My 17 year old daughter has worked in a little clothing store in the mall for the season. She had worked there over the summer but was laid off for lack of business in Sept. Her stories of working the Christmas season are so funny. Simple things like the woman who wanted a jacket in 2XL size gotten down from a high place. My daughter who is not very tall had trouble with the long pole used to get these items down. Of course, the extra large sizes were in the back and she had to remove several before getting the one the woman wanted. When she went to hand it to the woman, the lady says, "Oh, I didn't want to buy it, I just wanted to know how much it cost." Oy vey. Then there was the person who came into the store five minutes before closing, rifled through the freshly folded clothing, wandered about for 15 minutes then left. Oh there are others but those are the ones that particularly pissed her off.

It's been a good lesson for her though. She is more determined than ever to go to college and have a career instead of a job.

There is the "Stew Leonard's" Rules:
1- The customer is always right,
2- If the customer is ever wrong, re-read rule #1.
"nuff said, deal with it!!

Dude (Shawn), lighten up. Eventually those rude people are going to hand one of your fellow employees some money, and you'll get paid for your patience and helpfulness. If you don't understand how that works, by all means go into some other line of work.

Shawn - It seems you are saying that working in retail would be so much easier if it weren't for customers. Well you might just get your wish given the state of the economy. I'm not unsympathetic to your plight as my first job was working in a grocery store back in the days when water had just been invented; well it seems that long ago.

One of my pet peeves as a customer is a store that likes to move things around or experiment a lot with what items they sell. I shop at the same stores regularly and I do it because I need supplies, not because I enjoy shopping. I want to get my regular items without having to hunt for them, and yes, I expect them to be in stock. Given there's a running count of inventory for every item in the store along with all the sales data from prior years and the lead time to reorder, there are few legitimate reasons to run out of stock. More often than not it's management incompetence. Even for sales it's smart to have way more stock than to run out, at least for non-perishable goods.

Yes, people ask if you are out of something they need because many times there are partial cases of the items in the back. Why, because when the shelves are being stocked there may not be room for a full case of the items. At least that's the case in good stores where the stockers don't just put the extra items wherever they can find room. When I ask if some item is out and they tell me that if it's not on the shelf then there is no more, I hear that as "it's too much work for me to go in the back and look just to save you a trip to some other store." I've been known to politely put the items in my shopping cart back on the proper shelves and then go to that other store figuring that as long as I have to go there anyway I might as well avoid going through checkout lines twice. Employees are happy to see me leave, but their boss understands the message I'm sending. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important to me and if I'm important to the business then don't blow me off with a phony excuse.

Having worked retail for years myself, I was with you all the way..to this point:

"Then there are people who use the complimentary carts meant for handicapped customers. I have never actually seen a legitimately handicapped person utilize one of these carts. What I have seen are morbidly obese people use them, because, they are so fat, they cannot make the walk around the store. And what I find most ironic is that they are riding around in these carts getting more food."

I am overweight. I do not have a permanent handicap. HOWEVER, I currently have a temporary handicap that is not obvious upon looking at me. For a few weeks after being discharged from a month in the hospital and experiencing a life threatening hemorrhage, my doctor issued me a temporary handicap tag for my car, a walker, and recommended using the electronic carts at the supermarket. I'm sorry if I offended you by doing that. I'm also going to point out that, unlike alcoholics who do not need alcohol to live, obese people do still need to EAT, thus we buy (gasp!) FOOD. Believe it or not, you HAVE seen a "legitimately handicapped person" using the carts. Just because you don't see an oxygen tank or missing limbs doesn't mean they're not handicapped. Maybe your manager can give you a new task...demand to see a doctor's note from anyone wanting to use one of those carts. Bet they'll be more than glad to accommodate your request.

Happy New Year. Hope that stickectomy goes well for you!

I spent most of my 57 adult years in retail. Perhaps that's why Hussein's election didn't surprise me all that much!

On the carts - I'm with #5. My wife used one of those carts when she was 7-9 months pregnant with our twins (which almost went the whole distance). She also used them when recovering from knee surgery, when she tore her ACL and MCL playing volleyball. She's overweight, but ironically, that had very little to do with why she used them. (Since even her knee surgery was from sheering the knee, not a replacement due to bearing down on it).

You can't always tell a legitimate handicap from looking at someone. I've seen/known people with artificial legs and long pants, people with knee/ankle sprains - who can walk normally long enough to get into the store, people with heart conditions, people with inner ear disorders, and people who've had multiple strokes or brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain using those carts at our local Walmart or Target.

Meanwhile, if you're someone who can't walk for the forty feet to get into the store, and who's obviously handicapped, why would you ever expect that person to use the carts, which are always stored somewhere inside the store. Do you expect your "legitimately" handicapped person to be carried in by someone using a fireman's carry? Geesh.

By your logic - being able to know everything you need to know about a person just by what's obvious - I guess I can see why you work in retail.

As a resident of SE PA, I only get to Stew's 2-3x a year.

Most that work there are kind, all are at least pleasant.

Stew's coffee is the best, lobster and crab bisque is great, etc etc.

We are lucky to have a Wegman's close by, they're pretty much neck n neck w/ Stew's, but I do wish there was a Stew's close by, instead of in Yonkers and in CT.

Shawn: I think you should seriously look for a new line of work. You simply don't like people unless they behave just like you or like you want them to behave. I worked in retail as a young man and I liked the diversity of people.

And by the way: your company, like all the other retailers obviously wants to keep customers guessing as to where the dairy department us because they refuse to put directories near the front of the store. They do that for a reason you know: it's to force customers to roam around and hopefully get some impulse sales. So quit you bitching or get a new job.

Not to worry, things haven't changed. YEARS! ago I was working in a gas station. Woman pulled in driving a T-Bird. "Fill it up" (Yep, that's it, no HI! no How are you? no Please). On flipping the license plate cover down, I noticed that she was missing a gas cap and so informed her of the fact. She promptly accused me of STEALING her gas cap!

Like I said, things haven't changed.

So Shawn's a career bagboy, eh? Surprise, surprise.

Shawn, I work in a semi-retail establishment and have worked in retail before. I know exactly what you are writing about. I think that people are just much more rude today than they have been in the past. I do not know if there is a rude school academy or what. I mean, I have watched people be real jerks. They have no manners whatsoever. Even if one does not speak great English, that is not an excuse for rudeness. Whenever I can't find something, I try to ask in a polite way. I know that gets what I want rather than the one-word that you point out. There was a case recently at our market in which the item was put in the wrong area and the product was not indicated all that clearly. I just pointed it out, a little pleasant back and forth and, per the store policy, got the item for free. Had I been a jerk and spewed profanities at the store employees, first of all I would have been embaressed. Second of all, they would have NOT given me the item free. One time, in a very stressful situation, I lost it. We in another state, trying to get a prescription from another drug store not in that state. A lot of phone calls and some hostility, I did get what was needed. But, I apoligized to everyone I lost it with. Anyhow, I feel your pain!

Mmmmm, mace is used in tasty, tasty bratwurst.

As someone who spent 20 years in restaurant management, and still works weekends for extra money in a pizza joint, I feel Shawn's pain.
It helps to keep in mind that only the assholes are truly memorable. Try to remember the 99% of your customers who are nice, or at least civil.
If your experience is like mine, if you really think about it, you have maybe a couple of "butthead stories" a week, but you interact with hundreds of cool people every day.

This post has to be a joke. No one could be that self absorbed.

max says

So Shawn's a career bagboy, eh? Surprise, surprise.

Is there a point in that comment somewhere? If so, make it.

Passive/aggressive elitist liberal sarcasm is so chickenshit. Particularly when it's served by a poseur.

I only had to spend one December in a Radio Shack, part time, to learn that I was wrapped too tight for retail.

I personally enjoyed the people who waited until 9:59 p.m. Christmas Eve (KMart closed at 10 pm this year) to do their Christmas shopping for the entire family. I enjoyed them even moreso when they were looking for the elusive Wii, Wii Fit, Guitar Hero World Tour, and a Nintendo DS only to exclaim WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SOLD OUT! I'M GOING TO WAL MART THEN!

Good luck.

Wal Mart closed at 6 p.m.

Most retail employees fully understand that without customers we have no job. Doesn't mean we have to like every customer who graces us with their presence.

The best assistance I've had in recent memory was from the Cheese Monger at "Whole Foods". She actually stopped slicing cheese to help me find an item (there were 3 possible places for it in their store!?!). I was stunned by her helpfulness and enthusiasm to find this item for me. I can't remember her name, but she always is very helpful.....and one helluva cheese monger, too.

"This post has to be a joke. No one could be that self absorbed."

Coming from you, Luva, I fully take that as the highest form of flattery.

-Shawn

I guess at 73, I'm considered elderly. I have been utterly amazed at check out when the pretty clerk wanted to know "what are those?" my answer "those are called green beans". This same checker didn't know what a turnip was. Do young people only eat fast food ?

I do not think the customer is 'always right.' I have seen customers being rude and down right mean to store employees, excessively demanding, etc.

And for the record, I do not work in retail.

Years ago I ran a Lay-a-way dept for a regional retailer, Bradlees. When I had the rude customers would walk up and interrupt a conversation with another shopper and demand something, or just spit out an item they wanted, I would always look them in the eye and say "please" or "pardon". I'd repeat that word after everything they said until they walked off or asked properly. Only a few complained to my bosses. Only one boss ever told me to apologize, and only once as my response was to hand him my name tag and the keys to the stock rooms. The store manager caught me before I got to the time clocks.

I guess I was a self absorbed prick too, eh Lava?

Granted, these days I always make a point of saying excuse me, please and thank you when dealing with clerks. I will not, however, tolerate rudeness or the clerks that seem annoyed that I have interrupted their gossip time. Which is the main reason I don't like going into the local Best Buy or Wal-Mart. Both seem to have found every lazy body in south Jersey, slapped a blue shirt on them and released them in the store.

I worked one summer as a courtesy clerk, and I still get pissed when people just leave their shopping carts floating around the parking lot. They just pushed it out to their car full of groceries... shouldn't it be easier to push now that it's empty? How lazy can they get? As long as it's not horribly out of my way (i.e., the exact opposite direction I'm headed in), I'll still return any random carts I see sitting around; if not all the way to the store, then at least to the nearest cart return.