Hi all i have been reading all the post were you have all been slagging off shop assistants but i would like to complain about the customers which must come with a half amp fuse fitted, I used to work for im sure you all know MAPLIN ELECTRONICS and me and my colleagues have been asked for the most stupid things. Please remember this is maplin electronics were these people have walked in and asked for the following

1: A drop leaf kitchen table

2: Ford transit break disks pads and rear shoes

3: Bicycle innertube and spare tyre

THE BEST OF ALL

4: A GRAVE STONE

Yes this is just a small ammount of the things that we have to put up with as shop assistants, Also we had a female assistant and because it was a electronics shop many customers would alwas ask us to double check er work to make sure it is ok which i find very ignorant and embarrasing for her.

Any way if there is any shop assistants that would like to share there views please do so and wake these half amp customers.

Do maplin still sell spirit level bubbles?


unfortunately it is a well known fact that "the customer is always right" you get paid to take crap from customers......if i was you i'd be greatful for the idiot customers as it gets you lot bonding

Customers are always right till i prove them wrong which seems to be 99.9%

I shop at Maplins on the moor quite a lot,
I have never had to complain about any of the assistants,
they have always been very helpful.
Keep up the good work:thumbsup:

Thanks stellstar ill pass on to he right peeps. we need more customers like stellstar.

Originally posted by AKITA
Customers are always right till i prove them wrong which seems to be 99.9%

congratulations, you sound just like the cocky shop assistant that i hate

???? not me im no cocky shop assistant ??????

which store is he from i have a good idea who he is LOL

I agree with Akita. I think the customer is mostly responsible for the customer service they get. why should i care about them if they come to my business with the strop on because a product i haven't made, designed or tested personally is faulty. All store staff would be happy to sort out any problem, and even do more than is required. so long as the customer is as polite and helpful as they expect the shop staff to be. After all the shop assistants don't lose out if its faulty so we don't mind being help full. But if you come in being arsey, we will do the minimum that is required. if your lucky!!

Ladies of a certain age, who work in Department Stores and Post Offices are worse. They usually have a face like they've swallowed a bee, and speak to you as though you're an inconvenience.

I was once told off in the Post Office for buying too many stamps! :confused:

Originally posted by Andy
Ladies of a certain age, who work in Department Stores and Post Offices are worse. They usually have a face like they've swallowed a bee, and speak to you as though you're an inconvenience.

I was once told off in the Post Office for buying too many stamps! :confused:

lol........in crookes there's an off licence where the shop assistant manages to serve you without taking his eyes of the tv, genious

I went in Maplins 2 weeks ago to kill some time while waiting for Viking.

I have to say the conversations I overheard where the assistants were ''talking down'' to the customers (esp the Laydees) made me smirk.

Do they only employ males who sound like John Major?? :D

Or who look like the comic store owner in The Simpsons

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
I went in Maplins 2 weeks ago to kill some time while waiting for Viking.

I have to say the conversations I overheard where the assistants were ''talking down'' to the customers (esp the Laydees) made me smirk.

Do they only employ males who sound like John Major?? :D

Or who look like the comic store owner in The Simpsons

Which maplins, there is two of em in sheffield? :)

Used to be Beatties toy shop :)

I used Maplins for years after they started life as a mail order electronics component supplier - that must have been 25 years ago, if not more.

I still use them (mainly the Hillsborough and the one opposite the Peace Gardens) for odds and sods, but have to say that the attitude of some staff is a bit patronising to some customers. You guys sell technology - you need to be able to explain the technology to people who will buy there because it's in the High Street of their local town.

As a kid I used to use a little electronics shop that was run by a right old sod, but he knew his stuff and was helpful to all and sundry. If I ask a question of a Maplin's customer service person about something in their catalogue then I'd expect to be able to access information that's not in the catalogue - e.g. if I'm asking about a chip which you sell, then the chance to look over the spec. sheet would be useful.

I appreciate that shop assistants can get some really daft customer questions and requests, but at the same time you volunteer to work there. With shops like Maplins - with three in Sheffield, from the sound of it, though I didn't realise there was one on the Moor - it's increasingly difficult for people who want to buy the components locally to find a non-Maplin's outlet, for example. Sort of like Starbucks but with Silicon. :)

Bardwell's is a grand place for bits and bobs of techy stuff. I've seen the staff in there spend 10 minutes with a kid spending his pocket money because they love the job, and they're building future customers.

Once you aquire a local quasi-monopoly, then you really need to deliver the promise. SHop assistants are there to serve, after all. That doesn't mean that customers can be rude, but it does mean that occasionally getting asked for something that you palpably don't stock gives you an opportunity for good service by suggesting somewhere else that the customer CAN get the goods from. Then they'll have a good image of the store.

Joe

:D :D sorry.just had to laugh at the title of this thread :thumbsup: :D

I used to work on a service desk for audio and TV products in a department store. Some snotty customers would refuse to be served by a female where technology (like a co-ax cable :roll: ) was concerned, and would demand to speak to the manager.

I exit stage left, manager appears. "Would you like to speak to an engineer?" enquires the manager...

Customer is now delighted at customer service here, and beams broadly, "Ooh, yes please"

I re-appear, manager introduces me, and leaves before customer recovers power of speech :D

I perform exchange of faulty goods with no application of any engineering knowledge at all whatsoever :suspect:

What a pantomime :roll:

The biggest clue I ever came across to twigging that a person is talking b*llocks are the following phrases:

"I know my rights."

"Whatever happened to 'the customer is always right'?"

"I want to speak to the manager."

Originally posted by Carmine
"I want to speak to the manager."
"and what is the problem, sir?"
"I want to speak to the manager."
"We have.... 4 managers on this department, and I need to make sure you get to speak to the right one"
"this toaster doesn't work"
"and that's your receipt?... I'll exchange that for you sir" :D

:loopy: :rolleyes:

The majority of customers I encounter are absolutely lovely and make the job a pleasure. The minority spoil it though.

I was tidying at work the other day and there was a customer stood next to me looking at some item or another on the wall directly in front of her.

I stopped what I was doing and cheerfully asked if there was anything she wanted to know and if she was alright.

To which I got the curt response "I would be if you'd bloody shift out of my way!" before she barged past me and carried on into the shop.

I couldn't believe it. As far as I was aware, I wasn't in her way in the slightest and if I was, all it takes is a polite "excuse me" to which I would have instantly moved.

There was no need for it.

The customers used to be worse when I worked in the cafe of a large chain store which seems to attract a certain class of shopper more advanced in their years. Again, the majority, wonderful.

But the others always "knew their rights" and always claimed the price was wrong and moaned they had been waiting too long etc etc. Sorry but we used to work as quickly as physically possible and it's not like they didn't know how long the queue was when they joined the end of it. It seems some people go into shops merely to let off steam. I used to have fun telling them their consumer rights anway ;)

I treat customers how I'd like to be treated, if they throw that back in my face, that's their problem and I don't let it get to me. The nice people always cheer me up :)

Originally posted by rocketpig
Do maplin still sell spirit level bubbles?



Customer FAQ's for the above product may include:

"Can you supply a SQUARE one?"

"Do you have it in any other colour?"

"I'd like a refund, I can't get the bubble to float on the bottom"

"I still can't get my ghost horizontal" :D

Sorry just had to laugh at mantaspook.

Why do shop assistants seem to treat customers as if they are doing us a favour?

Can't speak for Mapplins - don't go in.

A member of the canteen staff at Ponds Forge was VERY rude to me, I made a complaint and received a letter back bleating on about how short staffed they were - like that's my problem:loopy:.

Went into Primark and bought some pyjamas, all done up with a fancy ribbon, what did the idiot on the till do? Opened them up to check the bottoms match the top and then screwed them up and threw them in a bag, or at least he did until I asked him to refold them and re attach ribbon. He huffed and tutted until I asked him why he thought it was unreasonable of me to want to buy the pj's as they were displayed. But then you 'aint paying for service in Primarks are you:hihi:

I challenge any shop assistant to work friday to monday in A/E.

You will never bitch about your whinging customers again ;)

Bit too busy to read all the posts here but if the OP wants to PM me I'm sure that I've a copy of this in my extensive library of films that I can copy for you!:hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
I challenge any shop assistant to work friday to monday in A/E.

You will never bitch about your whinging customers again ;)

Mrs Daverity wholeheartedly endorses this sentiment.She says' they are f****n unbelievable' unquote :gag:

Originally posted by Englishlady
Why do shop assistants seem to treat customers as if they are doing us a favour?



Completely agree.

I know shop assistants have to deal with some properly obnoxious people and I know it can be frustrating/stressful/infuriating/upsetting/whatever, but at the end of the day you're paid to do a job so get on and do it. It amazes me how people can post on here saying that they give different levels of service depending on how nice someone is to them. The cliche 'The Customer Is Always Right' has nothing to do with it, it is a simple question of professionalism which seems to be lacking in some of the comments made here.

I make an effort to be friendly in shops, doing the whole smiling being polite thing and as a result I may well get good service. But other days, I got to admit, if I'm in a hurry or having a crappy day then maybe I won't but I will still expect the same level of professionalism and service from the shop assistant. (To dogress slightly, I feel an SF experiment coming on here - go in to a shop one day all happy and smily and go in again the next and see what the difference is. Hmmmm, interesting)

If I had this two tiered approach to service in my job I would be crucified for it and rightly so.

As for the store i question I must confess I'm not overly impressed with some of the staff in there - I always seem to get a lot of 'Yeah, I think so' or 'probably' type responses if I ask questions in there. For an electronics store, they don't seem that expert. So I've given up - do the research before I go in so I know what I'm buying before I go in and the only time I need to ask a question is if I need help locating it in store.

Part of original post by limpetboy
--I know shop assistants have to deal with some properly obnoxious people
Many shop assistants have to deal with a lot (not just some) "properly obnoxious people"!
Part of original post by limpetboy
--I know it can be frustrating/stressful/infuriating/upsetting/whatever, but at the end of the day you're paid to do a job so get on and do it.
Yes, I agree, they are paid to do a job, however they are not paid to bear the brunt of someone's irritation because, to use your own words, the customer is "in a hurry or having a crappy day". That you should expect the same level of assistance (N.B. I use the word assistance here, using the word service means to many that they are your servant, that's not the case at all, they are there to assist you in your purchase, in addition to preventing you from stealing goods ;), not to be servile towards you) regardless of whether you are friendly or irritable towards them, is ludicrous... It's not a question of professionalism, it's a simple matter of human interaction.

As for the surly attitudes encountered, there are far too many 'Mrs. Fforbes' (with two 'f's) out there, she lives in a nice house in the suburbs, husband John is an accountant, daughter Samantha is at university studying law and son Malcolm is currently working for a big international in Japan... To her a shop-assistant is the lowest of the low, almost a sub-human species, there solely to do her bidding... and she intends to make sure that they know their place.

Or perhaps you may be faced with a customer that swears at you and is openly objectionable, secure in the belief that "The customer is always right", they feel free to order you about as if you were their servant, this means that you're fighting an unequal battle, whilst you'd dearly love to reply in kind, by doing so, you'd run the risk of losing your job.

It only needs a few of these types of customer to sour your attitude towards all customers, until they prove that they are otherwise...
Part of original post by limpetboy
--It amazes me how people can post on here saying that they give different levels of service depending on how nice someone is to them.
It amazes me that after experiencing "awkward customers", only two examples of which I've given above (the ways in which customers treat assistants badly are many and varied), most assistants in my experience, are polite and helpful... Though that may be because I treat them with respect, not thinly-veiled contempt.

It's also a matter of common-sense! The kind of person who looks down on those who are obliged to do their bidding, the type who for example, in a restaurant, shows off to their companion by peremptorily ordering a waiter around, greatly increases the chance of ingesting anothers' saliva (or worse), with their meal. This isn't folklore, it's fact... and widely practiced, even in the 'best' establishments. In other words, no matter how you are feeling, it almost invariably pays to be polite!

Contrary to what my comments may lead you to believe, I've never been in the position of a shop-assistant, though having observed the way some have been treated by arrogant customers, I have every sympathy with them.

I have however dealt with the general public over a number of years, ranging from call-girls to celebrities... And I know full well what idiots are around!

BTW... I'd just like to add that I found most call-girls to be more courteous, polite, intelligent and frequently better-educated than many celebrities that I ran into! ;)

I always like asking shop assistiants at this time of year if they like xmas carols.

The most astonishing place I ever worked for people taking the p*ss was a well known highstreet bookseller that might or mihgt not have a branch in the centre of town.

You heard some wonderful statements, such as: "All you lot want to do is sell books!" as if that was a devious aim for a company that retails books.

Because the place was made welcoming, some people treated it like a lending library. The looks you got when asking people not to fold pages and bend spines when they weren't buying.

One chap even got shirty when kindly asked to pick his dripping wet umbrella up from on top of the pile of paperbacks he'd dropped it onto.:loopy:

Many years ago I was working in an electrical store over the Christmas period and was confronted by a very irate gentleman who was dissatisfied with a ghetto blaster that was “obviously faulty” as he had tried for many hours to make it work.

The gentleman then regaled his captive audience with a loud barrack room language account entitled “Why this product has ruined my Christmas and I should be entitled to a refund, compensation, cash for the taxi fare here and the public execution of the store manager “

Meanwhile I checked the battery compartment and spotted the obvious……

He was stopped in mid flow by the aforementioned ghetto blaster suddenly bursting into life at full volume, recoiling from the decibels he asked what I had done so I turned the sound down and told him the batteries were in the wrong way round.

He refused to accept this explanation and stated that I’d “magic-ed it” before snatching it back and storming..….nose first into the glass door.

The other customers almost wet themselves, but being professional I waited until he had cleared the car park before doing a squeaky Paul Daniels impression “Now THAT’S magic!”

That is the ONLY time I ever got a round of applause in retail.

I work at a jewellers in Meadowhell and, to be honest, I've not had any really difficult customers (just you watch now, I'll get a ton of them tonight!!)

I think it may be something to do with what we sell, but even if somebody is quite rude to me when asking to look at some products, I find that if I smile and show them that I actually do know what I'm talking about despite my "Trainee" badge (I've lost my proper name badge so am wearing this whilst it is re-ordered!), then they often decide to spend more money than they originally planned ;) I work on commission :heyhey: