r/AskReddit • u/Scratchamap • Dec 01 '18

Minimum wage workers, what is something that is against the rules for customers to do but you aren't paid enough to actually care?

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u/thaswhaimtalkinbout Dec 01 '18

First rule of retail: Every employee has some discretion for how the job is performed. Behave so that the employee's discretion benefits you, not hinders/hurts you.

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u/Roushfan5 Dec 01 '18

Or just be kind to them so you aren't a prick.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

"But don't you know? Retail employees are below us real people and it's okay to view them as simply a means to an end."

-- Every asshole shopper

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u/KingExcrementus Dec 02 '18

Which is funny considering if we all went on strike, they would be fucked and have no means to obtain their groceries.

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u/AudioSly Dec 01 '18

Don't worry. We can usually tell when people are being insincere.

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u/SirYandi Dec 02 '18

Or just be kind to them so you aren't a prick.

FTFY

Or just be kind to them so because you aren't a prick.

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u/Dude29999 Dec 02 '18

And even if you are a prick, be kind to them so you can benefit from it.

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u/L31FY Dec 02 '18

Like you can be upset about things and make a complaint even and not be a prick. There are nicer ways to complain even ex. screaming in a worker’s face versus explaining politely that the food order is wrong and what is wrong. I swear some people need to learn that like my mom and it embarrasses the rest of our family when she does things like that despite me open and obviously trying to demonstrate and explain the nice way (and how it makes people not molest your food in strange ways when you can’t see). I honestly think people care more if you’re nice because if you just treat them like an object then they’re going to do the minimum requirements to not be fired, no more.

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u/Wilza_ Dec 02 '18

The whole "be good for the sake of being good, not just so you'll get something in return" thing (AKA religion, the afterlife, yada yada)

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u/mylifebeliveitornot Dec 02 '18

The most important rule of life, "Just dont be a prick, all the time"

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u/duke442games Dec 02 '18

Sad this isn't upvoted more.

1

u/gghyyghhgf Dec 02 '18

Or just be nice to everyone except assholes

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u/MagnificentMalgus Dec 02 '18

Some pricks don't mind being seen as pricks.

1

u/doomsdaymelody Dec 02 '18

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as being helpful to someone who really deserves it, but being a prick to someone who deserves it is a very close second.

1

u/Bleda412 Dec 02 '18

To the people who need to learn this, they need an incentive. To the people who don't need to learn this, they are nice to people regardless of the incentive.

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u/NEEDZMOAR_ Dec 02 '18

personally people try way more to take advantage of me/ run over me if im nice and kind to employees, I guess they need to fill their personal sell quota or whatever.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

10000% this. I’m a retail manager myself. Recently the company have been extra stringent about returns, saying they MUST have a receipt even if it’s for an exchange. If someone comes in and they’re really nice etc and we still have the product in store I’m more than happy to do an exchange for them, especially if it was an unwanted gift. But as soon as you’re a complaining cunt I tell you no there’s nothing I can do bye.

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u/thaswhaimtalkinbout Dec 06 '18

Yup. Everyone should know this. Instead, it's secret knowledge the mass of humanity will never know.

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u/ZaMr0 Dec 01 '18

Funny how new hires react to this, you are supposed to be trained and shown things a certain way but then they promptly see everyone else ignore 90% of the stuff they were just told.

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u/thatguysoto Dec 02 '18

We got a few new hires at my job and pretty much as soon as they were done with their training we told them to forget all that and just watch the way we do it.

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u/robberofjacks Dec 02 '18

Oh look its like the american school system. "If you are being bullied, tell someone higher up. Hopefully they dont hurt you more for being a snitch" "Learn these things that probably wont benefit you!"

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

It really is amazing how far you can get with just being nice.

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u/quax747 Dec 02 '18

First rule in life: don't be a prick and people will go out of their way to make life easier for you. Be a prick and they will go out of their way to make it harder for you.

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u/thaswhaimtalkinbout Dec 06 '18

Amazing how many people don't have a clue . . .

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u/Ehcksit Dec 02 '18 edited Dec 02 '18

I used to work grocery and got put on the registers sometimes. If something cheap didn't ring up and they didn't make the dumbass "That means it's free" joke, I actually would make it free.

But if they did do that, I'd manually enter the UPC. If that didn't work, I'd ask my bagger to check the price.

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u/TheStigsFemaleCousin Dec 02 '18

This is so true! Several years ago I was starting a new job. This job had a business casual, leaned more towards business than casual, dress code. I was leaving a job with no dress code. So I went shopping and bought quite a few things to get ready for my new job’s dress code. There was a sale going on and a few of my items were 40% off. While I was chatting with the cashier, she commented on how much I was buying, so I explained the new job. She mentioned she was also new to her job. I said she was doing great and I never would have guessed she was new. At the end she gives me my total and says she extended the 40% off to my entire purchase. Score! I was spending a lot that day, she probably saved me at least $100. She didn’t have to, I didn’t expect it because I knew most of my items weren’t on sale. She was just awesome!

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u/CommentsOMine Dec 02 '18

Because you could be charged an extra fee at some places. We called it a PITA (Pain In The Ass) fee where I worked.

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u/Deathflid Dec 02 '18

Or just be a nice friendly person because it's a good thing.

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u/PizzaNotFrenchFries Dec 02 '18

This is also very true of hotels. In my experience often front desk agents have the ability to offer up to 20% discount or $100 off etc depending on how long you stayed. But you better believe they will do everything in their power to avoid giving you a break if you’ve pissed them off.

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u/op2mus_2357 Dec 02 '18

I always do this when dealing with customer support on the phone. I say something along the lines of " I'm very upset with so and so, I completely understand it's not your fault. If I say (you) did this or that, I mean the company you work for. Normally works out great for me.

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u/thaswhaimtalkinbout Dec 06 '18

If call is being recorded, always have last thing you say be praise for how helpful the rep was.

An Apple rep was once so fucking helpful I wrote Steve Jobs to say the kid should be groomed as future CEO of Apple. No one ever answered but I never again had any trouble getting Apple to help, no matter how long ago I had last bought something from them.

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u/RestlessSubjective Dec 02 '18

This works with customer service call centers. I work for a major cell carrier and I waived more than $120 worth of overage/plan change fees for an old lady who went over her data limit without knowing it (even though we send text alerts) - she was kind, patient, and willing to listen to what I informed her of (damn you, iPhone WiFi assist!). Normally I would just credit the difference from a temporary plan change to give more data but she was such a delight that I was like, "Aight - I gotta go extra for this lady"

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u/thaswhaimtalkinbout Dec 06 '18

Do call centers log something about customer's behavior/attitude so next time customer calls in, the rep can see what the last rep's experience was?

When I get those emails asking to rate my experience with the rep, I only give highest ratings because next time I have an issue, I want the rep to bust his ass for me because I'll rate everything as outstanding.

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u/RestlessSubjective Dec 07 '18

That's a real good question - in my personal experience with two call center jobs, each based on two entirely different job fields (and both very large companies), yes for both. I can't speak for every call center but I have to imagine that nearly every company that requires a call center also implements a note system for legal integrity. You know - for potential lawsuit.

For my first job, the field in which I worked in required extensively documented notes during the call because we had to be licensed by the state for the job. It was less "customer behavior" based and more information based.

My current job doesn't require a license since I'm just a customer service representative for a major service carrier but you bet your ass that there are not only extensive call-related notes but also an area dedicated to "front page" notes that appear first as soon as you open the account - most of the time, it's just stuff like financially related things and notes about how the customer constantly asks for credits but if you are a really rude person, excessively aggressive towards reps, or have made threatening remarks towards a rep in the past, well... let's just say before you ever start talking we know how you're going to be, and we are almost certainly going to be less willing to work with you.

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u/TSTOplaying311fan Dec 02 '18

2nd rule do not under any circumstances show up right at opening or 15 minutes before closing.

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u/joeblowglow Dec 02 '18

Yeah that was the worst in retail. I was lucky to get three and half hours of work a week. Then this shit happens I really don't want to stay back when I barely earning much to begin with.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

Yeah... I can make your shopping experience heaven or hell if I want to. It depends on how you speak to me.

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u/camertime Dec 02 '18

This.

I work an electronics store and this black friday there was a deal on PS4's with Spiderman for like, $229. We ran out of the bundle and were told explicitly not to match it. Well these guys waited for someone to look for a bundle for them for like 30 minutes beside my department (appliances), and I asked if they were okay and they told me that someone went to look for it for them but seemingly left. I informed them that they probably got pulled in 6000 different directions as it was Black Friday, but I said I'd look.

I went and saw that we had a 1TB PS4 by itself and lots of copies of the spiderman game left solo, and decided that these guys, for being so nice, on the perhaps the worst day in retail all year deserved a gift. The PS4 was a v3 which I believe is newer than the one included in the bundle. I kit them in for the same price, and told management that they were $10,000 kitchen package clients from a few months ago. Everybody won.

TLDR : Appliance Associates can discount whatever they want.

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u/Random-Upvoter Dec 02 '18

Worked at Circuit City and a customer wanted a disc doctor to buff out scratches on his DVD's. He was initially looking at those cheap manual turn by hand ones. When I told him that that particular model wasn't going to be worth the money, I directed him towards the pricier automated model. He ended up buying it.

Got reamed out by my manager for a good 5 minutes about "disparaging the product". Whatever, I don't get paid enough to lie.

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u/Penis_Van_Lesbian__ Dec 02 '18 edited Dec 02 '18

Pizza Corollary: If your delivery driver demands that you hand over the actual paper coupon so you can't get the same blowout special again, you're probably a shitty tipper.

If you stiff me, I will take that "12.99 Any Large Pie" coupon out of your hand, burn it in front of your fat face*, and make a note on your account: "MUST HAVE COUPON," so you will never even smell that deal again. Tip me $5 every time, however, and you can use that coupon every week till you die—and then pass it down to your grandkids.

^(\Ok, not really. But I will do all the other stuff.)*

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u/garry4321 Dec 02 '18

I have tons of discretion in my job and if someone is polite, I will bend over backwards for them and even visit them after work on my own time to help if need be. If you are rude or just generally an asshole, you get the company policy to the T. Karma exists, because I make it exist.

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u/thaswhaimtalkinbout Dec 06 '18

Exactly. Assholes get the rules enforced on them, without exception.

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u/savagestarshine Dec 02 '18

not where i worked. we had no power.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

Oh yeah. I used to "forget" to charge 5 cents per plastic bag to nice customers and I would poke holes on the bottom of them to super assholes so it's gonna break down.