Rudeness Toward Retail and Service Workers

[Twilight Hue]

Like the ones who get pissy when you politely make a request for any missing items you've payed for.

Yea. That has happened to me.

Sometimes people are victims of their own self fulfilling prophecy without realizing the cause is not the customer.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

what do you think motivates most of it?

This is the Karen phenomenon in America. It manifests when angry, easily triggered, and entitled sociopaths don't get their way:

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

It's very rare.

On the flip-side, telecommunications is a whole different beast. While most customers are just so-so, it's rare to have a customer be pleasant and more common for customers to be unreasonably aggressive and rude. For that there's something about not being face-to-face, I think, that lends them the courage to be so vicious. Which is fine (I suppose), as they can't see my faces and middle fingers either.

 

[Heyo]

On the flip-side, telecommunications is a whole different beast. While most customers are just so-so, it's rare to have a customer be pleasant and more common for customers to be unreasonably aggressive and rude. For that there's something about not being face-to-face, I think, that lends them the courage to be so vicious. Which is fine (I suppose), as they can't see my faces and middle fingers either.

That problem can be remedied by video calls.

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

That problem can be remedied by video calls.

I think they'd still be just as rude, whereas we would have to maintain a professional demeanor. It's not so much being on the phone as it is not being there in person. There's a physical distance that gives them ill-willed courage.

 

[idea]

I think they'd still be just as rude, whereas we would have to maintain a professional demeanor. It's not so much being on the phone as it is not being there in person. There's a physical distance that gives them ill-willed courage.

I think telemarketing has ruined phone conversations , no fun.

 

[Heyo]

I think they'd still be just as rude, whereas we would have to maintain a professional demeanor. It's not so much being on the phone as it is not being there in person. There's a physical distance that gives them ill-willed courage.

I was only half serious. After all they would be "face-to-face" with you and they would be able to see your middle finger.

 

[Secret Chief]

Can't remember the last time I saw anything like this. It's not tolerated. It's quite common to see signs basically saying "We're here to help, and we don't take any ****." Frinstance our local council recycling centre has just such a (giant) sign.

 

[England my lionheart]

My favourite retort from a shop assistant was in Cornwall UK,a customer was asking “what time does the Fish n chip shop open next door?”,shop assistant after short ponder “to be honest I don’t know and don’t give a f@?;,the fish n chip shop is renowned for only opening when the owner feels like it.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

One guy had put a couple of bottles of good wine in his case of mediocre wine. He went loopy when the cashier opened the box to check. He wound up storming off leaving all his shopping behind.

That reminds me of these couple of wankers when I worked at a gas station. It's third shift and they pull into the far pumps. I told the guy at the register to go ahead and authorize the pump because I would go and and get the license plate number.
I walk outside and the guy starts yelling at me, asking me what my problem is, cussing and screaming and he jumped in the car and his buddy drove away. This was out in the middle of nowhere so I do hope they ran out of gas and ended up walking.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

This is the Karen phenomenon in America. It manifests when angry, easily triggered, and entitled sociopaths don't get their way:

I think it's unfortunate people use someone's name as an insult. What did Karen do? She probably did nothing.
Mark my words, soon we'll be finding real Karens having psychological issues over this.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I think it's unfortunate people use someone's name as an insult. What did Karen do? She probably did nothing.
Mark my words, soon we'll be finding real Karens having psychological issues over this.

Yes, it's unfortunate when your name has another meaning. I think that Dick van Dyke and Peter O'Toole might now something about that.

So do I. Somebody few people like or respect became a celebrity with a name very close to mine. For years, I would hear about it when others saw or heard my name for the first time.

But yeah, Karens now have a harder row to hoe (I used to think the first word was road - apparently a common mistake).

And I always felt a little empathy for Bush, Dick, and Colin. That sounds like an X-rated White House.

I've always wondered why we don't see any more people named Hitler. It seems like a name that might have been very common. Did people change their names? They mostly stopped naming their babies Adolph.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I've always wondered why we don't see any more people named Hitler. It seems like a name that might have been very common. Did people change their names? They mostly stopped naming their babies Adolph.

Now I'm very curious. What happened to the Hitlers? It's a family name so there couldn't have been only the one. And while we hear of this tyrants kids and that dictators descendants, but where are the Hitlers? Are there really non at all out there trying to rework the name so the world doesn't define their name as synonymous with evil for all eternity?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I work full time at Kroger. Being treated as less than human is the norm at such jobs. We get yelled at, cussed out, threatened (sometimes customers threaten to shoot us), assaulted, almost ran over by people breaking traffic laws in the parking lot (some of us have been hit by cars driving recklessly), and a dozen other ways we're treated like crap. This is includes the courtesy clerks, who are mainly handicapped people. I try to minimize my contact with customers. It doesn't help that the store I work at is in a snobby area with a bunch of entitled rich people who are used to getting their way at all costs. I can't stand those people. I've definitely noticed that upper class people tend to have worse attitudes than other people. They'll lie, cheat and harangue you to get discounts they know they're not entitled to, free stuff, etc. and then throw a tantrum if they don't get it. And, yes - they're usually wealthy white women in giant SUVs.