Retail industry staff stereotypes customer traits racially; gets slammed for views that benefit nobody

 

THE idiom “birds of a feather flock together” means that people who have similar interests, backgrounds, characters or values tend to spend time together and form groups. 

The teeming flock of shoppers that head towards Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) Mall, however, can be further subdivided into several distinct species based on their ethnicity, according to a self-proclaimed TRX retail staff.

Threader fomc_5k (@fomc_5k), claimed that the behaviour of customers can be ascertained just from their ethnic grouping.

For starters, Malay customers will behave as if they were the ultimate shopper with an unlimited budget.

However, the reality is that they only had enough funds to last half a month and were wont to cancel on purchases at point of payment. 

Chinese shoppers are labelled as “common sense out” types who would inconsiderately mess up neatly folded clothes. 

They would attempt to try on “two bags full of items” when there is a limit of three items by the retailer.

And after trying them all on, “they’ll opt to buy just three while demanding for endless discounts even on sale items”.

The retail observer’s jab on Indians falls on their peculiar sense of timing as they would arrive at shops just as they are about to pull the shutters.

Moreover, they would make all sort of demands without actually buying anything.

The white-collar crowd that would flood the mall at noon daily was also a target for this irate retail staff who noted that these pampered office dwellers would hang around till 2pm before heading back to their cushy jobs. 

Peculiar habit. tendencies

Unable to resist a dig, it was surmised that those white-collar snobs who looked down on retail staff were in the same wage bracket as their mall brethren. It’s just the clock in hours that differ. 

The observations weren’t limited to locals as the scores of tourists that visit TRX were also given a less-than-positive reviews.

Arab visitors were said to have offspring that often misbehaved by messing up shop displays. This was alongside their apparent habit of hiding rubbish inside clothes that have been tried on. 

Worse yet, this disgusted retail staff had to put up with the unbearable stench that these visitors seem to leave behind in the changing rooms.

“Even the cleaners feel like the oxygen had been sucked out of the space,” she opined.

Mainlander Chinese tourists were seen as difficult even though they appeared wealthy.

They would insist on using Alipay and could not speak English. They were also fond of cancelling purchases because of high taxes. 

These race-based stereotypes were seconded by a few others who worked in similar industry.

One commenter who claimed to have worked in six different shopping malls opined that the views on customer behaviour were “harsh but accurate”.

It was also pointed out that, ironically, the customer who walked into a store wearing simple garb like short pants, slippers and a basic T-shirt were those who would splash the cash.

However, not everyone was so enamoured by these race-based observations. One simply asked where were the positives?

Another argued that even if these observations were true, it was to nobody’s benefit to air such views.

This bit of ungracious moaning about customers was not well-received by a straight-talking netizen who advised the poster “to just stay at home under the watchful eye of her parents” as she only picked on the negative elements.

Yes, the observations on customer behaviour may seem accurate. There are all types and this extends to the buyers’ entourage. 

The buyer who intends on buying will not make a fuss but rather the accompanying party that will enter a boutique with squid-like hands touching everything. 

However, it was quite pertinently pointed out that such poor customer behaviour was NOT the exclusive preserve of any one race.

Botton line is that while a shop assistant’s lot may be made difficult by certain customers’ mannerisms, it is not in any way tied to the shoppers’ ethnicity. The faster Malaysians learn that, the better. – Focus Malaysia