Ugh I agree with most of those points. I've never worked retail, but I've worked at a gas station, a grocery store, a bagel shop, and a ridiculous-busy call center.
Especially at the call center, I'd deal with people wanting me to change corporate policy all damn day. One of the stores we were parts department for was Best Buy, so we dealt with Best Buy PSP stuff (extended warranty) and we'd get people all the time who'd bitch because they wanted this or they wanted that, and we simply could not do it. They didn't seem to understand that if it were up to me, I'd just do what they wanted so I could get them off the phone and they'd just leave me the hell alone. I was on the phone with one woman for over an hour and a half, and I was in the call center until an hour after we closed (she called at about 11:15, we closed at Midnight, I didn't get to leave until after 1am) because SHE ordered the wrong knobs online and was bitching because we wouldn't cover return shipping.
I honestly don't know which was worse, the call center or food service in general. People definitely think that because you work in a grocery store (I was in the deli) or a bagel shop, you must be stupid. Or when they order what deli meats they want, it goes something like
Them: onepoundturkeyhalfpoundamericancheeseohthaturkeywasboarsheadcajunbythewaythecheesetooquarterpoundsopressataslicedsuperpaperthinohmakethecheeselandolakesinsteadquarterpoundmagheritahardsalamihalfpoundwilsonhamshreddedandapoundofthatprosciuttoalsosuperthin
me: the Di Parma, or the Gold?
them: :look of shock that a) I dared address them and b)I dared ask them a question: what's the difference
me: well, the Gold is aged for about 6 months and is actually cooked, and it's from canada, and the di parma is aged for 2 years, and it's made the traditional way, in Italy.
them: that parma one then. I'll be back in a half hour to pick it up kbai
me: wai-
them: (gone)
them: (back 5 minutes later, not 30 minutes)
them: where is all my meat? pshhh what slow service, I can't believe this
or at the bagel shop, I mostly took orders, ran register, cleaned, and did the basic bagel stuff (toast it, cream cheese/butter/pb&j/etc) but none of the hot bagel sandwiches. If it took a while for a sandwich to come out because we were packed, they'd give me and the other counter girl the stinkeye, as if we had any control over how fast their food comes out.
We also had a tip jar, and we'd have lots of people take our money out of it, so we had to start cashing it out and keeping most of it below the counter, as soon as there were $5 in singles there.
I've got a few horror stories, but the thing that always makes it almost worth it is when you get that one really awesome customer that just makes your day. At the call center, I had this one guy call up that had already been on the phone with my friend/coworker Johanna, but his phone dropped the call, and when he called back, I got the call (there's anywhere from 20 to 115 of us on at a time, depending on call volume/time of day, calls get queued up) and he told me the situation. Jo had all of his info already in one of her tabs and just basically had to check him out, so I just stayed on the phone with him til she finished her call so I could transfer him. Rather than have him on hold forever, I stayed on the line for a bit, and we were talking about FPS games and the internet, and he wanted to know if the IT guys upstairs were the creepy unshaven cave type, or the socially awkward bowtie pocket protector type (they were neither.) It was just nice and refreshing to talk to someone who treated you as a human and not some subhuman waste of matter. When I transferred him eventually, he went on to later tell Jo that she should go home, drink some beer, and smoke a doob, 'cause she earned it
He also tried to get her to leave special instructions for UPS to "just like... throw it over the fence" (this is an expensive laptop battery.)
And of course, you get the creepy guys that are like "your voice sounds sexy" or "along with the schematics for my fridge, how about you send your number" but I'm pretty sure with my phone voice sounds like an 8 year old, so I guess I just got all the pedo calls