Public service announcement to none-retail workers

[moronqueen]

Be kind to the folks working in retail this holiday season, please! I know how trying it can get, but don't bite off clerk's heads over something they can't help...anyway, they're in the position of having to work this time of year instead of being able to shop. Kindness and stuff is highly appreciated!

Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood moron who'll have yet another year of holidays ruined by working retail! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *looks up spoofs of x-mas songs she can sing at the top of her lungs to the annoying real things before the store opens at work* Walkin' 'round in women's underweaar...

[Eclipse]

OMFG!#@$@#%!%!#$%! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU SUCK! ....................Just kidding!!! ^____^    

I try to be as nice as I can to retailers, it's the other shoppers I get cranky with *smirks* BTW, Love that song yer singing!

[Mindy]

Darn straight!!!!!! I've had to work about three Christmases in retail..and it sucks so much lemons. See, people will MOVE signs, employees are so busy that they can't possibly recover the entire store before the next customer comes along, and so the sign is over the WRONG item(s)... and.. you get the point. If you bump into a sign, don't just stick it anywhere. I had to argue with a lady for 10 minutes over a CHRISTMAS DOG TOY. We all get a little ill about shopping, and the companies shouldn't choose one or two days out of the entire season to hold awesome sales. That just adds so much fuel to the fire.

I've hated Christmas for such a long time. I want to enjoy it this year.

[moronqueen]

Darn straight!!!!!! I've had to work about three Christmases in retail..and it sucks so much lemons. See, people will MOVE signs, employees are so busy that they can't possibly recover the entire store before the next customer comes along, and so the sign is over the WRONG item(s)... and.. you get the point. If you bump into a sign, don't just stick it anywhere. I had to argue with a lady for 10 minutes over a CHRISTMAS DOG TOY. We all get a little ill about shopping, and the companies shouldn't choose one or two days out of the entire season to hold awesome sales. That just adds so much fuel to the fire.

I've hated Christmas for such a long time. I want to enjoy it this year.

EXACTLY! That's the department I work in, too...the signing department, so it just drives me up a friggin' wall when customers do that or lie about it...or when the other employees decide to change the merchandice but not the sign. C'MON HERE!!! AAAAARGH.

I've been working retail for...entirely too many years now, and I've become so disenchanted with the holidays it's not even funny. Both Thanksgiving and x-mas are gonna be ruined for me again 'cause I know the day before Thanksgiving they want me working 'till midnight because of the irritating day after sale, and want me in the day after because of it being the biggest shopping day of the season. Not fun at all.

There's gonna be a huge sale the day after Christmas, too, so that'll be the same deal. Would love just to enjoy this time of year for once in my life, y'know? Blargh.

Eclipse - I totally appreciate people like you. Makes life easier all around...and yeah, there're some great spoofs out there...and some I seriously wish I never knew...Jingle Bell Rock has a particularly dirty one that's not suitable for any kinda family forum, and always gets me sniggering every time I hear the original, which is pretty bad concidering there are at least two versions of it playing on the holiday loop the store plays every year. *G*

[Eclipse]

Oh hey, seriously! I'm one of those people who know that it's not your guys fault! I darn well figured it out that it's half of the customers faults! I mean..You guys seriously can't be everywhere at once...and I've been out on those big shopping days. I know how hectic it can be. That's why...while I'm there and shopping for myself if I over hear someone wondering about something I myself try to give them my advice about the item, or knowledge of it's location. *is an avid shopper of a variety of things...*  So I know my way around the stores and prices and such! :3

Speaking of gifts, anyone else start buying thiers yet?? I went to K-Mart yesterday and put a beautiful Pink Sapphire and Diamond ring for my mom in lay way! It was $289 originally.....but cause of a sale it's costing me only around $68. WOO!

[Ty-Chou]

Excellent announcement. This is my first Christmas as a working woman actually not working retail. But I think everyone should totally work customer service at least once in their lives to know how it feels being behind the counter. I tell you, it definitely makes you treat them with more respect knowing how hard the job is. I am very kind to my retailers. And I wish them all better jobs for Christmas lol

[WolfofMibu]

I would like to give you money and internets for this topic....


As my five year working Xmas in Retail... I have been called nearly every name in the book... demeaned for my gender, screamed at for not working for Sony or Mircosoft nor knowing why they charge as much as they do for there products, yelled at for not having said "hot product" right before close on Xmas eve.... then complained to by the SAME PERSON because there are LONG LINES on XMas eve.....

I hate the Holiday season.....

 >

[ninjaplease!]

This will be my seventh Christmas at my job and the way people act during the holiday season never ceases to amaze me.  I have this lovely theory that everyone should work retail for at least three months in their life and at least one month around Christmas time.  Then maybe they would realize how stupid they are and be nicer.  Don't get me wrong I love Christmas itself but people sometimes suck.  My favorite thing is when you are out of something and the person acts like you are purposly keeping them from ahving the item that they want.  As if you knew they were coming in and you decided that they could not have that item and hide it one them.

[Mindy]

I don't see the point in getting mad at anyone behind the counter. They're just ringing up your items. If you catch a mistake, tell them politely. Now, if the cashier is mean to you, I could understand getting grumpy. There ARE some terrible customer service reps out there.

Another thing-- don't expect to get out of the store in under 5 minutes when you see the parking lot's already full. Even with the express lanes! We can't turn down a customer who comes to the express lane and has over 20 items. We get yelled at by management AND the customers. If you have a buggy full, go through the regular lanes, ok? Let those who have 10 or less go through express.

Although with Christmas, I doubt anyone is going to have 10 items or less so disregard that second paragraph,  

Edit: YEAH! Hey, ninjaplease, do you get the "But do you have more in the back?" The magical backroom.. ! Honey, if we have it in the back, it would be on the shelves I get so many people barking at me about this.

[TurtleNinja]

Wow, one of my favorite gripes about this time of year or...any time of year, really.

I don't think I've ever actually worked retail, but I've done cashiering work before at a college bookstore, and at my first job at a convenience store/gas station. I've been on the receiving end of this myself, and it wasn't even the holiday season, too. I've had people ask about prices(for things that were in the shop part and I didn't know anything about, and worse, I worked weekends, so the shop guys weren't there for me to even ask, argh!), yell at me for the wrong change, the items costing too much, or not knowing where something was.

I try not to bite any cashier or store worker's head off for just doing their job. I've been both a customer and a cashier, so I know that sometimes these cashiers, if they screw up, maybe it's their first day, or they haven't been there very long, or they're having a rotten day themselves. It's pretty hard to plaster on a fake smile and tell everyone to have a good day when their boss tells 'em every five seconds they're not doing a good enough job when they're only doing their best.

*ahem* *blush* Yeah, you can tell I really hated the convenience store job. Still, it's the reason I don't bite off cashiers' heads unless it's something really bad that they did, and I don't get that often. Usually if there's a really nasty screw up, I end up going to customer service to try and politely get it straightened out.

People complain all the time about poor customer service, and seriously, they should try being the cashier for once and deal with irate customers yelling at them for another department's screw up or something they have zero control over.

Oh, and though I've never had to deal with the sign thing, that's a big arguement towards my idea that the customer ain't always right. That motto's ticked me off for a long, long time considering how dishonest some people can get these days, just to save a buck or make a buck. Ugh.

Politeness is a two-way street. Maybe they say the cashiers should always smile and be polite no matter how bad a day they've had, but...customers shouldn't take out their frustration at, say, the car breaking down and costing a load to fix at a cashier they don't even know, y'know?

Manners go a looooong, loooong ways...or they would if more people had 'em. *twitch*

*goes to shut up before she really gets ranting*

[Mily]

Ok, my job LAST year didn't really count as retail because it was ina coffee shop, a Tim Hortons, but we still got our share of rushed people and the repetetive Christmas music DID NOT help! I seriously thought my boss was evil, playing it over and over and over again on us. It made an 8 hour shift seem WAY longer.

This year however... I am not working but I will be nice to the poor people working during Christmas, I mean, it's supposed to be a really happy time of year. Why do we do Christmas shopping? We do it for our loved ones, and why do the people work in retail? So we can accomplish that task.

[moronqueen]

Topic really took off! Glad so many of ya know what I'm talkin' about. Hopefully it'll spread around some.

[Eclipse]

Seriously! @__o It wouldn't hurt if it did!

[moronqueen]

Noooooot at all. Would make the holiday season much happier for everyone around, that's for sure.

[OnnaRaphael]

After five years of working at Blockbuster on Christmas (thankfully I'm out of retail now) I'd like to add:

If you can, PLEASE stay home on Christmas.  And if for some reason you need to go rent a movie or whatever don't tell the cashier it's a shame they have to work on Christmas.  Yes you may really mean that but think about it, if no one were to come in, they wouldn't be working.

I worked just about ever Thanksgiving, Christmas, and every other holiday for five years.  I'm SO ecstatic to be out of that.  And yes, Blockbuster is open every day of the year.