The Retail World Part Two: The Customers Are Not Always Right, But You're Still Expected to Kiss Their Asses

Until recently I worked in retail. On most days I enjoyed my job, I liked the people that I worked with and the customers that I interacted with. The majority of people who walked through our doors knew that respect was a two-way street, they expected to be treated well by me and they treated me well in return. These people were reasonable in their expectations and polite in their interactions. But there was a tiny minority who, out of all proportion to their numbers, made the lives of those whose livelihood is based on customer service, miserable.

It has been my observation that the nature of the retailer-customer interaction has changed over the last generation. At one time this relationship was transactional, i.e. the retailer had something that the customer needed - the product or the service, and the customer had something that the retailer needed - money! The customer, in exchange for their money, had an expectation that the product was of the expected quality (i.e. they knew that a lower price usually indicated a lower quality), and that price, quality, etc were as advertised. While customers had an expectation that they wouldn't be treated in an overtly rude fashion, there was little demand that retailers go over and above and treat them like royalty. The retailer of course expected that they would be paid, but also that customers would comport themselves in a civil manner while in their establishments. In short, any behavior that would be considered rude or confrontational in ordinary discourse, would also be considered that way in the customer-retailer interaction. Retailers' employees were required to be polite to customers, but not required to accept abuse from them. When customers got out of line, it was natural for an owner or manager to ask them to leave.

Somewhere along the line, the retailer-customer relationship became less transactional and more of a master-servant relationship.

I don't know when this happened, but one theory that I have entertained is that Wal-Mart, with its emphasis on low, low prices that no one could beat, forced other retailers to focus more on customer service in order to differentiate themselves. They couldn't match Wal-Mart's prices, but damn it, they'll give you great customer service! Because of this new emphasis on always giving the customers what they want, retailers have trained their customers to be assholes. Asshole customers have always been with us. There have always been overly demanding, rude and overbearing jerks who have wanted special treatment. But now we are rewarding these people for their rudeness. Yell loudly enough and you get what you want.

A few years ago I complained to an executive at the company where I was working that it's not right that we think it's okay for customers to treat us poorly, that the way we operate incentivizes customers to be obnoxious and abusive assholes to the people who have to deal with them. He denied that he thought it was okay for customers to act that way, but he had just got done apologizing to a customer and financially rewarding him after that customer had acted in a disruptive and bullying manner to me and several other employees. This was the way that this company did business: they would say that they valued their employees and that employees were their greatest asset, but time after time customers who treated employees poorly were the ones who were truly valued.

To be fair, most of the time the employees who were the target of abuse by these customers were not fired or disciplined, although some employees (including me) got a bad reputation after several asshole customers complained to upper management.

One subject related to the abusive customer phenomenon is the expectation of "donations". Over the years that I was in retail management I was inundated by "requests" for donations from every church, school and community organization known to man. But it wasn't so much the requests themselves that I found irritating, but the presumption that I would automatically comply with the request. I didn't mind giving some free product or a gift card to a group raising money to help the homeless, or provide for the victims of domestic abuse, or even a Boy Scout troop working on an Eagle project, but fraternities raising money for a party or religious groups wanting to build an addition onto their church or high school kids wanting to go to Europe...I just couldn't see why these people thought that local businesses should be funding their projects.

Just before my separation from my retail employment, a customer stopped me in the aisles to ask about a donation request. But it was more of a demand to know when she could pick up her donation, not if should be receiving one. I was on the fence about whether I should donate, but decided to give her a small denomination gift card. Her response was to complain that it wasn't bigger and to call the company president to demand more. He gave in. No wonder people have an attitude of entitlement.

It's probably too late to expect that we will go back to the old model. Customers are too accustomed to retailers acquiescing to their demands and to believing that they are entitled to treat retail employees like servants. Business owners are too accustomed to acting in a subservient manner, afraid to lose business if they don't kiss customers' asses.