It Won't Kill You To Be Nice

In about an hour, I will be making my way to work my retail job. Oh, how I love this job.

The sad thing is, I really do love the job. It’s everything else about the job that I don’t love.

If it were simple enough to just show up, put a smile on my face, and talk to people it would be the best job ever. I don’t mind greeting people and helping them find what they need. I’m actually pretty enthused to sit and talk to someone for twenty minutes, even if it’s a subject I don’t really care about. I really love people. And as much as I’ve heard of people hating retail, I actually don’t mind it. There are two problems I have, though: the customer and the coworker.

So I’m assuming you think this doesn’t make sense, right? Well let me start off by saying not ALL customers act this way, which makes my job semi-enjoyable. There are the few, however, that carry certain traits that I see time and time again. I hope if you’re reading this and possess some of these traits, you may take into consideration the effects and hopefully change them.

1. When you walk into a store, especially a retail outlet, 9 times out of 10 you are greeted by a worker who will ask you if there is anything they can help you find. If you say you’re just looking, they’ll either usually leave you alone, or let you know of what sales to look out for. Why do we do this? Well number one, it’s our job. If we get secret shopped and we don’t inform you of the current promotion, we’re in big trouble. Number two, I mean…don’t you want to know what sales are going on? I’d like to know what deals to look out for before I look at anything else; I guess I just assumed everyone else does.

I’d say a good 85% of the time I get customers in the store and I tell them the promotion, they either look straight at me without acknowledging that there are in fact sounds and syllables coming out of my mouth, they walk away before I can finish my two-second sentence, or what annoys me the most is that they will interrupt me with again saying “I’m just looking.” Okay, telling you the promotion takes two seconds out of your shopping experience. If at the VERY LEAST, let me say it because it’s my job and I have to. At the VERY LEAST! My thing is, especially in my store, all of our employees are friendly to every person that walks in the door. Every time. I can’t even count the number of times in my day that one of us will say hi to someone walking through the door, standing within three feet of them, and they will walk right by without even acknowledging our existence. Now, I’ve been told that I’m so pale I’m almost translucent, so I find it believable that people may in fact see right through me, but not my coworkers. At the very least you can say hi back, it won’t kill you, and say thank you for the promotion details.

2. I’m one to not be pushy. If you say you’re just looking, I will let you know what’s on sale but then I will let you look on your own. I’m not one to force people to buy something. I also don’t work on commission, so it doesn’t 100% hurt me if you don’t buy our product. It helps the store out which keeps me employed, but I’m not going to push any single person to buy something they don’t want.

That being said, if you have been in my store for 10-20 minutes, I’m going to check and make sure you’re finding everything okay. No, it’s not because I think you’re stealing. No, it’s not because I think you’re not competent enough to pick something out on your own. It’s because I want to make sure that you are, in fact, finding everything okay. Shock, right? I know especially in the store I work in that we may not have a certain item but we have the ability to look up which stores in our area would. It’s actually really handy, and we offer a discount on the item if you drive to find it.

Like I said, I want to help you find what you need the best I can. But it is, again, also my job to check and make sure you are finding everything alright. Does it really kill you to say yes, thank you? I mean did it sting right through your chest to even read it? There’s just a common sense of politeness for another human being that should go both ways that I learn on a daily basis.

3. GET OFF YOUR CELL PHONE! First of all, in a store as small as mine, I hope you realize that conversation you’re having about your recent flare-up is echoing through the entire store. I for one did not sign up to hear that. Or about your deadbeat boyfriend. Or about what my generation affectionately coined ‘baby mamma drama’. You can’t save those kinds of conversations for the privacy of your own car or home?

Most annoyingly, though, is when you are ready to check out, why can’t you say ‘hold on’ to the person on the other end of your direly important conversation? Even before I ever worked retail, if I was on the phone with someone at the time of check out, I would either say hold on or I would end the call. Why? It’s called common courtesy. You should be making a verbal exchange with the person who is trying to complete your transaction. It again goes back to common human decency. This person behind the counter is here to help you, and you can’t take 5 seconds away to respond to them? It’s absolutely the rudest thing I have ever encountered. I’m not here to be ignored.

Now this AGAIN does not pertain to all customers. And also, there is an etiquette that needs to be followed by employees.

1. I don’t care how much you think you hate your job. I really don’t. Guess what? In this economy you are lucky to even be employed, even if it is a minimum wage retail outlet. You need to act as though this is the best job you’ve ever had. Why? Because you have a job. There are a lot of people who would happily do what you’re doing now for a lot less money. So quit complaining so much. I will admit, some policies our store enacts aren’t always the best, or what I think is the best. And I may vocalize how I feel about them. But there comes a point when you have to accept it and JUST DO IT. You don’t need to continue to complain about a policy for a year. If you don’t like it, quit. Let someone else do it.

2. You should absolutely 100% ALWAYS be friendly to the customers. Even the rude customers that make you feel like dirt, the ones I have outlined previously. Why? Because it’s your job. You know what your job is every day when you walk through the door. You don’t get to be rude to someone who just walks in the door because you’re in a bad mood. You put on that smile and you say the promotion. You just do it. I get so sick of people endlessly complaining and being rude to their customers. Although I feel customers should treat employees better while they shop in the store, they aren’t getting paid to be nice to you. You’re getting paid to be nice to them. If you don’t like it, not only should you quit, but you should also find another field of employment.

3. Do your job. DO YOUR JOB. Don’t slack off; don’t complain about putting merchandise out. Don’t get angry when you have to do something. If it’s within the means of the job description outlined to you when you started, just do it. If you don’t like it, then quit. It’s really, really simple.

I think the world would be a better place if people just in general afforded a common courtesy to each other. There’s nothing wrong with being polite to total strangers. If someone says hi to you, say hi back. If they want to help you, let them help. If they say ‘have a nice day’ say ‘thanks, you too’. It’s these little acts of simple human respect that can make my day a lot easier when I’m working. All of my friends and family will tell you I am at the point of almost being over polite to people in drive thrus or at stores. The reasoning? Everyone deserves a smiling face at least once in their day. It’s my responsibility as an employee to give it to every single person that walks through the door of my store. It’s my responsibility as a human being to give it to every person I encounter throughout my day.

It won’t kill you to be nice.