Retail has some of the largest demands for the working class. People are always shopping online or at the actual store but with this, there can be conflict. I personally work in retail and there are many issues, either customer confusion or an error in the system.

I work downtown, honestly, there are people who are entirely rational when it comes to shopping in local businesses. We have a couple policies at the store including no public restroom and all clearance prices are finale, excluding vintage unless otherwise marked marked. Yet, we still have people get mad.

We have a small clearance section with several signs listing ‘50 percent off’ and the items stickered with ‘50 percent.’ A customer who saw the massive amount of soap in our clearance and decided to grab a massive amount, and when I rang up the transaction and said the total, she glared at me and claimed with spite, “That soap is only .50 cents. You are overcharging me! Learn to do your job!” I tried to explain to her that the soap is half off the original price. She insisted I was stupid, wrong and not doing my job properly. I gave up and called my manager. The customer was banned from the store due to the abuse that I received.

This is not only a personal experience, it also happens around the globe in all forms of retail. In an article from the Sydney Morning Herald, Michelle Hooper is among the many who have been verbally abused by customers. One of the incidents includes when a customer shot a pellet gun at her through the window of a drive-in counter at the western Sydney fast food outlet where she works.
“A bunch of teenagers came through and ordered a [drink] and I called out to them, ‘I just got shot,’” said Hooper. “They just laughed and drove away. How can anyone think that is acceptable behavior?”

It is funny that as retail workers we are expected to give in to the customer’s demands, but why? For the company’s image? At what point will the abuse stop for the worker? People need to understand that people are just there to work. They are not at fault for what the sign says versus what the computer says, but with this customer’s need to understand, that mistakes happen and hopefully then everything will go smoothly.

It is time to finally end this ridiculous policy ‘The customer is always right.’  What is more valuable to the business: one measly, rude customer or a loyal, hardworking employee who has done no wrong to the company? At what point will people start to see value in the worker and treat them with the respect that they deserve?