customer abuse towards retail workers

[davidc4430]

Reject Shop and KFC piloting program to curb customer abuse towards retail workers

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-19/customer-always-right-mantra-dropped-as-retail-abuse-rampant/...

i think part of the problem is staff are not trained how to deal with unhappy customers.

i myself have have been told by a shop assistant 'i cant help you, you need to leave our shop' after making a complaint.

wether right or wrong the customer deserves respect.

in my case i'd ordered a new computer, paid a deposit and was informed it would take a 'couple of days' to be ready. i waited and waited, it took several weeks! and when i took it home it didnt work! i returned to the store with the computer and requested a refund, that was when i got the 'i cant help you leave the store'

the store was run by people of middle eastern apearence who knew my home address. they acted very menacing to me.

being young and not a fighter i left.

took my computer to another computer repairer and found it was very poorly built and required major work to be 'fixed'

[snow*jewel]

Yes, agree at need more training.

We just get on-line tutorials/quizzes to fill out. 

Re robberies, how to deal with customers etc. The rest is left to the employee really. 

[not_for_sale2025]

There have been numerous occasions where I have witnessed unacceptable behaviour by customers who deserve no respect what so ever. The customer is not always right; the customer is sometimes an over entitled rude pig. And I have seen well trained staff try and manage these people with true professionalism, but the stress on their faces was unmistakable.

I think a lot of people are more openly aggressive and their sense of entitlement seems to be driven by a current belief that we have the right to speak our minds and get what we want, when we want it. But the line has to be drawn when it comes to customers who abuse their place in a store because that's what they do, and they enjoy it.

While no disrespect is intended, we need to consider that a lot of store attendants are young and inexperienced. They are not punching bags for bullies and should be protected. I hope the training does away with all ridiculous cliches such as 'the customer is always right'. There are lots of spooky people out there with God knows what wrong with them, so lets take that into consideration too when considering the rights and responsibilities of customers.

[davidc4430]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

There have been numerous occasions where I have witnessed unacceptable behaviour by customers who deserve no respect what so ever. The customer is not always right; the customer is sometimes an over entitled rude pig. And I have seen well trained staff try and manage these people with true professionalism, but the stress on their faces was unmistakable.

I think a lot of people are more openly aggressive and their sense of entitlement seems to be driven by a current belief that we have the right to speak our minds and get what we want, when we want it. But the line has to be drawn when it comes to customers who abuse their place in a store because that's what they do, and they enjoy it.

While no disrespect is intended, we need to consider that a lot of store attendants are young and inexperienced. They are not punching bags for bullies and should be protected. I hope the training does away with all ridiculous cliches such as 'the customer is always right'. There are lots of spooky people out there with God knows what wrong with them, so lets take that into consideration too when considering the rights and responsibilities of customers.

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agreed, youtube has thousands of videos of irate morons arguing over a free offer of a burger in fast food outlets.

ive watched a few.

but i still say staff should get training on how to deal with genuine unhappy campers.

there are indeed a lot of looneys out there (just look at that woman beating up an old lady)

id just like to hear that the companys mentioned in this story were teaching their staff how to deal with problem customers.

how to sort the genuine from the 'just trying it on' bunch

[joztamps]

Working night shift at the servo, I found that the best vway of dealing with misbehaving customers was to politely say to them "Mate, **bleep** off or I'll call the jacks".

Of course, that was after they installed the bullet-proof night window.

[springyzone]

I can identify with all you said.

There are some people out there with what i could only describe as a major sense of entitlement.

Not that i have struck it in retail but when I used to teach, there were the occasional parents I would hear about who were over the top unreasonable. One man was ranting and raving and intimidating to a young female teacher because there was no bus service to the school. She was scared he was going to punch her and it wasn't as if she (or anyone else on staff) had any control over bus services.

I think 99% of people in this world are reasonable, but you've always got your 1% who aren't, whether they are in a school, shop, hospital etc. They take that personality with them wherever they go.

But having said that, I do think some staff could do with some training. I guess we've all been in the store where some of the staff were standing around having a chat & not bothering to see if the customer needed any help. I walked out of one store like that the other day. one staff member was busy, the other was doing something behind the counter but didn't look up, didn't say "be with you in a moment', just ignored me for a couple of minutes.

I've seen some nursing staff with totally unacceptable behaviour too. While I don't believe in being abusive, I do think there are times when a person is entitled to question another about their attitude or behaviour. I certainly would have at the time but I held my tongue as it was my mother who was the patient and I was scared the woman might take it out on her when I left. If a person could be so nasty in front of visitors, I dread to think what they are like with elderly patients alone.

Staff do need training and they probably need short staff meetings weekly or fortnightly (if they are on a big staff) for their own professional development.

And a dose of patience & manners wouldn't go astray for everyone.