<p>The customer you had problems with is the reason I do not shop Walmart. I can not stand the type of customers Walmart attracts. I don’t like the way they run their business either. I find their latest commercials a joke. The new ones stating how good they treat their employees. More like cheat their employees. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Marina - two things - first get another job lined up before you leave this one. Second, talk to the supervisor who berated you in front of the customer. Explain to her/him what actually occurred and that the situation was not as the customer expressed.</p>
<p>Then smile and do your best until you can get out. And yes all jobs have varying degrees of yuckiness. In your career you will have to decide when to stay and bear it and when to get out. Always have another job lined up before you quit - hopefully with more pay, better benefits, and better hours :)</p>
<p>The way it works at our local grocery stores is that the express lanes will take ONE over the limit customer at a time if that lane has no business. The reason being that if the regular lanes are full, it makes no sense for the express lanes to be empty just waiting for the low volume customer. If a one or few item customer does come to check out, s/he would end up behind one multi item customer, at most. Through bad luck and timing, yes it is possible to get stuck behind a customer who is doing multiple time consuming transactions, with only one simple item, but usually, it comes down to a choice of getting into the regular lines with a number of customers or the express line with no more than one customer with multi items if s/he should have come up to the register level when there was no low volume business.</p>
<p>OP, yes, there are many such jobs. You follow the rules, is what you do, and you look for better work and leave when you find it. If a customer complains about being behind a customer with more than the max items, you page a manager and let the customer vent to there. Them’s the rules, and your boss does have the authority to direct you as he pleases under a number of scenarios. That’s just the way it works. </p>
<p>There can be shades of this in just about every and any job, by the way, though the scenario can change.</p>
<p>It is true that emergency personnel also have to deal with incredibly difficult and rude people on a regular basis, but they have do have some recourse - the nurses get to choose the size needle they will use. They also get to decide how quickly they will give the patient their pain meds. Not everything happens STAT. (sly smirk)</p>
<p>To the OP: line up your next job BEFORE you hand in notice. And you do not need to give 2 weeks notice either. Any boss that will berate you like that doesn’t deserve 2 weeks notice.</p>
<p>This incident arose because a customer broke the rules on the express checkout and you decided to correct them even though you know the company policies about dealing with customers. You think management was wrong for not supporting your opinion even though it violates the company policy. It appears you do not belong in retail or any area which involves customer service. </p>
<p>You want to know if other businesses operate this way. Yes, absolutely. Customer service is extremely important for every business. Maybe you are too young to see trends but businesses are really working hard to improve customer service. A good example is healthcare. Providers such as hospitals are being judged on the opinions of their customers. Hospitals can provide the absolute best care from a technical perspective and fail miserably if they do not treat the patients with respect and provide the information and help that the patients want. </p>
<p>You will probably have a hard time finding employment where there is no involvement with customer satisfaction. As a college student, you can go a long way in life if you learn how to treat customers (and your colleagues, subordinates, and bosses). Being “right” in you own mind means nothing if others in the workplace disagree.</p>
<p>
I’ve been waived into the express lane at the (very large) grocery where I usually shop. It always makes me uncomfortable because I figure the person who innocently wanders into the line behind me is going to be glaring at me for having more than the allowed number of items, and maybe making a sarcastic crack or two about how I should learn to count, or read, or something.</p>
<p>OTOH…when my mom was first diagnosed with cancer and my dad had to shop and get back home quickly he didn’t want to get in the 20 item lane 'cause he was way over (he’s one of the few I guess that abide by the rules). I told him “don’t worry–they’ll take care of you”. And the sweet check out girl said “Never you mind…we’ll take care of you.” and it was Wal-Mart. It’s people and attitude that make those differences and it comes from management down on local levels.</p>
<p>I don’t get those criticizing OP for not dealing effectively with customers. What about the REST of the customers in the store, especially those in line in back of the rule-breakers? Why isn’t pointing out the express lane limit (politely, which is what OP did) to one customer the RIGHT thing to do if other customers (presumably several more than the 1 rulebreaker) are inconvenienced and it makes THEIR shopping experience sour or at the very least less than desirable? </p>
<p>It’s one thing to be waved into the line by a manager or a check-out person when there are no lines or you are only one or 2 items over, or for whatever discretionary reason the cashier or manager decides, but doesn’t management want MORE customers back rather than the one who is annoying everyone else?</p>
<p>The manager who immediately took this bad customer’s (dishonest) side of things - I almost understand that under the customer is always right theory, and yes, the OP might as well get used to the unfairness of that situation in a retail industry, because that’s the way it is when you are trying to please customers. But the cashier can certainly feel upset about it, can’t she? And maybe wait until an appropriate later time to address her concerns with the manager? And inquire as to in what situations (and why) one customer’s needs are more important than other customers being potentially turned off from ever returning to the store.</p>
<p>Rocky, one thought of why a manager might do that is for the safety of everyone there.</p>
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<p>I must be missing something. Why is it good customer service to accomodate the person who has many, many more items than belong in the express line, but not accomodate all of the people waiting patiently with fewer than 20 items?</p>
<p>It isn’t. Had I been in line behind the OP’s customer I would have let that manager know why I was never returninig. I will shop in a store that treats their GOOD customers well and demands that their bad customers treat others with courtesy and respect.</p>
<p>Slithery,
The WalMart policy is to allow the customer to be on the honor system regarding the number of items. That approach follows the old adage that the customer is always right even when they are not right. It is best of avoid any disputes with a customer even if you think the customer is wrong. If the checkout clerk really felt there was a problem, they could have quietly called the supervisor over to review any questionable situation. This employee not only did not support the company policy but they felt that being corrected by the supervisor was also a mistake. The fact that this incident blew up automatically indicates that the employee did not handle it well. This is about an employee with a self righteous attitude that caused a needless commotion in the store.</p>
<p>3bm–“why I was never returning”…it’s Wal-Mart–pretty sure I’m going back!</p>
<p>edad, it’s bad customer service to get my name wrong. 
:D</p>
<p>“The customer is always right even when they’re wrong” might be Walmart’s policy, but it’s not good customer service. And again, how is that helping the customer with a few items who gets rightfully upset because they’re stuck behind someone checking out carts worth of stuff? Both customers can’t be right. Walmart’s policy sounds more like “the first customer is always right even when they’re wrong; customers after that are wrong even when they’re right.” That’s a policy that’s going to automatically cause problems.</p>
<p>[Bad</a> customer service, bosses and co-workers ? Not Always Working](<a href=“http://notalwaysworking.com%5DBad”>http://notalwaysworking.com) is full of stories that make the OP’s management look like shining angels of retail. Many of the workers reporting on their boss’s idiotic policies do end up finding jobs elsewhere. Others find ways to deal with the insanity. Some are lucky enough to have other customers who stand up to the bad apples.</p>
<p>Read some of the OP’s comments to see why they do not belong in customer service:</p>
<p>“I work at a Walmart that serves a high volume of customers, customers that are usually angry and have an agenda… it can often times be very frustrating… I find that stressful and annoying…the customer gloated and bashed me I’m frustrated with the lack of support… Surely yielding to every customer cannot possibly be the way to go. It was absolutely embarrassing watching my manager and the CSM bow down and kiss this woman’s feet when she was being disrespectful, making a scene, and being unreasonable… just wanted to scream today…I personally would have asked them to leave the store…It was insane.”</p>
<p>Remember we are hearing the story from the cashiers point of view and it seems the OP is at war with the customers. Remember also this customer had seen a supervisor who gave them permission to check out in the express line. Or at least that is what they claimed.</p>
<p>Read some of the OP’s comments to see why they do not belong in customer service:</p>
<p>“I work at a Walmart that serves a high volume of customers, customers that are usually angry and have an agenda… it can often times be very frustrating… I find that stressful and annoying…the customer gloated and bashed me I’m frustrated with the lack of support… Surely yielding to every customer cannot possibly be the way to go. It was absolutely embarrassing watching my manager and the CSM bow down and kiss this woman’s feet when she was being disrespectful, making a scene, and being unreasonable… just wanted to scream today…I personally would have asked them to leave the store…It was insane.”</p>
<p>Remember we are hearing the story from the cashiers point of view and it seems the OP is at war with the customers. Remember also this customer had seen a supervisor who gave them permission to check out in the express line. Or at least that is what they claimed.</p>
<p>edad, you see a cashier at war with customers, I see someone venting while away from the workplace. I am declaring myself the customer who is right. 
:)</p>
<p>(This from the Jabberwock Inc. policy of how the poster who quotes this policy first is deemed to be correct. 
:D)</p>
<p>The reason the OP is venting has a lot to do with a personality that does not seem to be able to fit with customer issues. If I read the story correctly two supervisors and the customer service manager all disagreed with how the cashier handled this. Another incident and the OP will probably not need to decide if they want to find another job. WalMart will make that decision for them.</p>
<p>Deborah - good point in post 69.</p>
<p>edad - I’m with Slithey! also, it isn’t really fair that you cut and spliced OP’s original post to include only those venting, frustrated lines – that’s selective editing to make your point. And as you said, we don’t really know anyone’s side but hers, but the point of her posting WAS to vent after all. I really doubt that in daily full 8-hour shifts she is “constantly at war with her customers.” She would have likely been fired long ago if that were the case. </p>
<p>I think the decisive factor here, for me anyway (and I speak from biased experience, admittedly), is that this is WALMART. They cater to the masses, good, bad and ugly. I think OP is probably a fine retail worker and is probably 99% of the time perfectly pleasant and accommodating to her customers, and I think she should not be dissuaded from looking for OTHER retail work. There are lots of non-Walmarts out there looking for dependable, conscientious workers.</p>
<p>Who among us probably HASN’T worked some retail or other direct customer service job (fast food, as my kids did) as young adults; it’s part of the learning experience and the posters who point out that dealing with this kind of stuff (including both horrible customers and poor, unsupportive management) is important for our growth for lots of reasons. If nothing else, it encourages further education so we don’t have to be Walmart cashiers forever. (Surely someone will take offense to that, but I don’t care).</p>
<p>edad, I’m with Slithey and Rocky on this one! Neither you nor I were there to watch what happened. So this is what the OP wrote - in a nutshell… The OP was not arguing with the customer about the number of items, another cashier sent the customer to the OP’s register, and, according to the OP, she was “thrown under the bus” by the customer when the manager showed up! Let’s take the OP’s words at face value, and yeah, there are customers that need to be fired!</p>
<p>OP, good luck with the dental school!</p>