Sales Assistants Are Just That: Sales Assistants!

The following is written for the benefit of sales assistants across the United Kingdom. After two days of persistent, soul-destroying abuse, enough is enough.

Retail is a fast-moving, quick paced industry, with a high turnover of staff at the bottom. Sales assistants come and go in the blink of an eye. Their job is self-explanatory: to assist with the sale of goods in any way. Yet there are difficult complexities within this wide-ranging brief.

At the weekends, many people who do this difficult job are still in full-time education; they are 16 to 22 year olds who are still at school, college or university (Where I work is no different). For five days a week, these people stress, strain and worry about exams, assessments and coursework. These are the primary concerns of these people.

For two days a week, they seize the opportunity to earn some money. Many, like myself, do this through the retail sector. And for most, this is their first job.

I personally like my job. I am happy to work for the amount of money I am paid. I think the working conditions are good. I like my boss. My good relationship with my manager means I want to do a good job not only for myself but for him as well (it was not always like this). If I fail in some way, I let myself down, and I let him down. I do not worry about the company because we are part of a chain. The company does not exist on a day-to-day basis.

What makes the job difficult is the customers. Very often, it is they who determine how difficult the job is. While they have the ability to make the job easy, they can also make it near impossible.

My workplace caters for the upper echelons of our society. The people who shop there are wealthy, affluent, successful people with a large amount of disposable income. The middle and upper classes are our target market. As a result, our prices are staggering. A tin of coke: 75p Seeds that you can get from a market stall for 99p: £3.00. Chocolate bars that are 30p elsewhere: 55p. My personal opinion is many of our products are overpriced. But there are people willing to pay these prices, and as long as they keep coming through the doors, we will continue to charge them over the odds. One gentlemen came and complained to me about the price of one of our products. He was a pensioner, and he struck me as being a smart man. But he kept complaining to me about the prices. I tried my very best to explain that it was not me who set the prices. I was just the person who had to charge them. But he could not understand that. He persisted. Quite what he wanted to achieve, I still don’t know. If he wanted me to feel bad, he succeeded. All customers should remember that the sales assistants are just that: sales assistants! We do not set the prices, and we cannot change them. I don’t mind customers who come and say to me “oh, these are a bit expensive, aren’t they?" because that implies they do not expect me to do something about it. Customers should not persist with probing questions about the prices of small goods because it is not us who set them -- it is either the manager or the company!

A gentlemen came to my till with two bags of compost: the first was a 75lt multipurpose, PLU code 106; and the second a 25lt John Innes number 02, PLU code 132. ”It is not £3.99!” he bellowed. I was absolutely certain the multipurpose was £3.99 because it was also on offer, three for £10.00. I explained this to him politely.” It bloody well isn’t,” he cursed, “it says £2.99 outside!’ He slapped his credit card on the counter.

“If you’re disputing the price,” I said, gritting my teeth, “I’ll get the manager.” He crossed his arms, furiously. He was not going to be overcharged by some punk, I could see it in his body language. I am a calm person, but I wanted to give him a swift right hook. “Here, hold on to this a minute,” I said sliding his credit card back to him. It lay openly on the counter for all the customers behind him to see. He turned his back.

In a way, that made me laugh, but it also made me cry a bit inside. I was crying for his stupidity. He was making a scene about one pound, but he was quite happy to abandon his credit card -- his entire bank account -- on a shop counter, with no sales assistant present.

Thankfully the manager was not very far away and came and dealt with him. He eventually agreed to pay the £3.99 for the multipurpose compost, and after he had taken it to his car, he came back inside and insisted he showed the manager the sign that said £2.99. The gentleman had been looking at the wrong sign. He made a fool of himself. But he was not very humble about it. He walked past me on his way out. I glared at him. He did not apologise. He did not apologise for raising his voice, for shouting, or for using abusive language. He did not apologise for being incredibly rude about the small matter of one pound. He had more money than sense, and I hope he never sets foot in our store again.

Customers like this man are more and more common. The customer is always right, apparently. This is nonsense. Why is it acceptable for the customer to abuse sales assistants? Why can we not give as good as we get? I fear one day I might just speak my mind to a customer. I might just let them know what I really think.

Without the customers, we would not have jobs. And without us, they would not be able to spend their money. Respect needs to be a two-way thing as well. If someone shows you respect, you should show them respect. I always greet my customers with a pleasant smile. They usually just grunt or sneer. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I had no pleasant customers over the weekend. No one discussed the weather, and no one engaged in phatic talk. It may have been just phatic talk to them, but I would have been glad of the interaction.

Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright