To everyone who works in a supermarket...?

I work in one of britain`s largest supermarkets. At any time of the year i am sick to death of being treated like dirt by the customers, but now christmas is coming, they seem to turn into bad tempered, fould mouthed obnoxious people who think they can look at you like you are something on the bottom of their shoe and talk to you like you are stupid. Why do people act like this and what can I do to keep my mouth shut! it`s tough cause they damn well know we can`t argue or answer back but being sickly sweet to these people is driving me to drink. It`s not MY fault things are out of stock and i DONT set the prices. I`m dreading the next weeks. why are people so horrible to us shop workers? god I feel better now!

To everyone who works in a supermarket...?
People are very stressed out during the holidays, and shopping is not a relaxing activity during the season. This is what I told myself when I worked retail.





It probably doesn't help to have the stupid Christmas music blaring all day long and people passing the noise-making toys and turning them on every 30 seconds (all of you who have not worked retail -- imagine 8 hours of the barking jingle-bell dogs).





Take a deep breath, smile, treat them as politly as possible, and when it gets to be too much, visualize the skin melting off their faces. And come here and tell us about it. ;)





Seriously, if you can remember that they're stressed and they're not actually mad at you, it may help a little. It's called rational detatchment. And it'll be over in a month.
Reply:I worked in a supermarket over 20 years ago and I know exactly what you mean. You feel like punching some of these idiots. Remember though, for every horrible person there are two or three who are lovely. Concentrate on them.
Reply:They're tired, stressed out, cranky. They've been to the same store three times, and they still haven't goten what they wanted. Their kids are geting on their nerves, and Santa Clause isn't around to see them misbehave.
Reply:im glad that made you feel a bit better, but that feeling wont last for to long. prob until 9 tomorrow morning when it all starts again. As you can tell i work in a shop to. not on the same scale as yours but i have worked in a super market and know how you feel. These people turn in to something out of a horror film. There has been many a time that i have been reduced to tears at the till in front of a a big long queue of customers. christmas is supposed to be a happy time, but i do think that some of these people get a kick out of making our time in work pure hell. see i feel so much better know too. i hope the next couple of weeks runs smooth and all these customers are all smiles and thankyous. good luck and merry christmas
Reply:stick with it xmas will soon be over....agree in a sickly sweet way...........with every thing they say..............like oooh I know...will make you feel better...be sarcastic
Reply:A little trick I used to do when working in a shop and having to deal with abusive customer is just stare at them flatly,then do a little smile-and during this whole time I'd be shooting them the finger behind my back. They weren't aware of it-but it made me feel better!! Good luck-and try not to brain someone with a frozen turkey!!
Reply:I used to work in a supermarket, for 4 years


I was treated exactly the same. Luckily i didn't work on the checkouts cos u are stuck there and cant walk away, thats the best thing to do if some1 is being rude and obnoxous


I loved my job and the people i worked with were lovely but I had to leave n the end cos the the odd customer ruined it for me


Best thing i ever did. Im a qualified nurse now and earning double the money


So the answer is either walk away or find a new job
Reply:sorry to hear that but EVERYONE gets stressed at christmas and everyons blames the staff...i went to a big tesco near london on saturday with my daughter and it was horrendous, we were in the queue for over 20 mins, i was SO stressed, the checkout girl, who i think was new, was so very slow,other people who were behind us went to another checkout and were served and gone by the time we were served!!! try to stay calm, only a couple more weeks to go!! good luck
Reply:Believe me, those people who are rude to the shop workers are usually rude to everyone else. Unfortunately there is no shortage of ******* but I have to say everyone starts some where and most people start in the food industry and those people (like me)commend what you do and what you have to put up with now that we work in other jobs. So for this I tip my hat to you and say Merry Christmas and next time you meet a person who is mean to you just think, your karma is better then theirs. I wish you the best
Reply:You have my full sympathy as I worked for one of the large named supermarkets for 13 years luckily I now have another job. I would not wish to work in one again as like you say you gat the blame for everything out of stock. Nearly every Xmas they did not have Daddies sauce it was down to the automated reordering system but customers do not accept that.
Reply:I used to work in a shop too... people are so rude, it's mainly when it's too cold or too hot, or near any holidays, or in the morning, or too late at night, or in the afternoon too a lot of people need a nap...


I did have some regulars that I miss though, don't you have any people who you love getting the gossip from or flirting with?
Reply:You said it best, they know they can get away with it.You want to get back at them,just smile and laugh.This will make them miserable,because they cannot make you cold-hearted as they are.Try it ,you can change peoples attitude,they will no longer play off your fear.
Reply:I have never been unkind to the staff. They have a difficult job to do
Reply:I know how you feel. I work at one here in the states. I get so many people that yell at me because an item that we have on sale in our ad is not on the shelf. We have several trucks that come in per week. But i don't know which truck it will be on. I try to ask the stockers and the managers but sometimes they don't even know.





The people that are the rudest to me are the older people.(i'm 20). they think they can push me around as they please. and where i work in the store i have to rent videos out,sell tobacco, lottery and run the cash register.Talk about multi-tasking. And the people that come back here get really mad because i don't wait on them first.





The people that treat us like dirt want to take their frustration out on someone else and we happen to be the ones that are there. And sometimes i just wanna blow up at them..but then i'd get fired.
Reply:food and petrol... 2 of the worst industries to be in? no one likes to part with their hard-earned wages?





its a myth to me... I look for the most fed up cashiers every time that I shop. I love to say "hi" and to see a smile get returned. To see all the infuriated shoppers behind me whispering "come on, get a move on.... "





its good to socialise but its so much nicer to harmlessly flirt and to see a smile from a pretty cashier :-)
Reply:Unfortunately i think it is society in general ! Just think if you were not working to put the goods out, these people wouldn't be able to buy them, you are doing a service to them-its their small mindedness that they can not see this. In Britain i think a lot of people view supermarket workers as thick or uneducated-instead of seeing a human being doing a honest days work. At Xmas it never ceases it amaze me how much food people buy-and waste! Keep smiling and just be glad your not related to one of them and have to spend Xmas with them too or then again if they were at least you could tell them where to stick the turkey!
Reply:i was a cashier years ago.....people never ceased to amaze me.....i remember working on christmas one year (since i was new i was stuck with working the holidays).....and all day long people would come thru the checkout line and say "it's too bad you have to work on christmas".....and i would just think "you stupid jerk!!...if you weren't in here shopping there would be no demand for the store to be open on christmas!!"....
Reply:i have never noticed that indeed i always see the staff being helpful to walk half the store to show you where an item is and i see customers as i do also thank them for their trouble
Reply:Because you are the visible face of the company. It doesn't matter that you are not responsible - you are the one they see. Keep on smiling and remember it's not you personally they are mad at.
Reply:I work in a shop too, and to be honest im just as sick as you are, i agree with everything you say! before i worked in one, i think i was rude too, but now the shoes on the other foot, i try hard to be polite and nice to them when im shopping myself now, because i know how it feels! just mutter along to yourself under your breath thats what i do (f***** ***** **** ****** ****), etc just make sure noone actually heres you hehehhe



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