Why do some people expect good customer service where it isn't due?

For example, people complain about the poor customer service at fast food restaurants and mega retailers like Wal-Mart. Well, no $$!%, Einstein, what do you expect?





Bear with me. This is a quasi-rant.





The people who work those jobs are often young, aren't paid any better if they do their job well and thus don't care if they lose it in the first place. They could care less how long you've waited in line. I've worked those jobs before, too. If you came to Wal-Mart on a Sunday afternoon and complained about the lines, I just looked at you like you were insane.





Now I am a college student and I also work as a teller at a MegaBank. Fridays, especially the ones before holidays are always busy. Yet, time and time again, canktarous old customers would complain about the wait time. I told them that since they came at lunch, on a Friday and before a holiday that this was to be expected. I did not apoligize for the wait time or thank them for their patience. It isn't my fault they can't figure out how to use an ATM or have wrecked their credit so bad they can't get a credit card and just have to have that deposit in before the bank closes. I think this way because I don't necessarily care if I keep this job either. I'm going to school studying what it is I actually want to do for a living, and trust me, it doesn't involve dealing with scum customers. I promise you that.





So, you get what I'm asking. Why do people expect a level of service or product that is completely out of range with what they're paying for it.|||The simple answer is that people get fed up with things and decide to take it out on others. I've worked customer service before and had to deal with a lot of ****** up people. I would try to be nice and make them happy and sometimes it would work but a lot of times people would still ***** even after and want even more free stuff and even more ***-kissing. This country is filled with a sense of entitlement that is appalling. Who says you have to be polite at your job? That's between you and the boss and if he/she isn't happy you will be fired or reprimanded. If the customer doesn't like your attitude they can shop elsewhere. No one has to act any certain way, they have freedom of choice and I, for one, respect your decision.|||You, young man, are an example of why people complain about customer service. No, you can't do anything about their complaints at times - but it's your JOB, what you are paid for, to listen, smile and make them feel a little better about being able to complain to someone.





Just like you feel a bit better about your little rant here - complaining to people who can do nothing to help your situation.





You don't like your job, you don't care if you lose it - so you do a bad job? Do the best at whatever you are doing.............





Oh, and it's not "could care less" the expression is "couldn't care less" - by saying you that you could care less is implying that one indeed does care and it is possible for them to care less.





So what it seems like you are saying is that if a person is a teenager or not paid well they should not be expected to perform their job correctly and with respect to the customer? That being poorly paid, or young, is a good reason to not be a good employee and that we customers should excuse that and just appreciate what comes our way.





Sorry, but I disagree - one is paid to do a job, one accepts that position.......that person should do their job with the best of their abilities. Job performance should not depend on job pay.|||I'm actually one of those people who would complain if the company knows that during a friday lunch break, and before a holiday, many people come to the bank so why can't they ensure that more people are on the tills.





The same at fast food restaurants. It's lunch time and they know that many people will be coming in for lunch so why can't they ensure that staff have either had their lunch or will go once the rush hour has passed.





As for your comment about not being able to use an ATM or wrecked their credit rating, this isn't always the case. I have wanted to pay in monies but haven't been able to because I have loose change which is not allowed to be paid in using the ATM.





As for your attitude of "I don't care if I keep this job either" you had better change it even though you are not going to go into Customer Services because if you carry that chip on your shoulder, your Employer may get fed up with it and sack you.





KD|||Having worked retail myself in the most extreme of circumstances, I can assure you I was the one going through the discomfort. I had to put up with the most crass, arrogant, rude, ill-bred people one could ever imagine. I have had intoxicated customers urinate in dressing rooms, defecate in the stock room, drop their rug rats off and leave them at the store while they shopped the rest of the stores in the complex. I have been called every name in the book simply because they didn't get their own way.


Now as I am the customer I do not expect anything except to be rung through the register. I know what it is to be the cashier or the manager and I go out of my way to make their job smooth and as pain free as possible for everyone involved.|||It is not the customers fault what you get paid. If you take a job that is for customer service, regardless of wage - that is your job, otherwise don't choose it. It may not be your fault that there are long lines - that is management's fault, but you are there representing the company. Nobody forced you to work there, you knew what you would have to deal with when you took it. I hope that you do quit working with the public because you would be doing the customers a big favour. If you don't care, then what are you moaning about? Quit. You make your job harder by treating people with that attitude. If there are long lines, you could always apologise that they had to wait and explain the circumstances. You would be surpised how easy it is to turn the situation into a more pleasant one and they will calm down when they realise that it is not your fault. You could even ask them if they want to speak to the manager. It wouldn't kill you!


What many of you miserable, gum chewing and tardy kids don't seem to understand is that customers are people and they are all different. I have worked in retail for over 30 years and , yes, sometimes you do get people who are in a bad mood, but over time you have to become thick-skinned and not take everything personally. I have oftened treated those people with sympathy and understanding, because it is my job to make those customers want to come back. The key is to LISTEN to what they are saying to you, not to brush them off as 'scum'. Who do you think you are?


You are there to be as helpful as you can be and by keeping this up, you will find out that people became very friendly regulars who you can have a laugh with. I have customers who give me little gifts sometimes, such as sweets and even bunches of flowers! That is because I go out of my way to respect EVERYBODY who comes to me. If you treat people like crap, what do you expect? For the sake of all customers everywhere, find another job where you are not dealing with people. You don't deserve their custom and I certainly would never hire you.|||Being young and not caring about working at a place is NO excuse to be rude to a customer. Most of the employees at the Walmart in my area are not a bunch of young people working there. There are many older workers there and they have a nasty attitudes too.


I don't pay people who complain about long lines any attention. I also used to work in a high volume area for JC Penney. People complained about the long lines all the time there are just certain times of the day that yields higher volume of people due to everyone getting off work at the same time. I never let that kind of stuff bother me. Anytime you are dealing with the public good customer service is ALWAYS due. Customers come in to spend their money, if you make someone feel good about coming into your store to shop they will continue to come in and tell their friends how nice and friendly everyone is at this particular store. So more people will come and shop. Also if you have no customers then you have no job. So be nice a smile goes a long way, even to the cranky customers who complain about long lines. If you greet them with a smile they are less likely to complain to you about long lines, your politeness and kindness will deter them from complaining.


Just remember you're a customer too, treat others how you would like to be treated. You're not better or above anyone.|||It's 'couldn't care less' not 'could care less'. The former implies that someone cares so little that it would be impossible to care less, the latter therefore means that the person does care and it is possible for them to care less than they currently do.





I only complain about customer service when it's poor coming from people I know should have an interest in making sure it's good. Also, I suspect that when people complain about poor customer service from large chain stores etc, they're not complaining about the specific worker who treated them badly but about the entire business for not training their staff better or giving them more incentive to be nice.|||Well it is a job. Jobs are hard to find.|||I didn't read your entire quasi-rant. Sort of began to make me want to vomit. I will say that there is a 10% unemployment rate now. Azzholes could be fired and replaced by people who could at least be polite; and if that group didn't work out, they could be fired. Azzholes in the workplace has nothing to do with what wages you are paid, it has to do with customers allowing poor service without complaining, and not just to the manager, but all the way up to the CEO and en masse taking their business elsewhere if the service isn't improved.





I really have had very little trouble with service at Walmart, BTW, or in most other places; but I have been honored to be the cause of a couple of firings at our local grocery store, and noted the service overall improved after two managers and a not-so-nice clerk were either let go or moved to another store. (Oh, the last time I received a gift basket from the corporation for my trouble).|||because if you have a job and are around their money or good, you are expected to be nice and honest. if you are really mean or rude, customers think that the company wants you to be that way. then they will change banks, stores, etc. however, most folks won't quit Wal-Mart. they should complain about you every time that you do it to the extent that you really upset them. hopefully you will be fired...that will be on your record, as it deserves to be.|||People are stuck up and the world revolves around them, simple. Make them feel important and then laugh at their stupidity later :)