How customers behave with retail staff

To work in retail is to be invisible. People simply don't notice you when it doesn't suit them. When they need you, however, one of a few things might happen...

Most of the time, customers will walk up to you, and, without even a cursory glance at what you're busy with, start asking for whatever they want. 

They don't say "excuse me" even if your arms are full of books and you're half-buried in a cardboard box and your ass is in the air. I think that most people just don't register that retail staff have things to do apart from customer service. (Most of my work is moving goods around the shop floor... it's more of a logistics than sales job.)

I don't mind being interrupted as long as it's quite polite. Something like "Hi, can you tell me where to find Pride and Prejudice?" Why, yes, I can! 

But some people are either badly socialised or plain rude. Instead of saying the above, they grunt the bare minimum: "Jane Austen." Just, you know, the thing they're looking for. Without even troubling to add a "hello" or make it a complete sentence. I find this incredibly irritating. I mean, if you're shopping in a bookstore then you can probably speak English. These people just choose not to expend more than the bare minimum of social energy on retail staff.

After being shown the way, you'd expect customers to say "thanks" or at least nod in acknowledgement. But nearly half of the customers I've met just drift away without a word, so absorbed are they in the object of their literary desire. Call me foolish, but I always expect to be thanked. And so sometimes I say "you're welcome" to thin air.

I don't want to make sweeping generalisations based on accents. But so far I think that Brits and Australians are among the nicest people I've met at the store. With these people I feel seen as a human rather than a walking uniform. I've met a few Americans who have requested an incredibly high level of service, e.g. being personally escorted around the bookstore. I told them I have other things to do. It was irritating but I chalk it down to cultural differences.

As for Singaporeans... uh, probably more than half fall in the camp of those who drift away wordlessly. Guys, you don't need to say "please" or "excuse me" but at least say "thanks" at the end after having received the information or merchandise you wanted! Hold up your end of the social contract, goddamn you!

"Thank you" really does make or break the interaction. Sometimes people are brusque at first but do say thanks after they've been helped (and I know they mean it, because they have nothing further to gain by being nice here). And that makes me feel good.