[Mountaindewed]

I was at Dollar General today and the cashier not sure if he was a manager started an argument with a customer about his driving as soon as he walked in the door and went on about how he shouldn’t be driving. They got into it and the man said something about how he was a veteran and the cashier said “I have family members who are veterans and they are way nicer then you are.” I didn’t really see what the customer was doing wrong but that cashiers behavior was horrendous. I’ve never seen an employee treat a customer that way. I’m not even treated that way at my job. Not to mention the cashier was also rude to the lady behind him and my mom and I. I went to another Dollar General and they actually had what I wanted and were incredibly nice. Go figure.

[bpcyclist]

Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or, maybe, they're just a jerk.

[*Beth*]

To me, it is so upsetting to witness that type of mean situation. There are a few places where I shop and the employees are always friendly. But too many places, the employees are so rude it shocks me. I give reviews on Yelp, whether good or bad, and I mention it if an employee is rude.

[Mountaindewed]

The cashier at Burger King was also pretty rude too tonight. I seem to recall around this time last year employees started getting snippier and I thought it was holiday stress related. Still no excuse though.

[LiteraryLark]

Perhaps you should step into his/her shoes and try to understand it from their point of view.

Have you ever worked fast-food or retail? Workers are treated like absolute garbage by almost every customer and have to take some serious abuse because "the customer is always right"

Sure, this guy was probably rude, but maybe that "vet" was an ongoing problem in that store. Maybe the cashier got screamed at all day long and took it out on the vet. Maybe that cashier has medical issues or dealing with a family crisis and thus, again, taking it out on people.

Yes, some cashiers are just rude. But you never know the full story.

Sorry to preach, but I tend to be on the defensive with customer service employees and try to give them the benefit of the doubt. I don't even have to be working to see the horrible things going on at businesses by customers (and because I've worked customer service, I also know the good and the bad going on behind the scenes and that's equally as stressful when management sucks)

[MuseumGhost]

Yes, LL, I agree. There are almost always TWO very compelling sides to any story.

Perhaps the cashier witnessed the driver/ vet almost strike a pedestrian, or do something equally as dangerous. And, true, this vet man could potentially be an individual the cashier had trouble with in the past.

There are better ways of handling things than going full offensive on somebody in front of customers; I agree with that. But perhaps this person had just had a run-in with another bad driver on his way to work, who knows? So many things can set people off.

I'm sorry he was rude to you and your Mom. I think an awful lot of people are feeling extremely stressed, these days.

Yes, there's 2 sides to every story. He definitely could be stressed. And yeah perhaps the vet had been driving dangerously. At the same time, Doesn't make nastiness to customers ok.

[Mountaindewed]

Yes I do work in retail and I have been treated badly by people. Which is why I now work only in the back and have had no issues for 2 years. But we are trained to not interact badly with the customers. And I know that sometimes you do have to defend yourself but this cashier was being awful to this man. And he should have calmed himself by the time the lady in line next and my mom and I checked out instead of continuing to take his anger out on us. That’s just bad customer service.

[WishfulThinker66]

You don't know what preempted this situation. It is quite possible that the gentleman's driving was bad enough that it needed to be addressed. Perhaps it was dangerous. Perhaps the cashier had witnessed a near miss. Perhaps the cashier had seen someone come close to getting hurt. Customer or no customer I would have spoken up if calling attention to the situation was due. As for the following customers being treated rather bruskly, it could be possible that the cashier was riled up from the exchange and hadn't had opportunity to calm down. Cashiers and other people employed in the service industry are people too. The customer isn't always right. Sometimes situations come up that can't or shouldn't be ignored. If this man's driving was so bad I am glad that someone spoke up about it instead of ignoring it and keeping mum. The other explanation could be that the cashier was having a really bad day with a really difficult personal situation bad enough it was affecting them. Yes, the behaviour may have seemed bad on the surface but we don't necessarily know the triggering factor to it. If it were me, I would have asked the cashier if they were okay and encouraged them to take a moment to breathe.

Some people are being invalidating towards Mountaindewed's feelings and own experience. Not sure how that's helpful or supportive.

Edit: nobody was there from here but the OP. We are all only speculating. At the same time, I understand giving alternate perspectives and ideas. That actually can be helpful and I didn't mean to "speak for" MD. It just seems to me some people are telling MD not to feel the way they did. If I got that wrong, that's my bad.

[Buffy01]

Originally Posted by Mountaindewed

I was at Dollar General today and the cashier not sure if he was a manager started an argument with a customer about his driving as soon as he walked in the door and went on about how he shouldn’t be driving. They got into it and the man said something about how he was a veteran and the cashier said “I have family members who are veterans and they are way nicer then you are.” I didn’t really see what the customer was doing wrong but that cashiers behavior was horrendous. I’ve never seen an employee treat a customer that way. I’m not even treated that way at my job. Not to mention the cashier was also rude to the lady behind him and my mom and I. I went to another Dollar General and they actually had what I wanted and were incredibly nice. Go figure.

I uses to live next door to a dollar general and the always harassed everyone who live next door and they harassed their customer. I love their merchandise but I hate their services. I believe you!

[WishfulThinker66]

Originally Posted by WovenGalaxy

Some people are being invalidating towards Mountaindewed's feelings and own experience. Not sure how that's helpful or supportive.

Edit: nobody was there from here but the OP. We are all only speculating. At the same time, I understand giving alternate perspectives and ideas. That actually can be helpful and I didn't mean to "speak for" MD. It just seems to me some people are telling MD not to feel the way they did. If I got that wrong, that's my bad.

On the contrary, I don't think people, myself included, have been invalidating of MD's feelings, we have merely pointed out that the situation might have been misread. At no point did I suggest MD shouldn't have been upset. What I did do was suggest there may have been a very good reason for the cashier's behaviour. Suggesting a possible trigger for the cashier's actions in no way invalidates MD's feelings. Yes, they are upset but stopping to think about the possibilities behind the event MD witnessed is a responsible thing to do. I think to stop and consider the whole picture is perfectly okay to do and I encourage doing so.

[Mountaindewed]

God, I’m so tired of people telling me I misread a situation. Story of my life.

[WastingAsparagus]

Rude behavior is what it is. I think it it seems pretty obvious that the cashier was rude and that was the OP's experience.

That said, there can be any number of motives for people's behavior. That doesn't mean that the behavior wasn't wrong still.

People always told me when I was working retail that the customer is always right, etc. I mean, sure. But you still have to act like a civilized human being. That goes for both parties (customer and service person). But, practically speaking, it is more important for the worker to be civilized than the customer. That's just the way things work. It's obviously not right for a customer to act angrily towards a worker but it seems like in this situation, the customer wasn't angry at all and was not even provoking this cashier.

[LiteraryLark]

Originally Posted by skibum801

Rude behavior is what it is. I think it it seems pretty obvious that the cashier was rude and that was the OP's experience.

That said, there can be any number of motives for people's behavior. That doesn't mean that the behavior wasn't wrong still.

People always told me when I was working retail that the customer is always right, etc. I mean, sure. But you still have to act like a civilized human being. That goes for both parties (customer and service person). But, practically speaking, it is more important for the worker to be civilized than the customer. That's just the way things work. It's obviously not right for a customer to act angrily towards a worker but it seems like in this situation, the customer wasn't angry at all and was not even provoking this cashier.

No, it definitely wasn't right of the cashier, and no one stated that OP was misinterpreting the situation--we spoke from our own VALID viewpoints to consider.

I agree that irregardless of the situation, an employee should always carry on a kind and cheerful demeanor. But I also think there's a lesson for the customer. Being polite and considerate goes a long way, and from my experience, there's two ways an upsetting situation can be handled, and more often than not, the benefits of being kind and understanding are far greater than screaming at the cashier demanding to make things right.

People have forgotten their etiquette, or was never trained in basic manners. I am still learning this though I've been given a foundation. It is very hard for me to be out in public when I am upset because yes, I've been rude to cashiers. Nothing horrible, but looking grumpy and being snippy/annoyed in conversations. But I've learned that if I make the slightest effort to be polite and kind, I discover so much more than if I chose to be grumpy.

The best example of this: I was at a Starbucks inside Target. There was a huge line and only one scrambling barista. I was in a good mood that day and watched how customer after customer snapped at her and was so rude to her out of being impatient. People yelled at her saying their coffee wasn't made just so, and as I watched her I could see so clearly how stressed and beaten down she looked. With one person ahead of me, I decided then I would be nothing but kind and polite to her. When she looked at me I smiled and I could tell she was expecting the same rude responses, but I greeted her warmly and asked if the caramel in the iced coffee came in syrup or sauce since the options were either vanilla or caramel. She perked up and we got into a friendly, mutual love-of-caramel conversation as she made my order, and when it was time to pour in the caramel she was so revived from our polite conversation that she told me I could have all the caramel I wanted and as she poured it in I had to force her to stop because she would have gone all the way to the top!!!! Half the cup was all caramel! I was in heaven!

It pays to be nice and courteous and treat people with respect. I've found I learn so many things when I treat the cashier like a respected and appreciated individual. I find out about events that goes on around town, cashiers will go out of their way to find me special deals, and I learn about new ideas when I open myself to the cashier.

[Mountaindewed]

This man was talking very calmly to the cashier. Not raising his voice at all. When it was my turn I tried to strike up a conversation with him and asked if a product was still available and he seemed annoyed by my question and answered it rudely.

And someone above literally said I misread the situation.

[LiteraryLark]

Originally Posted by Mountaindewed

This man was talking very calmly to the cashier. Not raising his voice at all. When it was my turn I tried to strike up a conversation with him and asked if a product was still available and he seemed annoyed by my question and answered it rudely.

And someone above literally said I misread the situation.

Yet that post was intending to validate your feelings and being absolutely kind and supportive. I truly do not know what you're expecting out of us out in this thread but the overall responses are fair and supportive.

[Mountaindewed]

Because this section is called general social chat. Misunderstanding situations and telling people they are wrong can just cause a lot of damage physically and mentally which is what I’m currently going through now in general. Because people tell you your worrying for nothing or the situation didn’t go the way you saw it. That can end up backfiring dangerously.