“Hi how can I help you?”
The six words that no retail worker wants to say and every customer loves to hear. As soon as the question is uttered to a shopper you might as well accept defeat right then and there. Any retail employee knows that once those words are spoken, once you offer help to a customer, it only goes downhill from there. If the customer eyes begin to light up, that is a sure sign that your day is about to go from bad to worse.
Once you say these dreaded words, you are no longer a cashier or a shelf stocker, you immediately become what I like to call, the customers bitch. By offering your services to the customer, in their eyes you immediately become their property or personal assistant. Don’t get me wrong, some customers are kind and won’t treat you like their own personal servant but be prepared, because nine times out of ten you will be looked down upon and basically stripped of your title as an average human being.
Now I know what you are thinking, “but it’s your job to help the customers.” Correct, it is my job to assist customers in finding products. However, if I offer my help to you, that doesn’t give anyone the right to treat me or any cashier like they are not a person. Many people think that because employee’s in retail stand behind a counter with a uniform and nametag on, it automatically gives them the right to treat them as their inferior.
Now I’m all for a good “couponer,” believe me, I have the utmost respect for these people. These are typically the soccer mom’s in a minivan’s that enjoys late night coupon cutting because she really doesn’t have a life due to her five children. However, these types of people are typically the culprits when it comes to bullying the cashiers. That is because, since they coupon often, they have it instilled in their brain that they know everything there is to know about the store and all the rules that go along with running a successful retail facility. So when they step up to check out their items and they hand you a coupon that they conveniently forgot to check the expiration date on, it’s only natural that when you tell them that their coupon is two months expired, they will in one motion, bite your head off.
Okay so that’s an exaggeration. BUT, that doesn’t mean they won’t go down without a fight. They will undoubtedly argue with you for at least five minutes and continually mention that they are a “loyal customer” and that “we should take the coupon anyway.” Totally disregarding the fact that if you do give them this two-month expired coupon, you will indefinitely get fired.
Next, you have the people that genuinely think that because a counter separates you, they are one hundred percent better than you. They just came from their “real job” so they must be your superior. They will order you around and if you aren’t going fast enough for their liking, they will make sure to notify you of it. These “all business” type people won’t stand too close to you either because they think it might lower their own value.
While you try and engage in a small conversation with them to make the slim time you have with them a little more bearable, they will hastily throw their items directly towards you, throw a twenty dollar bill on top of it and then proceed to talk on the phone because they can’t be bothered with even acknowledging your presence. Oh, and don’t forget, when they start to get anxious because you aren’t moving a thousand miles a minute, they will begin tapping their finger on the counter and looking all around because their impatience is growing faster than you can even bag a single item.
Lastly, you have the customers that think that you, the person behind the register, single-handedly chose the price to every item in that retail store. These types of people firmly believe that because you are a representative of that company, you must be responsible for everything within the store, which includes but is not limited to, the retail prices, what goes on sale that week and how the calls are managed and taken when they call the 1-800 number. Don’t believe me? Let me paint you the picture.
A woman comes in and is in dire need of a specific type of shampoo that apparently only your store carries. She finds her shampoo while failing to check the price and then continues shopping around. When she makes it to the counter and you ring up her things, she is absolutely flabbergasted at the price. “$15 for shampoo,” she states, “that’s absolutely ridiculous. That cannot be right, I want you to check that.” After checking the price three different times to ensure to this customer that the shampoo is indeed fifteen dollars, she is completely fed up and so are you.
The difference is: she will make sure you thoroughly understand how upset she is and how highly overpriced that shampoo is. Finally, after you apologize profusely and repeat that you personally do not choose the prices, she'll make sure to push your buttons just a bit more. Because she knows just how much she can get away with she'll add on that just because you don’t make the prices, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reach out to the manager, who also doesn’t decide the prices, to get the prices reduced to her liking.
Listen, working in customer service isn’t always as bad as I’ve made it out to be. There are many decent people that come and are kind to cashiers and treat them with the respect that they deserve. However, it only takes one person to come in and be rude to an employee to make that workers day a catastrophe. Because I know from experience that once someone yells at you or is just blatantly disrespectful, it throws off your whole rhythm and it also makes you feel insignificant.
My advice, however, is not for the people who treat retail employee’s unfairly because let’s face it, you can’t teach someone who's probably been a jerk their whole life, not to be. But rather my advice is for the actual cashiers behind the counter. When you’ve been treated like garbage by customer after customer and the job gets to be too much. Don't waste your time thinking of how many different ways you can drop kick them to the floor. Instead, stand behind your retail throne and enjoy the background music.
