If you work in retail like me and many other young adults trying to get enough money to make their way through school, then you know the struggles of dealing with demanding customers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my job. As a cashier at a chain retail shop, I get to interact with people all day. Customers have the potential to be super sweet and my co-workers are fantastic, but they also can be pretty harsh if they are mistaken about a price or cannot find what they need.

Some days putting on a smile and cheerily telling shoppers to “have a nice day” can become an exhausting routine.

Advertisement

Especially on those days where your first customer insists the machine is wrong and a particular item is supposed to be cheaper. And, of course, we are encouraged to give them what they want for great customer service. But when customers begin to be rude about it, that’s when the day starts to go downhill.

Anyone working in retail has heard the line, “There’s no price tag, so it’s free right?” followed by a little chuckle or “Oh I think I got 100 percent off in the mail!”

I understand they are trying to be funny, but hearing it more than once a day makes the joke lose its humor very quickly and makes your day drag on much longer.

Then you have those customers who think it is their right to treat you like an emotionless robot. I have had some pretty rough days handling situations with not-so-understanding customers.

One day in particular, another worker and I had a bag filled with clothes tossed back at us from a lady who decided that she was right and we were wrong. She refused to think that an item had wrongly been placed on a rack and did not match up with the corresponding sign. Instead of letting us check out the problem or listening to our manager, she decided not to buy any of her pile and throw what was bagged up right back to us.

That’s just a normal day. Black Friday might as well be a curse word for retail workers. It is the most dreaded day of the year.

Not that it is always bad. Sometimes it is nice to learn about people in your community, especially when the area is pretty small like mine. Every once in a while you have a customer come through your line who brightens your day and helps you to remember that it isn’t necessary to be rude, to get the cashiers to help you out to their best ability.

Advertisement*

If there’s anything to take out of this, it is to treat retail workers with respect. We are humans with feelings just like you. If you are nice to us, we will take the time and effort to make sure your shopping trip is easy and enjoyable.

Sarah Niebrugge can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter at @SNiebrugge_DE or at 536-3311 ext. 268.