Is it just me, or do people in general seem to be ruder than ever? In particular, I mean the people out shopping who have no respect at all for sales staff. Didn’t their parents ever teach them the basic etiquette of how to behave when shopping?

When I see a display of rudeness buy a customer to a store employee, I always wonder how the customer would feel should the tables be turned. It’s never pleasant to be spoken down to or to get a dressing down for something that most likely isn’t your own fault. And that’s what happens, over and over in stores across America.

In general, many shoppers seem to treat sales associates as their own personal helpers. I don’t know where or how this lapse in etiquette began, but it’s obvious. Note the impatience and the glaring looks when you’re waiting in a line to be helped. I’m not referring to the looks from the employee at the register but the looks from the people in line.

Face it, sometimes a store is extremely busy and for whatever reason they don’t have enough staff on to help everyone in a timely manner. Maybe those impatient customers should think back to the last time they were in their doctor’s office. I’d bet anything that they didn’t get in for their appointment at the time it was scheduled. That’s just life.

Another thing that smacks of rude behavior is the customer talking over an employee when the employee is trying to explain store policy. Some customers don’t want to listen to anything but their own voice and think if they raise it, they will get what they want. Unfortunately, sometimes this happens, which sets a very bad precedent for the business. And if you are an employee of a business who believes the customer is always right, you have little recourse.

Certain people seem to think nothing of treating other people like they are servants. I have to laugh when I think of a person I know in retail who is a professional in his field. He is far above the status of a clerk, yet rude and demanding customers always seem to get the best of him. He is extremely polite and soft-spoken and tries every which way to reason with them. They don’t want to hear what he says and sometimes storm out, muttering under their breath and leaving him feeling as though he has done something wrong. He hasn’t. That’s just the way some people are these days.

If I could change one thing in the world of retail, besides improving the pay and working conditions, it would be to create a shopping public who respect the people who are helping them. Maybe if some of these losers had to work in retail for one day, they would gain a new respect for the sales associates who have to put up with their type every time they go to work.