Customer service

Kimberly

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My daughter (age 28) went into a South London [redacted by administrator], saw the optician, tried on spectacle frames at the front desk, chose some frames, paid, and left. A few days later, she was contacted on her personal WhatApp by a member of the store staff, propositioning her. She raised a complaint verbally and in writing to the store manager, and over the next week was told (in this order): (1) The staff member denied contacting her, that his phone was hacked; (2) The staff member is a well-liked person in the shop team and it would be surprising that he would do something like this; (3) The staff member offered to meet my daughter and apologise (contradicting point 1, as as well as being utterly inappropriate). Since her complaint was not being taken seriously, she wrote to the CEO of [redacted by administrator] and was contacted by someone in HR at the company. There has been an ‘investigation’, which has not been transparent, and [redacted by administrator] now considers the matter ‘closed’, without acknowledging the breach of my daughter’s personal and medical data for the purpose of sexual harassment. This type of data breach for unwanted contact is common. Just amongst my daughter’s friends, I have heard of them being contacted by Uber drivers, Just Eat delivery men, and – astonishingly – a Job Centre employee who texted to my daughter’s friend: ‘You look like a porn star’. As a parent, I am hugely angry and upset about all this. Also, why is it that my daughter has had to do all the work of raising this complaint and pursuing it? For all the GDPR regulations, it seems that accessing girls’ and women’s data for the purposes of unwanted contact and sexual harassment is not on the regulatory agenda at all. It’s just what girls and women have to endure as they go about their daily lives. Enough.

Rachel

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I called an airline customer service line because I wanted to redeem my miles, and it went through to a call center most likely in India. Everything went fine, he gave me an email to write to and asked to include flight details and a copy of my passport (something I checked and he said was necessary to confirm my identity). Once everything was completed, as we were saying bye, he asked “by the way, what’s your name?”. It sounds trivial but it really spooked me. I know it wasn’t necessary for the call otherwise he would have asked it at the beginning and I could tell from the tone what his intentions were. It has stayed with me because he could have my passport details if I sent them to that email address. I don’t know but it just feels so wrong and I hate that I have to feel so gross over something so trivial.

Keely

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I work in a Casino as the only female receptionist and some male customers don’t take me seriously, talk down to me or make a pass at me because I’m being nice. The worse one was when a male customer kept calling me and each call getting more and more aggressive with each call and he said that he’s going to kill me. Now when I have to work nights. I’m worried about my safety. I don’t want to have to feel like that.

Anonymous

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I’m 16 years old and a cashier at a hardware store so we have lots of older men come in. This one man comes in and is chatting with me, he then proceeds to ask if I have a boyfriend. I tell him I just broke things off with my ex and he says “it doesn’t make sense that you’re single cause I was checking you out earlier and wow”. The same day another old man comes in and I help him find some items around the store and he then proceeds to thank me and rub my back. I’ve had so many incidents like this happen and it’s very irritating cause if I say something back they get offended cause they were just “trying to be nice”

Victoria

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I’m an assistant manager in a bank, assisting customers with transactions & account servicing and supervising a team of 10. I can’t count how many times I’ve had a customer, usually male, tells me to smile. I have never, not even once, seen or heard any customer say the same thing to any of my male associates. I’ve also had both male & female customers refuse to speak with me about loans, instead deferring to one of my male associates. Then they are suddenly surprised when an associate calls me over to answer a question or clarify a policy or procedure.

Sales Assistant

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I work in a cafe and there’s a man that comes in known jokingly to me and other staff members as ‘the creepy guy’. He always stares and asks questions, asks us what time we’re finishing work etc. and generally making us feel uncomfortable (I’m 26 but he behaves the same way to my younger 16 year old colleagues – he’s about 50). We sometimes try to get our male colleagues to serve him because he doesn’t act like that around them, but it’s difficult when your main job is to serve all customers. Despite him making us girls/women feel uncomfortable, my manager has told me he’s ‘harmless’ and to just put up with it. It’s left me second-guessing myself, am I the one who’s making a big deal out of nothing? Should I just humour him? It’s also made me very aware as a sales assistant that it is my job to be polite to everyone, but what should I have to put up with in return (including being shouted and sworn at by customers)? I know of a friend who had to leave her job because a customer kept making very sexually aggressive comments towards her, even after she complained to her manager about it. My case is only minor, it’s nothing compared to others, but it makes me feel vulnerable to think that myself and other women working in customer service have little power to speak out against someone’s behaviour.

Marie

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I was on the bus to work a few months back when an argument erupted between the (female) bus driver and a (female) passenger due to the driver asking the passenger to move her mini-suitcase which was blocking the aisle. The passenger refused and started shouting abuse at the driver, using disgusting language. It got to the point where the driver stopped the bus and asked her to get off but she refused and continued to give a torrent of abuse so the driver called the police. We were waiting for the police to arrive and several passengers started talking to the passenger, asking her to apologise to the driver and saying that they were “just as bad as each other”. Eventually another bus pulled up behind us and as we got onto it the (male) bus driver said “oh she should have just ignored her and got on with her job”. Now I was annoyed as everybody else about the interruption to my journey but I completely supported the actions that the driver took. At the end of the day the driver shouldn’t have to put up with that level of abuse from a passenger while she is simply doing her job. Her colleague should have supported her, not told her to “get on with it”, likewise the other passengers should have been more sympathetic instead of getting annoyed that their journey was delayed. It shocks me how this abuse of a woman simply doing her job was normalised, the other passengers and the male bus driver seemed to think that she should just put up with the abuse and get on with it. I have worked in customer service before, and I would not have put up with that level of abuse. I’m now a criminal prosecutor and know that she had every right to call the police. It makes me wonder what would have happened had the passenger and driver been of different genders? If the abusive passenger had been a man would the same approach have been taken? Similarly if the driver had been a man I reckon the second driver would probably have backed him up, not said he should just “get on with it”.

Terri

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Trying to sort out a contract issue in store at Vodafone, the agent looks up from the records on his computer and starts talking to my partner. “Dr Simpkin, I can see that you’re having a problem…..” My boyfriend stops him and says, “No, she’s Dr Simpkin”. Eyebrows raised, the attendant continues talking to my partner, “Oh really?! Are you a Doctor too?” “No” says, my partner slinging a sideways apologetic glance my way sensing that my hackles were raised and just about to launch into a public tirade…..Then comes this from our Vodafone friend …”Oh, I bet she doesn’t let you forget that, hey buddy?!!! hahahahaha”. Contract canceled.