If there's one thing I hate more than working in retail, it's the customers. I only started working at Menards a couple of months ago, but I found out pretty quickly that I was extremely annoyed and irritated by customers. Every day I juggle menial tasks and deal with strangers who think they are better than me. Now, I understand that I was hired on the hardware “team” to assist customers as best as possible, but I never imagined I would have to take care of them like a parent takes care of a child. I swear you could put each customer into specific categories. The three most annoying customers, who I bet could be found in any retail store, are classified as follows: people who shop and leave, people who say, "I'm just looking." and the ever-dreaded last-minute shopper before the store closes. The first are the people who "buy and deliver". These customers are probably the most common annoyance in the retail industry today. They hide in the crowd, with objects in hand, ready to drop into random places at any moment because they have nothing better to do with their lives. I've personally never seen a "shop and drop" in action, but I found merchandise I'd given to a guest tucked into the deep shadow of a random shelf in another section of the store. Now, I can understand why someone would think nails could go next to large sheets of drywall instead of the nail island, but I can never understand why a large table would go next to the Martin 2 flower beds in the Garden Center. Even worse, is when I have a customer who wants me to assist them put a large item, like a five-tier steel shelf, into their cart, only to find the same cart an hour later, with the shelf still... ..half of the paper...that's not that bad, especially for a part-time job to earn some extra money. The pay, depending on the store, is good enough to fill half your gas tank for a week, or pay 1/4 of that rather large dental bill you just received in the mail, but I digress. Honestly, I really enjoy helping customers to the best of my ability, as long as they are nice to me. Nothing makes me smile more than when I make a good sale. Some customers are amazing! In fact, I personally know many who are loyal and follow my advice or randomly pop in to talk hardware. When I have an extremely friendly customer, it helps break the zombie-like feeling of doing mindless tasks. Unfortunately, all it takes is one customer who “shops and leaves,” says “I'm just looking,” or a last minute before closing shopper, to ruin my day..
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