The Australian city with the WORST customers – and the rude acts that frustrate retail and hospitality staff the most

The Australian cities with the rudest customers have been revealed, along with the habits that most irritate staff.

BizCover, Australia’s leading online insurance service for small businesses, has found that Sydney is the city with the worst behaved customers in the country.

A survey of 1,000 business owners in 22 cities found Brisbane ranked second for rudeness, followed by Geelong, Canberra and Adelaide.

The rest of the top ten was made up of Ballarat, Perth, Newcastle, Melbourne and Wollongong.

When it comes to the ways customers irritate their employees, the survey found things like price complaints, clogging shelves, noisy drinkers and splitting bills.

“The most common type of misconduct in Australia is complaining about price, with Brisbane coming in first,” BizCover reported.

‘In stores, Australian customers are most guilty of changing their minds and leaving unpurchased items on random shelves, with Newcastle being the most guilty of this.

‘Geelong has the most noisy and boisterous pub guests, while most pubs in Brisbane complain about the prices.

‘People eating out in Ballarat most often ask to split the bill in cafes and restaurants.’

Looking at specific industries, the top five worst customer behaviors in bars are: complaining about prices, being loud and unruly, ordering a cocktail that isn’t on the menu and asking for change, saying you know the owner for discounts, and clicking your fingers or whistling to get the waiter’s attention.

Retail customers were reprimanded for leaving items on random shelves, ufolding clothes on display tables, pwhile talking or texting, and jokingly asking to use an employee’s staff discount and aski staff to repeatedly check the stock ‘at the back’.

Customers of cafes and restaurants were found guilty of ssplitting bills with large groups of people, bringing food or drinks from outside, ordering meals and asking for large changes in the ingredients, misbehaving when being served, and making overly complicated coffee orders.

“Our research reveals which cities experience the most poor customer service etiquette, with Sydney leading the way,” said Sharon Kenny, Head of Marketing at BizCover.

‘Common problems like complaining about prices, leaving items on random shelves, and splitting bills in large groups occur across the country.

‘Despite these challenges, many entrepreneurs still report positive customer experiences, underscoring that there is room for improvement in customer interactions.’

Despite compiling a long list of negative interactions, 55 percent of business owners rated their overall customer experience as “excellent,” while 39 percent rated it as “good.”

Only 0.5 percent found their experience ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’.

Still, 41 percent of small businesses found that customers have become less patient and more demanding, while 15 percent found that they have become more polite and attentive.

The study also looked at the differences between men and women as customers.

Of the business owners, 65 percent said women have better customer service etiquette.

However, 51 percent said that men are more likely to intervene when they witness bad behavior.

Customers between the ages of 45 and 55 show the best manners, while people aged 24 and younger are considered the least polite.

The research was conducted with the help of research agency PureProfile between May 12 and 20, 2024.

BizCover also surveyed 1,039 of its customers across Australia between May 17 and 27, 2024.

BizCover is an online platform that allows business owners to compare quotes from the best Australian insurers.