Why Customer Service Employees Deserve more Respect

With the upcoming Black Friday and holiday shopping season just around the corner, it is bound to be a busy and stressful time for those working in customer service. For those of you who have worked in/are currently working in this industry already know that this is not an easy job. It is not just scanning items, taking cash, and giving receipts; we deal with so much that we should be paid more than the minimum wage. For those of you working in customer service during the holiday season, I commend you for pushing through those long and busy hours. I can understand all the stress and work that you have to put up with while working because I have been in that position as well. I mean, some of those customers (like those so called Karens), are not the easiest people to deal with. And for those of you who don’t work in customer service, but will be one of those holiday shoppers, here are some “secrets” about customer service employees that will hopefully make you sympathize, and maybe be a bit nicer to those working.

First of all, if you REALLY want to know what customer service employees actually do, it may not be what you think. Yes, we scan your items and take your money, but if you think we just stand there doing that all day, you may be wrong. Those who work in customer service know that the main goal is to give everybody great customer service, so we extend that by going beyond the cash register. We are forced to walk up to everyone and say hi and ask if you are doing okay. If you think we are being annoying by constantly checking on you, well apologies in advance. We “pretend” to be friendly just so management knows we are actually doing our job, and not just stand around the entire time. However, most of us do get sick of using our “customer service voice” especially when you, the customer, are being annoying to us.

We also have to organize all the items that are being sold, and make sure they are nicely displayed especially for those fancy department stores. That also means, we pick up any item you might have carelessly placed in the wrong area, or dropped on the floor. Anyone who works in retail can understand how annoying and tedious it is when customers leave a pile of clothes in the dressing room, or mess up the displays (even when we just organized it), and we have to clean up all that. When I worked as a sales associate for one of the fancy department stores, I remember picking up a ton of clothes off the floor; the clearance area was especially the worst, and I never looked forward to working in that department. You would think that this department store sells a lot of expensive items, it would sparkling clean, but that was never the case. Therefore, the next time you are shopping and going through many items, do us a favor and put back any items you don’t wish to buy back where you found it. It saves us a lot of work, plus it makes it easier for other customers to look for the items they want. Because customer service employees are doing all those tasks throughout their shift, they are standing on their feet all day, so of course we are going to be tired. Whenever you stop and ask us for help, we might have a lot to do, and a lot going on, so please be mindful and be respectful of our time. Most of the time, we don’t get a lot of breaks because it can get really busy, but we keep pushing on no matter how much our feet hurt because we need the money, and we don’t want to get caught by management doing nothing.

Now, when you are at checkout, you probably get annoyed when we keep asking you to join a rewards program or open a special credit card to get the best deals. We don’t blame you, it was never our intention to force you to join a rewards programs. We keep pressuring you because management forces us to make good sales by having us employees persuade a certain number of customers to sign up. Otherwise, we suffer the consequences like take a special class. Other times, we try to make customers sign up because there is a prize if we match the quota, which turns out to be either a free pen or magnet that doesn’t amount to anything. So the next time we nag you about signing up for a rewards program, just remember that we are being controlled by the higher-ups to go above and beyond this dead-end job.

Also, please do not yell at us when something does not go your way, like you can’t use a coupon on a certain item, or the price is not able to be changed. You know how they say, don’t shoot the messenger? Well, the same can be said for us customer service employees. We are not the ones who make up the different store policies, or decide on which items can or cannot be discounted, so please don’t blame us if we can’t change any of that. There is also another phrase “the customer is always right,” but in most cases, that is never true. Just because you may be a regular customer doesn’t mean you can feel entitled. You are only grabbing attention to yourself, and being a “Karen” even if we tell you a simple no. Speaking of which, if you request to speak to a manager, sometimes the manager will say the exact same thing we tried to explain to you. For example, if there was an item that you wanted to return, but you missed the deadline, and we tried to explain why the item is unreturnable. Then you get all pissed, and demand to speak to a manager, but they say the same reason. Other times, you will accuse us of giving you “bad service” to our manager, they will act nice and apologetic, but after you leave, they will blame us even though you were the one being rude in the first place. I have been in that situation too many times, and I was never able to defend myself because management would care too much about the customers rather than the poor employees. If you want to know what we put up with every day, why don’t we switch so you can see how it feels to have customers screaming at your face all day?!

Because the holiday season is the busiest time to go shopping, remember that you won’t be the only one doing it. Millions of other people are also doing their holiday shopping, making it a hectic time. Lines will be pretty long at the check-out line and we are doing our best to quickly and effectively process the transactions. Therefore, please don’t get mad at us for waiting in a long line. Also, don’t rush us processing your transaction, we don’t want to mess up your purchase all because you told us to hurry up which is actually on you. You are the one who scheduled time to shop and you probably took your time to find the perfect items. Again, you are not the only one shopping during this busy time, and please don’t wait until the last minute to do your holiday shopping because that is when places get really busy. Plus, you might not find what you are looking for at the last minute. There is also the added factor of staffing shortage which has been ongoing since the pandemic, and that no one wants to work anymore. If you want to avoid the long lines and crowds of shoppers, maybe it is best to do your shopping online.

One more thing before you head out for holiday shopping, those working in customer service work long shifts, making us all very tired at the end of the day. We would appreciate it if we got out on time after the store closes, and we finished with our closing duties. What is really annoying is sometimes after the store announces they are closed, some of you manage to go up to the check-out right before we close the cash register. You know, the store did some warning announcements prior to closing, so that should have been your queue to wrap up your shopping and head on out. However, you waited until the last minute right after the store closed to come to us. Sure, we look like we are happy to help you, but deep down we feel slightly annoyed because you are holding us up. The moral of this story is, don’t wait until the store is closed to go to a checkout, listen to the warning announcements. When the store says it is closed, it is now CLOSED!

I hope that after reading all this, you care more about those working in customer service. The holidays are pretty stressful, and we don’t need to have any more added when working. For those working in customer service during the holiday season, I wish you good luck in trying to survive those busy shopping hours. I hope that you also take care of yourself after working those stressful shifts, and remember not to take anything personally even if a customer thinks you are worthless. I hope everyone tries to have a peaceful holiday season, and be on the lookout for multiple blog posts next month as I try to do something special for the holidays.