I feel like someone should make a blog where people can submit anonymous retail horror stories.

THIS is one of my very favorite sites, with stories about crazy/asshole customers. The sister sites are great too (their links are at the top of that one). Read. It'll make you feel less alone, at least. XD

I don't work retail anymore - I work at the front desk of an assisted living place. It's an higher-end one too. Most people I deal with are pretty rich (think able to pay over $5k a month for a parent to live here) but they're usually nice. However, like anywhere, there's always someone who's a complete self-entitled ass. There's this one woman, sweet Jesus I've never met anyone like her before and I hope I never do again. Her father lives here and he's crazy as a damn bedbug, but nice enough. The daughter, however, oh my god I don't even know where to start. It's gotten to the point where I think she must have mental problems, because there is absofuckinglutely no way a sane human acts this way. She calls at least 5 times a shift and wants to speak to a supervisor (nurse), then she proceeds to take up at least 20 minutes of their time, when there are 72 residents here and they don't have the time to talk about stupid shit like 'where's dad's blanket' and 'does he have enough meds' and 'could you ask him if he wants more lunch'...just random shit like that. And it wouldn't be so bad if she weren't so rude, combative, snarky, and just downright bitchy. It's gotten so bad, and taken up so much time, that she is now limited to emergency phone calls only. However, she considers everything an emergency. Oh! Dad dropped his blanket! Go get it NOW! Oh, and of course there's the fact that she has CAMERAS in his room. We know she must do nothing but sit at home and watch them all day. It's really fucked up. She's really fucked up. I wish she'd move her dad out. And then when she COMES IN it's worse, so much worse. She pesters her dad like 'you need a sweater' and 'you need to drink water' and 'sit somewhere else it's too drafty here' and he just gets upset and yells at her and then it takes us hours to calm him down after she leaves in a bitchy huff. It's like, you pay us thousands to care for him, and I get that you're worried about him, BUT WHY THE FUCK DO YOU PAY US IF YOU DON'T TRUST US TO TAKE CARE OF HIM. She is the most aggravating individual I've ever had the displeasure to deal with. And she is the ONLY person I have EVER told off on the phone, for all that I did it politely. my boss heard me do so too and was FINE with it. God, it makes me angry just thinking about her.

The customers at my store are pretty cool. Though I've been holding onto my "hello I'm new," badge. So that might also be a reason customers are nice to me?

RANT! My problem is with the amount of stupid managers we have. We have two top managers and five departments with six department heads (don't ask how that works out). There is the lady who does the schedule who has 'manager' as her title. There's the EMS guy who's in charge of the loading bay and therefor the EMS supervisor. Some people call HIM a manager. This would have been all nice- IF! The assistant manager (we will call him Frank) wasn't so god damned stupid. The food department manager keeps telling me to ask questions if I don't know what I'm doing. My first shift with her, and my first shift working floor in the evening, she never told me what to do! Then got upset that I was doing everything wrong. Told me, "it's ok to ask if you're unsure!" PS. I had been pestering her for the first two hours to get some direction until giving up and doing my own thing. The manager for the beauty section? Makes a lot of jokes. He also likes to tell me the wrong information about stuff and then cover his tracks by saying, "oh that was for future reference!" He also refuses to answer questions over the radio, and pretends not to hear you when you're standing right next to him. But the two department heads could be forgiven. Because I don't have to deal with them often! Not to mention, I figured out how the store runs and what is needed to be done within the first few days of working there. The problem is Frank. Frank doesn't listen. Frank says things that don't make sense. Frank gets upset when things don't get done in the time he's "allowed." Frank doesn't know where most of the stuff in the store is. I swear to god, Frank is a robot programmed to say key phrases and words and nothing else.

Example one of Frank: On the 17th, a busy Saturday, I had worked the EMS and was six hours into my shift. Frank calls me up and tells me to do a few of the store audits. He explains how to do the stuff, then tells me that most people would take about 10-15 minutes to complete the audit. He allowed me 20, since it was the first time. He then proceeded to get upset that I took longer than 20 minutes. Told me to give the schedule lady(SL) the audit to complete. Within the hour and a half I had the audit I: got called to work till seven times, had to cover the cosmeticians break, was asked by multiple customers for assistant, Frank had given me another sheet to do something similar to audits, and the fun part? Our backroom is such a mess right now, no one could find anything. SL was very upset that her workload got bigger and told me Frank was an idiot. It takes most people a few hours to do an audit, and Frank himself takes the whole day. The fact I was over half done, was impressive. Example two: A customer comes up to me and asks where we had our vitamins. She said she was looking for "such-and-such" supplement for a liver detox. Just as I'm about to show her to the vitamins, Frank (out of nowhere) pops up. "You have to ask the pharmacist about this. We are, by store policy, unable to assist with your liver detox!" Frank. Our policy states we can't recommend anything when it comes to pharmacy items, we can SHOW the customer where to find the items though. No. Frank doesn't care, the busy pharmacist has to show the lady where we keep "such-and-such" supplements. How is Frank an assistant manager? Did the company put him up there because he's secretly a robot? And he's only an assistant because he malfunctions frequently? I can write a book about Frank, and I've only worked at the store for four months. But I wont. End rant.

While the holiday season may be over, I just wanted to share some thoughts on my experiences.

First, I worked food service a LONG time ago, and in retail for a short time. I totally thought food service was the worst, at the time, as people think that you are only their to serve them and nothing else matters. You are nothing. I didn't have that experience in retail, but I also worked at a small shop that most people were pretty happy to come to.
Since then, I've been in customer service for the past 9yrs, but we provide service for other employees. While it's different - and you DO have quite an amount of them that call you, already pissed off at the world - the ones I've always empathized for are the ones that have to work the holidays. Now, this is due to a more outside perspective. I don't shop on the holidays unless I have to. (ex. paying rent one week and not having money until the week of said holiday) Mostly it's b/c of the obnoxious people but there isn't a single time I don't think about the people working.
You see, I can't stand going to the store when it's busy. It's so full of assholes taking up the whole aisle, screaming kids (I have kids - I've NEVER let them act like that in a public place or some one's house), those STUPID carts w/ the "kids car" attached to them so the parent thinks it's acceptable for you to move the fuck out of the way if the aisle is small (or big, doesn't matter) or just stand in front of a section you need to get s/thing from, talking on the phone. And don't get me started on clothes. I'm the type that hangs up whatever that falls off a hanger; Tries to fold things back the way they were; Put things back where I found them. Period. Why is that so hard?? I don't get why people don't think about the fact that SOMEone has to go behind them and put them back in an orderly fashion so you don't come in thinking that the store looks like trash.
I don't think I've seen open packages that were left on the shelf. I've seen theft (product missing from packages), but if they were already open I would usually close them back up, depending on if the product had a seal or not. It's only items w/ colors that doesn't match the image on the box that I may open up - not if it's sealed, though. If I were to see s/thing torn open where the package was unable to be closed back, I would take it to the service desk.

Just wanted to share that there are customers that care. You never know when you're going to come across one of them and that's one of the things that sucks about being in CS. The next person you're rude to after a long day of dealing w/ assholes might be me, and you know what... I'll understand. I will empathize and let you vent - for a minute. ;) We're out here, scattered among the assholes, doing what we can to make your job just a little easier.

For the record - I suck at folding. Sorry. I really do try. 😞

Lol, I worked in a small retail store for 2 years and had to work through every holiday season. Not a pleasant experience, I believe everyone should have a retail job at some point in their youth. It teaches you a great deal of respect of others, and also how to grow some balls. I have always been pretty reserved and quiet and boy did working at the mall change that. I'm literally getting angry right now thinking about how disrespectful people can be! 😂 It was shocking to me at first because I couldn't process how some people can think it's okay to be so disrespectful. Plus when working as a sales associate there isn't much we have control over business wise but still got yelled at for. You would think this would be common knowledge, but apparently I hoped for too much with some people, haha. Also surprisingly our generation always gets shit for being disrespectful (I'm 21 btw) but the rudest customers I have ever gotten and still continue to get in my new job are ALWAYS older people.