Rude shopkeepers, how to deal with them!
Bula vinaka shoppers. Two incidents happened recently that I would like to talk about in this column. A shopkeeper in Valelevu I had bought a copy of The Sunday Times newspaper from with a $100 bill almost rejected my purchase because he claimed he had no change — until I told him I was also buying a recharge card.
He quickly grabbed the note and gave me my change with the newspaper and a $10 recharge card.
In another incident a shopkeeper in a bread shop in Nabua rudely returned my cash when I politely told him he should not be smoking and serving customers.
He had a cigarette in his mouth while trying to pack two loaves of bread in a plastic bag.
He rudely said, “Don’t buy the bread then!”
He responded with his limited English and it made me wonder what could consumers do in situations when shopkeepers are rude or refuse to serve them.
In my situation, the shopkeeper was offended by the truth. Have you ever been dealt with by a rude shopkeeper?
A colleague, Joe said he had experienced this rudeness a few times.
“A few times I’ve been asked ‘Yes… what you want quite rudely” and this is when I immediately leave the shop.
“Mind you…this happens mostly in family-owned shops in residential neighbourhoods.
I asked how he responded.
He said, “On one occasion I entered a shop and was asked in a not-so cheerful tone “What you want”and my immediate reply was ‘I will not shop here anymore if that is how you greet and attend to customers.”
Two other colleagues said they had encountered rude and moody shopkeepers who have no customer service skills at all.
Andrew said there was this one time in Suva around January when he was served by a rude and loud shopkeeper.
“I wanted to top-up $5 on my bus card so I proceeded to hand the money and card to the shopkeeper, there was someone else beside me also wanting to top up $10 for their bus card.
“While I was waiting I did not notice that the card given to me was not mine so when I walked away this shopkeeper screamed after me in a rude tone and even gave me a “death stare” in front of a crowd at the bus stand.
Andrew said in order not to cause too much trouble he kept apologising and left.
“However it was a very embarrassing encounter,” Andrew said
“The incident happened at the Suva Bus Stand which is practically busy all the time with people topping up their cards and waiting for their buses at that time in the afternoon. “Looking back, I would have stopped apologising because it wasn’t my fault and at the same time I would have instructed the shopkeeper to tone down her voice and talk to me in a civil manner.” Andrew said shopkeepers too should go through some form of training to know how to deal with customers. He said they should deal with shoppers respectfully because without customers their business wouldn’t survive. Training should include the area of speaking with the right tone and having manners as they are there to serve customers. “We are the ones giving them an “income” … respect should happen both ways and being rude to customers is bad as it is a reflection of their business,” Andrew said.
So what would you do when faced with rude shopkeepers? Boycott shopping in their stores or report your issues to the Consumer Council of Fiji. Remember as a consumer you have the right to be treated with respect. So keep that in mind! Happy shopping, shoppers.