When you hear the word “retail” it can sometimes make people cringe. Retail is usually associated with horrible stories about how rude people can be, long hours, and bad pay. While most of those things are true, we forget to acknowledge the good customers. The customers who make us smile, who are polite and friendly, and overall just nice people who make our day a little brighter! After four years working in retail, I promise the good customers always make more of a lasting impression on retail employees than the rude customers.
To the customers that politely ask for assistance, thank you. If a customer politely asks with a gentle tone in their voice, “excuse me, can you help me?” it makes all the difference in the world. In my store, I remember being called over with a hand gesture, a demand, a yell, or a whistle. While being polite and nice is common courtesy, sometimes people forget. But the customers who politely ask without sounding demanding or rude. Those are the customers retail employees actually enjoy helping and want to genuinely help. So rule of thumb, just be polite and nice and we are more than willing to help the best we can!
To the customers who don’t yell, thank you. We don’t make that much money, and we are at the bottom of the chain when it comes to retail. Most of us are just trying to make a little extra cash to help pay some bills while getting through college. We can’t control why we don’t have your size in stock at that exact moment, or why you can’t return a specific item, or why the company has two different prices for two similar items. Those things are beyond our control, so while I understand your complaint, I have the least amount of power to do anything about it. If you’re nice and polite I promise most of us will do our best to point you in the direction of someone who can help you.
To the customer that patiently waits, thank you. We see you waiting, but sometimes we get caught up in other things and can’t make it to you right away. We expect you to get angry and frustrated with us, but when you’re not it gives us a feeling of relief and appreciation for you as a customer. In fact, for people like that, I always try to find them a coupon or deal for being so patient. So thank you for being patient, it doesn’t go unnoticed, I promise.
To the customer that makes conversation with us at the register, I appreciate it! Sometimes it’s nice to talk about things other than just our job during our five-hour shifts. Plus, for me at least, I enjoy talking to people. It makes my day a little brighter and it is better overall than asking you “credit or debit?”
So at the end of the day for all of us who are in or was in retail, don’t forget there ARE nice customers.
And for all of the nice customers out there, we appreciate you and you don’t go unnoticed!
