Board 8 > Have any of you ever worked in fast food or retail?

(+) Yeah! (+)

if you did what percent of your customers would you estimate were completely unreasonable, or really terrible?

I worked in retail for a part time job while studying.

It's probably less than 1% but it feels like more.

ctesjbuvf posted...

I worked in retail for a part time job while studying.

It's probably less than 1% but it feels like more.

yeah i kinda agree. I think the number might be higher than 1 percent though, not sure if you agree. Would you ever go back to working in retail, like for yrs, more?

worked at a comic shop on and off, hard to place an exact amount of time on it but it was over the course of 6 years

I didn't consider it a "real" job because 80% of it was just fucking around reading comics and bullshitting with the regulars. It was easily the best job I ever had. I almost became the manager but we all believed there was a "curse" that trapped managers there in a dead-end job. That was... 2012ish I think. My friend got the job when I turned it down. It is 2024 and he is still manager. The curse is real.

I owned a food truck for a bit and that's also different than traditional food service jobs because I was da boss. Miss my truck

I consider myself lucky that most of the rest of my career has been in non-customer facing jobs. I hate that shit

ZenOfThunder posted...

worked at a comic shop on and off, hard to place an exact amount of time on it but it was over the course of 6 years

I didn't consider it a "real" job because 80% of it was just fucking around reading comics and bullshitting with the regulars. It was easily the best job I ever had. I almost became the manager but we all believed there was a "curse" that trapped managers there in a dead-end job. That was... 2012ish I think. My friend got the job when I turned it down. It is 2024 and he is still manager. The curse is real.

I owned a food truck for a bit and that's also different than traditional food service jobs because I was da boss. Miss my truck

I consider myself lucky that most of the rest of my career has been in non-customer facing jobs. I hate that shit

yea i guess, you hate customer facing jobs? That might be most jobs though......cause of terrible customers, that's why you hate it so much? have heard some say terrible customers are the minority just quickly forget about them

I work full time with the public, and I have certain people that I'm just like "you deal with this lady, she creeps me out." "I'll take care of the 90 year old leery pervert." Random people who aren't regular visitors, it's just a small percentage with an asshole quotient, but they are absolutely more noticeable than 10+ good interactions, especially if one of the assholes is petty enough to write a comment card to the admins that never work floor.

Library ain't retail (except during the twice annual book sale) but it's near enough to count.

Isquen posted...

I work full time with the public, and I have certain people that I'm just like "you deal with this lady, she creeps me out." "I'll take care of the 90 year old leery pervert." Random people who aren't regular visitors, it's just a small percentage with an asshole quotient, but they are absolutely more noticeable than 10+ good interactions, especially if one of the assholes is petty enough to write a comment card to the admins that never work floor.

Library ain't retail (except during the twice annual book sale) but it's near enough to count.

creeps you out, like she was extremely mean? Yeah i seen those too.They take a whole lot of effort to complain to management and stuff

Worked in fast food for probably a decade, it was awful. Hard to quantify into percentages, but if the percentage was only 1% I think the reason it felt like more was because it became much more than 1% of your job dealing with them and not simply a bias in selecting perception.

GranTurismo posted...

yeah i kinda agree. I think the number might be higher than 1 percent though, not sure if you agree. Would you ever go back to working in retail, like for yrs, more?

It's hard to judge because so many costumers just come by without making any impression whatsoever good bad or decent. For what's it's worth, I have worked in a 7-Eleven and a Toys R Us. I think it makes a difference compared to stores where you need to talk to go most costumers beyond stating a price.

I don't think I would mind going looking isolated at it, at least if it was a place where I had personal interest in what we sold, but I'm currently working in experimental physics and I don't see myself wanting to leave that for much of anything anytime soon.

ctesjbuvf posted...

It's hard to judge because so many costumers just come by without making any impression whatsoever good bad or decent. For what's it's worth, I have worked in a 7-Eleven and a Toys R Us. I think it makes a difference compared to stores where you need to talk to go most costumers beyond stating a price.

I don't think I would mind going looking isolated at it, at least if it was a place where I had personal interest in what we sold, but I'm currently working in experimental physics and I don't see myself wanting to leave that for much of anything anytime soon.

what do you mean big difference stores beyond stating a price?

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Worked in fast food for probably a decade, it was awful. Hard to quantify into percentages, but if the percentage was only 1% I think the reason it felt like more was because it became much more than 1% of your job dealing with them and not simply a bias in selecting perception.

yeah, have seen some where they spend like 30 mins trying to complain to a manager even if they weren't really right. Like they really put effort into it or figure out how to make your life miserable...etc....

GranTurismo posted...

creeps you out, like she was extremely mean? Yeah i seen those too.They take a whole lot of effort to complain to management and stuff

No, creeps me out as in "I'm pretty sure this woman twenty years older than me would ask to make me to film something x rated and I am not about that."

my first job was at a dollar tree when I was 16 and it is my villain origin story

but also what drove me to decide to never work retail ever again

FFDragon posted...

my first job was at a dollar tree when I was 16 and it is my villain origin story

but also what drove me to decide to never work retail ever again

was this completely about asshole customers why you hated it, bad management?

Every time I think about working in retail again, it fills me with a sense of unspeakable dread.

my managers were all creepy

the whole company was gross and garbage

and the clientele were never the best. at least once a shift someone would go off or steal things and I was not paid enough to care.

mcflubbin posted...

Every time I think about working in retail again, it fills me with a sense of unspeakable dread.

cause mostly bad customers? have heard many say bad managers are much worse. Have also heard that if you have no college degree that retail might be a semi-good option or one of your only ones.....

a couple a week

a lot of BAD ones but not to the threshold requested

I worked retail for like 6 months and have since avoided any jobs that require interacting with customers

I'd say like 5-10% of the customers were bad in one way or another, but it was a somewhat sketchy part of town

Worked at a GameStop for a few years around '09, wasn't bad aside from the occasional person who would come in with a gigantic box of absolutely disgusting games and systems. Turned a few trade-ins away because the systems were just too gross and I refused to touch them.

Also screw anyone who lines up outside of a store before they open on a normal business day; show up before they open and you wait in your car. And for the love of god don't tap on the windows shout-asking why we won't let you in early. </decade late venting>

It's not a high percentage, but when a customer is bad/unreasonable, it's SO BAD that it ruins your perception of all the other ppl who are just trying to get their food/item and get out of your hair without issue

Both, and never again

MZero posted...

I'd say like 5-10% of the customers were bad in one way or another

Gamestop was my first ever job. Eh, lets say 20% were rude or just looked past you. It was a fun job for 2 years while I was a 17/18yo.

Havent done retail since though.

I did fulfillment at Target during the COVID and it was brutal on my body. Most of the customers were fine - I never had to deal with anyone completely unreasonable myself, but occasionally overheard one going crazy at Guest Services when I was unloading my cart. The one who acted like it was the end of the world when she couldn't return this $10 summer item after the Labor Day cutoff comes to mind. That was one of the most pathetic things I've ever seen.

GranTurismo posted...

what do you mean big difference stores beyond stating a price?

I mean how some stores are more focused on speaking to the costumers and making additional sales and what not while others you just scan whatever they have picked up and bid them a nice day. In the latter scenario you are less likely to encounter the worst costumer experiences.

I worked at a greeting card store that sold slightly higher-end greeting cards

I think because of the specific niche that the store catered to, I only ever got two or three bad customers

I worked fast food as my first job and I def ran into the occasional person who, upon me trying to upsell them as required by my job, would get irate and be like DID I ASK FOR THAT?

I also second the notion that the worst customers make more of an impact than the best.

VintageGin posted...

I worked at a greeting card store that sold slightly higher-end greeting cards

I think because of the specific niche that the store catered to, I only ever got two or three bad customers

I'm guessing it was people who couldn't believe price. People who wanted a high end experience but couldn't comprehend having to pay above Wal-Mart level prices for it.

Emeraldegg posted...

I also second the notion that the worst customers make more of an impact than the best.

Thing is, a good customer can only be so good. The best kinds are just quick and pleasant. You won't see them for long. The worst can get as bad as someone taking a dump in the aisle while brandishing a knife. Way bigger impact there!

KamikazePotato posted...

Thing is, a good customer can only be so good. The best kinds are just quick and pleasant. You won't see them for long. The worst can get as bad as someone taking a dump in the aisle while brandishing a knife. Way bigger impact there!

Like what do the bad ones really do though? They are usually there for like 15 mins right?

Forceful_Dragon posted...

I'm guessing it was people who couldn't believe price. People who wanted a high end experience but couldn't comprehend having to pay above Wal-Mart level prices for it.

Surprisingly no. There would be the occasional comment about price and some people would opt for a cheaper thing once they found out they were about to pay like $10 for a greeting card.

As for the bad customers, two of them were an entitled older couple that received a discount once and expected to receive it all the time (they'd also come in close to closing and the husband believed global warming was a hoax).

The other was a woman who didn't even acknowledge me when I asked if she needed help, then during checkout argued about a discount that she misread, then stormed out while were mid-sentence (and about to just give her the discount). Then we later found out that she called corporate to complain about our store so we had to explain our side to the district manager.

But honestly for the most part I consider myself lucky because I had some really sweet customers who brought me homemade cookies and stuff.

VintageGin posted...

Surprisingly no. There would be the occasional comment about price and some people would opt for a cheaper thing once they found out they were about to pay like $10 for a greeting card.

As for the bad customers, two of them were an entitled older couple that received a discount once and expected to receive it all the time (they'd also come in close to closing and the husband believed global warming was a hoax).

The other was a woman who didn't even acknowledge me when I asked if she needed help, then during checkout argued about a discount that she misread, then stormed out while were mid-sentence (and about to just give her the discount). Then we later found out that she called corporate to complain about our store so we had to explain our side to the district manager.

But honestly for the most part I consider myself lucky because I had some really sweet customers who brought me homemade cookies and stuff.

have also seen that before. You say hi, they don't acknowlege you or respond and then get pissed off , sometimes for not acknowledging you sometimes for something else. But to complain they are sure to acknowledge you. And they make a good effort to complain..etc...

I was in retail for a decade before going into the Army.

I'd say roughly 5% of all customers were terrible

3% probably sounds about right in my estimation of my time in retail, in terms of negative impression. They are so rare but they really just ruin your day and make your life unreasonably stressful as a result.

I've always felt everyone in the US should spend six months working in retail or food service. You'd never get an asshole customer again.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

3% probably sounds about right in my estimation of my time in retail, in terms of negative impression. They are so rare but they really just ruin your day and make your life unreasonably stressful as a result.

I've always felt everyone in the US should spend six months working in retail or food service. You'd never get an asshole customer again.

ruin your day? just forget about the interaction right?

ZeroSignal posted...

I was in retail for a decade before going into the Army.

I'd say roughly 5% of all customers were terrible

you very later, went into the army, so you first joined at like 30? might have been very rare.

GranTurismo posted...

Like what do the bad ones really do though? They are usually there for like 15 mins right?

In fast food context I would say deliberately talking bad about the staff, to the staff, when the staff have done nothing wrong, just because it's not as fast as they'd like.

Or other things the staff don't have any control over, like complaining about prices etc. Find someone who cares or complain to corporate.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

3% probably sounds about right in my estimation of my time in retail, in terms of negative impression. They are so rare but they really just ruin your day and make your life unreasonably stressful as a result.

I've always felt everyone in the US should spend six months working in retail or food service. You'd never get an asshole customer again.

Honestly people say this all the time but I'm not convinced, instead you'd get a bunch of people who think they now have a right to gripe at people because they had to go through it.

Emeraldegg posted...

Honestly people say this all the time but I'm not convinced, instead you'd get a bunch of people who think they now have a right to gripe at people because they had to go through it.

yeah i kinda agree with you here. Do you still work fast food, you absolutely hated it right? Lots of people like fast food though. They are always short of workers.

AirJordan2345 posted...

you very later, went into the army, so you first joined at like 30? might have been very rare.

28, and not as rare as you think. I'm now dealing with soldiers who are joining between the ages of 35 and 43.

ZeroSignal posted...

28, and not as rare as you think. I'm now dealing with soldiers who are joining between the ages of 35 and 43.

Kinda surprised by that, why would they do that though. Might be much more common than decades ago. Idk at least like military would pay more than like full time working at mc D's ? Idk

I worked at Wendy's when I was 14, CVS when I was 17/18, and a local chain pizza place when I was 19.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

I worked at Wendy's when I was 14, CVS when I was 17/18, and a local chain pizza place when I was 19.

wendy's hires 14 yrs olds? what yr was this?

2002ish? Yeah, I wasn't allowed to touch the fryer or reach into the fry area to fill my own things of fries, lol.

Smallville posted...

yeah i kinda agree with you here. Do you still work fast food, you absolutely hated it right? Lots of people like fast food though. They are always short of workers.

I didn't "absolutely" hate it, but it was kinda crap yeah. I don't, it was my first job for about 5 years though so I got enough of it for a lifetime

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

2002ish? Yeah, I wasn't allowed to touch the fryer or reach into the fry area to fill my own things of fries, lol.

so what jobs could you do there that you were allowed to do, take orders at counter?

If I worked during the day I made sandwiches, if I worked evenings I was the cashier/cleaner.