I have worked at the same store for almost four years, and three of those years have been behind the deli counter. It is an Italian Market, and I have seen and heard it all. I have stories you could never believe, from friendly customers to customers from hell. You would be surprised that many people treat us like we are subhuman and that we are unintelligent beings who do not deserve to be human. How you act to us impacts how you are managed.
To the customers who stay after we close for over ten minutes, yes. Yes we are annoyed with you and want to finish closing so we can get home. We want to get out of here and quit saying that we close at a different time. We don't care if you say that you are getting only one thing. Meanwhile, you ask for quarter pounds of both lunch meats and cheeses. Standing at the door when we close asking to come in will not get us to let you in. Once at my place of work, a man ran in the store after we were closed. The door was open to get the buggies outside. We were about to leave when this happened. The man was forced to leave. This was an hour after we closed. Another time when I was helping the produce department with closing, I was standing by the door at a display. A women was mad that I would not let her in. I told her to come the next day but she wasn't happy.
Talking on the phone while I wait on you is one of my biggest pet peeves a customer can do. It is incredibly rude and you ignore us when we are supposed to help you. When the customer puts a finger up for one minute, that makes everyone in line wait longer. Get off the phone before we call your number. Ignoring us calling the numbers and walking around the store is annoying. Do not complain that we skipped you when you were not in sight. Also, reaching over the case to touch our cheese is not okay. The loafs and wheels of cheese are not to be played with, nor to be touched by you. I once had a customer grab the knife I was using and touch the cheese with his bare hands. I was scoring the foil to a blue cheese to easily cut with our cheese wires. I cut him a larger piece than he wanted because he touched it. I did tell him not to touch the cheese nor the knife because he was not wearing gloves. I washed the knife before I finished the cut because that is not sanitary. This has happened a lot while I have been at the counters. Going behind the counter and getting stuff yourself is not okay either. This has happened countless times, and yes, I will say not to do that in an annoyed tone.
Changing what you want while the order is almost finished is rude. Not saying the thickness of the slice or how big you want the piece to be when we cut it with the wire is not okay. I recently had a customer that did not like how I sliced his cheese. He never said how he wanted it. I was halfway done with his order that was two separate pounds of the same thing. Saying you won't come again because I said to not wait until I was halfway with the order makes no sense. Yelling at me doesn't help because I really don't care. Being rude makes me not want to comply more. My manager was five feet away when he did this, so he saw all what happened. I did not get in trouble because he was not being nice to me and stared at me throughout the store. Of course I stared back. Meanwhile, if it was a few slices and ask to make it thinner or thicker does not matter. That is different than the customer before. I do not have to redo an order.
When customers complain about the prices to us, we do not control the prices. We might agree that somethings are overpriced. The set prices are created by those above us on the payroll. It is better to talk to management or to call the corporate office. Please do not yell at use if something went up (has happened before). This is the same if you complain about something we have no control on. Such as a product being discontinued or a product going out of stock and we have to wait for it to ship to the store.
Snapping at us to get our attention is rude. We are not animals. This is the same with clearing your throat to get our attention. Nine out of ten times we are not helping you because we have another customer. I have had people start saying their order when i had a different customer. I said to take a number and wait because I was already helping someone. This is the same with asking a question on a cheese. If we are with a different customer, do not ask. This happens a lot because we have hundreds of cheeses (not exaggerating).
When you are rude to us, of course we will not be the happiest person. If you are nice to us, we will be happy to help you. I have noticed that the people you would not imagine to be nice, are the nicest people. I have had customers that had tons of tattoos and piercings be nicer than the elderly. Not all elderly are rude, but a lot have been rude to me and my coworkers. There are surprises to dealing with the public. Some people are beyond rude, while some are really friendly. The friendly ones do outweigh the rude ones. I love doing my job, but I don't like dealing with rude people. While I do have stories on rude customers, I also have stories on great customers. Always be nice to us. We are trying to get by, so be nice.
