It’s almost night. You’ve been working all day and feel downright fatigued. Your head aches, your nerves are on the edge and your eyes are closing. All you want is to get home, fall into your bed and sleep off. But you can only dream about it because, while the store is already closing, your job is only beginning! The policies of the supermarket requires you to stock up all the shelves and deal with all the remaining customers before you can leave. And you have no other thing to do but to drink a cup of coffee, put on a smile and listen to the nonsense the first buyer is pouring into your ears. Beware, the Night of the Consumers begins!
And they’ll be complaining to you a lot! They’ll be addressing you with all sorts of requests, from helping them find the right product on the shelves to demanding a refund for something they bought here last time. So the best thing you can do for your own psychological safety is try and steer clear of any buyer who’s roaming the store and skipping the area before they see you. Luckily, here you won’t be attacked by all the suffering customers at once. Nobody will interrupt your constructive dialogue (which often happens to be a destructive monologue, though) until you’re finished, so don’t worry, it’s just one visitor at a time. Of course, it doesn’t make it any easier to listen them out, but at least the one you’re talking to at the moment will have your undivided attention and you’ll be able to cope with the task at hand quicker.
Be careful not to leave their pleas unsatisfied, though. Because none of the customers gives a damn about your career and they will call the manager at every possible opportunity. And make no mistake, when he appears over you, breathing heavily and darting thunderbolts with his eyes, you’d wish you had been more attentive to the visitors. The consequences of bad customer service will be devastating, and not just financially, but probably also physically. The same awaits you if you mess up the products and don’t get the shelves restocked by the end of the shift. So it’s in your best interest to do your job as good as possible, otherwise… Let’s not forget that Night of the Consumers is labeled as horror for a reason and hopefully you won’t find out why!
