Consumer Behavior

More than half of store associates have dealt with abusive customers

Photo: Adobe Stock

March 25, 2025

More than half of frontline workers, 53%, have encountered customers who are verbally abusive, threatening or unruly.

Retail workers are the most likely to encounter unruly customers, with 61% having dealt with a recent incident. More than a third have been required to stay in a situation with a customer where they felt physically unsafe. As a result, 81% feel burned out and 40% say their manager rarely or never checks in on their stress or emotional health.

Those are top findings from Perceptyx's report, "The Forgotten Frontline: Closing the Gap in Engagement and Support."

The report data came from a survey of 21,000 frontline employees regarding experiences at work, according to a press release on the findings.

Employees who have faced unruly customers, compared to those who have not, are 1.3 times as likely to be seeking a new job and 2.2 times say stress from work is impacting physical health.

Perceptyx researchers found that more than half of workers who encountered unruly customers also faced discrimination or bias from a customer. That's 2.7 times more than other employees and suggests that at least some unruly or aggressive behavior from customers is motivated by discrimination.

"From being cursed at on the phone or at the customer service counter to threats of violence in a hospital ER, frontline workers in all fields deal with difficult customer interactions," said Emily Killham, senior director and head of the Center for Workforce Transformation at Perceptyx. "Added to the high-pressure conditions, unpredictable workloads, and safety concerns, they are also more likely to deal with limited career growth opportunities, inequitable benefits, and inconsistent communication from leadership than their non-customer-facing counterparts."

Perceptyx is the employee experience transformation company, providing enterprise-grade employee listening, analytics, and behavioral science that activates people and delivers business impact.