Customers are ‘phubbing’ in shops, cafés, and pubs — and staff are sick of it

It ranges from being distracted by your screen to maintaining a call while being served (Picture: Getty Images)

Everybody’s concerned with kids being on their phones, but what about the adults?

According to Rouz G Habibi, an increasing number of people refuse look up from their screens when they come into her café — even while she’s trying to interact with them.

Speaking to SumUp, the owner of More Munchies in Acton Vale, London, called it a ‘constant’ frustration, adding: ‘They walk in on their phones, order on their phones, sit down on their phones. They don’t even look up when you’re serving them. I find it very rude and, honestly, quite sad.’

Rouz isn’t the only service worker struggling with this either.

In a study interviewing almost 3,000 retail employees, phubbing (aka phone snubbing) was found to be a common experience, making those on the receiving end ‘feel ignored and find it difficult to deliver quality customer service.’

Online forums tell a similar story, with staff at hospitality venues and supermarkets alike sharing horror stories where not only do customers distractedly scroll while being served, they even turn up at the till mid-phone call with headphones in.

‘Then they have the nerve to get irritated with you for trying to work out what they want,’ bemoaned one Reddit user.

‘So many customers sit down at my bar, and before they even order they’re just zeroed in on their cellphone,’ said another, while a third added: ‘I honestly can’t understand why people think this is okay. Do they assume we’re not worth their attention, or do they just not care?’

Retail staff say it makes it harder to provide good customer service (Picture: Getty Images)

Bakery and café owner Beverly Botha is in the same camp, saying it’s become ‘more and more common’ over her 12 years in business. And like Rouz, she finds it ‘so incredibly rude’.

Her tactic for phubbers at The Travelling Cupcake in Andover, Hampshire, is usually to outright say she’ll serve them when they’ve finished on their phone, but sometimes she prefers to ‘just carry on doing what [she’s] doing until they get the hint.’

‘As a business owner, I really do understand,’ Beverly tells Metro. ‘I have to be on my phone so much, so I do get it. But if I’m speaking to a human being in front of me, I always try and make a point of not being on my phone.’

While Claire Alexander, owner of The Killingworth Castle pub and rooms in Wootton, Oxfordshire, finds most people are present when interacting with her staff, they’re ‘accustomed to’ some ignoring them in favour of a screen.

‘It comes down to manners,’ she tells Metro. ‘Parents often lead by example and don’t have phones around, it’s often when adults are together you might see more of it.’

Having been in the trade for 19 years, she’s learned to ‘roll with it’ when this does happen, explaining: ‘People usually look a bit guilty when they realise they’ve been rude and kept you waiting. But sometimes it just means someone else gets served quicker when others aren’t “ready”.’

Claire says customers are increasingly trying be more present (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Claire tries not to pass much judgement when she sees customers glued to their phones — both in an effort to ‘provide a backdrop to have a good time’, and because they might actually be posting positively about the pub on social media.

She’s also noticed ‘a slight shift’ in the other direction recently, with more people keeping their phones off the tables and ‘actively seeking conversation again.’ And those that do, ‘generally seem to have a better experience because of it.’ 

‘Pubs are the original social media, and while I wish more people would realise this, I genuinely believe the tide is at last turning in favour of real connections and face to face contact,’ Claire adds.

‘The question is whether the tide will turn quick enough to support pubs —who face such difficulties right now — in real terms.’

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