Shoplifting isn't rudest thing customers do at clothing stores, say staff
While shoplifting has become a growing scourge for retailers, staff say that behaviour isn't the worst thing they are subjected to with a number of other forms of abuse being listed.
Shopworkers must put a brave smile on their faces when confronted with members of the public who seem to forget that they are dealing with a human being and not some robot that has no feelings. Mike Saad, who worked in a clothing store for eight years said: "Oftentimes, customers don’t much think of you as a person, so much as they see you as a faceless helper."
He told HuffPost that despite rude and inconsiderate customers, he took “a lot of pride in his job” and learned a lot about human nature from the experience. He said: "A lot of times customers would get visibly offended when they would try on something that didn’t look great and we’d be honest with them. It’s as though they wanted to be lied to."
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Shoplifting isn't the only behaviour that irks shop staff (Getty Images)Garrett Bemiller, who worked at Hollister Co for four years, said customers shoplifting and wanting to fight managers is “pretty standard,” but far from the worst behaviour clothing store employees have to deal with.
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And Saad added: “A lot of customers forget that behind the name tag and headset, there’s a human being with feelings. We’ve had customers make a lot of new employees cry over simple mistakes that are not a big deal.” Another common issue Saad faced was that customers wanted to "talk to the manager all the time", he said. Some threatened to call the store’s corporate office for things that he had no control over, such as playing “inappropriate” music chosen by the corporate office which had to be played.
Insulting employees' bodies
But there's many other things that make life tough for hard-pressed retail staff. For instance, before launching a career in textiles Barbara Stern worked at a high-end boutique for three years. A customer she was helping once turned to her and said, “You probably don’t wear any of these clothes, do you? They’re not really for your type.”
Stern took that comment as a “direct jab at my personal style and physique,” and said that it “stung.” Despite the insult, she continued to serve and made sure the customer was happy. “It was challenging to smile and remain professional, but I did," she said.
Making staff feel bad about being on minimum wage
Saad once helped a customer "demanding to try on almost every style and wash of jeans". This meant he had to find 15 different pairs in the customer’s size. Saad was “running back and forth from the stock room to try and locate sizes and calling other stores to check inventory” to try to please the customer.
When Saad couldn't find every style of jeans the store had in the customer’s size, he was told his "inability to locate a simple pair of jeans" was the reason he was only on minimum wage. The rude customer "then told me to try harder", Saad added.
Leaving a mess in the dressing room
Eloisa Hife said: "Another rude behaviour which is pretty commonplace is customers who
try on a substantial number of clothing pieces, sometimes 20 or more", and then leave a "huge mess in the fitting room", Hife said. They often left the unwanted items in a pile in the dressing room, not bothering to hang them up or fold them.
Saying staff are hiding stock
According to Hife one customer "became irate because a particular leather jacket he wanted was out of stock in his size. He angrily demanded that I do something about it and accused me of deliberately hiding his size". This happened while she was working at Superdry. She took her job seriously and did her best to help customers, but she was forced to be calm on this occasion and explained that it was out of stock, but that she could try to help him find the jacket at another store. Despite trying to do her best, the customer just became more upset. "In the end, he left the store without purchasing anything, but not before leaving a string of unpleasant remarks", she said.
Being furious when refused a discount
Shoppers are always on the look-out for a great deal but losing your temper isn't the way to go about it. Saad said: "I once witnessed a customer lunge across the cash register to take a swing at an employee because her discount coupon had expired and we couldn’t accept it. As a witness, I had to fill out a police report."
Damaging goods to get a discount
Garrett Bemiller was once told by a mother and daughter that a top they thought was nice was too expensive admiring a beaded tank top. The mother told him that they liked the top, but thought it was too expensive. "About five minutes later, they came up to me with the same tank top and showed me that it was ripped. They asked if they could get a discount since it’s damaged", he said. "It wasn’t ripped five minutes ago when they said it was too expensive, but now they want it and they would like a discount. You can connect the dots."
Using the changing room as a toilet
You can usually find a toilet in a clothing store, but some customers are so mucky they just decide to use the changing room. Bemiller said "there was more than one occasion where someone urinated in the fitting room. This happens way more often than it should". He added that this didn’t only happen at his store. "From talking to other ex-retail employees, it’s an incredibly disgusting epidemic."
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He added that this issue becomes more prevalent during summer. During swimsuit season, "some of our female shoppers would try on swimsuits during their period" without proper protection, he said, adding: "This happened way more than it should every spring and summer."
Making other customers' lives a misery
Bringing a friend shopping is quite normal, but there are those who have been dragged along against their will and that's a recipe for disaster. Sadd said there was one instance when a couple walked into his store and he immediately noticed "the woman was very excited to be looking at the new merchandise,” but that “her boyfriend couldn’t stop saying how it was a waste of money, our store was ridiculous and she could shop at better places".
Saad said the woman’s boyfriend "was clearly ruining the experience for her". Finally, another staff member asked the man to leave, telling the boyfriend "to come back when she’s done because she wanted to shop and we take pride in our store". The man looked shocked, but he left, Saad said.
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