new prescription to be ready directly after leaving the doctors office across the fucking street at 4 o'clock and acting like 10-15 minutes of waiting is too long.
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Crazyman93 posted...

Ivany2008 posted...

if your cashier does a great job at customer service and he serves you once a week, Why no tip?

Well, for starters, Walmart Corporate policy, as one example, prohibits its employees from taking tips.

Ivany2008 posted...

I've had a guy pay me with an envelope of dimes before. He told me there was 20 dollars worth of dimes, and then walked off. He was right, and his purchase came to exactly 20 dollars so no tip.....

Interesting little fact: You're under no legal obligation to take the money as payment. Over 20 coins of one denomination isn't considered legal currency.

How so? Guarantee you have to take my change if i put gas in my car and thats all i have. Either i get free gas, you count the change or you call the cops and they tell you its currency and you have to take it
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My work we have a coinstar machine so if they have a bunch of change they have to use that. I can't have a line held up for 10 minutes to count a ton of coins. In the event the coinstar machine is down, I have a machine in my office to count it.
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ColeslawIsBad posted...

How so? Guarantee you have to take my change if i put gas in my car and thats all i have. Either i get free gas, you count the change or you call the cops and they tell you its currency and you have to take it

Nearly every gas station in the U.S. is pre-pay now specifically for cases like this. The pump won't run until either your credit card is accepted or the associate turns it on (because you gave them money).

That being said, I'm not sure where he got the "more than 20 coins isn't legal currency" thing from. I've never heard of anything like that, and it sounds pretty absurd on the face of it.
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Aristoph posted...

ColeslawIsBad posted...

How so? Guarantee you have to take my change if i put gas in my car and thats all i have. Either i get free gas, you count the change or you call the cops and they tell you its currency and you have to take it

Nearly every gas station in the U.S. is pre-pay now specifically for cases like this. The pump won't run until either your credit card is accepted or the associate turns it on (because you gave them money).

That being said, I'm not sure where he got the "more than 20 coins isn't legal currency" thing from. I've never heard of anything like that, and it sounds pretty absurd on the face of it.

If I am ever given a situation like that. You had better fucking believe they are waiting with me while I count it. Just want to be sure what I've counted is the same as what you counted ;D
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ColeslawIsBad posted...

Either i get free gas, you count the change or you call the cops and they tell you its currency and you have to take it

Legally 20 or more coins of a single demonination AREN'T Currency. MEaning you can demand alternative payment.
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Crazyman93 posted...

ColeslawIsBad posted...

Either i get free gas, you count the change or you call the cops and they tell you its currency and you have to take it

Legally 20 or more coins of a single demonination AREN'T Currency. MEaning you can demand alternative payment.

No, that is gibberish.
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Waiving shipping and handling fee simply if the customer asked.

Bothered me back in the day. What makes you better than the other customers who did pay it? When did "customer service" become "bend over backwards?"
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