This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at York U chapter.

Having worked various jobs myself in the past, and knowing people with different jobs, there are a few things sometimes employees wish their customers knew or wouldn’t do. Here’s a few that I have gathered from many complaining sessions.

When you’re waiting for your order, please don’t watch us as we make your food.

It makes us uncomfortable and it is kind of annoying because it adds unnecessary pressure to a minimum paying job that no one wants to be doing.

If you need something from us while we are at the cash, please stand in line like everyone else and wait for your turn.

Other customers will appreciate it too.

Don’t come shopping on the weekend without expecting it to be busy.Do come, just brace yourself because patience is key.

Complaining to us that there is not enough staff to help you is not going to make us move faster.

We don’t get to pick how many employees work, we get assigned shifts by our manager. Our manager only gets a specific amount of hours to assign every week. Complain to them, in fact, you’re better off complaining to head office. You would actually make an impact.

If the policy of the store we are working at doesn’t work for you, contact people who are responsible for that.

We are just employees following the policy.

We understand what you’re saying, even when it’s in another language.

A lot of us are actually bilingual, if not trilingual, so chances are we know what you’re saying as you tell your friend that you indeed wore the item but don’t want to say that to us. You just gave yourself away and don’t even know it yet.

Don’t come to a regular store expecting to be treated as if you’re buying a $5000 Gucci bag.

It’s just a $19.99 shirt on sale. Calm down.

We are human beings too.

Everyone has problems and there is never a justification for mistreating employees just because they are serving or helping you. We are not lower than you, you are not above us. We also have problems, but we don’t take them out on you because that’s not right. Neither should you.

Some things take time.It is what it is. It takes time to make you a full meal, it takes time to go through a shoes storage room to find your exact size, it takes time to process your application and it definitely takes time for us to understand one another and that’s okay. We grow, and we learn.

Bottom line is treat us with some respect.

Things Employees Want Their Customers to Know

We wanna slide into your DMs