Staples — Local services in New York

Sad. Store 171 in Woodside, Queens, NY. The workers don’t care. They simply just do not care. My last interaction took 3 cashiers and 1 manager to try and fix a mistake a cashier did - she entered we were paying partial cash instead of using a gift card, and she didn’t know how to void her mistake. Nobody did. So their idea was to charge us and refund us as though we were making a store bought return, then charge us again! But they weren’t even charging us correctly nor refunding the right amount. It was a mess. When I pointed out there were no apologies the manager gave one, but she managed to apologize as if it was against company policy. To give you a visual, I am 50 walking with a cane due to a recent spinal surgery and my mother who was with me, a lovely 79 years old. Besides the 3 cashiers and rude female manager, our first encounter was a rude floor associate who was reluctant to tell us the price of the chair we wanted. It wasn’t marked. There were about 5 or 6 display chairs unmarked. Does anyone even care anymore? We left without the purchase because after spending an hour with their cluelessness we just wanted to get away from them. There was ONE bright light in that place - an African American gal who works in the printing department. She wasn’t working on the day we were there, but I’ve seen her other times I was in. She is so positive, upbeat and helpful. She has a future. I just see no future in this local store. Sad to see these stores from an era of American consumerism tank and become wastelands of what once was a shining achievement in capitalism.

I remember being a kid and walking into a Staples or Best Buy (which is nearby), and these stores were bustling with shoppers and it seemed like each isle had a sales associate eager to sell and knowledgeable about the store products. Now it’s like walking into the least maintained funeral home. Workers look sad. They don’t want to engage nor have any knowledge of what they sell. Will tell you to just go online. Someone could argue, “this is symbolic of the CEOs at the top making all the money while the workers live in despair”, but it’s more than that. It’s a culture of pure laziness and negativity. I remember working in retail as a teenager into my 20’s. I wanted to be helpful. I wanted to have positive engagements with people. It was more about the positive experiences I wanted to have, with or without a paycheck. There is this attitude with so many Americans anymore that you must pay them to be nice and kind on AND OFF the clock.

Fine, don’t be cheerful, but at least know how to work...

The most horrific customer service. I walk in Thursday, September 25, 2025 at 3 PM. There’s a cashier, the only cashier checking customers out. Right on the cash register, the manager is leaning against her counter. I stopped there look at them say, excuse me. I got no response whatsoever. I walk over to another lady where she’s standing by the printing section, she’s helping another Customer, but I don’t want to be intrusive and tried waiting to get her attention. I get nothing so I walk back to the cashier and the manager who was standing there which I was not sure if he worked there until I went back the second time and managed to see his shirt. Now the girl, the cashier’s noticed that I actually needed help and she asked me if I came to return something. I replied, no, I just need to know where can I find laminating sheets. Now the manager decides to answer facing down, not even picking up his face or his eyesight I couldn’t even understand where he said at first. So I asked again I said, excuse me, and he goes aisle five so and so you know where the isle is. Me being the educated human being that I am I turned around. I went for my laminating sheets, I finally found them and went back to find a register. I was hoping I would find a self checkout register just so I wouldn’t have to go back there. Negative, I had to go back exactly to the one register that was open trying to handle everybody else. I’m standing in line waiting and I was going to be the next Customer, but two other gentleman just came and stood in front of me just because there was an item that was being held by the register I figured out at the end of the transaction. But it was basically me feeling unnoticed. I must’ve been an invisible Customer, who was not in line and not going to pay money or didn’t even matter enough. Not that I care to matter to anybody, but that was just a very disrespectful customer service. If I walk into a store needing help, I expect to find the help that I need with a courteous manner. I did not walk in there disrespecting anybody I walked in there respectfully trying to get what I need and to be out as soon as I can.. Do not go there find another staples because this is not the place to come to. What did I get out of this experience, if the manager behaves himself so disrespectful, what can you expect from everybody else? He’s modeling the...

So there UPS service section in the store, a bad attitude young lady around 11:30am August 21st 2024 @ this staples location REFUSED to ship a small package for my ELDERLY MOTHER (70s) who had to commute half an hour on bus, for a reason the employee would not answer her, And was redirected to the STEINWAY location far away while It's clear from the outside of the store (with a giant UPS logo on the wall outside) that it is in fact a shipping point.

What's become of customer service nowadays? Just young "workers" with no sense of courtesy they just make their own rules. Must be some lazy worker with 0 heart and 0 class ABSOLUTLEY UNPROFFESIONAL. So was the young man, another employee in the same department, who my mother put me on the phone with to try to assist with getting the label. He could have simply taken my mom's phone and sent the PDF to their email in order to print it out and instead cut me off without saying anything and passed the phone back to my mother rudely saying "I can't help you then" with no professionalism whatsoever.

I don't know what has happened with the managers of these locations and why there is no emphasis on courtesy, customer service and professionalism. That is an elderly woman and my mother and could be their own and anybody else's I'm sick and tired of the cold-hearted nature of today's working class generation. WILL REPORT TO THIS LOCATIONS...