Retail workers - take pride in your work?

[Spud1]

I know that many of you work in retail, often part time alongside university (like me) or while raising kids, looking for better work etc etc, so I have a question.

How many of you actually care about what you do? Take pride in your work? Always try and give the best service?

The reason that I ask is that every supermarket I have worked in over the past few years has operated poorly in some way, and I believe that this is 100% caused by staff not caring about their jobs..I just wondered if it really were the case

Personally, I *always* try my best when at work - always going that extra mile for customers (smile, take directly to the product if asked, never be rude etc), and always doing the best I can at the task i'm doing, whether its my usual job (price control so labels, pos etc) or if I'm just stacking shelves or on a till.

Too many people seem to have the attitude that just because its a retail job it doesn't matter what they do - so they don't do their job properly..for example just shoving stock out seeminly randomly on the shelves (something tesco stafford staff are expert at doing), not rotating stock (leaving closest dates at the back of course..), leaving rubbish all over the place, cages lying around etc.

Even though it is a retail job, and therefore usually a horrible experience, its still important to take pride in what you do..and if only people would then everyones life would be easier, and supermarkets alone would save thousands of pounds PER STORE.

Anyway I may be preaching to the converted, or some people might have a different opinion..but what do you think? Am I right to complain about these lazy slackers making my life harder (and losing the company money) or is it OK to not care because its just a retail job?


PS. I must add that I do hate my job, I don't enjoy working in retail and in exactly 7 weeks time I will be out of it for good when I finish uni

[GrahamGarside]

To be honest I'm usually pretty forgiving with retail staff as long as they aren't outright rude with me. You pay minimum wage for a job and not many people will take pride in it. I draw the line at gamestation staff though

[listy]

my mum works for safeway and her job is to check for out of date stuff they dont rotate stock in her store unless its her whos doing it

i think in that store its bad training tbh i worked there for few weeks but me and my line manger didnt get on

but had worked fine in farmfoods for 6 years before that

[alsenior]

i try to but when the manegment is next to useless it gets hard . we had 7 people (4 staff and 3 managers running a 10,000sqft store ) on saturday. so i got home on saturday and was knackard. although they do train you well and the pay is just more than national minimum wage

[Spud1]

Thats another thing - the sheer incompetence that you see all over the place..date rotation is one thing that I don't think you can blame on poor training - its common sense tbh.

Just because its minimum wage doesn't mean you can't take pride...there is NO EXCUSE for poor customer service where it can be avoided..

[steve threlfall]

I know that many of you work in retail, often part time alongside university (like me) or while raising kids, looking for better work etc etc, so I have a question.

How many of you actually care about what you do? Take pride in your work? Always try and give the best service?

I used to but not anymore. This is mainly to do to being forced to deal with certain bad mannered/ignorant/stupid/BO ridden/rude/sarcastic/irritating customers. Obviously, there are decent people who dont treat you like something from the bottom of their shoe, but they don't stick in yor mind like the bad ones do.

The reason that I ask is that every supermarket I have worked in over the past few years has operated poorly in some way, and I believe that this is 100% caused by staff not caring about their jobs..I just wondered if it really were the case

Personally, I *always* try my best when at work - always going that extra mile for customers (smile, take directly to the product if asked, never be rude etc), and always doing the best I can at the task i'm doing, whether its my usual job (price control so labels, pos etc) or if I'm just stacking shelves or on a till.

Too many people seem to have the attitude that just because its a retail job it doesn't matter what they do - so they don't do their job properly..for example just shoving stock out seeminly randomly on the shelves (something tesco stafford staff are expert at doing), not rotating stock (leaving closest dates at the back of course..), leaving rubbish all over the place, cages lying around etc.

Where i work, poor operation is due to poor management (in store and in Swindon). In our particular store there are no problem staff.

Even though it is a retail job, and therefore usually a horrible experience, its still important to take pride in what you do..and if only people would then everyones life would be easier, and supermarkets alone would save thousands of pounds PER STORE.

Anyway I may be preaching to the converted, or some people might have a different opinion..but what do you think? Am I right to complain about these lazy slackers making my life harder (and losing the company money) or is it OK to not care because its just a retail job

Lazy slackers will be present in all jobs and not just retail and i would agree that you are justified in moaning because you have to pick up the slack of others. As much as i hate working retail i always do my job properly and with customers that are not abusive, my attitude is always 100%.
I voted don't care because the ailing retailer i work for clearly does not care about me.

PS. I must add that I do hate my job, I don't enjoy working in retail and in exactly 7 weeks time I will be out of it for good when I finish uni

Lucky you mate . After the best part of five years working in a shop (and now for less than minimum wage because im only 21 ) i am losing the plot. I think its worth adding that unless you have worked in retail you CANNOT even begin to understand what its like. The mind numbing tedium combined with arsey customers who treat you like crap, add up to a soul crushing expereince at times.

[Steve]

Some people in retail are OK, usually those that value their job, but know they aren't going to be doing it forever; it's a means to an ends, and their grateful for it.

I take issue with some of the bolshy 'management' types. And by management I mean those that are ever so slightly more senior than everyone else; the ones that take the flak in place of the real management; the ones who, in particular, don't care about the extra responsibility, they just want to be better than everyone else.

I was quizzing a bloke in Currys once, one of said types about something that I won't bore you with now. Long story short, he got bored of reasoning with me and just turned his back on me.

I guess he didn't know I was an IT journo... silly man.

[GrahamGarside]

There are two ways to manage. To be loved and fair with your workers so they will do what is asked of them, and to be a complete anal tool with your workers so they do some of what they are nagged to do.

The second comes cheaper so they usually end up the managers of most retail outlets.

I've never worked in customer service but everyone I know who has has had a tool of a manager who makes them hate the job, expects them to do most of what should be their work for half their pay and ultimately drives them to quit.

I really sympathise with retail workers because they are almost all capable of so much more. And it must be so fustrating to work for someone you are usually far more intelligent than.

[autopilot]

It depends of the company. Stacking shelves is usually a pretty demeaning job and they get paid very little in relation to how much the company actually makes. A prime example is Tesco. I try to cut people some slack in these stores.

What really bugs me is places like PC World where the staff have so little product knowledge, but that s really the companies fault who dont invest in their staff enough. I worked in PC World and Dixons part time a few years ago while i was a student, most of the staff did not have a clue - lie to customer was common practice is it meant not looking like an idiot and making a sale. The things is that i would not mind paying a little more than i would online if i could go in and actually get some decent advice. But as soon as to ask a question deeper than whats printed on the side of the box they often cant help at all. I hope companies like the DSG Group one day realise this.

But i know how hard it can be. I really hate all the smart asses who just go into stores to basically pick on the staff by asking deliberately hard questions and make oh so clever remarks about how they can get it cheaper online. You know what, they don't care! There was a big thread about this once on the KusomPC forum with people gloating about how the outsmarted the staff in stores with their genius knowledge when they had no intention of buying anything. I have never seen such a bunch of self obsessed creeps, it one of the reasons i stop using those forums.

[Funkstar]

I've been in a couple of DSG stores and helped the sales guy out by explaining things more clearly to customers. In all fairness you do get staff in these kinds of stores that do actually try, but they have so many different products and technologies to remember it can't be easy.

When i have done this, the staff have usually been appreciative.

[whitebloodcell]

I try and be as polite and helpful as possible for the first couple of hours, until the monotony of the works kicks in. And when teenagers follow me around the car park, (I'm trolley boy) throwing fags at me trying to provoke me into a fight, its hard to really be in the greatest of moods.

[alsenior]

I try and be as polite and helpful as possible for the first couple of hours, until the monotony of the works kicks in. And when teenagers follow me around the car park, (I'm trolley boy) throwing fags at me trying to provoke me into a fight, its hard to really be in the greatest of moods.

shoplifters are fun though especially as they try run for it and you kick the legs from beneath them

[Mike Fishcake]

I really hate all the smart asses who just go into stores to basically pick on the staff by asking deliberately hard questions and make oh so clever remarks about how they can get it cheaper online. You know what, they don't care! There was a big thread about this once on the KusomPC forum with people gloating about how the outsmarted the staff in stores with their genius knowledge when they had no intention of buying anything. I have never seen such a bunch of self obsessed creeps, it one of the reasons i stop using those forums.

Completely, 100% agree. I've mentioned things like this on these forums before.

[Lee H]

shoplifters are fun though especially as they try run for it and you kick the legs from beneath them

Watch out they don't try and sue you for injuries caused by said trip and then not forgetting their human rights and all that gubbin's thieves, rogues and other nasty scum moan about when been arrested/sent down for a few months.

[DavidM]

Isn't that just true

[zashark]

I try to be truthfull nearly all the time, you treat people how you expect to be treated, i even tell people to buy from other places where it is cheaper, if the manager aint there, (this is when i worked at pcworld) but some people are strange and very annoying and must fight fire with fire!