[Mountaindewed]

Is anyone else noticing that store employees are being ruder then usual?

Yesterday at the shoe store at the mall the employees were not very friendly at all and were acting odd. We were being very pleasant to them. I go in there all the time and drop $70-90 on a pair of shoes. Yesterday was no different. They are usually so friendly. But not yesterday. I asked my mom if I did something wrong. Like if I was acting strangely. Even though I told myself before we got to the mall not to do anything werid she said no and they were the ones acting goofy. Today the pharmacist yelled at my mom on the phone even though she did answer his question when he first asked her. He was the one who misunderstood. It really upset my mom.

I get that it’s the holidays and the employees at the shoe stores have quotas and deadlines and they probably had a big sale coming up and stuff like that. They also might have been expecting a visit from corporate. I don’t know. But shouldn’t they at least try to be friendly to customers who are being nice to them? Or am I expecting too much at this time of year?

[Medusax]

The nearest thing I can come up with on this subject is not rudeness exactly, but I have noticed apathy on the part of customer service. Our ex-roomie went to Home Depot to buy a lawn mower and asked for help and it never came. The clerks were standing around up front talking. I went to Best Buy and had a question about a portable heater and help never came. Same reason. I finally cornered a manager.

[TishaBuv]

I’m finding myself thanking the employee and not them thanking me the customer.

[LiteraryLark]

Being in their shoes for so many years, I can understand why. I'm glad I'll never be working with customers again!

[beauflow]

Humans In* general seem rude & untrustworthy to me, but then again I am told that's part of my issues ...
But humans aren't all "bad" ...

I think the holidays are rough on cashiers, department store workers, etc. and as always, I believe every human could use some touch of insightful thoughts of self awareness

I noticed the Walmart cashier when I got my Epsom salt had a super negative vibe ... but then again the two young - ladies that were acting like they were tweaked out, and then me with no emotion till I smiled and said hi- I am sure assisted ... it was a genuine hi and smile because I was thinking of all the people around me and thought-- we all really do have our own struggles.

[eskielover]

I have always notices that when people working at stores have had a bad day & seem grumpy I smile & say something to start a nice conversation. I am always pleasantly surprised that they seem much calmer & more pleasant themselves when we are done. I have had crappy days & a nice person talking to me no matter how rude I might feel seems to defuse those feelings. Seems to work for others at least most of the time

[s4ndm4n2006]

yes I've noticed a trend and it's not necessarily during the holidays so much as a general trend. but people are less social nowadays even in spite of so-called social media and internet, we've grown less present in "real life" and more stuck to our phones, computers and other media so I think that people in general are quite disconnected nowadays.

[eskielover]

Wow....after living in So Calif (Los Angeles county) & moving to this small town of 8000, there really is no social problems here. When I went grocery shopping the other day I ran into 3 people I knew well & there was stop & chat time. Even people I don't know chat in the aisls of the market. WalMart even more because I always run into people I know or people who are talkitive. Takes me twice as long to do shopping in this great small town. There is a great connection between people in this town & many areas of this state. It is actually a very refreshing change from my life in Calif.

[nouseforaname]

The biggest issue is the younger kids, the 25 or so and under. They spend their whole time on their cell phones and they have been taken care of by mom and dad that when all of a sudden they have to work and now have no clue on how to handle the real world.

I work in retail, something a little more specialized and I have seen all kinds of employees and customers. One issue is the demands the companies put on it's employees. Lets say a store had 10 employees maybe about 10 years ago. Well that company cut the work hours and employees in the store now it's being run on maybe half that many people. So the cleaning, sales, pog's and everything that needs to be done is thrown on a few people's shoulders. On top of that the company questions everything the employees do and how come sales are down and how come they didn't sell the special item of the month.

Then they have customers who feel entitled. And if they are not given what they want for the price they want, they stomp their feet, yell and rage until some dummy customer service rep calls the store to yell to give the customer what they want.

I have so many stories about companies and customers that maybe a few of you will have a little understanding of what working in retail entails nowadays.

[Quarter life]

I totally agree that there is so much pressure to meet targets and cut costs, and this isn't exclusively in retail. It has everything to do with the mighty dollar, and upper management. When money isn't spent on quality management..then the crap filters down. Management is responsible for proper training on product knowledge and customer service...it just doesn't seem to happen these days. Everyone is so busy trying to keep their job, that they forget to do their job.