Video: CVS customer berates worker over donation button. Why?

[John Dule]

Also it would be nice if we could stop wishing death upon people and making sweeping claims about their moral character based on selectively edited videos of them on their worst days.

[Hermit For Peace]

I spent a lot of years in customer service so I'm speaking from my experience. Customers get bombarded by people and situations asking for money all the time. It gets tiring, and I don't mean to sound mean. That customer service guy was not very good. You don't question the customer, that's what I was taught. Why didn't the cashier just keep a smile on his face (behind the mask) and hit the red button himself? I mean, keep the peace. He probably lost the store a customer.

"The customer is always right" has been the status quo mindset in customer service for several generations, but that has been changing for some time.  Towards the end of my retail career, I had no qualms with telling an unreasonable customer "no", and explain exactly why they were being unreasonable.  Boomers and most Gen Xers hated that because they're used to bossing employees around.

I was told many times "I'll be speaking to your corporate office", but nothing ever happened.  And also "I'm never shopping here again", to which my usual response was "Good!"

I think that customer service in the past was more customer oriented. Today, I go into a store and I get ignored, I never get a smile, I am treated just like a number. Well, I couldn't do my job like that and I wouldn't even today. Sure, if it's a bad customer I say all sorts of things about them in my mind, but you still want their business so you have to temper yourself.

I do realize that there are some customers that are totally unreasonable and not likeable at all, and you deal with them accordingly, but in this video, I think the cashier did it all wrong and if I was his boss, I would either retrain him, or let him go.

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

Here's another comment. Yes, customers can be A-holes, and there can be personality clashes between you and them where your ego gets involved, like what I saw in the video. But basically you want the customer's business and so you extend all the courtesies you can to make them feel valued, not like they are stupid or creepy or unreasonable. You don't ask them "Why are you fighting me?" Or tell them you Have to do this or Have to do that. It's just not good customer service.

Retail workers have absolutely zero reason to want any particular customer to come back. They don't get paid any differently nor do they have any major stake in the company they work for. Most of those positions come with zero benefits, meager pay and dealing with dopes like this all day.

When I worked retail I was consistently complimented by my managers and guests for my people skills and work. Typically I was put in positions that required the most customer interaction for this reason and had great reviews plus the best NPS (customer surveys) in my department. So it isn't like I'm just some salty retail worker either, but that doesn't mean you're there to be a punching bag for people who've had a lousy day.

Give great and friendly service to regular people who treat you with respect in kind? Of course.

Put up with self-entitled pricks who take out their frustrations on someone just trying to make a living? No way.

[Calthrina950]

Here's another comment. Yes, customers can be A-holes, and there can be personality clashes between you and them where your ego gets involved, like what I saw in the video. But basically you want the customer's business and so you extend all the courtesies you can to make them feel valued, not like they are stupid or creepy or unreasonable. You don't ask them "Why are you fighting me?" Or tell them you Have to do this or Have to do that. It's just not good customer service.

Retail workers have absolutely zero reason to want any particular customer to come back. They don't get paid any differently nor do they have any major stake in the company they work for. Most of those positions come with zero benefits, meager pay and dealing with dopes like this all day.

When I worked retail I was consistently complimented by my managers and guests for my people skills and work. Typically I was put in positions that required the most customer interaction for this reason and had great reviews plus the best NPS (customer surveys) in my department. So it isn't like I'm just some salty retail worker either, but that doesn't mean you're there to be a punching bag for people who've had a lousy day.

Give great and friendly service to regular people who treat you with respect in kind? Of course.

Put up with self-entitled pricks who take out their frustrations on someone just trying to make a living? No way.

I fully agree with what you say here. And this is precisely the approach I've adopted towards the customers that I deal with. I'm kind and respectful towards people who are the same to me, and fortunately, that is the majority of customers. I'm less friendly and much stricter towards customers who are hostile or unfriendly to me. In other words, what you and I are talking about here is the Golden Rule of Respect, which I believe applies in all aspects of society. And like you, I've been complimented by supervisors, coworkers, and customers for being friendly, polite, and hard-working.

[Mercenary]

While he behaved poorly I understand people being annoyed with those donate buttons. But tip buttons for take out orders bother me even more.

[Joe Republic]

I think that customer service in the past was more customer oriented. Today, I go into a store and I get ignored, I never get a smile, I am treated just like a number. Well, I couldn't do my job like that and I wouldn't even today. Sure, if it's a bad customer I say all sorts of things about them in my mind, but you still want their business so you have to temper yourself.

Older generations still believe this, but younger generations are increasingly standing up for themselves when having to deal with unpleasant people in professional settings, even when you're supposed to wear the figurative 'customer service' mask.  Not to mention that job satisfaction in customer service is in a nadir because pay rates have not been keeping up with the cost of living for many, many years.

And of course like iBizzBee said, what does the average retail worker care if a melodramatic customer announces they will no longer shop there?  Sure, if every other customer says that and sales at that location fall off a cliff then that's clearly a staff training problem, but on average?  Nah, no employee has any reason to care, and would be glad to never see that customer again.  (They still will, because those types of customer 'threats' are usually empty.)

[Hermit For Peace]

It's obvious that times are changing from back in my days in customer service. Nobody should be a doormat, but at the same time, you owe some type of allegiance or respect to your employer, and what they want most is their bottom line. Screw with their bottom line by being disrespectful to customers and to me, that's grounds for examination of your ability to do the job. Maybe you are in the wrong business.

[Hermit For Peace]

Here's another comment. Yes, customers can be A-holes, and there can be personality clashes between you and them where your ego gets involved, like what I saw in the video. But basically you want the customer's business and so you extend all the courtesies you can to make them feel valued, not like they are stupid or creepy or unreasonable. You don't ask them "Why are you fighting me?" Or tell them you Have to do this or Have to do that. It's just not good customer service.

Retail workers have absolutely zero reason to want any particular customer to come back. They don't get paid any differently nor do they have any major stake in the company they work for. Most of those positions come with zero benefits, meager pay and dealing with dopes like this all day.

When I worked retail I was consistently complimented by my managers and guests for my people skills and work. Typically I was put in positions that required the most customer interaction for this reason and had great reviews plus the best NPS (customer surveys) in my department. So it isn't like I'm just some salty retail worker either, but that doesn't mean you're there to be a punching bag for people who've had a lousy day.

Give great and friendly service to regular people who treat you with respect in kind? Of course.

Put up with self-entitled pricks who take out their frustrations on someone just trying to make a living? No way.

Good for you that you were praised so often for you customer service work. Frankly, I wasn't that good.

[beaver2.0]

Why would anyone *not* want to push a red button regardless of what it is? That’s the real question.

Could he be a Crip and a hater of the color red?