I have worked in a few retail jobs over my part time years, I’d say you have to have thick skin to deal with some of the customers, but that much is probably clear. Working in a pet shop, in a bookshop and for an Apple reseller saw me deal with three very different groups of customers. The biggest thing I’ve taken away from my time in retail though is to always be very kind and patient with the person serving me, you don’t know what kind of a day they’re having. I’ve had lovely customers that have made my shift and I always looked forward to seeing, equally though I’ve had sexist and rude customers who can ruin my mood.
I don’t know if I have top tips to deal with these customers, but I’ve certainly built up a few ways to get through it over the years:
1) The customer is NOT always right, sometimes it’s okay to be polite in reminding them of that rather than cowering away.
Two examples that come to mind would be when a customer walked into the Apple reseller and asked to speak to one of the men. I told him I could help him just as well and he seemed shocked and again asked to speak to a man, none were available anyway so I helped him just fine with his issue. The second was when a woman preordered a book and left the payment until collection, upon collection she assured me she had already paid, I was 100% sure she had not, but she was not backing down. In both of these situations I knew I was correct in the customer service I was offering, but the customer was being too ignorant to notice. Sometimes just knowing you’re right is enough though and being internally smug when the customer realises their error.
2) Smile at people and they will smile back.
Sometimes I would get a surge of positive energy and smile at every customer that passed me, asking them about their day and being sociable. More often than not this meant the customer was equally welcoming back to me, which for me was the best part of working in retail. I met new people and helped them with their issues and purchases, the more friendly I was, the more plesant the day would go for me.
3) Try as best as you can not to bring your person problems to the shop floor.
This one is super tricky, especially if you’re experiencing a bad mental health day, but sometimes it creates a lot more issues for you, your colleagues and your customers if you suddenly break down on the shop floor. I was in work after a hugely upsetting breakup and had a panic attack on the shop floor. I couldn’t leave because I was the only person on the floor at the time. Obviously I couldn’t help feeling that way, but perhaps I wasn’t ready to be in work at that stage. Maybe this point should be more along the lines of, if you don’t feel emotional stable then don’t put yourself on the shop floor? Ultimately I understand we’re at work to work, weird right? So I didn’t want to look vulnerable like that in-front of strangers or my colleagues.
4) Make friends with your colleagues, they will be your rock, your entertainment and they’ll cover your shifts if you need them to.
I’ve been lucky to always have a good bunch of colleagues surrounding me on the shop floor, it’s nice to have a mix of peope to offer something different on each shift. Some people I have remained friends with too which is a great. It’s a much nicer feeling to know you’re going to work with a good friend than just to stand there bored for the whole shift. They’ll also be your go to person to moan about awkward customers and how much your feet hurt.
5) Don’t take your work home with you, which might be easier said than done.
At the end of my shift at the pet shop we used to have to ‘face up’, which consisted of us lining up and puffing out every bag of pet food in this huge store. My shift ended at 8pm, but I often didn’t get out until about 8:45pm by the time we were done tidying up. The result of this meant that when I closed my eyes to go to sleep I often envisioned the bags being tidied away and the noise of them being puffed out. It became like a haunting obsession. Also on this front, it’s easy to get wound up on a shift, usually from rude customers, and to take this feeling home with you, but beleive me, it isn’t worth it! When you leave your workplace for the day, really leave it!
