greeter

[Aglifter]

I was referring to firing customers. Firing annoying employees is, pretty much, a given - and why you never want to be "that guy." (Presuming you are generally happy to see people, if there's an employee that you don't like encountering, while battling a hang-over Monday morning, then he needs to go.)

[Captain Wheelgun]

Indeed. It's a guiding principle, a rule of thumb. It's NOT an absolute rule carved in stone that permits zero deviation with zero tolerance.

You default to treating the customer as if he is right (because hey, the customers are the ones who bring you the MONEY you need to SURVIVE) up to and until he gives you reason to overrule that default. Because there are bad, predatory or just plain crazy people out there, who do not mean well and cannot be reasoned with. And you need to protect yourself and (Aglifter seems to be one of the few who get this) your other customers from that.

It's just that "it is wisest for the overwhelming majority of customers to be given the benefit of the doubt and treated as if they are correct in the overwhelming majority of cases" doesn't have much of a ring to it, the human mind needs something a little more... snappy. (Sound bites and slogans exist for a reason.)

Probaby the best way I've heard it stated is "The customer is not always right, but (s)he is always the customer".

[Jericho941]

Fair enough. Sorry for the :jacked: humor thread, it's just that this topic kinda struck a little close to home for me, and there I went. Spoiler'd for TL;DR:

[spoiler]A very close friend of mine is stuck in retail (at Michael's) despite actively seeking other employment for two years straight. They've got a bachelor's degree and professional medical/legal experience. It's not for lack of trying, there just are no other jobs where they are, and for the time being, they can't move. (They know lawyers who wait tables there, it's that bad). They don't get the occasional douche, they get the daily douches. They have been threatened with violence, and at one point had to leave at the end of their shift through the back entrance for fear of a customer who threatened to kill them. Only in these most extreme circumstances will management think to do anything, let alone call the police.

Yes, they work at that Michael's. The craft store. Not a liquor store, not a 7-11, the place where you go to buy Popsicle sticks and glitter. Death threats.

Incidentally, this is the friend I have a hard time pulling out of the Fudd camp, because they're afraid of the concealed carrier who'll come in and make good on those threats over a 20-cent coupon on sewing patterns. The obvious counter-example is there: Like hell a national retail chain would let employees carry.

For this person, "I only got bitched out by three customers today, and only one of them smelled like a dumpster" and "nobody sprayed literal shit all over the bathroom that I had to clean up" are good days. They recently caught someone peeking around aisles and jerking off until he saw them, at which point he ran out of the store.

At Michael's. The craft store.

I'm seriously worried for them because they've started having full-on anxiety attacks over simple thoughts like "I'm going to have to work another Christmas in retail." I can't do anything to help them, and that frustration only adds to the anger that at some point society decided "forget manners, basic human decency is for other people. Because I'm always right."

And so often, corporate policy agrees with them.[/spoiler]

[Greg]

Fair enough. Sorry for the :jacked: humor thread, it's just that this topic kinda struck a little close to home for me, and there I went. Spoiler'd for TL;DR:

[spoiler]A very close friend of mine is stuck in retail (at Michael's) despite actively seeking other employment for two years straight. They've got a bachelor's degree and professional medical/legal experience. It's not for lack of trying, there just are no other jobs where they are, and for the time being, they can't move. (They know lawyers who wait tables there, it's that bad). They don't get the occasional douche, they get the daily douches. They have been threatened with violence, and at one point had to leave at the end of their shift through the back entrance for fear of a customer who threatened to kill them. Only in these most extreme circumstances will management think to do anything, let alone call the police.

Yes, they work at that Michael's. The craft store. Not a liquor store, not a 7-11, the place where you go to buy Popsicle sticks and glitter. Death threats.

Incidentally, this is the friend I have a hard time pulling out of the Fudd camp, because they're afraid of the concealed carrier who'll come in and make good on those threats over a 20-cent coupon on sewing patterns. The obvious counter-example is there: Like hell a national retail chain would let employees carry.

For this person, "I only got bitched out by three customers today, and only one of them smelled like a dumpster" and "nobody sprayed literal shit all over the bathroom that I had to clean up" are good days. They recently caught someone peeking around aisles and jerking off until he saw them, at which point he ran out of the store.

At Michael's. The craft store.

I'm seriously worried for them because they've started having full-on anxiety attacks over simple thoughts like "I'm going to have to work another Christmas in retail." I can't do anything to help them, and that frustration only adds to the anger that at some point society decided "forget manners, basic human decency is for other people. Because I'm always right."

And so often, corporate policy agrees with them.[/spoiler]

Tee hee hee. I feel for your friend, but yes it's funny. That's just a poorly run business. Having had to go into a Michael's (or it might have been the other major craft store chain), and what I know of suburbia- all those customers your friend is talking about, are women. Probably over 40. They only act the way they do because they've been conditioned their whole lives that they can get away with it.

[Netpackrat]

One of the nice aspects of living in a small town where everybody knows everybody else's business, is that in close to 20 years of running a business that included an automotive repair and retail tire shop, my dad only had to fire a total of 3 customers during that time.

[randy]

"I'm going to have to work another Christmas in retail."

Every year starting in November I thank whatever deities that might exist that I am not working retail anymore.

[Captain Wheelgun]

"I'm going to have to work another Christmas in retail."

Every year starting in November I thank whatever deities that might exist that I am not working retail anymore.

+10^10,000

[Greg]

"I'm going to have to work another Christmas in retail."

Every year starting in November I thank whatever deities that might exist that I am not working retail anymore.

+10^10,000

Me too. But it's not so much Christmas, as it's the beginning of every semester. Oh and Macworld (how many people remember Macworld Boston? I sure do).

[Yogimus]

I used to work retail. I had one woman belittle me for 5 minutes straight, and then hand me a check. I looked at her, looked at the check, and informed her that handing her address to someone she just abused may not be the safest thing for her to be doing.

[Rod]

I used to work retail. I had one woman belittle me for 5 minutes straight, and then hand me a check. I looked at her, looked at the check, and informed her that handing her address to someone she just abused may not be the safest thing for her to be doing.