[Retail] Why Customers Suck, Vol 2

[Dhalin]

Since typing out that first rant was fun, and it was nice to make fun of stupid people in the retail places (primarily grocery stores, again, but lots of this could apply to department stores too), I'm going to do a Vol 2.

Why Customers Suck, Vol 2:

1). Leaving their Shopping Carts in the middle of the Aisle. Seriously, why do you people do this? I do not understand. Do you drive in the middle of the road? Do you park your car in the middle of the road? And then there are the people who do this, and then get all apologetic, "I'm sorry!" and then, 2 minutes later, I come by, and their cart is in the middle of the aisle again. 3 Minutes later, on another trip through the store while doing something, IT IS THERE AGAIN. OMG. Did you NOT learn from the last two times!? Honestly. And they keepg oing "OMG I'm sorry I'm in your way". Errr. Look, Lady.. just get that stupid thing the *beeeep* out of my way and stop standing there fumbling over yourself with 'I'm Sorry' and we'll both be much better off, thankyouverymuch.

2). Smaller Stores that do not have Cart Returns outside: Okay, so you decided to bring the shopping cart back into the store. That's good. We appreciate that, a lot. However... don't stand 3 feet away from where the carts go, and give a shove and walk out the door. Also, if you're at the register and the cart area is 5 feet away.... don't stand there and shove it across the floor, letting it roll wherever it pleases. This is a safety hazard, and it only takes 2-3 seconds to push the cart back in Properly. Don't be that lazy prick we always rant about. Take 2-3 seconds and push the *beeeep*ing thing back into the other carts, where it goes. If a 5 year old kid can do it, you can do it too. It doesn't take Ahnold to push those carts to where they dock with each other.

3). Speaking of kids... how about controlling your whining, yelling, screaming little brat devil-spawn of a child? I don't want to listen to the stupid thing wailing its lungs off all day. Seriously, do you let your child scream like that at home, too? No wonder you're deaf. Also, when there's a sign that says "Please do not let children climb or hang from rails" at the register... how about telling your kids to get the *beeep* off the rails. We would greatly appreciate that, thanks.

4). Cell Phones. Yeah, yeah, I know some of you people can't live _five freaking seconds_ without your ears glued to your cellphones, but when you are in the checkout line, hang the stupid thing up, or tell them to hold on. When I'm trying to tell you how much your order came to, or ask you whether you want that plastic card run as Credit or Debit (a lot of cards can do either), I need you to.. uh.. actually be paying attention. A lot of you people on cellphones, are so oblivious to your surroundings that I could easily punch in $50 instead of $5 and you'd never notice it until it was too late. Not that _I_ personally would ever want to do that, but you never know who would, if the cashier is some stranger you've never met before. One should always pay attention when managing money.

5). Boolean Answers to Non-Boolean Questions. If I ask you a question that is NOT Boolean (Yes/No, or True/False) I DON'T want a Boolean answer. For example, someone walks up to me and says "I want Marlboro Lights." I say "Kings or 100s?" (or "Box or Soft") and they go "Yeah". Um..... Kings or 100s? Don't give me "Yeah". I don't know what the *beep* that means. Answer the question already. Same with Credit or Debit. They hand me a plastic card. I see that it says VISA and "Debit" on it, I'm going to ask "Credit or Debit".... don't you DARE say "Yes" to me. I HATE that.

6). Rotation. To ensure that you get the best product, and to ensure that we don't lose any more money than absolutely necessary, we rotate our products, or at least we _should_, if the peons are doing their jobs correctly. Everyone knows this. We rotate for a reason, people. Yes, yes, we know you want the freshest stuff, but please don't dig the whole shelf worth of goods off the shelf, grab the newest you can find and then just throw it all on there (some people leave it laying wherever!). Just... grab the first one on the end. We highly appreciate it. Yes, it is not as fresh as the one in the back.

In a blind taste test, I bet you $10 you wouldn't notice the difference between Milk dated 10 days from now vs Milk dated 12 days from now. And if you can't finish a gallon of milk in 10 days, then buy a half gallon instead. Those of you people who dig for stuff, especially milk, run the risk of dropping one, and spilling it, or, if too many people do it, the milk goes out dated and we eat half of the cost of that. The milk company gives us _credit_ on that, sure. But it is not 100% credit IIRC, and we DO lose money on that. Where do you think the store is going to recover those losses? Yup, higher prices. If too many out-dated goods get sent back, and we lose too much money, we need to raise prices to compensate. Now is some imagined Freshness worth paying higher prices? Just grab the one in the front (as long as it is within reason). If milk is dated 10 days from now, don't dig for something dated 12 days for now. The 10-day one is fine. Just take it.

[StalePopcorn]

lol I love reading rants like these, and I don't even work retail

I read somewhere that a coffee shop in a major metro area has a sign that says "we will not serve mobile phone talkers!" and the staff are actively encouraged to serve someone else who is on their mobile phone. They must be doing pretty well though - not many places turn customers away, even the annoying ones.

I am so with you on shopping carts! Those aisles are designed for two carts to pass side-by-side people! MOVE THAT CART! lol

The kids bit, as annoying as it may be, I understand. You truly do filter out your kids whining about toy x, lolly y and game z. Children have the innate ability to continually ask for something, no matter how many times you say "no" and threaten them with the Wrath of TimeOut if they don't shut-their-cake-hole-and-stop-whining! If it makes you feel any better, we always make them eat brussel sprouts as punishment

[velveeta]

lots of places around here, from the post office to the local community college, will make you get out of line to answer/talk on your mobile phone. after waiting in the lines around here, NO ONE talks on their phones in lines..........

[Tcei]

Working in retail I agree so much with all this.
On kids another thing is we are NOT baby sitters! Uhg! I work in electronics and toys in my store parents just LOVE to drop their darling little three year old off to run around and play. Mind you I work overnight. I'll often call the parents back to pick up their child. Sometimes I have to call several times. There have been times I've been tempted to just walk off and leave the child unsupervised, but I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened - to the younger ones at least.

As for the teenagers and college age "kids" you're old enough to know better. Just becasue we sell balls doesnt mean you can go bouncing htem around the $1500+ tvs on display. Nor can you go riding a bicicle down the middle of the store. Its dangerous. If I tell you to stop Im not saying it to be mean, Im saying it cause the managers expect me to. Quite frankly if you're that old and stupid enough to do it, knowing that you're not suposed to, then you deserve to face the consequences.

[Dragonboy]

1). Leaving their Shopping Carts in the middle of the Aisle.
2). Smaller Stores that do not have Cart Returns outside.
6). Rotation.

1). Some people are just annoying selfish *bleeps*, some people even manage to place their cart not only in the middle of the Aisle, but also at a 90 degree angle from the Aisles direction... Be happy that they at least say sorry to you. btw... the peons are also sometimes quite annoying, leaving empty refilling carts (some even on brake) everywhere which is sometimes even worse.
2). Due to some extreme annoying people in Holland most if not all by now have been fitted with a 50 eurocent payment slot which releases a chain which connects that cart to the other unused carts which you have to use in order to use or return the cart. Due to the fact that you get your 50 cent back after a return and as dutchies are considered greedy only few are found wondering the countryside.
6). I am not sure how it is were you work, but I would dare say that about 10-15% of the stuff is near expiring date an additional 5% is already after expiring date. So frankly I don’t care if peons are annoyed with me leaving it messy... If I don’t watch carefully I get sick from something 2-3 days fast expiration date.



btw... love your rant posts... please continuo.

[jerk-o]

Warning: Unattented kids will be given a free expresso and a small puppy.

[Anime]

I also work in retail now and every time i hear lound noise in work I go OHHH NOOOO D: and I get cry child at my checkout crying :x last time I had a woman with a double pram with 2 children and the alise arn't big and people try get around her and the childen in pram grab everthing D: oh and wheelchairs **** it and balls why are they near the checkouts kids grab them and bouching around D:

thought I join in the rant lol xD

[Thicklesip]

Warning: Unattented kids will be given a free expresso and a small puppy.

Do it do it do it do it pleeeeeease.

I'll admit I double-check milk sell-by dates, but I am VERY reluctant to dig through the whole dang fridge to get that one two days better all the way in the back, since as a functioning person I understand that you have to put all the bottles/cartons/whatever you dig past back. Clean-up aside, I never thought it would be frowned-upon though! It's just really hard to forget that one time I opened up a fresh carton I'd just purchased that day, took a sip, and had to rinse my mouth out in the sink. (And then got laughed at for not checking the sell-by date first, because it was a bit, uh, overdue.)

[Dhalin]

An update about the milk thing.. at our store, we have all of the gallon jugs on the bottom shelf. Ontop of the gallon jugs, we have these plastic trays, upon which set MORE gallon jugs. Trays are two jugs wide, and the shelf holds 4 jugs back, so each tray covers up 8 gallon jugs.

Some people will actually *pull the bottom jug out* because they think/guess it will be a newer date. The one day, a mother told her kid to get a gallon of 2% milk. The kid did this, and two jugs sitting ontop of the tray hit the floor; both of them broke open and half of the aisle was covered in milk. The mother didn't even apologize, nor did she pay for the busted milk jugs, AND it took us nearly an hour to clean it up AND we had to shut the aisle down (using those wet floor signs).

Also, with the dates... I understand if the milk will go out-of-date 2-3 days from now. But, if there is milk in the cooler that has an expiration date of 10+ days from now... please don't dig the milk out, unless you're going to put it back in *properly*. Milk that expires 10 days from now will not taste any differently than milk that expires 12 days from now. But yeah, if the date is only 2-3 days, maybe 4 if you're buying a gallon... I understand. I don't blame one for wanting something a little fresher.

[StalePopcorn]

Working in retail I agree so much with all this.
On kids another thing is we are NOT baby sitters! Uhg! I work in electronics and toys in my store parents just LOVE to drop their darling little three year old off to run around and play. Mind you I work overnight. I'll often call the parents back to pick up their child. Sometimes I have to call several times. There have been times I've been tempted to just walk off and leave the child unsupervised, but I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened - to the younger ones at least.

I'd be straight on the phone to the police with an "abandoned child" call if attempts had already been made to locate the parents. Let's see them explain why they left their kids alone in a store to the local constabulary. Police generally take a dim view of leaving kids by themselves. :< Particularly when they aren't your responsibility! What would happen if some psycho grabbed a kid and ran off? How do you know that the person picking up the screaming child and leaving is really the responsible adult? Tough call.

I get heart palpatations if my kids go to another aisle and I can't see them. Must be my old age making me untrusting of the world. Or perhaps its too much news on tv.

[Dhalin]

btw... the peons are also sometimes quite annoying, leaving empty refilling carts (some even on brake) everywhere which is sometimes even worse.

Huh, that's odd.

Where I work, our boss right out and tells us to keep the "refilling carts" (I assume you mean flatbed carts with lots of boxes stacked on them that we stock the shelves with?) out of the middle of the Aisle. I park it as close to the one side as I can. Now, if a cart is in front of an item a customer wants/need, they only need ask (politely, please) and I will move it for you so you can get the item. Or tell me what you need and I'll reach behind it, either/or.

DO NOT try to move the cart yourself; if you move that cart and a case falls off it and breaks something, that is _your_ responsibility and we _could_ demand that you pay for it. One item is expensive enough... wanna pay for _12_ (most cases are either 12 or 24 of something) of them? I doubt it. If the case falls while I'm moving the cart, that's My responsibility. That's why you should never, ever touch a said cart unless you're an employee there.

[Dragonboy]

Those I mean indeed. However I know what the problem is, lots of time I see a whole army of peons standing at a different location talking, laughing and just being plain annoying by standing in the center of the aisle. If there is no supervisor who keeps them working they probably tend to do that the whole day.

Normally this kind of things doesn't bother me, but when the store is crowded it is good that refilling is done, but not with unattended empty refilling carts all over the place especially in locations were you can barely pass each other (the aisle being just wide enough for 2 carts).

[Dhalin]

Those I mean indeed. However I know what the problem is, lots of time I see a whole army of peons standing at a different location talking, laughing and just being plain annoying by standing in the center of the aisle. If there is no supervisor who keeps them working they probably tend to do that the whole day.

Normally this kind of things doesn't bother me, but when the store is crowded it is good that refilling is done, but not with unattended empty refilling carts all over the place especially in locations were you can barely pass each other (the aisle being just wide enough for 2 carts).

See, if we did that kind of crap at *our* workplace, we wouldn't be working there very long, lol.

Our boss (the store owner) is a pretty decent guy to work for, but he also has rules and standards. I think he's one of the few guys (from what I've heard of others' stories) that does his best to find some sort of happy medium between making the environment good for customers, but also good for the workers too. He doesn't want crap sitting out in the middle of the aisles, but he Does realize that we need some room to do our jobs and gives us some leeway on that.

I do know, though, that he wouldn't be very happy if his people were standing around talking and wasting time, and especially unhappy if there were multiple carts in the same aisle, especially if they were on opposite sides, or blocking the aisle entirely. But then we work at a smaller store, he can easily see what's going on. It is only a 6-aisle store.