In an effort to not come off completely condescending, as I’ve done so effortlessly with blog posts in the past, before I start this entry I want to be abundantly clear that I do enjoy tiny aspects of the retail industry. I’ve been in the retail/customer service industry for 6 years up until this point where I’ve worked as both a sales associate and an integral part of management as a key-holder, and each job I’ve been through has given me good life lessons that I plan to take with me for the rest of my life. I don’t think I’d be the person I am today if it weren’t for those lessons and experiences.
THAT BEING SAID…..
These ‘lessons’ weren’t exactly pleasant to deal with at these different points in my career. I will admit to the fact that many of my encounters often ended where both parties were content with the results. As for the others….yikes.
That’s why I want my blog for this week to be informational for the general public on how to behave towards YOUR customer service workers, because at the end of the day, we’re just trying to help you. If anyone reads my blog and has worked in the customer service industry, I feel your pain and may god have mercy on all of us. For those of you that do not fit this characterization, I have more than a few unsavory words for you.
I want to preface this by stating the obvious, yes, there are some individuals in the retail industry who hate their lives, hate their jobs, and hate the world for making them work these shit jobs. And as a result, they take out their frustrations on innocent customers. For the record, we, in the industry, do not associate with these individuals because 9 out of 10 times they’re just as shitty to work with. Nevertheless, the other 90% of customer arguments start before the customer even swipes their card to pay.
One particular store I worked at in my 6 years of retail experience had an incident with a customer almost every single day. Whether it was someone’s dog taking a shit in front of our store in the mall and not cleaning it up, or someone’s kid taking a piss INSIDE the store AND NOT CLEANING IT UP, or even the slightest stupidities such as going hiking for 3 months with our merchandise in the fucking alps of Canada and trying to return it for “not being comfortable” and stating that “you only wore them once”, it was truly never a dull moment. We also had the common arguments such as; “why isn’t this item 50% off” when the sign clearly says that the discount is on selected items, and other times we would have someone reciting the fucking bill of rights just to get us to do a price match with another store. With that last point, it was honestly so funny to me with the amount of people that would claim that price matching was a law in Canada and try to lawyer their way into getting what they want. Like we get it honey, you took a Civics and Law class in high school and now you’re a pediatrician so you think you know shit.
Anyways I digress, but the bottom line of this blog post, because I know we live in a Gen-Z era and everyone’s attention span only lasts 15 seconds if ChatGPT isn’t involved, is that the customer service industry is just as important of a job as anything else is, because without us, people would have to actually think and read signs properly, which may seem funny but in reality its a mildly concerning problem that people can’t properly function. Just remember, at the end of the day, life is severely short and we’re all just trying to do our jobs to the best of our ability to not get fired. So please, don’t shout, don’t berate, and don’t throw 55 pieces of clothes attached to a hanger at unsuspecting workers (yeah, that happened to me, don’t ask). Trust me, whatever you’re arguing about with an 18 year-old minimum wage worker is not worth losing your temper and causing unnecessary stress towards both you and them.
Show of hands, how douchey did this blog post make me seem?
Anyways, if you want to have a laugh, I made a public service announcement for class that encapsulates my pain in this industry. Give it a listen below. I call it the Give a F.U.C.K. PSA, you’ll figure out why.
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