Are retail associates ready to deal with abusive customers?

Are retail associates ready to deal with abusive customers?

Any job dealing with the public can be a tough gig, but retail employees are experiencing treatment from customers that veers into the territory of abuse with an alarming frequency, according to a recent article in The Age.

In the article, retail workers in Australia told stories of being spit on and yelled at by angry customers. One retail manager said that since he has been dealing with refunds and loss prevention, people have gone as far as to throw things at him and threaten him with a knife.

Employee anecdotes are bolstered by a study by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association, which represents retail and fast food workers, indicating that of the 6,000 members polled nationally, 44.4 percent had been abused physically or verbally by a customer. The organization has launched a campaign to encourage customers to remain calm when interacting with retail employees.

The internet is littered with personal anecdotes and news stories about retail workers outside of Australia facing down abusive and violent customers, especially in the context of attempting to confront shoplifters. In a 2013 post on one forum, an employee seeking retail management work expressed concern that being attacked and forced to defend oneself could result in the manager being fired. An online legal resource confirms that this is often the path of least resistance for an employer to avoid legal liability.

A U.K. government organization called Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released a document called Preventing Violence to Retail Staff, to address the issue of customer abuse, the first version of which was released in 1995.

The OSHA website reports that nearly two million workers in the U.S. each year report having been the victim of workplace violence, but does not split out statistics on employees who are victims of attacks or abuse by customers. It does, however, note that working with roles in which employees exchange money with the public increases the probability that an employee will be the victim of workplace violence.

BrainTrust

"How to respond to troublesome customers must be part of initial onboarding, but also reinforced on a regular basis."

Ralph Jacobson

Global Retail & CPG Sales Strategist, IBM


"...bad customer behavior should not be tolerated — but you might take a moment and ask yourself, why are they so angry at me?"

Nikki Baird

VP of Strategy, Aptos


"After 50 plus years in the business, angry or disgruntled customers are on the increase, as the demands they make are at times over the top."

Tony Orlando

Owner, Tony O's Supermarket and Catering


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Have you witnessed verbal and/or physical abuse of retail employees by customers in the U.S.? Is this type of behavior more prevalent during the holidays? What steps can retailers take to protect their employees from such behavior?

Poll

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Mark Ryski
Noble Member
7 years ago

Sadly, abuse is part of daily life for front-line retail workers — especially during the holidays when lines get long and tempers flare. Some customers believe it is their right to be demanding — they are the customer after all. However, there’s a fine line between demanding and abusive, and front-line workers should not be subjected to this or any form of abuse.

The physical abuse described in the article is criminal and should be treated accordingly. Retailers need to take a strong, zero-tolerance position on abusive customers (which many do), and customers exhibiting this behavior should be asked to leave — period. The health and well-being of employees comes before any one customer.

Jasmine Glasheen
Member
7 years ago

During my days on the sales floor there were many cases of customers threatening or stalking employees. Good retail employees interact with and are polite to everyone, so it can be hard to tell when an interaction takes a turn for the worse. Luckily, large department stores have strong security teams in place. Employees can easily call the security team and have them escort volatile customers/stalkers out, but it can be pretty jarring.

Verbal abuse, however, is slightly more of a gray area. I drew the line at name calling, but many associates grin and bear it. Associates being verbally abused are put in an uncomfortable position: Should they take a stance and ask the customer to leave, thereby risking a negative performance review, or should they respond with stoic kindness?

It’s important for employees in these circumstances to know that management and security stand behind their right to be treated fairly. As my retail experience is with big box stores who had pretty great no tolerance policies, I always felt safe.

Richard J. George, Ph.D.
Active Member
7 years ago

I have not witnessed abusive behavior but have seen customers denigrating retail staff. Unfortunately, some of this behavior is a byproduct of the demand for instant gratification prevalent in our society today.

Retailers can learn from these situations by doing the following: Understanding the reasons behind the customer abuse of staff. Taking a bad situation and fixing it before it becomes a real problem. Fixing the problem at the source. Changing a negative situation into a positive one. Seeing the problem from the customer’s perspective.

However, management can NEVER allow their staff to be abused in any manner, physically or emotionally. Here is where the manager needs to extricate the staff member and take control of the situation.

Shep Hyken
Active Member
7 years ago

I’ve seen angry customers, yet I haven’t seen anyone cross the line into being physically abusive. There are words, sometimes inappropriate, and regardless of the reason for the abusive language, there is no excuse for it. Stress and tension is higher during holiday shopping. When there is a confrontation, a manager must step in. If it is the store’s or employee’s fault, a manager can help right the situation. But even so, the manager must show employees that he or she has their back. It is an opportunity to showcase the manager’s leadership qualities, negotiation skills and to become a role model for employees to emulate.

Ralph Jacobson
Member
7 years ago

As a supermarket manager in Chicago in the ’80s, trust me I had my share of abuse. How to respond to troublesome customers must be part of initial onboarding, but also reinforced on a regular basis. Lead by example and require your managers to stay on the sales floor as much as possible.

Lee Kent
Lee Kent
Member
7 years ago

I’m going to add a slight twist here. I stood in line one time and witnessed incredibly abusive treatment by a customer to the cashier. The cashier tried very hard to ignore the ranting and continued trying to ring up to get the customer out of the store. She was getting so rattled her hands were shaking. She finally asked the customer to leave and the customer would not. The cashier was the manager on duty so there was no one else to call.

My twist here is that none of us in the line, nor any other staff, said or did anything. In hindsight, I think that was awful, me included. It was clearly the customer who was in the wrong but we left it to the cashier/manager to handle.

Where’s the procedure for that? For my 2 cents!

Bob Phibbs
Trusted Member
7 years ago

Training employees has dissolved into “over there is the bathroom and breaks are taken here — shadow Jane.” In addition, stores that were created to run on four or six person coverage are now on two. Everyone’s at the breaking point. Conflict resolution isn’t a part of the job description. Especially with the add-on demands of picking online orders.

Until retailers put enough people on the floor and train them well I would expect more and more instances of employee abuse by customers. Shoppers know if they do it and throw in, “the customer is always right” they’ll probably get their way and management will not side with the employee.

Nikki Baird
Active Member
7 years ago

I think retailers need to be sensitive to the amount of frustration their experience creates in customers. We’ve come out of decades of cutting labor in stores, of forcing self-service onto customers, of forcing store employees to tell customers, “I’d like to help you but my system won’t let me do that.” Violence on planes is a good example — what do you expect to happen when you cram people together into less space than they’ve ever had, nickel and dime’d them to get there and then tell them things like “The flight is cancelled and we don’t have another for four days, sorry.” Of COURSE you will get people who are willing to cross the lines of polite society.

I think you’re seeing the same thing in action in retail, though to a much lesser extent. You made me stand in line at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day in order to get the TV I can afford, and after standing in that line for hours, I got there and you didn’t have it? Yeah, it’s not going to be pretty. I filled my basket at your store, but now you expect me to stand in a line 20-people long because you only have one lane open? You can tell me all you want about how the three other people who were supposed to show up called in sick and it’s not your fault, but guess what? It is — because you didn’t pay people enough to make them willing to come in, or you didn’t hire the right people to begin with, or whatever it is.

Violence — even rudeness — is not an appropriate response to these frustrations. It never is. But I see too many retailers who don’t care if the line gets too long — at least they saved on payroll. Or they don’t care that they’re advertising something that’s out-of-stock and they promise no rain check, or the order that they told you was confirmed actually is out-of-stock and now it’s too late for you to do anything about it because it’s sold out everywhere. Retailers heap a lot of indignities onto customers and turn a blind eye to — or then complain about! — the consequences. They need to own their responsibility for contributing to the environment of frustration that leads to people lashing out. Everyone needs to have more respect and empathy for the people around them and bad customer behavior should not be tolerated — but you might take a moment and ask yourself, why are they so angry at me?

Tom Redd
Tom Redd
7 years ago

With retail shoppers that blow up, the floor training and role playing workshops are a must. Store people need to stick with, “the customer is always right.” Some of you know me and when I have seen this happening in a store I step in as a loyal shopper and help calm the customer down or get them out of the store. Sometimes the shoppers need to help control the other shoppers.

I have done this many times and store people are quite relieved when I get the other shopper quiet or convince them to leave the store … and I have not been beaten up yet! If you can ever help the store team then step up — and in — and help.

TRedd

Meaghan Brophy
Reply to  Tom Redd
7 years ago

Tom, thank you for bringing this point up. I’ve been the associate in this type of situation. Just another customer coming up after the issue is resolved and saying “Wow, that person was crazy — you did a great job,” goes a long way. However, I think retail employees should be more empowered than “the customer is always right,” because that power dynamic is what creates a lot of problem situations in the first place.

gordon arnold
gordon arnold
7 years ago

Yes, I have witnessed store associates abused by the consumer, and by management as well, on a daily basis for many years. This problem is growing for a number of reasons. As mentioned in the discussion, training is a problem that has only been dealt with from the legal perspective. Associates are gathered and instructed to read a company policy and training manual and told to sign a waiver form that is filed for future demonstration of company compliance. The manager in charge of this responsibility is rarely trained to instruct with any more effort or understanding. In short, the training to date is useless. This serves to nourish the problem and relative issues to the extent that exponential growth is seemingly out of control.

Solutions like blame, outside consultative services and seminars have shown no ability to stunt the growth of these nightmares. Maybe attaching this issue to the corporate executive pay plans with outside and employee audits might be worth a try — as if that will ever happen or even be considered. If retailers were to develop and cultivate the mindset that “everyone” is a customer, a change for the better would force the evacuation of this negativity. Making customer service and consideration for “all” parties an integral part of the company culture must start from the company’s mission-critical vision.

Mel Kleiman
Member
7 years ago

I don’t think the first two questions really matter. It does not matter whether I have witnessed abuse of an employee or whether it happens more at this time of year or any time of year. The fact of the matter is that it happens and that employees need to learn how to deal with it.

Move out of the world of retail and just think of all of the articles that you have been reading about abusive passengers on airplanes.

Just as flight attendants have been trained to deal with these situations and airlines have very definite policies on how to deal with the problems, retailers need to take the same approach.

Karen McNeely
Karen McNeely
7 years ago

Although nobody should be abused on the job there are certainly ways to defuse most upset customers.

My first rule of thumb is to not get defensive and realize that the customer is usually not attacking the employee directly, but venting their frustration to them as an agent of the company. Realizing this can make it seem less personal.

Secondly, you need to exercise empathy. The worst behaved people feel like they’ve been treated badly, so while you may not feel like helping them out, that really is the best thing you can do. Some version of, “You seem very upset, what can we do to fix that for you?” will go a long way.

If the employee is not able to accommodate the customer’s wishes (which could sometimes be as simple as acknowledging that they had a long wait or had a frustrating experience and to apologize for that, but sometimes not) then either explain what you can do and/or offer to let them talk to someone who has more authority than they do. Even if the employee is the manager, they can always explain that they are not authorized to do that, but give the customer the information to contact a district manager.

There is, however, no reason for a customer to get physically abusive. If that happens it is definitely a matter for security.

Meaghan Brophy
7 years ago

Yes. Absolutely. As an employee in retail settings, I have experienced verbal abuse over the phone and in person (luckily never physical abuse or actual danger). The key to getting through in a verbal abuse situation is recognizing that it is not personal. Remaining calm, friendly, helpful and even joking around can help defuse the situation. Getting upset or angry in response will only fuel the customer’s fire.

Usually, when a customer is being verbally abusive they are not actually angry with the retail employee. They are having a bad day and any speed bump in the customer service interaction serves as the icing on the cake and gives them an avenue to vent built up frustrations.

Since the holidays are a stressful time for many people, and many more people are out shopping than usual, it does create a perfect storm for an increase in abusive behavior towards associates.

However, there is a line between an angry verbally abusive customer and an actually dangerous situation. Managers need to train their associates on how to respond to angry customers and feel empowered enough to call for help or ask someone to leave when the line is crossed. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to prepare associates for these situations and to defend employees.

Patricia Vekich Waldron
Active Member
7 years ago

I have witnessed many ugly situations, and they escalate during times of stress, i.e., holidays. Retailers need to have defined policies and stand behind employees in abusive situations.

Tony Orlando
Member
7 years ago

After 50 plus years in the business, angry or disgruntled customers are on the increase, as the demands they make are at times over the top. We do have a policy of not arguing with customers, and if they are still not satisfied, the manager or myself will step in to resolve the problem. Modern technology online has upped the ante on everything from free guaranteed 1 hour delivery to price matching, and a no questions asked money back on any return, no matter how much the product was already eaten or destroyed by the customer.

This will make for some tense moments at the courtesy counter or check out, and it needs to be handled quickly, and fairly, with someone who can keep the conversation flowing smoothly. We have had to escort — sometimes a police escort — a few drunk customers over the years, as I will not tolerate anyone trying to engage in lewd activity with my young cashiers. For the most part we have dealt with these issues without anyone coming to blows, so I feel fortunate. I know there are other retailers that have broken up fights, been punched, and beaten, so I’m glad nothing like this has happened in my store. I hope all retailers have a safe holiday, and remember to keep the employees safe.

Kyle Harris
Kyle Harris
7 years ago

Well, it’s two-fold. There are untold numbers of unscrupulous retailers out there. Even some of the legitimate ones can have a history of questionable practices. So when someone enters a retail establishment, their internal defenses are already up.

And it’s retail … we open the door to the general public and invite anyone in. You don’t know what kind of day/week/life these strangers have had, but you do your best to make their time in your establishment the best you can.

Those of us who have been in this a long time, you learn something about an abusive customer. Reacting to them NEVER works. It’s like a Democrat and a Republican arguing. And, in fact, it makes a bad impression on other customers. I’ve had a number of people BUY things after getting verbally abused by someone else and keeping my cool.

Years ago I had a customer come from another location and we were supposed to hold something for him and didn’t. He saw the last one of his Christmas presents walk out our door as he was walking in. He was furious. Cursed and yelled at anyone wearing a name tag. Despite calmly telling him I could help him but I “need you to try not to use that language in front of other customers and their kids.” Finally escorted him outside, let him vent, and then went and blew his mind with how we made it up to him. Taking his new system out to his car, he gave me a hug. And everyone saw it. Employees of mine, too.

So the point of all this is … if you work in retail, you CAN’T let the insane people get under your skin. They can be anyone at any time. Do your job, find out where the line is (insulting someone personally will get your out of my store, physically touching someone with intent of malice or salaciousness will, too), and take a break when you need to. If it’s not your thing, cool. Corporate work life abuse can be just as bad, you’ll just be paid better and can shop when EVERYONE else does.

In other words, it’s life.