Working in retail can get a bit frustrating from time to time. Some days are just plain bad and others make you want to explode. My experience as a cashier and service desk associate at my local Walmart, I've learned that customers can be very irritating. From asking the dumbest questions to straight up being rude and not caring, I've seen it all. So let me enlighten you on the many struggles of working in retail.
1. When customers sneak into your line even though your register light is off.
Just because I'm still ringing up another customer's items doesn't mean I'm still open. The light is off for a reason; it means I'm leaving my register so go to one that still has the light on.
2. When customers say “There’s not enough registers open.”
We are all aware of that. It’s not my fault that people aren’t scheduled. Yes, it’s inconvenient but that’s life sometimes. We do what we can.
3. Throwing/putting money on the counter.
If I’m holding out my hand for you to hand me the money, please just do it. It’s just extra work for you and for me. It’s not that hard.
4. When customers get rude because they don’t get their way.
I don’t know how many times someone’s given me an attitude or even almost yelled at me because they didn’t get their way with something. I didn’t make the store’s policies and rules; I just work here. I don’t need your attitude thank you.
5. When customers ask if they can get change.
We are not a bank. We’re not allowed to open our drawers and give out change because the whole drawer will be off whenever it gets counted.
6. When customers say “But they’ve done it before.”
And whoever did probably didn’t know better or the rules got updated. Either way, I know what I’m talking about so don’t try to justify your point by saying “they’ve done it for me before.”
7. When it’s dead in the store but all of a sudden it gets busy out of nowhere.
It’s like everyone decided to meet up and come at the exact same time. It’s very common later on in the evening as well. It gets better though. By 9:00 p.m., since they’re all there at the same time, they still choose to complain about not having enough lanes open. Well excuse me because its late at night, everyone’s clocking out and you decided to come this late.
8. When customers ask for smaller bills after you’ve already closed the drawer.
This is very common when customers come to the service desk to cash their government checks. You totally saw my drawer pop open. You saw me get and count up the money. I like to divide up the bills pretty evenly. If you wanted all small bills, why didn’t you say something when my drawer was still open and I hadn’t already counted it up on the counter for you?
9. When customers spin the bag carousel as you’re still trying to bag their items.
This might be a pet peeve only for me, but it drives me insane. Technically, I’m the one scanning and bagging the items so I should be in control of spinning it. Some people (especially kids) don’t understand that. When I’m ready, I will spin the bags towards you. If you grab it on your when I wasn’t ready, that’s on you and you’ll just have to deal with getting extra bags because you couldn’t wait.
10. When customers complain about getting store credit for their NO RECEIPT return.
We’re doing you a favor by giving you a gift card you can use in the entire store. Having no receipt, we can’t tell if you actually bought the item, when it was bought, etc. So either find the receipt, take the gift card, or don’t return it at all.
11. When customers just stand there not grabbing their overflowing bags.
Do you not see me running out of room? Do you not see me struggling? I’ll bag your items but you have to make an effort to take them when I’m done with them so I can continue bagging your cart full of stuff.
12. When you greet the customer and they ignore you.
Alright, guess I’m invisible right? This is why I hate the general public.
I’m sure there’s many more struggles that I didn’t mention, but I’ll stop here before I get heated. So whenever you’re out shopping, don’t be one of these people. Us retail employees are still human and don’t deserve to be mistreated. In all honesty, you acting the way you do doesn’t solve a lot. If anything, it gives us stories to tell in the break room and laugh about later on. So it’d be best if you considered us as people before you go and give us crap.
