Speaking Of Fighting The Power…
18 January 2010
Has anyone else experienced passive aggressive/ aggressive shop assistants or flight attendants, waiters etc? I got one today at the art store Boesner. We were paying, and the moment we put our stuff on the counter the girl started behaving in an odd way, like the way you might expect your sister to behave the next day after you’d dropped your jammy donut onto her art project. Then I gave her my card and she slammed it into the reader. At this point I had to call her on it. “Is there a problem?” Her face flushed red as a tomato. I thought she was going to keel over “No?” Now she was outwardly pissed off and verging on purple so I asked if I could see her manager. She called him, and suddenly she was all giggles and flirty and I can’t speak german but by the tone of what she was saying it was apparent she was covering her ass. So the manager came and I explained and he was all “Ahh, she was puting that card in the machine hard because it wasn’t working properly…” which was totally bollocks. Anyways, anyone else experienced this kind of thing. It must be common. Ok rant over. Let’s talk about what we did at the weekend…
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What a silly explanation from the manager! I actually have had all the opposite experiences lately. Last week I went alone to the Moma in NY. I asked something to one of the guards, and he turned to be the sweetest old man, he had worked there for several years so he was kind of a guide for me, telling me interesting tips about the paintings, their location in the museum, and the artists. Then he got me in for free into Tim Burton´s expo. He was very kind! Since English is not my first language I hope I have understood well his name, but I think is Joey, so thanks, Joey!
Oh, absolutely. I think we’ve all experienced this type of thing in one situation or another. I’ve found it most common at restaurants. There are times when the wait staff seem irritated that you’re trying to flag them down to order or to get more water, or to get the bill. And I’m not one of those high maintenance people either, but I shouldn’t have to wait 10 full minutes before someone comes over to take my order. Then they act like they’re doing you a favour.
If you speak to a manager about it, the best response would be for them to acknowledge what you’re saying and that they’ll speak to the employee about it, plus maybe some sort of compensation, ie. free drinks or food next time. The bad response is for them to brush it off and defend the staff, and in turn, disregard your complaint. When I get really good customer service, I’m always appreciative, because more often than not, we don’t get it. We may get average at best.
this has nothing to do woith shop assistants fran its about mcolls security staff in falkirk, the year was 1996 i was 14 and decided to go to falkirk for the day with my fellow ned mates anyway we were in mcolls and i decided for some random reason to steal a porn mag not just any porn mag.. a over 60 porn mag….so im just about to make my exit at the door ,then all i feel is this big 16 stone bear grabbing me, i put up a struggle and can remember two old woman going “awww thats a shame leave the wee boy alone” the next thing the fking porn mag falls on the pavement right in front of them..i can still see the wee old ladys face to this day…but any i manged to ecape minus a jumper ans funny eneough a west germany shirt..so there i am running down the middle of falkirk high street half naked heading to get the bus back to cumbernauld…i never stole anything in my life again after that but have to confess i did buy a few more over 60,s porn mags..shameless
I see it all the time, but i’ve never understood that kind of behaviour. as a fellow retail worker i can say… if they don’t like it, they should probably work at finding a job where you sit in a 4×4 space and type into a computer all day and don’t have to converse with real, feeling, live people.
in what i do i have to deal with a lot of older folks. there are days when i haven’t the patience to talk them through the same thing that i’ve talked them through 10 times before… but they’re paying their (sometimes) hard earned cash for a service, for a product… whatever. also, at the very least – we get a pay cheque for providing helpful, friendly service (amongst other things), am i right? there’s no justifying making someone else’s experience uncomfortable because my boyfriend broke up with me or i didn’t have enough milk for my coffee this morning. meh.
Well done for flagging it up!. I think its getting widespread .I think they hate their job and do’ resent’ big time. Call ctrs just as bad repeating ur name every 2 mins ; I read that’s a tactic .I’m like you , I say something
Funny, I kinda have the problem where I am the really nice cashier and I get really ignorant customers. I try and give people the benefit of the doubt (maybe they are having a bad day, maybe they just had a fight, etc) but sometimes, they’re just plain ignorant assholes. So, I kill them with kindness. I think miserable people like to make others miserable as well. So if I let them see how pissed they are making me, they would win. So, F them. Who knows, maybe when they leave the will realize that they were really rude and that I didn’t deserve it? Maybe not, but I don’t care.
I think if the worker doesn’t like their job, they have two choices: find something else that they like or suck it up. I went to art college and have to take a crappy retail job because my degree give me, um, a degree (oh, and insane student loans).
It’s rather annoying to deal with an ignorant person, but you can’t let them effect your energy. After a minute, you have to just let it go and move on. That reminds me of that asshole in the Minneapolis crowd at the show Fran and Andy played this past October who yelled at Fran. I think everyone in the room wanted to tell him off, but out of respect for Fran and Andy, just let Fran do it. Shit, that was a rather long rant. :O
I hate to say it, but maybe it’s an art store thing. I’m sort of an artist, so I do frequent those kinds of stores now and again. In the states I never had any problems, but here in the Netherlands it doesn’t matter what art store I go to, I always get an attitude from the people who work there. They act like ‘what are you doing here? get out of my space, amateur’. I don’t get it.
my mom hasn’t lived in germany for over 35 years by now, although she is german. i study in germany, and so when she comes to visit me, just like last week, she doesn’t immediately get the german way of social protocol in daily life around here…
so last week in shops, people at counters and info desks etc. got SO impatient with her, when she was looking for the right coin, or not immediately understanding what was asked of her (how could she know wtf a payback-card is? she lives in turkey where that word is never used); it was disgusting. she isn’t that young anymore, and she is never mean to anyone. all i want is her to be treated respectfully…
I used to know one extremely unfriendly personal assistant. I guess visitors and the big boss himself were all afraid of her. But she was very hard-working. And she was quite alright with me, we used to have coffee breaks together. And when I face rudeness from a shop assistant, I usually don’t stand upon my rights preferring to leave without buying anything. It’s my weak point, I know, but I just can’t help it
All the time. ALL the time.
(I live in Denmark, they don’t have a phrase for “customer service”)
I say something like “Has it been busy today?” back home… Though with the language barrier, I often make a mental note not to use the shop again these days.
To be honest, as a saleswoman myself in France, I’m always polite with nice/regular/civilise/tourist customers and even with the “annoying ones” (people who always take your arm and ask for the price instead of looking at the price tag in front of them and doesn’t look at you when you say a simple “hello”, well only french people are like that) There are good days & bad days…
But in another point of view I totally understand what Fran meant, ’cause the other day the exact same thing happen to me at a kfc restaurant, when I was ordering, the guys who took my order weren’t listening to me and when their chief get out from the kitchen only to say hello to me & my mum (he’s a family friend), they changed their behaviour and were smiling at us and apologised… very weird.
ah yeah all the time, but im sure she was just having a bad day, you were not long calling the manager up lad, its probably a job she does part time if shes studying or that. I think most people that are studying or going on for something bigger, dont really care to much about their part-time or weekend jobs. That could be a reason why she was abit rude
pat
Haha! That’s nothing comparing to what’s happening here in Russia (not like i hate my countrey, but i admin the countless minuses in it). Over here, shop assistants usually treat you like…well…bad:) And bus drivers. They are completely mad:) Like this is a light version:
“Excuse me, do you make a stop here (name of the place), i kinda don’t usually use buses..?”
“Do you want me to teach you to read?!&!”
“Um. Ok….it says…(name of place)…Then you DO stop there”
No answer.
20 min later the bus isn’t going there, it’s making a turn and going in the other direction.
“I thought it said you stopped there?!”
“LEARN TO READ, YOU!!”
When i get out of the bus, i show her the sign that says that the bus is supposed to go to “that place”. She’s totally giving me the silent treatment and acts like i don’t exist.
“Heeey! It says here…”
“Gotta GO, LEARN TO READ!”
And she quickly closes the doors.
Oh, I know what you mean, Fran. Last year I had this very weird experience, and funnily enough, it involved a Travis song in the end. I posted it on the TravisOnline messageboard at the time.
I was feeling kind of sad that day, so I went to a department store because I had to get a present for my niece for Children’s Day (really cool celebration, buying presents for kids is fun). Since I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I tried asking some of the salespeople that work there (a woman and a man). The thing is, both of them ignored me completely. I was talking directly to them, standing face to face, and they acted like they didn’t see me or hear me. I couldn’t believe it, but I swear, I was like “Excuse me, may I ask you something?” and they acted like I didn’t even exist. They were just standing there behind a counter looking blankly at the place as if it was empty (I was the only one there, right in front of them). I tried to get their attention for a few minutes (I even waved in front of their faces!), but with no success. It was absurd.
So I left and went to another department store and this time a lady did answer my question… but she intentionally never looked at me. And it’s not like she was bussy doing something else, she was just standing there. But she didn’t look at me, not even once.
I never felt more invisible in my life. I managed to buy what I wanted to get and when I was about to leave the store feeling really weird and sad… Follow The Light started!
I couldn’t believe it! It was a good thing I was invisible, because the look on my face must have been ridiculous. I couldn’t help but smile. The song couldn’t have come in a better time. So I stayed in the store and pretended to be very interested in some dart shooting toy guns until the song finished.
@ Nika, what a horrible experience! That was incredibly rude!!!
What a horrible experience!
I had only positive experiences with shop workers when I was in Berlin, so hopefully she is just one of the few with bad customer service skills! When I was in Berlin I accidentally dropped my purse (twice on the same day), left the shops and had the shop workers chase after me to return it both times. Good customer service may be harder and harder to come by… but maybe by the next time you go into that shop, she’ll have found a different job to better suit her personality!
the thing I don’t understand in you people is that you think that a chat with a manager is better than saying all the claims to a person who acts weird straight to his/her face. It is much better to say to a waiter, a cashier, a bus-driver, a shop-assistant etc that you don’t like the way they treat you than runnig to a manager and complain. Complaining make you the same arsehole as a person you pissed off with.
No offence people, but we all sometimes act weird, but if a person is a total arse it doesn’t matter on what side of the counter he is.
Fran said ” You calling me an arsehole? Can I speak to your manager please?”
for freakin’ sure Fran… especially in Germany you experience this crap all the time. I learned to live with it by now. My experience of 13 years of German rudeness kind of numbs my politeness too I have to say. But I try to be kind, even if they’re not. And if they are kind to me, I’ll be extra kind to them.
Common courtesy is becoming a thing of the past, as is good customer service. In the service industry lack of one is bad enough, both and you get the kind of treatment you spoke of. I have actually, on more than one occasion, made purchases whilst my cashier and the one next to him/her talked about the party they were at or their plans for the weekend. Not even bothering to stop “chatting” to say hello. The best part was that the store manager both times was standing within earshot and did nothing. As long as that kind of behavior goes uncorrected it is going to continue.
On a side note, Mr. Healy don’t be surprised when your son is a little older – preteen, teenager – and people are visibly shocked when he shows his good manners. My sons are always getting shocked looks and thank yous when they hold a door or say excuse me etc. Sad but true. I like to think of it as our little way of keeping the assholes from taking over. =)
Juli, yeah, that was awful, i had to walk to my english lesson twice the distance and i got late:/
I think the whole rudeness thing comes from comunism hahaha. That’s why people are quite rude in Russia and Germany. Maybe because they are still secret communists and they hate the world:DD
That is just a humble theory))
you have to go to swiss if you want to see a really really rude salesgirl. especially if you are a german guy. last time in zurich the salesgirl said: “grützi” and i answered “guten tag” (like a normal stupid german kid says in a german speaking area^^) and the discussion was over for her. i didn’t get a bag and i could see in her face that it would be better if i would leave the store as fast as possible.^^Maybe her ex boyfriend is german and she doesn’t like any germans anymore
!! But anyway…i will go back to swiss 
^^ You have to go through this the first time and then they will love you. trust me. at first show your teeth and then fall in arms with each other 
And by the way, a lot of people say the people in berlin are not very friendly. but i think it’s not right at this point. that’s their way to say to you “i like you”
or maybe she recognized you and doesn’t like your music. but then forgot what i said and i will say she is a stupid girl and has no sense of brilliant music^^ hahaha …or maybe her ex boyfriend likes travis
berlin du bist so wunderbar.
No, Fran, please don’t misunderstand me
i don’t wanna be the girl who called you names and got banned, oh please, please, please let me stay here 
And from my shop-assistant experience I can tell you, that I can be stone-cold polite with my customers, because I’m just not able to do fake smiles all the time and especially to the people who act like real jerks (and I see that a lot. But if you were my customer I would give you my best true-warm smile, believe me )) (Pity that you don’t hang out in Saint Petersburg, Russia)
Ive been on both sides of that coin though I try with urgency not to be short or angry with others. but hey, bad days are sure to find everyone from time to time eh? guilty and forgiven.