Customers Expect You To Butter Them Up

(I’m in my first few weeks of a new job, and so far the customers have always been really nice and understanding if I struggle to do certain things. I’m on the tills ringing up a customer when this happens:)

Customer: “Oh, I just realised I forgot to get some butter. Can you get it for me?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to leave my till. I can call a supervisor to get it for you, but just so you know, it might take a while before someone comes to the till if they’re all busy.”

(This is following something that happened the previous day, when I called a supervisor to get a replacement product, and they didn’t turn up for 15 minutes, after which the customer left without it.)

Customer: “Okay, that’s fine.”

(In this case, the supervisor arrives pretty much straight away, and brings the butter for her.)

Customer: *to me* “SEE? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Me: *pretty confused* “I’m sorry; I don’t understand.”

Customer: *sarcastically* “I’m sorry it was such an inconvenience to you to do something so simple for me.”

Me: *feeling really scared at this point that I’ve done something wrong* “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way! I just wanted to warn you that you might be waiting a few minutes if things were busy. It was no inconvenience to anyone, and I’m sorry I made you feel like that.”

Customer: “Oh, okay. In that case, don’t worry about it! I obviously read the situation wrong.”

(I felt a little bit shaken up, but satisfied that it was dealt with now. The next day, my manager came over to tell me that the customer had put in a complaint about me, saying I was extremely rude and unhelpful. Since I’ve just started here, and the manager doesn’t know me yet, this could seriously damage my chances of keeping the job. So, to anyone who decides to put in a complaint against an employee for no good reason: have a serious think about it first, and consider just how much damage you could really do against an innocent person.)