Shopping & Gifts

What not to do in a retail store!

So I've worked as a sales associate at Office Depot for about a year now a while the company itself is far... far... from perfect (or good for that matter) customers can be just as bad and in some cases worse than the greedy, arrogant "corporate." So in light of one of the worst customers I've ever had here's a list of things customors do (or don't do) that make life really hard for retail workers. In advance I'd like to apologize if this comes off as more of a rant I tried to give myself a night to calm down to what I'm going to refer to as "the event." Also as a side note this probably doesn't conpletely apply to other stores so just keep that in mind.


What not to do in a retail store.


1. Don't Complain About Prices or Corporate Policy


I'm not saying either of these two catagories are right or fair because the return policy is wrong in so many ways and there are tons of items in the store that are marked up (printer ink is marked up about 25%) but complaining to an associate literaly does nothing but make the awssociate feel worse because they can't do anything about it. Managers might give you a slight discount for the price but breaking corporate policy will get you fired (especially since none of the workers are unionized at my store.) However if you still feel the need to voice your opinion the least you could do is acknowledge that its not the associates fault or that they can't change it.


2. Don't Ask "What Items are on Sale?"


The catalog with all the sales can be found at every register, in ever basket, and in stands nevt to the baskets and carts, finally there are bright yellow tags next to every item on sale on the shelf. This is a very vague question that puts associates in a very awkward situation because they don't know whats on sale. The catalog changes every week and coroporate never gives us a heads up and we don't have time to review it because we have to get straight to work. By the time you start to know whats on sale Sunday hits and everything changes again.


3. Don't Assume We're Experts on Everything


Just because I'm straightening up the printer isle doesn't mean I can reccomend the best printer and no... I can't tell you which pencil/pen is the best because all 50 brands are practically the same and the actual "best" one is about $20 per pen. About 90% of the things I'm telling you about a product is from reading the packaging and overhearing coworkers telling other customers about this product. If I ever recommend a product its probably because I've used it and it did exactly what I wanted it to do without breaking.


4. Keep Products Together


I understand you want to be lazy and not make everything you touch perfect but if you knock something over pick it up, it doesn't even have to been neat we know how to arrange the products just please keep them together. Don't hide garbage or products in the shelves because you can't find a trashcan or don't know where the product goes give it to us and we'll take care of it. We don't get new shipments of items (unless its a staple item like ink and paper) until we're out of stock so eventually that's gonna be the last one that nobody can find!


5. Don't Interrupt Someone Who's Working


It's common courtesy! Most of the time we're already helping another customer maybe even in a conversation with them or checking them out at the register and someone barges in needing help. Just quietly stand by them and if the associate is good at customer service they will acknowlege you when they notice you're there. If they don't at least acknowledge you after a minute then go ahead and say say somelike like "excuse me" instead of going straight to your problem. If they still don't acknowledge you then go ahead and complain because thats bad customer service on their part.


6. Don't Enter the Store With Ten Minutes Left


We can't go home until you leave the store and we can't officially close so customers can technically still walk in after you and shop if they want to be an asshole.


7. Be Fast at the Register


This is by far the most annoying for me. If you're waiting in line to pay or if you're waiting for all of your items to get scanned how the f*ck are you caught off guard when you have to take your card/money out!? When there is a line everyone is counting on you to get in and get out so the line keeps moving. When you have dig through your purse/backpack and dump your crap all over my counter looking for your wallet or when you forget that you have to put in a pin for a debit card and sign for a credit card the people behind you are getting agitated. Don't even get me started the new chip cards or when someone wants to double check a price or coupon in the middle of paying because I have to restart all of that again due to the way our software works (thank you corporate.) Of course you never notice all the annoyed people behind you and why would you? After your transaction you get to leave the store while I get to check out the next person in line who takes all the frustration of the slow transaction out on me since you're already gone.

I'm sorry if it feels like I'm accusing all customers because most of the examples are for a very small portion of the people I have to deal with every day. They're not bad people either most probably just don't know the consequences of what they're doing. There's also way more examples of what not to do in retail stores that I haven't covered so feel free to share those in the comments. Anyways, I do feel a little bit better... time to go back to work. :P

What not to do in a retail store!
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