Poll of the Day > Those of you who have ever worked in fast food or retail....

(+) Yeah! (+)

what percent of your customers would you say were truly terrible, or were like completely unreasonable? not most right.

Honestly I dealt with relatively few bad customers in my brief retail stint, but it was also a LONG time ago before the rise of the Karens.

rjsilverthorn posted...

Honestly I dealt with relatively few bad customers in my brief retail stint, but it was also a LONG time ago before the rise of the Karens.

so you say it is def. much much worse now on avg?

GranTurismo posted...

so you say it is def. much much worse now on avg?

No, I'm saying it could be much worse now but I have no way of knowing for certain. I also only worked in one store, a Gamestop back when at least half the store was still dedicated to productivity software, so someone else working in a different kind of store in the same time period may have had a much different experience.

Not that many, though my experience is from working in a small bakery with quite a few regulars that were great, so I expect I got off easier than people in larger chains do. That was also nice because the owners worked in the store, so when we did get bothersome customers, they were just as bothered as the rest of us and would sympathize afterwards (or intervene if it was a real problem, though those were rare).

Problem customers do tend to stand out enough to feel like they make up a greater percentage than they actually do, though. Even if you're serving a couple hundred people in a shift and almost all of them are perfectly fine, one really awful one can ruin the whole day.

Honestly less than 1%. Most people are totally reasonable.

The worst part about that 1% is that you aren't allowed to be a bitch right back. I don't even blame that 1% of people because a lot of them are just having a bad day. Bad things happen in people's lives and you don't even know.

I worked at Walmart for 2 years over a decade ago and a very small minority were unreasonable or terrible but there were a lot of idiots.

I also worked at McDonald's for like a month at one point and they were worse but not especially bad either. Management at both were way worse than the customers.

Muscles posted...

I worked at Walmart for 2 years over a decade ago and a very small minority were unreasonable or terrible but there were a lot of idiots.

I also worked at McDonald's for like a month at one point and they were worse but not especially bad either. Management at both were way worse than the customers.

yeah i agree , like stupid and incompetent where they know nothing is more common than if they are very mean. Prob much more common . But mean might be worse.

Roughly 30%, and most of them are members of the boomer generation. A few of them used to wear MAGA hats, too, but those ones died of either old age or covid. The remainder just bitch and complain about every little thing they can all the while demanding special treatment AND also while being unable to read signs or string a couple basic concepts together regarding placing orders FOR THEIR FOOD. Like, look, basic manners are not hard, looking at a tag that says "broccoli" on it and knowing it applies to the one pan with broccoli in it should not be hard, and knowing that prices have indeed been going up for the last five years should neither be difficult to comprehend BEFORE placing your order NOR pinned on the people taking said orders. No one wants to hear endless insults about the product they're trying to sell when everyone else likes said product, no one wants to hear that you want a refund because you took an hour to get home because of a couple detours and your once-hot food is now cold, and no one wants to hear about how you think you're hot shit just because you're a member of whichever generation and thus everyone should be kissing your feet and giving you all of our product for free (no!).

So yeah, close to a third of my customers are beyond help that we're able to give them.

It's been a long time, about twenty years since I did fast food. I waited for years. Then I spent the last year in customer service for a bank, eight of those in wealth management.

Anyway I used to say ten percent of callers I genuinely liked. Ten were jagoffs. And the other eighty just straight business. And I would generally say it's about the same when I did restaurant work.

But post pandemic those numbers have shifted. Ten percent good people is probably close to the same; good people tend to be good people regardless of circumstances. But the other divide is more like fifty fifty. At least forty percent of my callers are aggressive, rude, or otherwise unreasonable or annoying. A lot of it is politics have gotten people miserable. But to be fair to the clients, a lot of it is corporate greed causing a loss in benefits that screws them over. And then we take the brunt of their frustrations.

Idk. I would say it's the worst time in my lifetime to be in customer service. But it's easy to get those jobs and if you're good at it, you can get by. I've had job security at least. It's internal positions that tend to be redundant and replaced when the economy gets bad or companies get greedy.

One percent

Entity13 posted...

Roughly 30%, and most of them are members of the boomer generation. A few of them used to wear MAGA hats, too, but those ones died of either old age or covid. The remainder just bitch and complain about every little thing they can all the while demanding special treatment AND also while being unable to read signs or string a couple basic concepts together regarding placing orders FOR THEIR FOOD. Like, look, basic manners are not hard, looking at a tag that says "broccoli" on it and knowing it applies to the one pan with broccoli in it should not be hard, and knowing that prices have indeed been going up for the last five years should neither be difficult to comprehend BEFORE placing your order NOR pinned on the people taking said orders. No one wants to hear endless insults about the product they're trying to sell when everyone else likes said product, no one wants to hear that you want a refund because you took an hour to get home because of a couple detours and your once-hot food is now cold, and no one wants to hear about how you think you're hot shit just because you're a member of whichever generation and thus everyone should be kissing your feet and giving you all of our product for free (no!).

So yeah, close to a third of my customers are beyond help that we're able to give them.

For me it was less Boomers and more people born in the 1940s, Silent or Boomers.

JOExHIGASHI posted...

One percent

what? in almost all places it is not this low a percentage

I worked in retail for roughly 2 and a half years and fast casual (panera) for a year and while I had some assholes customers every so often nothing compares to what you encounter working as a bartender. Granted you make more money than you do in retail or fast food but you put up with a lot more grown toddler behavior

Most of them were neutral. And we had some good ones we didnt have many terrible ones. But I usually remember them I dont always remember most of the neutral ones

XBoner posted...

what? in almost all places it is not this low a percentage

I think bad customers just stick out more. Usually people get what they want pay and leave with no trouble.

Like 15-20% bad customers

JOExHIGASHI posted...

I think bad customers just stick out more. Usually people get what they want pay and leave with no trouble.

Pretty much. You don't notice the people that don't do anything to make themselves more noticeable, which skews your perception of how common remarkably bad customers are. Unless you've actually kept a tally, I can almost guarantee you're overestimating the percentage.

OhhhJa posted...

I worked in retail for roughly 2 and a half years and fast casual (panera) for a year and while I had some assholes customers every so often nothing compares to what you encounter working as a bartender. Granted you make more money than you do in retail or fast food but you put up with a lot more grown toddler behavior

Yeah bartender, makes sense, worse than any fast food place. But didn't think of it

Jen0125 posted...

Like 15-20% bad customers

You worked in fast food before or something?

its gotten worse since covid

GranTurismo posted...

You worked in fast food before or something?

I've worked in food and retail/services. Currently I work with the public as an insurance claim handler and I'd say that has 30% nasty customers.

Jen0125 posted...

I've worked in food and retail/services. Currently I work with the public as an insurance claim handler and I'd say that has 30% nasty customers.

Yeah maybe like that field, insurance, many terrible customers, had not thought about that field though

It's honestly a very small minority, but the awful ones are so bad they can ruin an entire day.

GranTurismo posted...

Yeah maybe like that field, insurance, many terrible customers, had not thought about that field though

Yeah, it's understandable because people just do not care to understand what's actually covered under their policy and they take it out on you when you don't pay for something that isn't covered.

Or they even get mad if you pay things that are covered for liability because it'll make their premiums go up.

So you kind of can't win sometimes.

Not helped by the fact that anyone calling about an insurance claim is probably already having a pretty bad day to have to claim something against insurance.

adjl posted...

Not helped by the fact that anyone calling about an insurance claim is probably already having a pretty bad day to have to claim something against insurance.

I just wish people would take the initiative to read their policies. Legally, our policies have to written to be understood by a layman. In 90% of cases it's easy enough to understand what's covered. The other 10% are the crazy things we need to deeply investigate.

The managers were worst than the customers. Even if a customer is an ass they leave after a few minutes, you have to work with your manager every day

In Fast Food, like hardly any where like that. In retail, quite a few, especially those wanting to do returns.

fettster777 posted...

In Fast Food, like hardly any where like that. In retail, quite a few, especially those wanting to do returns.

yeah i heard that , esp. bad with people wanting to return stuff they shouldn't be allowed to.

The majority. Customer service is a prison term that everyone should have inflicted on them.

I worked in retail full-time for three weeks during the summer of 2008. It was in a Zellers (similar to Wal-Mart and Target) and business was not doing well. After completing my training, I was the only employee in the electronics department. During the same year, its main competitor (Wal-Mart) had five times the number of employees because business was booming. There were rarely any customers during my shifts. I also worked at a jewelry kiosk a few times as replacement, and once as a cashier at the entrance (mostly grocery shoppers).

We kept receiving new stocks of landline phones (same model) that we couldn't sell. I personally sold only one. We didn't have any shelf space left and my boss wanted me to magically figure it out. Why they kept ordering 15 new phones per week when we were lucky to sell even a single one is a mystery. We were just hoarding them.

I only had three difficult customers. One of them was a regular. I didn't dislike him because he was chatty and it was a very boring job. I consider him difficult only because my boss told me not to talk with him unless it was about buying stuff. It's not easy to politely ignore someone amicable who just wants to chat.

My second difficult customer was a middle-aged woman who wanted me to follow her to the entrance of the store. The details are a bit fuzzy, but I think she needed to return something. Whatever it was she needed, I didn't think it was part of my job description and it also required me to leave my post, something I was specifically told not to do unless another employee was present. My boss was unhappy about it because I was supposed to follow that customer and leave my post. Apparently, she could have been a thief or something.

The third one was an old lady. She asked me where the toilets were. I walked a bit with her and gave her the right directions by pointing. It went something like this:

Me: "Do you see the fast-food store over there?"
Her: "Yes."
Me: "Head there, but stop right before entering the store. Look to to your left and the toilets will be right in front of you."

She then complained about how they were so far away (they weren't) and that it was hard to walk. What was I supposed to do, carry her there or bring the toilets to her? All I could say was "sorry" and telling her as kindly and politely as possible that I didn't know what else I could do to help her. She actually complained to management and I lost my job.

It was very clearly an excuse to get rid of me because I wasn't the perfect slave. probation was about to end. I was planning on quitting a month later when school resumed. They expected me to do way too much work for way too little pay. Some employees were killing themselves at the job. The store went bankrupt the next year, and the entire chain went defunct in 2013.

What I hated the most was that I wasn't allowed to sit down even when there was nothing else to do. If there were no customers and all of my tasks were completed, I was supposed to wait and do nothing while standing. I was forced to wear cheap black sneakers with metallic parts slicing through the back of my feet. I was young and didn't know my rights as a worker, and we weren't unionized. Management did several things that were illegal.

Rotpar posted...

The majority. Customer service is a prison term that everyone should have inflicted on them.

This, people suck and yes I include myself in the sucky people crowd

Maybe 10 precent.

GranTurismo posted...

what percent of your customers would you say were truly terrible, or were like completely unreasonable? not most right.

I'll use my retail experience as with fast food I was in the back. I found most customers to be fine. We had one guy that I can recall come in with a broken watch that looking all smashed up. I told him he would need a receipt for me to do anything about it. He was trying to argue and was a young lad. He said he'll come back with a receipt as he knows I don't believe him (he wasn't wrong). Surprisingly a hour or so later once he thought logically and came back with the receipt (all proud about it) I helped him out. I simply told him I must fellow the rules we have and a solution is a easy one in most cases and he apologised for been rude and left happy.

I'm a train conductor in NY, some people are rude and impatient but honestly the vast majority of people just want to get to their destination without any problems. Unfortunately the truly terrible people can have such a major influence on the entire subway system with their nonsense so they definitely stick out more. But at the end of the day they are still outnumbered by the millions of daily riders that commute peacefully

SilentSeph posted...

I'm a train conductor in NY, some people are rude and impatient but honestly the vast majority of people just want to get to their destination without any problems. Unfortunately the truly terrible people can have such a major influence on the entire subway system with their nonsense so they definitely stick out more. But at the end of the day they are still outnumbered by the millions of daily riders that commute peacefully

you're a conductor on some of the trains in the nyc subway system? it's pretty cool, you like your job? tourist, but have ridden nyc subway many times.

UT1999 posted...

you're a conductor on some of the trains in the nyc subway system? it's pretty cool, you like your job? tourist, but have ridden nyc subway many times.

It has it's ups and downs. The hardest thing to get used to is the randomized schedules and crazy hours and commutes when you're new. Be ready to kiss your weekends, nights, and holidays goodbye. But as we get more seniority, we'll be able to pick your own reporting times and locations. The pay and benefits are good, and working on a train is pretty exciting and getting to ride them for free anywhere in NY is cool. Moving up to higher positions is pretty easy as well, and our union fights pretty hard for us whenever an incident occurs that could threaten our jobs.

Unfortunately conductors are the #1 most assaulted employees here so we gotta keep our heads on a swivel. Whenever there's delays, passengers want to take their frustration out on the first employee they see. There has been a lot of crime and other issues lately like switch problems and track fires. But generally I have more good days than bad

I've had a family owned restaurant my entire life. Of the customers I can recall throughout the over 30 years I actually ran the business (and the cast register), maybe .01% were truly AWFUL. I'd say, around 1-2% were "difficult" and the remainder were normal. It all depends on how YOU treat the customer. Sometimes this can not be helped as there are those people that are just,...well, THOSE type of people, but for the most part, the customer will respond to the way they are treated. Even if they start with a bad attitude, you never really know what is going on with them at the time and a bit of friendly conversation can really make the difference.

SilentSeph posted...

It has it's ups and downs. The hardest thing to get used to is the randomized schedules and crazy hours and commutes when you're new. Be ready to kiss your weekends, nights, and holidays goodbye. But as we get more seniority, we'll be able to pick our own reporting times and locations. The pay and benefits are good, and working on a train is pretty exciting and getting to ride them for free anywhere in NY is cool. Moving up to higher positions is pretty easy as well, and our union fights pretty hard for us whenever an incident occurs that could threaten our jobs.

Unfortunately conductors are the #1 most assaulted employees here so we gotta keep our heads on a swivel. Whenever there's delays, passengers want to take their frustration out on the first employee they see. There has been a lot of crime and other issues lately like switch problems and track fires. But generally I have more good days than bad

You have ever heard of the rude or kinda aggressive new Yorker stereotype , esp. compared to like other i.s. metro areas. Do you believe it though. When I rode subway never even thought of the guy at the head of the train, like even once. The subway conductor prob gets way less customer interaction than like an Amtrak conductor. Reportedly Adams has really increased cop presence down there, cause behavior was worse

reason posted...

I've had a family owned restaurant my entire life. Of the customers I can recall throughout the over 30 years I actually ran the business (and the cast register), maybe .01% were truly AWFUL. I'd say, around 1-2% were "difficult" and the remainder were normal. It all depends on how YOU treat the customer. Sometimes this can not be helped as there are those people that are just,...well, THOSE type of people, but for the most part, the customer will respond to the way they are treated. Even if they start with a bad attitude, you never really know what is going on with them at the time and a bit of friendly conversation can really make the difference.

What, so your family owned this restaurant since you were a kid and you like wanna do it for many yrs more?

GranTurismo posted...

You have ever heard of the rude or kinda aggressive new Yorker stereotype , esp. compared to like other i.s. metro areas. Do you believe it though. When I rode subway never even thought of the guy at the head of the train, like even once. The subway conductor prob gets way less customer interaction than like an Amtrak conductor. Reportedly Adams has really increased cop presence down there, cause behavior was worse

Not sure how it compares to other metros but there are definitely rude people all around, mainly people rushing into the train before letting other passengers off first, or smoking or blasting music in the cars, or yelling at train crews for delays that are out of our hands. Most people are nice, provided that you're not in their way or that they aren't running late for any reason. Lots of passengers are willing to help out to keep things moving, like if the train stopped due to a fight breaking out, or someone falling unconscious and needing medical assistance. Usually it's because they don't want to be late lol but it works in our favor

Yeah subway conductors are in train cabs the majority of the time and don't leave them unless there's an emergency or something is jamming the train doors. Amtrack, Metro-North, etc. has more interactions between the conductors and passengers. I believe they also have more crew members on board whereas subways trains only have 1 conductor and 1 operator, and smaller trains and shuttles only have 1 operator by themselves with no conductor.

As for the crime, yeah this year has had a rough start. Lots of assault, theft, and vandalism going on. A lot of them seem to be repeat offenders that get caught but hardly suffer any consequences. It's a bit of mess

SilentSeph posted...

Not sure how it compares to other metros but there are definitely rude people all around, mainly people rushing into the train before letting other passengers off first, or smoking or blasting music in the cars, or yelling at train crews for delays that are out of our hands. Most people are nice, provided that you're not in their way or that they aren't running late for any reason. Lots of passengers are willing to help out to keep things moving, like if the train stopped due to a fight breaking out, or someone falling unconscious and needing medical assistance. Usually it's because they don't want to be late lol but it works in our favor

Yeah subway conductors are in train cabs the majority of the time and don't leave them unless there's an emergency or something is jamming the train doors. Amtrack, Metro-North, etc. has more interactions between the conductors and passengers. I believe they also have more crew members on board whereas subways trains only have 1 conductor and 1 operator, and smaller trains and shuttles only have 1 operator by themselves with no conductor.

As for the crime, yeah this year has had a rough start. Lots of assault, theft, and vandalism going on. A lot of them seem to be repeat offenders that get caught but hardly suffer any consequences. It's a bit of mess

Is it really getting worse in NYC? Have a bunch of relatives there, you like it there?

GranTurismo posted...

Is it really getting worse in NYC? Have a bunch of relatives there, you like it there?

I like where I live which is the suburbs on Long Island since it's peaceful and quiet here. I'd say NY is still relatively safe although some areas are worse than others, like there were 3 shootings in the Bronx recently. Overall it seems like all of my employees like the respective boroughs that they live in

SilentSeph posted...

I like where I live which is the suburbs on Long Island since it's peaceful and quiet here. I'd say NY is still relatively safe although some areas are worse than others, like there were 3 shootings in the Bronx recently. Overall it seems like all of my employees like the respective boroughs that they live in

bronx is like the worst burough? long island the best on avg?

UT1999 posted...

bronx is like the worst burough? long island the best on avg?

I like Long Island but I've lived here my whole life so I'm biased. The cost of living here is insane though. Also public transportation here is terrible so a car is necessary to get around. My employees prefer the boroughs because public transportation is much more reliable and everything is closer together, also some don't like areas that are too quiet. All the boroughs have their good and bad areas but lately it seems like Bronx is the most likely to be in the news for one reason or another

SilentSeph posted...

I like Long Island but I've lived here my whole life so I'm biased. The cost of living here is insane though. Also public transportation here is terrible so a car is necessary to get around. My employees prefer the boroughs because public transportation is much more reliable and everything is closer together, also some don't like areas that are too quiet. All the boroughs have their good and bad areas but lately it seems like Bronx is the most likely to be in the news for one reason or another

have heard many say that nyc is great if you have money , not so if you don't

UT1999 posted...

have heard many say that nyc is great if you have money , not so if you don't

That about sums it up

GranTurismo posted...

What, so your family owned this restaurant since you were a kid and you like wanna do it for many yrs more?

My Grandparents started the restaurant. I took it over in my 20s.

reason posted...

My Grandparents started the restaurant. I took it over in my 20s.

Do you really wanna do it or are you kinda being pressured by family? I guess, if business is good