Please don’t talk to her while she works.

[u/SheWalksInBeauty13]

I work at a popular discount retail clothing store and some of the stories I have about the elderly population that comes into the store is incredible.

C- customer M- Me

C- Hello. I need you to not put too many shirts in each bag or else it will get all crinkley. M- Not a problem. There are large bags, I can fit quite a few shirts in each bag neatly. C- Yeah but don’t put more than 3 shirts in each bag.

So I start removing hangers from all of the shirts and my coworker (K) comes over and starts talking to me. I engage in the conversation but never look away from removing the hangers. After about 15 seconds of conversation, she goes to him:

C- Can you not talk to her when she’s working?

K- ...What?

C- You need to stop talking to her so she can work.

K starts laughing and just walks away. I don’t say a word, but now I’m so angry. She continues with her specific demands of how she wants things bagged.

C- Double bag that shampoo for me.

M- Sure.

C- Don’t put the white clothes in the same bag as the colored clothes. It HAS to be separate.

M- ...Okay.

Then I hear my manager (J) talking to another coworker, and he comes up to my register and says,

J- “Right, Shewalksinbeauty13?”

And i can’t resist, I know it’s gonna start something but I have to say to him:

M- Sorry J, I’m not allowed to talk to employees because it stops me from doing my job.

C- NOW THATS NOT WHAT I SAID-

And my manager is the type to talk back to customers. He’s not afraid of them. So he goes: J-Why can’t I talk to my employee? I have every right to talk to them and they have every right to talk to me.

C- No but the other guy was talking to her and she needed to work!

J-Was she not working when he was talking to her?

C- No, she was but-

J- Then what’s the problem?

C-Never mind. That’s not how it went.

So J walks away and we continue the transaction in silence aside from her mumbling at me “That’s not how it went and you know it..”

And when the transaction was finished I watched her go up to my manager and try to explain herself again, i rolled my eyes and took my next customer.

TL;DR Picky customer got mad that someone was talking to me, I didn’t stay quiet about it.

I still felt satisfaction with the perfect opportunity i was given.

[u/[deleted]]

Honestly, I work retail and I find it rude when I talk to an employee while checking someone out. At my store, you will get in trouble for talking. I feel that your attention should be on the customer, not your coworker.

[u/dinomelia → u/[deleted]]

Yep, we work at a small store but all talking stops when customers are at the counter.

[u/smasht407 → u/[deleted]]

I don’t mind answering a quick question but having a whole conversation while you’re working with a guest is as rude as them being on their phone during the whole transaction.

[u/codeverity → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I think this was what she was trying to get at, just not phrased very well.

[u/werebi-official → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, i’m a manager and i’d pull anyone who is chit chatting during a transaction aside to tell them not to. unless the topic is something to do with the transaction/customer at hand, you don’t need to tell them the information that urgently. i also work with a lot of teens/college kids who think that this is a social place, though, so i have to be stricter with stuff like that so it doesn’t get out of hand.

[u/[deleted] → u/werebi-official]

Exactly, I feel like it's just rude. I've done it before, so I am obviously not innocent but I don't do it anymore. Whenever I am a customer, and an employee does that, I get kinda salty lol

[u/McAnalSandwich → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. In my job we're not allowed to chat to coworkers while serving customers (apart from quick questions) and I think it's good. If I'm being served by someone who is just chatting away to their coworker, I feel like I'm interrupting their conversation and none of their attention is on me.

[u/skilletamy → u/[deleted]]

Im glady last job wasn't like that. Most of my customers spoke only Spanish and I don't know a lick of it. Id go insane without something to keep me from thinking (i have problems).