Why Do People Harass Retail Employees?

A Customer Harassing An Employee

All too often, employees in the realm of retail deal with harassment from the customers who shop there, as well as other employees they work with. Almost everyone who has ever clocked into work at a grocery store, restaurant, bar, or other retail location can speak from first-hand experience of enduring or witnessing harassment. Why does this harassment occur? Why do people give these employees–who do their best to always be helpful–such a hard time? Well, there is a possible explanation. Harassment committed by customers can occur due to the fact that the harasser exudes a more powerful status over the victim, and that the perpetrator will most likely get away with their actions.

Just about anytime someone goes to a place of business, it's almost a guarantee that a form of harassment can be witnessed. Most commonly, people witness an angry customer yelling at a cashier for a price (that they don't control) or an item not being in the correct location--which is also out of their control. However, some customers can be heard making crude or inappropriate remarks to employees. Another common instance of employee harassment is just the simple belittlement of them by the customers, no matter the employees' statuses. Why do these customers feel like they can make these remarks, yell at, and belittle these workers?

This could be due to the power dynamic an employee has over a customer. As stated in the academic journal, ‘But It’s Your Job to be Friendly,’ “The power that customers exert over employees in service transactions makes employees feel intimidated, humiliated and hesitant to complain about unwanted…attention.” This power dynamic makes employees feel helpless and unable to stand up for themselves. Customers feed off of this passivity and continue harassing relentlessly. 

Even with the power dynamic in mind, how do the customers not fear repercussions? This can be explained by the fact that customers know they will most likely get away with the behavior. According to Shegerian Law Firm, it is quite hard to prove legally if harassment has occurred. Most employers seem to not go through the trouble of taking legal action when their employees are harassed. Because of this, those who harass the customers assume that the most that will happen to them could potentially be getting kicked out of the store, but even that is assuming justice will be served at all.

Some people don’t see this harassment as an issue. They may believe in the phrase, “the customer is always right.” The people who believe in this may think that the employee is incompetent or even stupid. However, this idea is antiquated at best, and problematic at worst. As time has gone on, more and more people are siding with the employee. This coincides with the rising number of people who have worked in retail at one point or are working in the realm now. The realization of how stressful these retail jobs actually are is much more apparent now than ever before. It is seen by most rational people as immoral to treat employees as second-class citizens to the shoppers or customers at their establishments. When the rights of the employees as people are violated, it doesn’t matter if the customer is “right” in the dynamic. 

When people think of workplace harassment, many immediately think of coworkers harassing others. However, customers harass employees on a regular basis as well. By taking legal action against customers who harass their employees, employers can help end this harassment. By doing this, the customers won’t feel as if they can get away with the behavior, and in turn, will no longer experience the power dynamic they feel. If customer harassment of employees becomes a minimized issue, establishments will become so much more peaceful without the fear of an angry customer belittling or screaming at an employee.