Are Customers Really Annoying?

So, the other day I ran across an upsetting article at The Gloss. The article was written by someone who works in the retail industry, and obviously isn't very happy about her choices in employment. She was trying to write a guide for shoppers on how to be more polite to store employees but it came across more as a letter from an irritated store employee who hates customers. It makes me wonder how common this mindset is in the retail industry.

The article starts with:

So, what do shoppers do that annoy this sales rep so much? Well, it seems that they do a great many things that make her very angry. For example, customers search through stacks of folded up shirts to find their size and end up making a mess of the neatly staked piles of shirts. Thus, making her have to re-fold them several times during the day. Next, often customers don't bring items out of the fitting room when they are done. This annoys her because she has to then put the items away herself. She also doesn't like it when customers come into the store close to closing time. The problem is that she likes to get her closing work done before the store closes, and she can't when there are still customers in the store. The other thing that makes her mad is customers who are in a hurry. To them she says:

What I think is the most irritating is that it seems that this sort of attitude is accepted and condoned in the world of retail. So many times when I am out shopping, I run into salespeople who seem to be irritated when I ask them something and act as though I am an interruption of their day. This isn't the way to treat customers and encourage sales.

When you work in retail, there are many things that you will have to do that aren't necessarily fun. But, it is part of the job, and everyone has to do things that they may not like at their job. But the reason you have to do it is to make sure that each customer has a great experience when they shop at your business. For example, many clothing stores have the neat stacks of shirts on display and the only way to find your size is to go through the stack. Even though I try to be neat when I am looking through the stack, the truth is that it isn't my fault the stores insist on putting the merchandise in stacks rather than on hangers.

There are many retail employees who put the customer first and work hard every day to make sure that all of their customers are treated as special and important. I hope that people like the author of the article are the exception, rather than the rule. The problem is that just one of these negative employees can make the rest of the staff adopt the negative attitude and sales begin to suffer.

What do you think about customer service in retail? Have you seen this sort of attitude in action? Let me know in the comments.

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