Why are people so rude to customer service employees ?

There are some very good answers to this question already, so in no way do I expect to get the "Best Answer." However, I thought I would throw in an additional perspective, having been a cashier at a pet store, grocery store and handbag store collectively for about 10 years. In addition, my very own MOTHER is one of THOSE customers. The kind a cashier or retail rep sees from a mile away and KNOWS they are about to be chewed out.

I started working in retail when I was 15. I am now almost 26 and not much has changed in the shopping world. I paid for a private high school education and my college degree with these jobs, and appreciate the learning experience. You see, I have been on both sides of the counter/conveyor belt when these "chew outs" occurred and this is what I know: Generally and collectively speaking, both parties should have fingers pointed at them.

A shopper enters a grocery store, late for work, looking for a nice coffee thermos, and hoping for an "in-and-out" experience. Instead, they find no carts or baskets at the entrance. They try to find an employee who can point them in the direction of the thermoses, but they all run in the opposite direction (because God forbid a customer takes up their time) or they simply say "I don't know." The shopper finds the thermos section, but only to see they are understocked and overpriced. Check out lines are a mile long, and moving slow. They finally make it to the check-out and the cashier doesn't acknowledge their presence. He/she scans their item and tosses it into a plastic bag. The thermos rings up $3.00 more than the advertised price. The shopper explains the price difference. Cashier calls for a price check. 20 minutes later someone returns with the correct price. Card swipe, car in drive, 30 minutes late to work.

The variables in this situation are immense. Why were there no carts? Either someone wasn't doing their job, they were understaffed, or the store was busy and it couldn't keep up. Why were the thermoses understocked? Again someone might not have been doing their job, they were understaffed or the store was too busy. In addition, the new shipment might not have come in. Why was the line so long and slow? Understaffed, cashier taking their time or they were newly hired. Why was the price wrong? Someone didn't mark it in the system. Someone put it in the wrong place. Someone put the wrong price tag up. Why did it take so long to get the correct price? All the employees thought someone else would/ should handle it. The employee couldn't find the item. The store is big, takes a while to get there and back. None of these things are the shopper's fault. But they might not be the cashier's fault either.

I was always polite, took initiative, went above and beyond and assumed responsibility because I knew what it was like to be a frustrated customer. However, I STILL experienced my share of "chew out" sessions. A lot of the time, I could tell the shopper was trying to get something out of the deal: a percentage off their purchase, a free item, a coupon. In those cases I politely told them to shove it. In other cases, they were legitimately angry and had a right to be. To chew me out was debatable but when I was hired, my job description clearly stated a required skills is to "handle customer's complaints or concerns." In other words, "be prepared to be yelled at." I don't think it will ever change. Sometimes people wake up in a bad mood and they are just waiting for the excuse to jump down someone's throat. A captive audience, such as an immobilized cashier, is an easy target.

Rude Customers

Customer service are sometimes treated unfairly simply because people are rude (well, people are rude to a lot of other professions and people too).

This doesn't really match your check-out lane example, but for customer support representatives on the telephone or email, they take on the responsibility of representing the company as a whole, and so they often take the blame (on behalf of the company) when things go wrong. For instance, if an MMO gaming company mistakenly charges their monthly subscription 20 times in a single month, their customer support is going to get a lot of angry customers. In some cases, this is justified; in others, it's not.

I have worked my fair share of retail stores, the most dramatic of them all when it comes to the rudeness and impatience of customers is hardware stores. Most of the time, it could be the fault of both parties (both customer and employee). But a lot of the time, the store has its policy, the store has its rules, and a system set in place for how employees are supposed to handle situations where customers start getting angry and impatient.

In saying that, I have had my fair share, where customers think that it is ok to treat an employee like **** simply to get what they want, because at the end of the day, the customer will get what they want. Currently I work in a hardware store, and let me tell you that I have more instances where the customer is in the wrong.

To answer your question, I feel that it has to do with them having a bad day, or they are treated poorly at their own job, and they need an outlet to vent with. In that case. It's when they go shopping.

(People have the right to be mean to service workers, Mr. Warrior?

Hmmmm.) ;-)

Because basically sometimes they forget they're dealing with a real person and they'll take their personal frustrations out on that person. It definitely goes both ways, though. Service people will antagonize their customers as well. I've seen it and experienced it a million times. I no longer go to a certain gas station because too many of their cashiers have an attitude problem. I now go to the one across the street to buy my dinner and stuff. ;-)

I'm not the kind of person who asks for a manager, reports bad behavior, etc. I just decided to exercise a choice in my life and no longer give them my business. Coincidentally the good gas station (with the good employees) is in the process of buying out the crappy one. Kind of a hilarious coincidence. ;-) Maybe it's a law of attraction thing - you get what's coming to you.

Whenever people are rude, harsh, blowing things way out of proportion, etc... they're just projecting.

People need to just chill because life isn't that serious.

They either never worked a service job when they were younger or they forgot what it was like when they did.

They think they are above them, because they have a better job or they went to a good college or something like that.

Sometimes, people also take out frustration for a company on it's employees (as if the cashier has the power to change the store's return policy when the customer doesn't have a receipt)

But, the truth is many people who work service jobs attend college or other trade schools while they work. My friend was insulted once at her register by a man who yelled at her telling her things like "you should have gone to college" and "I'm so glad I'm not living a loser life like you". She was working to pay her next quarters tuition at the university she was currently attending.

It's just rude. People should be kind to everyone, and we would all have happier lives.

(Shae: You clicked the wrong question, i think you were trying to answer the one above this one... maybe it was the one below)

Hope this Helps! :)

I have worked retail for 11 years now. Part time, full time, for 3 different corperations and 6 total locations, loved at every place. I must however, as a very friendly appreciated by most customers can appreciate this situation. Even more so, why do customers think they can be rude and obnoxious when any little thing doesn't go their way even when it is not the fault of the person at hand or even in some cases the fault of local store itself?! Thank you for a free vent!

They're jerks, and a certain percentage of the general population is just that way. I've worked in retail and I find it hovers around maybe 1-2% of everyone that walks in the store, Unfortunately, as a checker you don't have the ability to walk away from people who are jerks.

In retail you have to suppress some of your more instinctive natural responses to being shat upon. It is all in the interest of doing business. Even jerks come to your store to spend money, and if you alienate the jerks, you're killing a portion of your trade.

The good news is that while you can't insult them back, you can be passive aggressive and that is where you can avenge yourself on these clowns. If you're an asshole, the checker might just inadvertently ring something up more than once and make you pay extra for your insolence. If you are mean to waiters or waitresses, you may end up with spit in your soup. If you need help, you may not get help at all, or bad advice. There are good reasons to be nice to retail people, after all, they aren't especially well paid and often have rather dreary jobs. And in this economy many of them are really very bright people who have lost better jobs and are just trying to make ends meet. Remember: there but by the grace of God and the economic conditions go you.

A lot of it truly is situational to the rude person. However, you can generally crowd rude people into one of the below categories when working retail.

1) Because they are lazy and have never worked much less done your job. This is a rarer statistic than you think, around 8% of the total number of asshats you will deal with. Usually this type of self entitled douche is on some form of government assitance (EBT) and they have never worked for anything in their entire lives. Thus, they don't have a shred of humility when dealing with their fellow man and will proceed to treating you like trash. Afterwards, they tend to complain about either the economy, weather, president, or back pain; the last which helps them obtain disability.

2) Roughly 6% of the rude people will be "Churchies" and that term is used in the derogatory sense. The Churchie is particularity numerous on "Hell Sundays" where the stores are intentionally understaffed because, 'it's Sunday and we will be slow.' For the most part Churchies just arrived from Church and after having sense gained a sense of holier than though superiority, will now proceed to treating you like trash. They came from Church, you're at work and didn't go to church, and they'll pray for your heathen soul as after yelling at you while complaining about how stores should all be closed on Sundays, so have a "blessed day."

3) 70%, the largest part of the rude population are the experience shoppers. These people come with specific expectations of how a customer should be treated like royalty, how they have a right to belittle others because they are shoppers and you are just a minimum wage slave, and how they are always right because they have the money. Their is no pity or remorse and the act of cruelty for it is justified by them being a customer. Most people in the Vindicator category, who try and get you fired, are in this population.

4) The Generally Stupid, people who are so dumb that you cannot communicate with them because its almost like you are speaking two totally different languages. This is not mentally retarded, its just being such a stupid idiot that they cannot comprehend basic instructions or concepts. They are fully functioning adults without any deficiencies, but alas remain totally moronic. This part of the rude population manifests its rudeness with: being in the way, being agonizingly slow, asking questions that could have been answered with a few more seconds of observation, and a total inability to remain conscious of their surroundings. Population is roughly 6% of total rudeness population.

5) 10% of the rudeness population are in the jaded category and are formed almost exclusively of parents who have had WAY more children than they can possibly raise or handle. Their spirits are so rundown and exhausted that they have totally given up on being anything other than a soulless vacuum of pain and misery. And guess what, just like somebody infected with a virus, they are going to spread their misery to whomever they can because they just don't care anymore.

Do you resent your highly successful buddy who have a huge home, an elegant sports vehicle, and goes off on a family getaway every once in a while? Do you believe that you are not getting exactly what you are worthy of despite working really hard? If yes, then you are not alone as there are countless guys and ladies who feel the same.

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