“Everyone expects it to be this aggressive, domineering, swearing person, but it can be a totally mild individual who manipulates their way to get what they want,” the 34-year-old sales advisor says.
Christmas is a celebrated time around the world, but for retail staff, it means increased stress, longer hours, and short-tempered customers. With the cost-of-living rising, it’s become a sore spot for consumers, too.
Up and down the country, most shoppers will have witnessed a verbally or physically aggressive customer abuse retail workers. Whether you’ve been that irritated customer yourself or have been on the receiving end, it’s not an enjoyable experience. Understandably some shoppers are upset due to unsatisfactory customer service, but the rude behaviour is inexcusable.
According to new research by Retail Trust, the charity for retail workers, one in three shopworkers are subjected to weekly abuse from shoppers. Ranging from threatening behaviour, being spat on, shouted at, or even physical assault.
“It's been far more prevalent in the past five years, I'd say, especially at Christmas,” explains Euryn Evans, a 34-year-old sales advisor in an electrical goods store.
Euryn has worked in retail for over 15 years in various roles. Spending most of that time serving customers, there isn’t much he hasn’t experienced.
“The classic lines of ‘oh, you've ruined Christmas’. I take that stuff to heart sometimes. I can't always help but re-evaluate the conversation I've had with the angry customer over and over in my head. But sometimes they just want to be argumentative.”
Retail Trust have launched a campaign called ‘Let’s Respect Retail’ with ambitions to curb the rising waves of abuse in shops. Part of the campaign is to spread awareness that the behaviour isn’t tolerated and to protect the mental health of retail staff.
“If a customer shouts loud enough for long enough, they might get what they want in the end,” said Matthew Gordon, 42, a warehouse operative.
Along with an increasing workload, colleagues are having to be more vigilant in stores as thieves are becoming more frequent and nonchalant.
‘Can I get a Code 10 on the shopfloor please?’
When Matthew hears that phrase on his walkie-talkie, it means there is a suspected thief in the store. Due to the nature of his job role, he’s expected to approach and surveil the suspicious character. Sometimes it’s a false alert, but when it’s not, he’s often subject to abuse.
“There are scenarios when I approach them, and they get frustrated. On a recent occasion, it escalated rather quickly. He became increasingly angry; he threw the Bluetooth speaker he was attempting to steal, and it resulted in him calling a female member of staff a slag while jumping in her face. All because you have just interrupted them stealing expensive goods.”
He continued: “A lot of my experience is behind closed doors, but I’m often a witness to the rude behaviour of some customers. I've seen other colleagues lose their patience thinking I'm not paid to be a security guard”
It’s important to stress that not all customers are abusive. There are times when customers are genuinely unimpressed by the service they have received. But according to a YouGov poll of 2,000 UK adults, 47% admitted to getting annoyed with a shopworker over matters beyond their control.
Due to staff shortages, low pay, and increased responsibilities, many shopworkers are overworked. The retail industry like many others makes great use of social media to communicate work-related issues. Euryn and Matthew explained how it’s almost impossible to leave work at work.
“I'm in seven different work group chats at the moment. Even on my days off, I still get messages through to my phone either directly or to group chats,” explained Euryn.
Matthew added: “Everyone expects you to be closer to work because of the apps we’ve now got on our phones. I find it hard to detach from it all. It definitely adds another level of stress to your day.”
“The customer is always right” is a motto that many businesses incorporate into their store ethos - intended to prioritise customer satisfaction in times of malpractice. But it has transitioned into a rite of passage to excuse rude behaviour towards staff. Euryn went on to describe the procedure after dealing with a difficult customer.
“If it was a particularly stressful one, maybe you could take a two-minute breather. But there's hardly enough time to do that or even get a breath of fresh air. You just have to shrug through it because the customer's always right.”
As we head into the festive shopping season, the Retail Trust are calling on customers to be kind and compassionate towards all retail workers. In the hope, we can tackle this intolerance epidemic and #respectretail.
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