In Fear Of Customers

[DrFaroohk]

Are any of you downright scared of your customers? We all are at the store I work at...mostly because the degenerates that pass for human around here are so vindictive that they will call the corporate hotline and make stuff up about us...and corporate is dumb enough to believe it. It's getting pretty bad now, most of my team is letting customers get away with stuff they really shouldn't, and it seems like the only person willing to side with the employee on a customer complaint is me and occasionally the manager herself, assuming you catch her on a good day.

It's getting rough out there.

[Soulstealer]

Except for a few cases none of us like the people who call us or come in no matter how valid the complaint is. Unfortunatly they're voters (probably) and we can't say the equivelent of 'take your business somewhere else'. Which leads to lovely talks with them on why we can't help them with certain matters (federal only, no state unless it's a civil rights issue or legal but we'll gladly look up the right phone number for you). I'll try helping you untangle bureacracy but don't call me because your pharmacy's computers are down.


No, ma'am that's not a federal matter.
No, not even if you're on medicaid.
No, not even if you had to ride public transportation to get to the pharmacy.
I'm sure they're working on the problem since it's costing them money.
No, it's not an emergency because you're old and need your medicence. Other people do to and some of them are bright enough to pick it up a few days in advance if it's important.

On the bright side she wasn't the creepy guy who called in the next day.

[AirHostess]

Yes, I was frequently scared of my passengers, especially the drunk people in hen or stag parties.

[ArenaBoy]

The only fear of mine with customers was being run over, customers + big cars = A lot of power and confidence.

[Pezzle]

I'm afraid of customers who curse me out over the phone and then come into the store, I always hide in the back to avoid grief. By grief, I mean me leaping over the counter and kicking them in the chest.

[April]

Where I work now, with Federal prisoners, various people serving the rest of thier sentances in my facility rather than jail, and people who have been sentanced to my facility rather than jail, They have NEVER treated me as poorly as "customers" in a retail setting.

I have never been (as of yet) threatened with bodily harm, sexually harrassed, followed, screamed at, cursed out or been threatened with a firing from my clients. These are guys who I wake up from a deep sleep and am in a dark room alone with at least 4 of them at a time.

Yet, I have experienced all of the above from "law abiding" (it always seems like soccor moms or the rich ones) people who seem to think they are better than me.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I was only every worried about a customer once (I must've posted this at some point) my insane ex roomate (the one I got into the fistfight with) had an even more insane father ( no, really, he really was insane. I'm not entirely sure why they let him out of the mental hospital. I'm serious. ) used to come into the store to talk about his pecker. (Yeah, you read that right.)

Long story short, I was afraid that he would eventually become lucid enough that he remembered where I lived. Because he knew. He just didn't remember that he knew.

That was a little scary.

But other than that, no, I've never been scared of any of the customers any place I worked.

I suspect a few of them were scared of me, though.

[draggar]

Are any of you downright scared of your customers? We all are at the store I work at...mostly because the degenerates that pass for human around here are so vindictive that they will call the corporate hotline and make stuff up about us...and corporate is dumb enough to believe it. It's getting pretty bad now, most of my team is letting customers get away with stuff they really shouldn't, and it seems like the only person willing to side with the employee on a customer complaint is me and occasionally the manager herself, assuming you catch her on a good day.

It's getting rough out there.

I see the lies every day.

*We refused to let a customer in before closing, 45 minutes after we closed.
*A customer didn't have an application that he did have, it just wan't where he wanted it
*We refused to exchange a customers phone (neglected to mention it was dripping)
*We refused to sell a customer a phone (they didn't want to pay for it)
*We took a customer's phone hostage (they lost the phone)
*We refused to transfer their phonebook (their dataport was smashed)
*We refused to exchange their phone (to the upgraded model that they wanted, they didn't want us to exchange it for what they had)

[DesignFox]

Unfortunately, there is one customer that I am afraid of. Fortunately, I believe his saga is over....for now.

Last time he came in, my manager took care of him. Hopefully, it's the last we'll ever see of him.

The only other thing that bothers me...not so much scares me, as causes stress...is the idiots who come at closing and refuse to leave. I hate those people, and I have nightmares about them.

[MadRocketScientist]

In my time, whenever I had an SC, even a little one, after the incident, I would write down a few notes in a notebook so if they came back at me, I could recall details quickly. If the incident was a bit more serious, I would immediately write a letter to my manager about what happened so when it came back to them, they would not be blindsided by it.

My managers always took my word over the customer (even though my manager may have over-ridden my decision, it was not because I was not believed)

[Ringtail Z28]

I've always worked in really bad areas full of drug addicts and punks. Because of this I've never shown up to work unarmed, even if it is illegal. Better them than me that's how I feel about it.

[Crazeyal]

???

ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?

I had the JU-JU LADY!!!

[blas]

I wasn't worried about my jobs......I always felt if management would take the side of a psychotic customer over me, I could go somewhere else and they could deal with the SCs themselves.

That's not to say I didn't worry about my safety. I worried about my safety on a daily basis at the gas station. Not only are convenience stores huge targets for robberies and clerks have been shot, but that's where the biggest scum seem to gather. I was always scared I'd be jumped or raped after work.

I carried pepperspray and a knife at all times after certain incidents with crazy customers. The knife was tiny and kept in my pocket. I would walk out of the store and lock up with the knife in my left hand. Thank god for long sleeve sweaters! I looked ahead of me, behind me, to the left, to the right, and made sure to always focus on the big picture. If anyone grabbed me, I was ready to stab and spray. Fortunatley, it never came to that.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Nah. I figure I can beat the crap out of any crotchedy little old lady who wants to take a swing at me.

The only times I've ever been even remotely concerned was a guy who was bellowing in my boss's face over an obit (and I was only concerned because I thought he might hurt his wife), and dealing with our new resident stalker when he started yelling at the editor last week and I had to more or less back him out the door. (However, I know I can take him here, and if he tries to follow me home, my dad says he might just "disappear".)

[Daphne]

Where I work now, with Federal prisoners, various people serving the rest of thier sentances in my facility rather than jail, and people who have been sentanced to my facility rather than jail, They have NEVER treated me as poorly as "customers" in a retail setting.

I have never been (as of yet) threatened with bodily harm, sexually harrassed, followed, screamed at, cursed out or been threatened with a firing from my clients. These are guys who I wake up from a deep sleep and am in a dark room alone with at least 4 of them at a time.

Yet, I have experienced all of the above from "law abiding" (it always seems like soccor moms or the rich ones) people who seem to think they are better than me.

That is exactly what one of the librarians I work with said. She used to work in the jail library, and she said she would go back in a second.

To answer the question, yes, I am frequently worried for my personal safety. A male librarian was physically assualted a few months ago at another branch. Patrons also come into the library drunk and on drugs. We also have a problem with patrons fighting each other over computers. It's a frightening environment.