A guide to shopping: An education in Common Courtesy

For those of you who go shopping anywhere let me first explain that yes people who work in a retail/service job are paid to deal with the public. At the same time just because you walk into a place and spend money doesn't mean these people are your slaves and need to bow to your feet upon entering. So therefore let me help you with my Guide to Shopping and some courtesy tips you should do for your fellow hardworking peers. Why? Because you don't want people coming to YOUR job and trashing the place or giving you extra work! Do you?

1. You don't know what kind of situation a person is in, a family member may have died, they may be sick, they may have been working a 10-12 hour shift. So just because someone doesn't fall over you and isn't super happy when you come in doesn't mean they are rude and you, in turn, shouldn't be rude or complain about them.(Now if you consistently go somewhere and consistently get bad service then you can complain)

2. If you are going in and want a favor such as returning something without a receipt, opened, or after the return policy, do not be rude and demand they return it for you. Explain nicely and ask politley why you want them to bend their policy for you. If its a regular employee and they say they cannot do it politely ask for a manager and again explain the situation and ask for the policy to be changed for you. Almost every manager at any store can make an exception to store policy. However if you walk into the store and demand them to break the rules, its probably not gonna happen. Respect is a two-way street just as employees need to respect the customers the customers also need to respect the employees and policies.

3. If you go into a store and pick up anything but then decide you do not want it.....put it back where you got it. It amazes me how lazy most people are who will pick something up and be right where they got it and still just throw it wherever they want. Also don't just take it to the counter and throw it at the person expecting them to put it back. This ecspecially applies to the dressing room. It is so rude to take a bunch of items into a dressing room and just leave them there.

4. Don't ask stupid questions like: Is that all you have of something? Of course it is what kind of buisness sense is it to leave half the product in the back. Also if there isn't a price on something don't ask, "Is it free then?" Come on you know its not free thats just stupid and annoying. Other dumb questions include "Do you work here?" when they have a name badge or are working. In a sports store, "Is this half off since they lost?"

5. If you are greeted or asked for help, respond to the questions. Don't ignore them or rudely say I'm just looking. On the same token don't tell workers your life story, honestly they don't care.

6. If you have children teach them NOT to go into stores and TOUCH EVERYTHING.

7. Don't complain about the store music. You are in there 5mins, 10mins, 30mins, at most an hour while the workers are there 4 to 8 hours. Sometimes music is the only thing that gets people through a crappy day. Also 90% of stores are playing some kind of Corporate music that they have to play.

8. Most people only get about 30mins for lunch, if you see someone is on break don't hassle them or ask them questions.

9. If there is a stack of folded items don't dig through the stack and grab one out of the middle. Chances are the one on top wasn't the one on top at the beginning of the day and THEY ARE ALL THE SAME

10. Don't bring food or drinks into stores and set them down on top of the merchandise or just leave them half full in the store.

11. When you are buying alot of items or heavy items have a plan to get them to you your car, most places aren't equipped or don't have people to carry your stuff for you.

12. Don't go somewhere and see that the employees are busy with tasks and just stand there in a huffy mood. They may not have noticed you or think you're just looking, it doesn't hurt to ask for help with something.

I offer these tips to keep you from looking like a fool or just one of those rude, lazy, dumb people. Remember you get what you put into things, if you're polite as a customer and treat employees like people then you will get 10x better service than if your rude and just expect that cause you walked in they should bow at your feet and wait on your every need.