Were you a cashier who was verbally abused by customers?

Question

have you ever been a cashier who was verbally abused by customers?
Or have you witnessed a cashier being verbally abused by customers?

If so, what store you work for and tell me your stories.

Customers are not always right.

Maggie- why do you keep answering my questions if you are annoyed by them?

Maggie- no one is making you answer my questions.

Answer 1

When I worked at Ross Dress For Less. I was verbally abused by several customers. At Ross we don't just do cashiering, we also do the fitting room, and unloading of stock, filling the racks of clothing and other items. And we clean up after everyone.
Well, when I first worked at Ross, we had basically 40 customers a day, per cashier. That was okay until we exploded with merchandise. We started to have an up words of 200 customers a day, per cashier, even more on weekends. They also had cart loads of merchandise. It was so hectic, that I held my urine in for three hours almost everyday. It has effected my bladder now. No customer would let us leave to go for a break.
Ladies would yell and cuss at us, for the fact that they would have to wait more then 30 mins. in line.
Later, because I got pretty fast on my line, customers would like to talk to me, and complain about other employees. They used pretty harsh words. I would try to explain to them we are trying our best, and we are sorry for the crowds.
When I worked at the fitting room, a lady once called me the "B" word because I told her to kindly wait until I counted her items.
She called me several things, I will not repeat, in front of several people in line for the dressing room. I did cry behind the clothing, because she really made me feel terrible. The lady also reported me to the manager. But the manager new, That I am a very nice person, and I would not purposely cause trouble. I did not get into trouble, but I learned to just take the good with the bad, when you work in retail. I quite Ross, because I could no longer stand up for more than 10 hours a day, and I started to have health problems. My children also suffered because I came home very late at night. No Job is worth it, if you get abused, and your health and family suffers.

Answer 2

i have been in customer/service situations, not always as a cashier but doing similar type work. yes, i have been verbally abused by customers/employees. once was threatened with death because i had to ask for verification. probably endless stories to tell, it can be hard to deal with public in that setting. but sometimes i have also seen the public harassing and abusing the service person. both sides need to stand back and realize not everyone is having a good day, not everyone is trying to make it hard for you. and if you are the one having the bad day don't take it out on someone doing there job, or trying to buy.

Answer 3

I have been a cashier for 15 years now, and it is unbelievable to me the way I'm treated. I'm expected by 90% of them to bow down and kiss their butts, and that's gotten old for me. The customer is NOT always right. Most recent example, yesterday:a lady comes into the store and picks up one of those little bags of 1 for .59 or 2 for 1.00 bags of candy, and comes up to the register. Her total is, of course, .63 cents tax included. She went WAY OFF on me, screamed "Is there a manager in this store?I should report you for false advertising" I told her that no, I was the only employee on duty, and that I was just charging her what I'm supposed to, and she says "How convienent" without thinking, I said "Huh?" which just set her off again, about how the customer is always right, how she should get the candy for free because I was being so rude to her (?) and how she was going to get me fired(!).It also amazes me how men will flirt shmelessly, and expect me, a happily married woman, to flirt back. When I don't, it's almost as if they pout, and some of them can get mean.Ah, the joys of customer service!!

Answer 4

Oh someone wanting to know our horror stories.. I love it. Every year at Christmas time I get verbally abused by customers on a daily basis... sometimes more than once. When it's not the holidays it's usually once a week or so.. I work at the Evansville Home Depot... we get a lot of crazy irrate customers.. Last year on Black Friday I was ending my shift, the manager on duty had turned off my light and shut my gate at the last people in my line.. there were like 4 people in front.. Well this guy gets in line behind the gate.. I said " Sir, my lane is closed, your going to have to go to another line." he says "ok" well a few minutes later I look back and he's still standing there so I say " Sir, my line is still closed, it's going to be closed for the rest of the day, I need you to please step to another line" he goes " well why the f*ck didn't you tell me this 15 minutes ago you stupid fat b*tch!" I was like " sir I did tell you and you just stood there, what didn't you understand about my line being closed? Plus theres a gate in front of your face and my light is off.. what didn't tip you off?" Finally he left.. This year on Black friday I was actually PHYSICALLY assulted by a customer. We had certain items in our ad that were that sale price until a certain time and it clearly stated that in the ad and in the store in front of the item.. well this lady comes into my line and im checking her out and I get to that item ( it's 3 hours after the sale price ended) it rings up $700 instead of the advertised $400 which ended at 11am.. it's now almost 3pm.. I explain to her that the sale ended at 11am and it was posted in front of the item and she even had one of the items with the sign on it, and I nicely point it out to her hoping the visual will help her understand it.. well she gets all crazy grabs a handful of my hair and starts yelling and spitting in my face cussing me out telling me I better give her the sale price or she'll kick my a**. well I finally break free of her after I punched her in the face ( which I was later told I shouldn't have done but once they seen the damage they let it go, self defense.) ( another cashier called security) They throw her out of the store and ban her from ever coming back. She ripped out half my hair on the back of my head, I have a bald spot and scratches. The cameras caught all of it on tape and I am sueing her for assult and harrassment. I will let all the other stories go.. but I'm sorry if someone is harrassing or assulting you, you should have the right to fight back in some form or another...we do have a right and being a cashier should not be a deadly or dangerous job.. it's not like we're cops for crying out loud! People need to just chill out, listen, and understand theres nothing we can do about it no matter how loud, mean or crazy you get, either way your not gonna get it.. so just be a descent person and let it go.. if you go crazy and threaten or beat the person you might just end up getting sued for everything you've got!

Answer 5

The store shall remain nameless to protect the innocent (that being myself!)
The story however shall be told.
A woman owed $.25 - yes, 25 cents, for a service we provided her, having something shipped over from another store. She refused to pay it, so as she was being insane, I said, OK, I'll pay it for you. That really set her off. It was the principle - there shouldn't be a 25 CENT fee! Oh lord. Let me add, this was in a very very very wealthy neighborhood. All us employees had to bus in from across town, or drive our beaten up cars and park them behind the store where they wouldn't "offend the customers" in their Mercedes and BMWs.
So I said to this "lady" well, I'm not sure what you want me to do, you can certainly complain to management about this outrageous 25 CENT fee, but I don't make the rules, plus, I'm telling you I'll put the 25 cents in for you. What else shall I do?
Then the "lady" said, in a very loud voice, perhaps you might call it a scream "F*** you, f*** you, f***you" and then she left.
But it was not over, no....
In 2 hours she came back to pick up the item she had been so outraged that we charged 25 CENTS to have transferred over for her. I had assumed she didn't want it, since she left, and put it back in the shipment bin which had already been picked up.
"You should be fired, what's your name, you are a piece of trash." These are just some of the comments I remember. Finally I had to just walk off the floor and go in the back, leaving a long line, but at that point my feeling was "F*** them all."
PS I did keep the job, but I wish I'd been fired in some ways.

Answer 6

I worked for a large hotel in San Diego during college at the front desk. People on vacation are GRUMPY! The one I remember the most was a man mad because there was not valet parking. When I explained nicely that this was a 4 star hotel, not a 5 star as he had thought, hence the absence of valet, he actually threw his keys AT ME they hit my chest- ouch!) and told me that I had better park it myself.

I slowly put the keys on the table and let him know very calmly and with a smile that for liability reasons, I was unable to drive his car on the premises. I also let him know that if I were to drive it, I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't end up in Mission Bay next to the hotel. I then called security and let them know that this man would appreciate a security escort as HE drove his car to his room OR a security escort off of the property. When I put down the phone, I smiled sweetly and let him know that the officers would be in in a moment.

Oh, and that free upgrade I was going to give him since we had room? All of a sudden it disappeared!!! oops! :)

Answer 7

Oh yeah....fifteen years....someone called me a c insert U here..n t ...wrong time of the month.....I chased him out of the store and whipped a shopping cart at him......he's lucky I didn't whoop his ....sorry a s s ....now I want to whoop the snotty cashiers I get.....wtf..

Same store different customer....I was punched out...the wanker...started to go off on me...I flipped her the middle digit...
and ran....guess what people..true story.....I became a manager..
Can you believe it...quit after my third child....I can get underpaid and abused at home...thank you for asking...xxxxoooo


And tell miss thang downstairs a few comments down you can ask the same damn question all damn day if ya want to....grrrrrr


Also, the best invention they ever did for cashiers was to post a do it yourself slide credit/debit machine...cannot tell you HOW many
times..people threw their card at me...like I had a court order
saying you had to buy this crap...grrrrrrr

Answer 8

My Mom had a lot of problems when she was a casher 15 years ago. She was in her 40's and had to get a job. At Kmart, someone threw a hanger at her, and at Caldor some guy didn't like they way she bagged his towels and made her repack them. People weren't very nice to her.

Answer 9

Nope, im a cashier is verbally abuses customers....

Answer 10

You DID ask this question a few days ago. I'm not just seeing things. I answered you before. Why are you repeating your questions? Sorry dude. I was just wondering.
I was a cashier for a long time and I certainly did take a lot of crap from people. They have no idea how many people we deal with every day. It's an easy job to get, but not so easy to do.