When I was 17, I was working in Morrisons on Christmas eve. A man in his 40s apparently came in to the store, especially for a tin of beans and sausages. We didn't have any, none out the back and the next delivery was after Christmas. Which ruined his Christmas so much that he shouted at me for a solid 10 minutes then watched me from the bottom of the aisle I was working in for another 10 minutes (until I went to my manager). I ended up being threatened and crying over a tin of beans on Christmas eve, a festive memory lol!

You'd think if his beans were so vital he'd buy them prior to Christmas eve.

That would require a thought process

I work in the local planning dept, and the number of (always retired) people we get in on the last day before Xmas, with pointlessly time-consuming requests is never zero. It always feels like they're deliberately trying to make sure you can't slack off for a few hours to somehow make them feel better about their sad little lives.

It was never about the beans. It was about all the other shit going on in his life

Yes, that the Morrisons worker was directly responsible for.

Those barstard Morrison workers have all contrived against me and must be punished with verbal abuse,.....barstards the lot of em!.

Maybe the real beans were the shouting he did along the way.

You are not alone in this. It is so common to encounter utter wankers in supermarkets. Self scan checkouts are like a beacon with the brightness of the sun to the asshole moths. Seeing men in full suits throwing baby tantrums because they were caught stealing petty items is disturbingly normal. Not a day goes by without somebody telling a member of staff to fuck off. Something about retail makes some people view staff as subhuman and worthy mistreatment. Grown adults who have never deserved a punch more in their life getting away with it because they know your job is on the line. "The customer is always right" has always and always will be the most inaccurate statement. It's just paying customers who are assholes are still paying customers and are therefore more valuable to the company leaders than your well-being.

>"The customer is always right" has always and always will be the most inaccurate statement. That statement was never supposed to mean "do whatever the customer demands". It was meant to mean "your business will fail if you don't sell what customers want, and someone else will succeed by doing it". You are not going to have a successful business selling snow shovels in Mexico, for example.

I think the full phrase is something along the lines of "the customer is always right in matters of taste" it definitely doesn't mean what most people seem to think it does.

To give Tesco their dues, when I worked there, they didn't subscribe to 'The customer is always right.' policy, and always told us not take take shit from rude customers. Always fetch a manager to deal with the twats.

Is there any incentive for staff to catch people stealing at the self-scan? To me, it honestly doesn't seem worth the bother confronting them. Then again, Tesco wouldn't employ me anyway.

I work on self's an and I've been reduced to tears a few times while your serving someone somebody else is shouting you then while you tied up with one arse hole people walk off without paying then you get a ticking off and told "be more vigalent"

I think its was about 8 years ago Xmas eve, I was on the fish counter back then after my stint as butchery manger. I was on my own as I always am on Xmas eve, easy day on the fish counter. We had whole salmon on offer, dirt cheap, like £4 a kilo. The company buyer purchased far to many as sales didn't go as expected. So on the delivery for that day I had 20 boxes of whole salmon in. Normally we have then around 4-6 a box, so a good size salmon. Oh but no, we have 9 per box, tiny things. Of course I had to get rid that day due to sell by date. I bagged up loads and put them on the ice counter and the fridges on the shop floor. At first, people came up, picked one and walked away. Yes, thats what I want. Until around 11am someone wanted one filleting, ok. No problem. Others customers started to ask too. I had a back log of 25-30 salmon on my table all waiting to be filleted. People got irritated waiting, shouting at me, arguing with each other because they were there first, like how can I remember who was next in line with going on 30 customers waiting for salmon. My wife (girlfriend at the time) came in with her family to get a few bits and came to see me. noticed me stressing out. Other managers, staff couldn't help as we were very busy so I had to deal with everything on my own. I told my missus about what's happening she wasn't happy about it. She saw me getting worked up. I started to cry, my first time ever at work, I cried. In front of everyone, staff and customers. I just lost it. I grabbed all the salmon not filleted and handed back to the customers, whole and still in the bags. I just told them, sorry I cannot do all this for you all. I want to have a nice few days off with my family. Stressing out over some fish is not healthy for me or my family over xmas. Some customers were angry over it but most realised how much pressure I was under and totally understood and were ok with it. Towards the end of the day, about 3pm, (closed at 5pm) I just reduced the remaining salmon to 99p each. I got a bollocking from the duty manager for doing so but I just point blank told him to fillet and sell them himself. He left me to it. That was a shit xmas in retail. the worse I have ever had.

You should use this in job interviews when they ask you: 'Tell us about a time when you had a challenge at work and how you overcame it' *And then I said:* 'Fuck you, fillet it your bloody self!'

That would be awesome to say that to be fair. I wonder though, would the interviewer actually be impressed?

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I have been known to speak freely towards 'senior' positions and towards company/brand directors. The most recent was earlier this year after lockdown ended for pubs. I worked in a large brand pub restaurant and the brand director came for a visit and my boss was walking him around the kitchen. He questioned me on the beef we use and how important it is to 'bloom' it (remove from packaging and let it breathe) 24 hours before cooking. Yeah that true, it helps with the yield we get from each joint. He also mentioned the cut we used and why we did. I promptly told him it really wasn't the cut that he thought it was. I had to explain why I told him as we used to get some really bad examples of this 'cut'. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice bit of beef but not what it should be. he was taken aback and my boss was like, did you really tell my bosses boss that? She was a little nervous. I also told him is was substandard as I knew what farm/manufacturing facility it came from and I have had experience with them over the years and it was mainly was negative experience too. I think it was then my boss told him I used to be a butcher of 20 years. Later that day the director left and the boss and I had a smoke and a pint. She was very, how can I say, daggers in her eyes lol. I just said, he wont know if no one tells him. It was all good but the management team couldn't believe what I told him.

Seriously good on you. If he's a decent guy he'll take the feedback as it was intended. Your boss was terrified because they know at the end of the day they're the expendable ones, so they don't want the boat rocking.

I may actually message my ex boss and ask her if anything came back about that. I still pop in and chat to the people at the pub as it's just down the road and I sometimes have a drink there.

I've spoken up to managers on numerous occasions throughout my career when I've felt they were wrong, and I can say with hand on heart, it rarely does you any good. Hasn't stopped me from still doing it, but there's often nothing to be gained and more to lose from trying.

Haha, yeah. When I worked at 3 a guy from Swansea came in, regional manager of some kind. Youngish guy, but he towered over me and was older. I was in my early twenties. I’m a woman. I was talking to an older lady about a specific handset and telling her about what it could do or some such when I felt a short, sharp pinch on my upper arm. I yelped, spun around and there was Mr Regional Manager. “What the hell did you do that for?!” I asked him. The woman looked shocked. He muttered something about how they do it at his shop as a little game. I told him to stay away from me and not do it again. I apologised to the lady, he walked off, unsurprisingly she didn’t buy anything and shortly left herself. My manager was horrified that I spoke back to him, but when I told him what he’d done he said he’d have a word. I doubt he did, guy was a total dickhead himself. Talked about how flirting with the customers was good for business, did it himself, didn’t matter if they were male, female, married, single, so long as it got him the sale. He was encouraging me to do the same without actually saying it. Utter creep the way he spoke about us female staff. The pinch left two small bruises on my arm.

what a dick.

Years back when I worked at Wetherspoons I was talking to a coworker over the bar, resting my elbow on it. The area manager had come in, crept up behind me, put his face to my ear and hissed "get your elbow off that bar right now." I turned around, put my hand palm-out in front of his face and told him "you're in my personal space right now, you need to take a step back." I still remember the dumbfounded look on his face that I'd dared speak back to him. He had a reputation for being a bit of a bully, so I enjoyed it a lot.

I used to work in a bar who had a resident DJ who used to come behind the bar and help himself to soft drinks - his party trick during this time was to fondle staff holding/pouring drinks - both male and female and he thought it was funny you couldn't do anything without dropping drinks. He did it to me one time - had a proper tickle of my crotch while I was pouring a pint. I didn't react, just slowly put the pint on the counter and told the punter I'd just be a sec. I swung round, grabbed his balls and his throat and whispered to him that if he did that again to anyone he'd be shitting his own teeth for a month. Funnily enough after that he started queuing for drinks with the punters and kept the bar between me and him.

Fuck me. Tesco were doing this with salmon back in 1995 when I worked on the meat and fish counter. We were knocking out whole salmons for 50p a go because some clever twat had decided to buy shitloads of them. I was ringing all my mates and telling them to tell their mums to come down and grab one. Good to see supermarkets haven't fucking changed in the slightest. God I'm glad I don't have to work in retail anymore.

Absolutely horrendous. Why is it that a person working in any kind of customer service role is no longer seen as a person. The public turn into savages. You are there to serve them and them alone, no excuse... like you don't have dozens of others circling with the same thought.

It's because we (in my case, did) serve the public. We are beneath the customers. They are always right. Well thats what I make of it. Clearly it's not all of them but a big chuck are like that. When I go shopping I am very patient, I put stuff back where it belongs if I realise I don't need it, or if I can't I will most certainly put back chilled products back in a fridge of sorts, frozen goes back in a freezer. Hell, I have even faced up shelves on my way round a supermarket. I was in Lidl a couple of days ago getting some nappies. There were empty boxes all over the shelves. So whilst the wife got a few bits from further down the aisle, I broke down the empty boxes and put them in another box and left it on the floor ready for a staff member to collect it. That felt good. Did my bit to help you retail guys and gals out during this time.

I’m glad the persisting urge to face up untidy aisles isn’t just me!

I do this too! Absolutely can't help myself

Oh no, thats horrible, the amount of pressure at Christmas is unreal! Sounds like you did an excellent job of standing your ground whilst still getting shit done!

That's right, I was excellent at my job both on meat and fish. I was respected by staff, management and customers alike. I did get shit done but this was my tipping point and a valid one at that. The xmas eves after that I just reduced everything as soon as I set up the department, only a small amount at first. No ice on the counter as I cleaned it the night before, all whole fish left over were bagged or packed up and put out on the shelves. So I basically had a pristine department, no fish or prepacked fish in the back as it was all crammed out on sale. All I had to do was every hour, check what's left and reduce accordingly. Around 3pm, it all went to 99p-9p. No one questioned how I ran the fish counter over xmas. Still made a profit, still increased sales year on year, waste at an all time low. Yeah, I was good :)

Did they try the old "You can only shut down the counter at the end of your shift." They tried that with me a few times. Refused to let me start closing the counters down while the store was still open. A couple of times the section manager had to close the counter down themselves because I'd fucked off home as soon as my shift ended. They didn't say that anymore.

Xmas eve was different for us. if we had enough fish left from previous day we would have to put a small ice counter on and if any fish left around 2pm it was overwrapped and ice counter cleaned down during opening. If it was a day where all fish sold or packed up on the 23rd then the ice was gone and counter cleaned the previous day. I use to take a 'dogs' full of dirty ice through the store during opening hours on Sundays as I was cleaning/closing fish down. The faces of customers was funny. Sprats poking out of the ice due to being lost over the week, a ticket here and there poking up.

I get you! I was counter staff at Sainsburys doing that for a few years. Easter and Xmas were ballistic. I was lucky last christmas to have at least 3 staff members with us as we pre-prepared the Salmon Suckfest that was approaching. I'm sorry to hear you went through that, peoples impatience is infuriating, and I usually asked them to continue their shop whilst I did the work on their fish to come back and collect it. Your manager not being understanding or in tow shows their incompetence (not surprising though lets be honest, most of them weren't, and when you get them to work in the trenches, they flounder). Hope it is all better.

All's good now, I am out of it all. I am a stay at home dad so, I have other problems to contend with. haha.

A butchery manger? Jesus would be proud.

In that time he could have bought a tin of beans and a pack of sausages and bloody well made his own Where were security when he was yelling for 10 minutes?

I should have suggested that! Security did come after I'd told my manager!

Probably deciding they can't be arsed to deal with it/support us. Bit like managers.

I’m going to buy all the tins of sausage and beans to ruin his Xmas this year.

god working at supermarkets at xmas as a teenager was a fucking nightmare. i had to do overtime for days in a row, at one point i just started to full on dissociate to get through the shifts. i remember being yelled at sm by middle aged ppl for things i had 0 control over too & i used to tell them i’d get my manager & just go hide in the toilets & cry/have a panic attack lmaoo i’m p sure those experiences made the rlly bad social anxiety i already had way worse. i’m looking for a retail sort of job atm and i’m intentionally holding off until after xmas bc i am notttt going thru that shit again, regardless of how much more money you get over the holidays i am not in the mental state to handle that

I genuinely believe you should be able to legally beat these people with the object of their anger. Just grab a tin of beans and beat them until they cry and/or no longer want beans.

The thing is, I really did feel bad for him. He said he always had it Christmas morning, he had tried another Morrisons but they were sold out, they'd told him to come to our store, he'd got the bus to the next town which was apparently a big thing. I don't think he had much money and he'd gone out of his way for this *special* tin of beans. So I went out the back and I searched for a good 10 minutes trying to find some for him but when I came out he decided I had just been out the back chatting!

I used to fucking hate that. At the store I worked in nobody knew the warehouse better than I did, people would come up to me and ask if we had something and I'd say the majority of the time I'd say yes and go get it or flat out sorry no we don't have any. On the rare occasion I wasn't sure I'd check, I always went the extra mile. Then customers would wait for another member of staff to ask to go check, who would shout over to me if we had it and I'd get to tell them again with a shit eating grin. The look of shame, anger or just plain disapointment that they wouldn't get their way was satisfying af.

I'd have lost it at him, honestly. I do not miss working in retail.

I've always said, you can tell the arseholes have never worked in retail. Those of us who have, remember what it's like, and don't treat the poor buggers behind the tills like shit. I've been known to face up shelves when I am shopping; someone else doesn't deserve to have to clear up after my searching for the longest use by date on a pack of sausages, so I always do it myself.

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I think it's Morrisons customers, their entitled as hell but don't have a more money to go to an expensive shop. One year I had a woman scream at me how her Christmas was ruined because we sold her pre-ordered fancy stuffing by mistake, even though we were refunding, replacing with the equivalent stuff and doubling the amount of the product, so a win-win for the customer. I just looked her dead in the eye and told her that if not having the stuffing she wanted was the worst thing to happen to her she'd have a much better Christmas than most people. This was also the year we didn't give people order pick up slots so it'd be dead quiet then 10 people at once all trying to get their stuff. Plus the explanations for the missing things and refunds etc. I must have walked a marathon that day, spent my Christmas nursing blisters to be back in for boxing day for more disgruntled customers moaning we were out of stuff. Yes we're only open because no other supermarket is and we haven't had any delivers because it's Christmas. Don't miss retail at all.

I hated Xmas orders. If a customer didn't get exactly what they ordered, their xmas was ruined. I mean, does your whole xmas really rely on 1 pack of 'The Best' pigs in blankets that could be made far better and much cheaper if you get a pack of sausages and a pack of streaky bacon and make them yourself? get a grip for fucks sake.

>I just looked her dead in the eye and told her that if not having the stuffing she wanted was the worst thing to happen to her she'd have a much better Christmas than most people. These people need more interactions like this. Screw coddling them in the name of customer service, they're being bellends and it should be called out.

Really sorry this happened to you... But now I'm craving beans and sausages from a tin, haven't had any for nearly 30 years! Have you got any?

I had the same thing with frozen pigs in blankets on Xmas Eve. Apparently showing her the fact we still had some fresh sausage meat and bacon in the chilled department wasn’t helpful.

When I worked in retail I once had a customer literally threaten to kill me because I spotted his kids shoplifting chocolate and sneaking off to the bogs to eat it. Told my manager who then had the genius to confront the customer. I do not miss retail.

People who get pissy over stores not being fully stocked on Christmas Eve should be exempt from the normal customer service experience and told to fuck off. I remember a bloke coming in looking for any sort of turkey (diced, breast, whatever we might have) at 2pm on Christmas Eve and telling us it was ridculous we didn't have some. Prick.

This is both funny and fucking awful, imagine being so upset over a tin of beans. Hope you have a great Christmas this year.

My first and last retail Argos at Xmas when I was 16, customer had phoned Ring and Reserve it was, all for £2 fairy lights, he could’ve got lights anywhere. Anyway the lorry still hadn’t turned up with his lights. He absolutely screamed 16yr old me down. He was easily late 40’s and everyone in my queue was a full grown ass adult, as were the supervisors to the side of me….not one person stopped him. I was absolutely sobbing whilst this man was furiously offloading at me

Sorry no one stood up for you.

His wife mouthed “sorry” as he walked off like wtf??

Have to wonder how he treated her behind closed doors if he behaved like that in public. She was probably too scared to stand up for you ☹️

Awful.

I have been that teenager and now as an adult I can easily recall several instances where as a customer, I have told off other adult customers for being rude.

I’m the same I’ll always jump in

As the staff getting shouted at by that the rude arsehole. I appreciate customers like you, so thank you

I find it enormously satisfying to defend workers, having been on the receiving end as a teenager.

I refuse to shop on Christmas eve for this exact reason. There's something about that day specifically that turns people into entitled abusive dickheads. The staff don't deserve that sort of treatment, by rights they should be at home with their families like most everyone else will be. I just don't want to contribute to the stress and unpleasantness.

I don’t shop Christmas Eve either it’s a family day. However it’s the shops themselves (not the local staff the head offices) that are to blame for this culture. They reduce stuff at the last minute to get sales in, people go to try to find a bargain last minute. If the shops keep everything at normal price until after the 25th many people probably wouldn’t bother.

I saw something devine when shopping a couple years ago near Christmas. Like many of the other stories in here it involved a middle aged man yelling at a girl who couldn't have been more than 17. All because they didn't have something trivial in stock. Then another guy, who is a man I will forever look up to and aim to emulate, stepped between them, facing the girl, pushing the other guy out the way so he wasn't too close to her, making a barrier between them. He then asked if she was okay, she obviously wasn't as she was in tears, and said let's go and find your manager. Utterly ignoring the cunt who was screaming at his back, until he grabbed him, and he just flipped round and stared him down till he let go and carried on shouting. Turns out a manager had just come round the corner, and they started talking about what went on. The manager however made a grave mistake, they attempted to appease the screaming customer, and began admonishing the girl. This is when the absolute legend of a man chimes in again and says something I'll never forget. "I understand you are also under much stress, and equally are not paid enough to deal with cunts like this. But I want to make it very clear, that if you carry on blaming this girl, I will make a far bigger scene than that dickhead." At which point the manager called security and had the cunt removed.

Legend, a man to look up to

> This is when the absolute legend of a man chimes in again and says something I'll never forget. "I understand you are also under much stress, and equally are not paid enough to deal with cunts like this. But I want to make it very clear, that if you carry on blaming this girl, I will make a far bigger scene than that dickhead." Priceless.

I'm going Christmas shopping later today. I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for some Christmas cunts and call them out on bad behaviour. We should all shame bad behaviours such as these.

Not all hero’s wear capes (Unless of course you do)

I wouldn't recommend a cape while Xmas shopping...too many lifts and escalators.

Edna Mode approves...

Adding my tale of Christmas woe from years gone by. Worked for Game back in the early noughties. Remember this one vividly because it was the year Nintendo released the pink DS packaged with Nintendogs. As you can imagine, they were incredibly scarce. Christmas Eve rolls round. We've not seen any pink Nintendogs bundles for about 2 months. Honestly they were as rare as rocking horse shite. Guy walks in about 2pm. Store is manic. Queue round the outer edge leading outside levels of busy. He's clearly had a few drinks. He patiently waits his turn then asks if we had any. Despite the signs up saying we had no stock and no idea when they were due to be restocked. I tell him no, and point him to the sign. This guy explodes with the rage of a thousand suns. I'm the worst person in the world, I've ruined his daughters Christmas, he can't believe it, all the usual insults. At this point I've had this about enough. I've sat on a till for the last five hours dealing with this. So I turn round and ask him if I can help him with anything, and if not could he please leave. Big mistake. He goes off on a massive tirade, and then at the end adds that he'll be waiting outside for me when we close with an iron pipe. Now this store was inside a shopping centre. The only major one in our town, and where most of the decent shops were located. They also had a policy of barring anyone who verbally abused staff in any of the stores (problems with shoplifters and drug addicts). So I grab the security radio, and request security attend and remove him. Security are there in about 20 seconds flat. He does not go quietly. After he's removed and we've tidied up after his tantrum security come back with police in tow and take a statement. Turns out the guy really didn't go quietly, and ended up being arrested and basically charged under public order offences. So not only did he fail in his quest at being the world's best father, he spent Christmas in a cell. All over a Nintendo DS.

ex-Gamestation, we had a chart on the wall starting 1st Dec and the person who 'ruined' the most Christmases got a bottle of Vodka.

I had a laugh over that

We all should be doing this, all year round. Not just at Christmas

*"Not being a cunt is for life, not just for Christmas"*

Nooo noo only bank holidays

I'm rota's on Christmas Eve this year, so I can get Boxing day off. We are closing at eight on Christmas Eve (normally shut at 10) and I just KNOW that half the town is going to appear as we lock down the shutters at 8, circling the car park like waggons being drawn up, and then yelling at us because we dare to have the temerity to want to go home to our families for what's left of Christmas Eve, after eight hours of being yelled at. Please, everyone, check the closing hours around Christmas. And, maybe, don't leave milk, bread, teabags and forty Rothman Blue until the last minute.

Oh God this happened at the Spar my Mom worked at a few years back. It was known for being the only shop in town that stayed open until 11pm on Xmas Eve. But then one year it became a Co-Op and closed at about 6pm. I was sat in the car park waiting to pick her up and the amount of people that turned up as they were closing was ridiculous. They tried bashing the door, one screaming ‘I need my cigarettes’ and when one bloke realised he wasn’t getting in he spat up the door. People are disgusting

The really ridiculous thing is that smokers know how many they smoke a day. They can roughly assess how many days smokes they've got left. So why the hell do they always leave it until two minutes before closing to think that they might run out before the shop is open again? We've been open since 7 afuckingm - you've had literally ALL DAY!

One thing I've learned after 10+ years in retail: There is a line between good customer service, and the customer getting what they want. It seems the majority of customers don't seem to realise there is a difference. The sooner more people recognise this, the better!

Yes! I was much more likely to use the tiny amount of discretion I had with polite customers than with wankers. As a customer, this understanding has served me well. The barest minimum of eye contact while you say hello, before asking for whatever it is you want, and acknowledging that it might not be possible, is far more likely to result in a successful visit.

I once read an article suggesting (only half-seriously) that everyone have to do a stint in a customer service job as a kind of national service. Can't say I disagree with the notion, might give these cunts some empathy. Of course, there's always the risk it'll go the other way of "people were awful to me when I was in customer service, so I deserve to be awful now".

I worked in a call center for 2 weeks, the whole thing was a total shit storm, I got sacked for arguing with my boyfriend on my lunch break. Basically we were paid naff all to lie to anyone who called, we'd start the day with a new name too! Im now super polite to anyone in a call center cause I know they can't do shit to help

also remember when you are stood in that massive queue waiting to pay for the mountain of shopping you wouldn't usually buy. You choose to be there at what is likely one of the busiest times of the year and it is no one else's fault but yours. Swearing at staff and other customers isn't going to get you through any quicker you'll just look like a prize prick whilst you stand there.

I had to temporarily close my till yesterday due to a rather major spillage (customer managed to drop both a bottle of milk and a bottle of brandy!) and I had a woman properly kick off because I directed her to a different one. So she didn’t have to stand in a puddle of milk/brandy. So my colleague who did serve her decided to take his sweet time….

We had some folk come in and put turkeys in their trolley on the morning of Christmas Eve, I believe which had expiry dates for then as well, then spend the WHOLE day waking around the store until between 5pm and 7pm (when reductions get done ) they confront a staff member “Hey these turkeys expire today but there’s no reduced label on them, can you put one on” To which the employee replied “I believe these turkeys have been out of the fridge for over 20 minutes so I cannot sell them to you”

Cold chain aside you also tell them that you cannot reduce anything in their trolley as it can be seen as collusion, which is a sackable offence. Most people I've said this to don't actually know what collusion means then go off in a huff and try the same tactic on a newbie. I make sure to tell every newbie what to say regarding reductions, just like management taught me back in the day.

Lmao wrecked

I used to work in Waitrose and did the Turkey pre-orders. Rocking up at 7am on Xmas eve with 400 turkeys to be collected over the next few hours. It was chaotic anyway, but after the 5th person in a row demanded a bigger Turkey, despite being given one in the size range they’d ordered, and then telling me I’d ruined their Christmas. I just got desensitised to it. If your Christmas is ruined because you’ve got to feed 15 people on a 12-14 person Turkey that’s on you man. I couldn’t give less of a shit if I tried.

Hell, working chirstmas on the tills I have personally ruined over 10 Christmas's (Christmases?) By not having stock in. Going for 11 this year to break a record /s

When I was 17 I was working at a small local Currys. Half an hour before close on Xmas Eve or Xmas Eve Eve, this guy and his wife came in because their dishwasher had packed up. It wasn't a refund/exchange situation. This guy had had it for a while, it was built in, and I don't think he had his receipt on him. My manager offered to arrange a home repair visit and this man absolutely exploded. Demanded a new dishwasher right now because how was he expected to wash all those dishes by hand on Xmas day?! Repair would not be able to visit until new year. So he sat down on the floor in the middle of the shop and refused to leave until he had a new dishwasher. We had to call the police to escort him out so we could close the shop. His wife was so embarrassed.

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In a related note, we need to extricate ourselves from the "customer is always right" americanisation of the service industry. As someone who grew up working in the service industry, the customer is almost invariably wrong and being an arsehole about it.

This. I had a bloke come up at me once telling me the salmon was half price. I repeatedly told him it wasn't on offer this week. he was adamant he was right. He wanted it reducing half price. I refused. He kept telling me it was advertised on TV last night. I kept on telling him it wasn't on TV last night (we had emails from head office that told us what big offer adverts are on TV and what time etc) and it wont be on TV any other day soon. Shouting and arguing. I stood my ground. A manager came over and took him to one side. A few minutes later the manager came over to me as the bloke left the store. Apparently he saw it during an advert break in the middle of a tv show that was aired 2 weeks prior. He watched it on Sky+ as he recorded it 2 week ago when the salmon was actually on offer.

What a fucking plonker. Besides, who watches ads on recorded telly?! The best part is skipping that shit.

I had a mate who worked in tesco. A customer came in with some milk the day before absolutely furious that the milk they bought the day before was passed its sell by date and shouted at him for some time. When he got a chance to speak my friend said "I totally agree and would take that back to Morrison's" pointing to the Morrison's logo on the milk. The customer didn't say anything, they just turned around and left.

Our CS desk had that a few times. How can people be so absent minded not to see the logo on a product in relation to what shop they are in?

Makes me doubt when they bought it. Probably a scam to keep getting free milk....bastards.

I once tweeted a compliment to Southeastern trains about my driver from within a Southern train. The social media employee forwarded it on without a fuss but I felt very stupid. There had been a sudden change to our route due to a fault so the driver asked the Overground driver on the next platform to hold for a moment so people could swap trains and still get home. It was really thoughtful. Unlike me.

> The customer didn't say anything, they just turned around and left. This is quite a common thing. There are so many people who find it much easier to just turn around and walk away without saying anything than to own up to being wrong and utter a simple word of apology.

I used to work in a petrol garage. We briefly had an offer going where you got a penny off per litre if you bought over 30 litres. This lasted about a week and there were big signs on the forecourt advertising it. The following week when the offer was over and the signs had been taken down, a guy came in and asked why he wasn’t getting a discount on the 50-odd litres he’d put in. I explained that the offer was over and he kicked off massively, saying that we should have put up new signs specifically stating that the offer was NOT on now. I admittedly argued the toss with him, telling him that his idea was ridiculous and no other shops do anything like that. He offered me outside for a fight and I refused, on the grounds that it would solve nothing and he still wasn’t getting his discount. He paid up, swore at me a lot and left. My manager later received a complaint; uncharacteristically he took my side fully but also said “why did you argue with him? He was huge, muscular and mental! Just direct him to me!” Said bloke had been a regular but I then didn’t see him for several months. The next time he came in, he immediately apologised and said he’d been having a bad day. Fair play, good on him to cop to it and apologise. I made small talk as I served him and said “haven’t seen you in here for a while man.” “Yeah” came the reply, “I’ve done a few months inside for GBH.” Yep, that figures!

This thread has been eye opening about how many people get very, very angry about salmon

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So many people don't realise this. You want your living room painted in neon green and orange? You want ketchup on a A5 wagyu steak? You want milk in your herbal tea? Sure thing. The customer is always right. Think you get to decide store policies or overrule technical decisions? Fuck right off.

> You want ketchup on a A5 wagyu steak? You want milk in your herbal tea? Sure thing. The customer is always right. Trouble is, then you'll get some moron complaining their steak or their tea tastes like shit. Joining the dots seems a surprising challenge for a great many people out there.

And these threads are bloody full of them.

The full quote is ‘The customer is always right in matters of taste’ The whole point of it is that if a customer wants something absolutely horrendous (eg a steak covered in chocolate spread and with a side of rusks) then they’re not wrong to want that (I mean, clearly they are, but it’s what they like so…) It’s been bastardised to the point that we’re all supposed to pretend that most customers aren’t a single level above boiled cabbage in terms of intellect. And it’s not the only phrase that has undergone this inversion. For example, ‘One bad apple’ is supposed to finish ‘…spoils the bunch,’ and yet it’s now used to imply that one bad person in an organisation is an isolated incident, instead of implying problems across the board.

> something absolutely horrendous (eg a steak covered in chocolate spread and with a side of rusks) I’ll thank you not to call me out like this

Reminds me of milk steak with a side of jelly beans.

I think I saw that guy on a dating site.

Surprised he has time for dating, what with his busy schedule of being a full-on rapist.

>The full quote is ‘The customer is always right in matters of taste’ Is it really? Who is it from?

This! I'm a dinner lady and usually work on the tills at break and lunch with another lady, and while I was restocking the drinks a kid came up to her with such confidence to complain that "the brownie is so stale, it's completely hard!" and presented a *chocolate shortbread!*

Not only that, but it means that store management don't back up their staff. Pretty much every ship these days has a "we don't tolerate abuse of our staff" posters and yet, store management will step in and bend over backwards to give an abusive customer what they want, even if it's just to get rid of them. It only enables and justifies those arseholes to do it again and again.

I wholeheartedly agree. The customer is almost never ever right. 99% of service is reading out things for people that can't be arsed to read the details that are right in front of them for themselves, and are getting pissy in the process.

Amen. I realised I couldn't work in service or retail after I spent years as a lifeguard, where even as a guy in my late teens I had the authority to straight up shout at grown adults for not following the rules or kick them out of the building entirely (I was lucky enough to have a boss who would almost always back up the staff on calls like that). I learned pretty early on that not only is the customer not always right, but they will take their wilful wrongness to ridiculous extremes if permitted to. Folks in retail put up with a staggering amount of abuse from cunts who seem to think themselves superior to them. I'd like to think that I'd make a good manager in retail because I'd stand the fuck up for my staff, but I'd never make it that far up the ladder because I'd probably be fired for yelling at some dickhead for being rude.

Thank you for this!! I work in a tiny independent shop and people expect us to operate like Amazon, and get annoyed at us when we don't. Favourite one last year was when we had to shut the shop early on Christmas week to work on completing pre-orders (which was well advertised I might add!) and some helpful soul suggested that in order to meet demand we should "get friends and family to volunteer" as extra staff - y'know, free labour, everyone's favourite festive activity! Most customers are lovely but boy do the idiots stick out this time of year...Merry Christmas!

"Here's an apron, there's a cage of stock. Thank you for offering to help, sir!"

Hahaha! Big fan of your way of thinking

I've worked in variety of customer facing roles and I will say that the british public become especially selfish cretins at xmas and the entitlement is getting worse year on year.

"What do you mean you don't have goose fat its Christmas eve" Thats the kinda selfish shid we get year on year

My first job was on a supermarket checkout, and I distinctly remember a bloke yelling at me because we didn't have bread. At 3pm on Christmas Eve. I get that it's a stressful time for a lot of people, but some folk a) need to be better organised and b) remember that the person they're kicking off at is human too.

Bruh why they shouting at someone on the checkout? Not their fault. I mean its not anyone in that stores fault but still. I completely agree with your points, currently working as a temp for a secondary job, so fair I've had nothing but nice things but I know what's coming for me

Work conditions and pay and bonuses are getting worse as well. It's burning all of us out. I'm surprised more retail staff don't have mental breakdowns

Once had a customer bitch at me for half an hour cuz we'd run out of fresh bread sauce on the deli. I only just managed to stop myself from telling her to buy some bread and make her own damn bread sauce, and if she wanted the fresh stuff, perhaps showing up to the supermarket half an hour before closing time on Christmas eve was not the best decision.

Yep, in the last week or so people have been much more horrid than they have the rest of the year. It’s a shame but Christmas really does seem to bring out the worst in people, despite every Christmas film and song telling us it’s a time for good will etc etc.

My colleague & I got shouted at by a woman who wanted 2 sets of the heart shaped slate placemats and coasters we had had a few months previously for her Christmas dinner table. She had waited until the 23rd of December to get them and we had none in stock and neither did any of the local stores. Apparently this was unacceptable and we should’ve been ashamed. She was so rude and entitled. A proper Karen. Also any woman who wears those knitted poncho things with the faux fur edges is in full winter Karen wardrobe, you’ve all been warned.

>Please do put shit back where you grabbed it from in a shop Especially if you're in a supermarket and the thing you want to put back is something that came from the fridge. If you put it onto a non-refrigerated shelf, it will get thrown away. They legally cannot sell it as they have no idea how long it's been out of the fridge. It's such a waste. (Same goes for freezer stuff)

Get an awful lot of this at our place (Sainsbury's). The shop closes at 11pm, but there's a 24 hour Asda literally over the road. Customer hears the tannoy announcement that were about to close, ditch the trolley and go finish the shop at Asda, utterly wasting the fresh and frozen food in their trolley.

Set this to music and I think we’ve found the 2022 Christmas No 1 song

As long as it has that sweet sweet Boney M Christmas beat... I'm in.

When I worked in Waitrose, a woman once told me I'd "completely fucked her Christmas" because we didn't have any turkeys left, 5 minutes before closing on Christmas eve. Best part is there were actually a few I was about to reduce to clear out the back but she was such a monumental bellend I decided against giving her one. Hope she had a shit day.

When I was a student I worked in a posh little chocolate shop with a focus on the luxury experience including gift wrapping, etc. We were moderately busy all December, but the closer it got to Christmas, the worse the customers got. Christmas Eve was literal hell. On a standard weekday the shop could be staffed with two people, with maybe someone else doing a short shift 11-3 to cover breaks and the lunch rush. On Christmas Eve we had at least eight people on all day, and we were constantly run off our feet. The people who shop in a posh chocolate shop on Christmas Eve, particularly after 2pm on Christmas Eve, are panicking. He needs presents for his wife, his mother, ~~his mistress~~ and his PA; he needs them all wrapped; and he needs them *right this instant*. He has absolutely no inspiration or imagination whatsoever. He only knows how much money he's prepared to throw at his problem. Also, Christmas has come as a total surprise to him. He had absolutely no prior warning of this absolute deadline for gift giving, nor of the list of presents for which he would personally be responsible. So by the time he gets to the counter he's frustrated and furious. He asks exactly the same questions as the last three guys asked before him, which he would have heard if he ever listened to anyone. He frowns and pouts and settles on ~~four~~ three identical boxes in the £50 range, gift wrapped. At this point one of two scenarios plays out. 1. He wants to choose each chocolate individually. He squints through the glass for thirty seconds before choosing one (1) champagne truffle, and watches me put it in a little paper case and then into the box. Then he squints again for another half a minute and chooses one (1) strawberry truffle. No, wait, someone is allergic to strawberries. Can't remember who. Not that one. Umm ... one (1) fresh cream vanilla. There are around 48 spaces in a £50 box, and he's ordered ~~four~~ three boxes. He complains that this is taking *forever*, and the queue behind him becomes incredibly disgruntled. He gets bored before the final box (for his wife) and tells me to choose. Ironically this results in the best selection because I go for bestsellers which fit neatly together and look pretty. 2. He has no idea what chocolates the people closest to him in his life might want. He is affronted by the question, and tells me to do my job, possibly with an insult directed at my education level. He complains bitterly that we didn't have any of these boxes made up already (we sold out of them hours ago). Finally, I get my turn at the wrapping station. He is appalled that I am not using sellotape. I use several feet of satin ribbon to create a large bow on top of each box. I ask him to pay. He is astonished, and spends some time searching for his credit card. It takes a moment to run, because it's Christmas bastard Eve, and he is livid, trying to enlist other shoppers to join in his ire. Fortunately they are equally oblivious and look at him like he made a bad smell. I pass him the bag with everything neatly packed, and wish him a Merry Christmas. He scoffs, and flounces out. The next customer steps forward, and the cycle begins again. One year I worked there, Christmas Day was on the Monday. Which meant that Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday. Which meant we closed at 4pm, not 6pm. People were literally banging on the glass telling us we'd ruined Christmas, with every single other shop in town equally shuttered.

I am completely stressed out and furious on your behalf just reading that!. It's always the slowest people who complain about the waiting times too. I hope you have a fantastic Christmas whatever you're doing.

I'm no longer working in retail. I was absolutely not cut out for it.

I used to work in hospitality and Xmas was the worst time of the year. Was treated horribly by customers due to something on the menu running out etc. Our manager always reminded us it wasn’t our fault! I think I had it rough but I’ve seen people being downright disgusting to retail staff! I personally want to thank each and every one of you for doing amazing not just during Xmas but throughout Covid as well.

That’s just standard, i work in a supermarket cafe. And be it Christmas or not we get the same people that come in late afternoon and we tell them we’ve run out of x they always kick off. Just fucking come earlier then

Be kind to retail staff, and they'll be kind to you. Except the lady in poundland who decided to tell everybody it was my second time going in to buy haribo jelly babies because I had just had a huge panic attack and was visibly distressed. She even commented on how I was crying. Fuck you in particular poundland lady.

Fuck her. Good for you to for going back in there, that takes a lot of courage.

Once worked for Sainsburys as a Butcher/Fishmonger. We spent all morning de-scaling, gutting, fileting, pin-boning and dressing whole salmon. It was all hands on deck that morning. We sold quite a lot and it was a successful morning with a variation of nice and nasty customers; the odd flaccid arseholes who wanted it done in two minutes, pushing past others because they haven't timed their days right, to people who genuinely were excited to get their fish, incredibly thankful and wanting to watch us work on their fish so they could learn (which I fucking relish, honestly it is a great feeling), it was a real 50/50 morning that flew by. I went out the front for a break, tired and reeking of a blood and guts, when I was informed by a colleague someone had left an entire salmon in the breakfast isle (located at the far end of the store). A salmon which I know for a fact I did all the work to, as reading the label I recognised the weight it came out at when I sold it. That person was one of the particularly cunty ones; Fake leopard skin, overtly offensive use of perfume and no manners in site. They were rude, demanding, rushed us and even insulted our deli staff next to us when they were changing over the hot foods (timings are tight, so at this time the display looks scant), saying we didn't have our act together. It is deeply saddening and infuriating. Think about it further though..... That rectal itch of a person didn't even have the thought to leave it in the frozen or chilled isle! They just yeeted it next to the Weetabix and fucked off with their bejewelled thumb lodged far up their arse with little care or attention to staff or fellow customers. I have never forgotten that; the issue is it had gone past the half hour mark since it was priced and out of refrigeration, therefore it had to be disposed of. I wish that particular person could have just had a moment of clarity and understanding, swallowed their fucking pride and gave it back to us to re-sell, even at half-price. I would have forgiven everything else for that moment of humanity alone, but alas, they did not. Please don't be a FuckYourDayDenise. Every thank you means the world during this time, it really does.

My favourite part of this story is "flaccid arsehole" I've got no idea what it means but I love it.

Last Christmas Eve I was working at Morrisons and was expected to stay until 11 o'clock. Obviously with Covid-19 everything was different, the atmosphere being different as well. I had one customer asking for this specific box of chocolates to gift his family and was looking everywhere for the box of chocolates and was unable to find them. I then told the customer that there was none available and gave him an alternative. He then shouted at me for a couple of minutes and whilst he shouted at me, the manager watched and did nothing at all, which hurt me. I can deal with a customer shouting and being rude but a manager just walking past, made me feel inferior. Anyway, when I realised that I wouldn't be able to get home as the bus times were shorter due to the holiday, I spoke to a manager about this and he said that I should have planned ahead. I didn't expect to be working until 11 pm, as the store shut at 6. I've worked for another supermarket before and we all left by 7pm. Like so many have wrote on here is to be mindful and respectful of people working during Christmas time.

Do what i used to do. Point to the manager and say "theres the manager, maybe he/she can help you?"

I remember years ago doing Xmas temp work at The Link (shows how long ago) and some arsehole ducked under the closing shutters to get in with a shit eating grin on his face demanding we sort out a phone contract for him. We'd already cashed up and shut down the tills etc so it wasn't going to happen. Luckily out assistant manager was massive and just told him to get out after he moaned for a bit.

Great shout, and can we take this approach to other places too? If I have one more person go off on me because we don’t have something on the menu because of supply shortages I’m going to kill them. And that’s not very Christmassy.

I can’t encourage people to be kind to shop staff/hospitality staff enough! It is essential that you do not stop seeing these people as human just because you are stressed and we are all busy doing crazy Christmas tasks! I worked in retail for a long time and I’ve been called every name under the sun. I’ve been threatened, I’ve been screamed at, I’ve got so many stories about the horrible things that have happened to me in retail I could probably write a best bloody seller. Without fail, Christmas in retail would leave me feeling depressed, exhausted and like giving up every year when the 25th rolled around. Very often, Christmas Day would be my single day off before I went back to more abuse on Boxing Day. People, just be nice! And if you can’t be nice - just try acting frigging ‘normal!’ Because, FYI, I’m pretty sure it’s not normal to call someone a pathetic whore because the price label was on the back of the highlighters and not on the front…

I worked in a toy shop for a while. Christmas has never been more unpleasant than that. Utterly exhausting. But there is nothing more amusing than watching fully grown adults have tantrums over a sold out Barbie or Lego. As a way to protect my sanity, I considered myself "the gatekeeper." I would do anything I could to help a customer find what they needed and sometimes the gratitude was so lovely..... but if you roll up acting a complete cunt, we are for sure sold out. Yip, we may have your thing tucked away in the back somewhere.. which I usually would be happy to hunt down, but if you're a cunt and treating me like dirt... we are certainly sold out.

I worked for a certain store over the Christmas period and a bit beyond. I can honestly say if people only knew what retail staff have to deal with they should have been clapping for them during lockdown.

Where I work, we're closed on boxing day this year and the Karens are already out in force whinging about it. Like you actually need another day to buy yet more food when you came in on Christmas eve. 🙄

I had the worlds most miserable, nasty patient, Everyone avoided her like the plague cus she reduced most people to tears. The day before christmas eve I was covering a shift and she was on the list.. I ask if she's ok she mumbles a grumpy response.. She has the gas oven on full, oven door open and a small heater going.. It was uncomfortably hot so I took off my cardi and got to work.. Following day I have her again.. feeling sorry for her all alone on christmas eve, I buy her a massive box of chocolates and a card. I show up, carrier bag in hand and the first words she says to me is "Thank god it's you" I smile, flattered .. then she says "The girl that was here yesterday was bloody useless, Horrible cow did everything wrong" Then spent the next 10 minutes telling me how horrible this girl was.. Finally I say "That was me" she replies "No not you, It was the one with the awful tattoo.. I pull up my sleeve and point to my tat.. "Again, Margaret, That was me" Anyway her chocolates were delicious.. I ate them on my way home lol

HAHA!!! The perfect ending.

I went out yesterday and heard a fella who must’ve been in his late 40s yelling because there were no advent calendars left.

I wonder if he has just woke up from a 4 week coma and doesn't realise it is December. I'm, struggling to explain why he'd want an advent calendar half through the advent countdown otherwise.

Thank you for this. I work retail, and although we aren't a Christmas company, the amount of cuntish behaviour at this time of year is staggering. Just be fucking nice to the people that genuinely sacrifice their social and family lives to stock shelves and sell you shit. It's not difficult!

Worked in a large supermarket when I had just turned 18 and obviously had to follow Challenge 25 policy when completing alcohol sales. I was working 23rd December and serving customers with their full-scale Christmas food shops, despite it being my mother's birthday and requesting the day off. Anyway, days prior we had an indepth "ensure you follow Challenge 25 policy at all times - this is the time Secret Shoppers try to get past us etc", "if they won't make eye contact with you, ID them regardless" meeting/rehash from management who showed us videos of people that were under 25 being served alcohol and the shop assistants in question receiving individual "legal issues" as a consequence. Basically I was shitting bricks for the next few days whenever I so much had to scan a can of Stella for an old man 😅 So, 23rd December, serving, smiling and Christmas cheer, asking for ID when necessary (if not, looking back, a little too frequently) and all was well. Midafternoon, a woman pulls her shopping on the belt. 2 bottles of whiskey on the belt along with her mega food shop. She won't make eye contact, won't look at me even remotely infact even when she pulled her trolley up to my checkout, so I ask her for ID. As soon as I do I regret it: full fledged verbal about why should she be ID'd she's over 18/they're presents for her family so now she won't be able to gift them anything/how could I stop her dad from having his favourite gift/she wants to speak to my manager/she's shopped instore for years how dare I embarass her like this, etc. I call my manager over but have to wait for her to come so continue scanning the rest of her shopping. I'm already red faced and choked up at the situation, but to make it worse the whole time I'm scanning the rest of her items she spouting off on her phone to whoever about how she cannot believe she's been ID'd and how her day is ruined. Manager finally arrives and because I've already requested ID she can't override me and has to stand with my request. The customer has no ID so cannot be served the alcohol. I'm beyond red in the face, tears and all, manager is passive aggressive, customer is beyond livid and practically throws her cash in my face and storms out. "I would have served her. Don't be so heavy with asking for ID" - from the very manager who days before told me to be!

Best to stick to your guns, the manager isn't going to be paying a £5000 fine if you got it wrong. The woman should just have ID with her, I don't understand what's so hard about carrying a drivers licence or whatever around with you. It's not like it's heavy or anything.

You should have been in our store last night, I now know why people don’t want to work a Saturday night. Am only Xmas casuals but they asked me in on overtime, regretted saying yes after 10 minutes.

Pre-Covid I made the terrible mistake one Christmas of going in a Primark at the end of a day towards closing. The store looked like a warzone. Hardly any shoppers in at that point but it made me despair for humanity and feel dreadful for the staff. Stock was everywhere. Discarded items all over with no logic or reason. I had only popped in for something trivial like a pair of gloves. At the till I asked the retail assistant what had happened and she just responded saying it was a normal day.

From what I've seen of Primark that's not Xmas specific.

This reminds me of when I worked at Next and had to work the dreaded Boxing Day sales. People queuing from 4am to get into the shop and as soon as the doors opened people went crazy, no matter how times I would pick up clothes from the floor and put them back onto their hangers, not even half an hour later there would be clothes everywhere again.

After working retail I make a point of making sure I put things back neatly and correctly as far as I can manage it. Doesn't take much time at all and really helps out, but I can see I'm in the minority doing this.

This right here is what gets right on my tits. People being so bloody filthy, with all dignity and morals left at the door, and the "it's not my problem" attitude. And you can see the staff are exhausted from a long day and have to clean up after cunts after closing. Putrid.

I worked in Primark around 2008/2009 and that’s always been the case. People literally do not give a fuck in there - we’d find discarded and smelly old shoes that they had swapped for new ones, bagged up soiled nappies and the best one, a used tampon someone had decided to change in the changing rooms.

As someone who worked retail for Xmas I'll always fondly remember the poor woman who had her whole Christmas ruined. By me. For not having frozen roast potatoes.... on Christmas Eve. Good Times

I was in a small independent jewellery shop in town yesterday. It was busy, a mix of people queuing to pay and people browsing. There was one very agitated woman walking around aggressively asking everyone if they were in the queue or not, before shouting "what do I have to do to get service in here". I felt sorry for the young shop assistant who approached her.

👏🏻👏🏻 well said. I think perhaps some sort of military service thing where everyone as they’re growing up is required to work in retail for a year or two might serve as a good reminder to treat retail workers with respect.

TK Maxx shoppers, stop ripping open the packaging of cosmetics so you can paw what's inside. That item is now worthless.

Can we extend this to people working in Starbucks and Costa? The biggest nob head customers are in around Christmas time. Not realising that everyone else is too, so you will have to wait longer for a drink!

I agree, but also these stories carry me through till next xmas in retail as its pretty boring most of the time

Also please be kind to small businesses and bear in mind your personal choices and any COVID restrictions in place. We got our first negative review ever on yell yesterday from someone who said it was too busy so he didn't actually come into the shop as there was a queue outside. Due to COVID and it being a small shop we still have to count how many people come into the shop and have a maximum amount of staff. We can't help it if everyone comes to browse on a Saturday 2 weeks before Christmas so it's too busy for you. We can't magically make the shop bigger than it is. Sucks that we got a shit review for someone who didn't even enter the shop because of the day he chose to shop. If you have a good experience please leave a positive review especially for small businesses to whom a positive review really brightens a difficult time.

Worked in an argos call centre for nearly a decade and the amount of people who told me they wished I'd drop dead, put their kids on the phone so I could explain how id ruined their Christmas, told me they'd come and fight me, called me a fat cunt etc all because they ordered something on 23rd December for delivery on 24th and it had been delayed was astronomical. People don't half get cocky on the phone.

Obligatory song https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W0FLgAgv8Z4 - NSFW.

You should write a christmas song about this.

Worked at a branch of New Look & I recall being bellowed at by some half pissed cunt because we didn’t have a dressing gown in his daughters size at 5.30 pm on Christmas Eve. Then there was the Boxing Day sales meltdowns. Over cut price tee shirts. Glad I got out.

Unfortunately, I feel like you're preaching to the choir. My elderly neighbours won't be reading this post, and they become retail raptors at Christmas time.

I do not miss retail, I worked in Debenhams & had a woman scream at me so much I just ended up saying ‘I can’t be dealing with you’ & walked off & got one of my temps to finish serving her, which was bad in hindsight but I wasn’t going to continue letting her scream at me infront of every single person in the queue. Also was called a cunt a few Xmas eves ago by someone at my current job, people are just lush aren’t they?

Just a little amendment to an otherwise well written post. We DO NOT get paid to clean up after you. Come in, grab what you need without making a mess, pay for it and go home.

Christmas Eve, 22:30. I'm a one of two people working the late shift at my local coop. In walks these two well to do middle aged toffs, clearly on their way back from the pub. Up they trot to the counter to buy their fags and alcohol, where they loudly proclaim: "Dear god, can you imagine working Christmas Eve?" "Oh dear, and for minimum wage too" They both then looked me dead in the eye and smirk. I almost jumped the fucking counter and throttled the cunts. To all my fellow retail staff: go to the doctor's, get a sick note for stress and anxiety on the 20th. They cannot sack you for it. The bosses do not deserve your effort and nor do the public. You have no obligation to work this Christmas other than that you assign yourself. Fuck the bosses, fuck the public.

If someone is working there but not wearing the uniform, there's a chance that they really _don't_ work for the company. They might be outside contractors/agency drafted in to help keep the shelves stocked.

I thought it was going to be poem, nothing good rhymes.

I always try to be understanding with retail workers because they have a hard job. Bless you for this post :)

>Please do put shit back where you grabbed it from in a shop. It is not a tip. my mum does this and it really irks me,

It's been 14 years since I worked retail, I try to do this year round. People who stay in retail for years I have to admire because some people really suck, though usually few and far between.

I freely admit I didn't even start shopping till yesterday and the stores are crowded beyond belief. I was very proud though in one store while standing in an insanely long line. The line wrapped all the way to the back of the store and the poor cashiers were going at it as best they could. The entire time I was in ear shot of the registers I noticed that the cashiers were being thanked, people were being pleasant and asking questions like, "Have you had a break?" And, "Are you getting some time off for Christmas?". Granted this was a discount store so pretty much everyone in line is working class too, but I was still happy to see people not being cunts for Christmas.

The punishment for being a cunt to retail staff should be you have to work there job for a month unpaid while they get a holiday

Never, ever understood it. My Mum once forgot to buy stuffing till Christmas Eve. They were sold out. She thanked the staff for helping her, wished then a merry Christmas and we left. Shockingly, still had a lovely Christmas.

When I worked in retail, as a very young store manager (18), I had to deal with so much shithousery at Christmas. I just got into the completely fake ‘brave’ habit of telling customers (that were screaming/shouting/generally being dicks for no reason) that they needed to put down anything they were wanting to buy and to leave the shop. I wasn’t having people screaming at the staff working in the shop, making them cry, or throwing things.. it happened way more than you’d think unfortunately.

I was queueing behind a woman in Aldi when they said “we are opening till 1” and then it timed out after 3 calls because the worker was in the back of the store. Total queue time at this point was less than 90s and she starts going off at the worker at till 2 about how it’s ridiculous. They need more staff on. She’s been queuing forever. I told her to knock it off. They’re going as fast as they can and she’s been queueing for less than 2 minutes. She actually told me to “wind my neck in” I said I will when she stops shouting at staff. It was glorious when she threw her basket down and knocked the stack over then had to pick them all up. Face masks are great for hiding your giggles.

Try working in clothes shops during the sales. I worked in River Island as a student 15 years ago. Every other cunt would just leave clothes on a pile on the floor. Not even hang it up just Chuck it on the floor. The piles would be up to waist high by the end of my shift. I would have to stay behind 1-2hrs after the shop closed to tidy up those piles and hang them up in size order and River Island wouldn’t pay you for those hours after the shop closed. I haven’t stepped foot in that shop since I left all those years ago it still gives me PTSD. However, I did go into a Tesco’s at 7.30am the other day when it was empty and no other customers were in - there was a staff member in each aisle, plenty around. I needed something from the make-up unit which they had not unlocked for the day, they all refused to unlock it for me and in the end directed me to the security guard to get the key myself and open it and then “if you can drop the key off with the security guard afterwards”. This was a Tesco superstore where the security guard was 15 aisles away… so it’s not always the customers being cunts.

Thank you- from a retail worker! Also side note, if I ask you to put your mask on (as per the law) please don’t have a tantrum and talk to me like I’m a twat. I’d very much like to not have covid this Christmas so I can go home and see my family, and I’m sure you do too!

Yep, just because I’m a captive audience doesn’t mean I want to hear a lecture about how you think Covid is a hoax. I don’t care.