Rude behaviour by shoppers becoming a sign of the times, says Canada’s retail council [Video]

Christmas shoppers at the Stokes store in Charlottetown’s Royalty Crossing Mall will see plenty of signs advertising bargains during its closing sale, as the kitchenware chain shuts down some of its locations.

They’ll also see a sign at the checkout asking them to please be kind and respectful to staff.

Store manager Emily Boles said they felt some customers caught up in the stress of holiday shopping needed a reminder that abusing employees is not OK.

“I’ve had my staff being called stupid. I’ve had people say the reason we’re closing is our fault — just general bad comments. And I’ve had a gentleman throw a kettle at me.”

This kind of story doesn’t surprise Jim Cormier, the Atlantic director for the Retail Council of Canada. He said poor behaviour from customers has increased over the last couple of years.

“There seems to be a growing number of consumers that …