Supermarket workers chatting while working...

Chriskavo

Anyone get really pissed off by the lack of counter assistants in Spar? Every time I go in there to do the lotto or buy a packet of smokes I am usually greeted by a queue that goes to the back of the shop. Their is usually only 1 person working the till but about 4 working the deli with no customers. CMONNN!!! Actually their isn't a lack of assistants but more like zero management going on here. I have made complaints before but just get the usual shrug of shoulders, It annoys me that not more people complain of this.

OutlawPete

Chriskavo wrote: »

Anyone get really pissed off by the lack of counter assistants in Spar?

No, but Cineworld bugs the fcuk out of me when they have queues and only two of the ten tills active.

People be missing the start of their movies :mad:

AnPost in St Andrews St in the city is a nightmare also.

Chicken Run

msg11 wrote: »

Self scan springs to mind...

"Unexpected item in bagging area"

DIE MACHINE !!!!! DIE !!!!!!!! :mad:

lucy2010

Chicken Run wrote: »

"Unexpected item in bagging area"

DIE MACHINE !!!!! DIE !!!!!!!! :mad:

Other night queue a mile long with people & mothers day cards. Place the item on the belt - its on the belt - place the item on the belt - its on the belt... this went on & on & on until 1 guy picked his card up off the belt after a million attempts & walked out the door without paying for it muttering "well if yous dont want me money " ......

alanajane

I would forgive the obvious 'old dear' who is obviously lonely and longing to talk to someone otherwise I take note of the checkout number (if it big store like tesco or dunnes) and complain to staff supervisor on way out...i too much of coward to say something directly to check out operator in case she fires my shopping at me....

iguana

Deleted User wrote: »

In fairness, I can understand the cashiers talking to each other. They have to stand there for hours.

Though I don't agree with talking and doing nothing else, obviously.

I couldn't care less what a cashier does as long as they process my shopping and let me leave the supermarket. If they want to chat with me for a minute that's fine, if they want to stay silent that's fine and if they want to chat to someone else that's fine.

I don't need validation from someone in a shop, I don't need them to talk to me unless there is something which needs to be said. I'm happy for them to do whatever it is they want to do as long as it doesn't delay me/damage my goods. Being a supermarket cashier is a horrible job because far, far too much is asked of them by managers and customers. They are constantly in a damned if they do/damned if they don't situation with people who have no empathy.

Who I do have a major gripe with are managers who don't get on empty registers when the shop is busy. It seems to me to be a major Irish situation where the manager refuses to lower themselves to any job beneath them, like serving customers while they stand around and look self-important.

veryangryman

mikom wrote: »

Shop in aldi or lidl and you won't see this happening.
If they dared open their mouths for a non-work related matter then you can bet herr kommandant in the machine gun nest would raze them to the ground.

Not true

Happened to me yesterday there. 2 cashiers chatting away. Granted there was nobody else in the queue besides me and previous guy.

So i decided that id hold the cashier up when he flew through asking me for my laser card by packing my shopping at the counter. Screw you mate. Clearly their timers for quick processing only kick in when they hit new transaction on their tills

irishh_bob

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Yesterday when I was in the supermarker with my mam and she had her stuff on the conveyor belt waiting for it to be scanned, the cashier was chatting to another customer about how useful the gift cards are (the other customer bought a gift card), they must have been a good 5-10 minutes yabbering away. The other customer had no items on the conveyor belt, she had all her items packed in bags and in her trolley and everything paid for. Just stayed for a natter.

I wanted to stay something, but couldn't, mam would have killed me if I'd opened my mouth to the cashier, since mam was next to be served, not me. If I was alone/ahead of mam, I'd have said something.

Presumably this has happened to Boardsies? What did you do, if anything?

was the yapping customer in front , an elderly shopper

The Lovely Muffin

irishh_bob wrote: »

was the yapping customer in front , an elderly shopper

No.

I'd say she was late 30's.

goat2

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

No.

I'd say she was late 30's.

i do not see older people keeping cue up,
i do expect to be acknowledged if i spend about 200euro per week at shop, and the cashier ignores that fact, i owe her nothing, she depend on me and others entring the store spending to keep her job

orourkeda

Stressing over nothong.

If you feel so strongly about someone holding a conversation then go somewhere next time.

Otherwise stop your moaning.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

orourkeda wrote: »

Stressing over nothong.

If you feel so strongly about someone holding a conversation then go somewhere next time.

Otherwise stop your moaning.

Wrecks my head when they dont wear thongs...

iguana

goat2 wrote: »

i do not see older people keeping cue up,
i do expect to be acknowledged if i spend about 200euro per week at shop, and the cashier ignores that fact, i owe her nothing, she depend on me and others entring the store spending to keep her job

It doesn't really work like that. You are talking about buying mass produced food in a massive multi, multi million pound company with near monopolies. For the items you are buying at the prices you are buying them at you have very little choice of which company to buy from. In Ireland there are only two real choices, Dunnes and Tescos. (Obviously Aldi, Lidl, Supervalue and Superquinn exist but unless you have near access to the north there are only two real supermarket options in the country.)

You are buying mass produced food, served up in a mass sales environment. On a busy shift each til operator deals with 5 figure sums, and hundreds of people. You are a blip, your custom isn't that important, as quite frankly there are very few options about where you will take your money. People don't shop in supermarkets for service, they do it for cheapness.

If you want to go to a shop where the person you deal with appreciates your custom and treats you as the valued customer you are, shop in small, owner-run stores. You'll have a nicer experience, but of course your weekly shop will cost you three times as much.

You can't have it all. Mass produced food and services will never go hand in hand with excellent customer service. The people working on the tils aren't robots, they are people doing a pretty intense job for very little money.

Coriolanus

iguana wrote: »

(Obviously Aldi, Lidl, Supervalue and Superquinn exist but unless you have near access to the north there are only two real supermarket options in the country.)

Why do you say that Supervalu isn't an option? In the two towns I've lived in Supervalu has been the superior option and especially in the last year or two, more than competitive with Tescos and Dunnes.

TequilaMockingBird

hanner wrote: »

i used to work with a guy that used to talk to absolutely everyone! it was so much fun being on till with him, he would have 2 or 3 customers standing with there trollys fully loaded all talking to him as he packed bags!!!

Michael Douglas - Falling Down. That would be what would be going on in my head.

rubadub wrote: »

I LOVE the lidl "pay and GTF away from my till" policy, no room or time for packing at the till.

I love the Lidl "stand off".

Eye to eye contact - unless you put that trolley in the allocated space, you AIN'T GETTING NOTHING SCANNED. It's like The Alamo, but with 72 oranges, a loaf of bread and a deluxe 32 piece arc welding kit. :cool:

OutlawPete wrote: »

I couldn't work on tills, I'd kill someone.

I used to work on the tills in Quinnsworth :eek:, I was so crap. I told the manager to FO and walked out mid scan.

I went on to own my own shop and I SURE SHOWED THEM!! (I'm bankrupt )

goat2

Nevore wrote: »

Why do you say that Supervalu isn't an option? In the two towns I've lived in Supervalu has been the superior option and especially in the last year or two, more than competitive with Tescos and Dunnes.

it is a supervalue store i am speaking of, not one of your aldis or tescos
it bothers me, because i chose to shop local while alot of people are going to the big superstores, so therefore i am thinking of changing my options

Stench Blossoms

I don't mind if the employee's are talking to customers but when they are talking between themselves about everyday life situations (i.e. relationships) then it bugs me.

I normally interrupt them with a really inappropriate comment like "oh my god I think I know who your talking about. He gave me crabs!"

tony1kenobi

I work up the street from a Dunnes and go there most lunch times.I often find the queue times are a little frustrating but I just utilise that time by masturbating.Masturbating while standing up itself is a unique experience.Doing it in a queue in Dunnes offers a far more pleasurable experience.Believe it or not I have never achieved orgasm during such an endeavor as the queue appears to speed up almost in time with my rhythm.One day though...I'll get there....and the cashier will taste some of my muck like I have to taste hers.

Clubnemo

Here I worked in a supermarket and 5 mins of friendly chat can delay ur soul being crushed

oppenheimer1

orla wrote: »

I don't mind if the employee's are talking to customers but when they are talking between themselves about everyday life situations (i.e. relationships) then it bugs me.

I normally interrupt them with a really inappropriate comment like "oh my god I think I know who your talking about. He gave me crabs!"

No you don't.

AnonoBoy

I work as a cashier in a supermarket and our management actively encourage us to chat amongst ourselves while serving customers.

They say (and I'm quoting from our staff training handbook here) "it improves staff moral and encourages customers to shut the f*ck up and not be bothering us with questions about the prices of things and the like."

So there you go.

Corruptedmorals

iguana wrote: »

On a busy shift each til operator deals with 5 figure sums, and hundreds of people.

Not 5 figure? On a busy (long) shift €3k would be standard. The most I've ever heard of being taken in in one shift (pre-recession this was) was €4.5k. Hundreds of people, yep. It sucks when you're tired (and in drapery you're standing up) so the customers blend into each other. Ask customer for clubcard twice, forget to ask the next customer. Blrughh.

Incredibly stressful, ESPECIALLY since Dunnes have this great habit of rostering one person for the first few hours of a Sunday/bank holiday...ad no-one else. Cue mental queues and no-one else to jump on. You can just feel the frustration of the queue as if you're not working flat out in a vain attempt to clear it. Tills suck! I would talk on tills to co-workers, yep, I'd never ignore a customer though and I'd never stop what I'm doing and most of the time I'd wait until the queue is gone before resuming the conversation. If it's too busy, no chance of that. When you're best friends with the people you're on till beside and you have seperate breaks/lunches and/or shifts it's understandable to talk while working....

Aul wans are impossible to get rid of. The amount of life stories have had and requests to put credit on phones...they always have this knack of picking the busiest and most understaffed time as well.

iguana

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Not 5 figure? On a busy (long) shift €3k would be standard. The most I've ever heard of being taken in in one shift (pre-recession this was) was €4.5k.

I often took in 5 figures back in the late 90's on Thursdays and Fridays. I'd easily take in a thousand or more in an hour and I usually did 10 hour shifts on those day in the summer. About IR£12-14k was my usual read. (I took in over IR£23k once, but I'd been working from 9am-10pm with just an hour and a half worth of breaks.) At the time though it was the second biggest supermarket in the country so it was phenomenally busy. The guys who worked on the floor often stayed until 3/4am restocking as the place always looked ransacked (we closed at 10pm).

TequilaMockingBird

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

..and most of the time I'd wait until the queue is gone before resuming the conversation. If it's too busy, no chance of that. When you're best friends with the people you're on till beside and you have seperate breaks/lunches and/or shifts it's understandable to talk while working....

I'd have another Falling Down moment with you I'm afraid.

cafecolour

Yer setting yourself up for a heart attack if you're stressing because the cashier is chatting a bit.

OTOH I agree it's not that hard to manage to continue a conversation with someone while still dealing with the next person on the checkout. I'd guess when at home most of the cashiers can manage to carry on like 5 internet chats while doing other things, they just need to bring their multitasking skills to the job.

me-skywalker

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Yesterday when I was in the supermarker with my mam and she had her stuff on the conveyor belt waiting for it to be scanned, the cashier was chatting to another customer about how useful the gift cards are (the other customer bought a gift card), they must have been a good 5-10 minutes yabbering away. The other customer had no items on the conveyor belt, she had all her items packed in bags and in her trolley and everything paid for. Just stayed for a natter.

I wanted to stay something, but couldn't, mam would have killed me if I'd opened my mouth to the cashier, since mam was next to be served, not me. If I was alone/ahead of mam, I'd have said something.

Presumably this has happened to Boardsies? What did you do, if anything?

I highly doubt you would have been bothered to take your silver spoon out of your mouth and your ipod earplugs out to say something.

goat2

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I work as a cashier in a supermarket and our management actively encourage us to chat amongst ourselves while serving customers.

They say (and I'm quoting from our staff training handbook here) "it improves staff moral and encourages customers to shut the f*ck up and not be bothering us with questions about the prices of things and the like."

So there you go.

so it encourages bad practices and ignorance,
i worked front line too, and was always trained to respect and chat to customers, be friendly, helpful, kind and understanding

The Lovely Muffin

me-skywalker wrote: »

I highly doubt you would have been bothered to take your silver spoon out of your mouth and your ipod earplugs out to say something.

I'll assume your being serious, if your being sarcastic, my apologies.

1) I don't have and never did have, a silver spoon in my mouth. I am in no way wealthy, nor is my mum.

2) I didn't have my iPod with me.

lucy2010

Well for 1st time ever the kids yesterday actually stood beside me at the till in Tesco & didnt cause a scene because the man behind spoke to them about school , the parade, weather etc. I managed to get the bags packed in record time, didnt lose any kids & came out with a smile on my face for a change. What a really nice man.... English older Gentleman in Bray...

hooradiation

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Yesterday when I was in the supermarker with my mam and she had her stuff on the conveyor belt waiting for it to be scanned, the cashier was chatting to another customer about how useful the gift cards are (the other customer bought a gift card), they must have been a good 5-10 minutes yabbering away. The other customer had no items on the conveyor belt, she had all her items packed in bags and in her trolley and everything paid for. Just stayed for a natter.

I wanted to stay something, but couldn't, mam would have killed me if I'd opened my mouth to the cashier, since mam was next to be served, not me. If I was alone/ahead of mam, I'd have said something.

Presumably this has happened to Boardsies? What did you do, if anything?

All this reminds me of is the massive fucking sense of entitlement customers have. And i can fucking guarantee that if the cashier had done what you wanted and just rattled through the transaction as quickly as possible, some other person with a boards account and a sandy vagina would have started a thread about how cashiers don't give the proper customer service by talking to them and how rude and blah blah fucking blah.


No pleasing people.

AnonoBoy

goat2 wrote: »

so it encourages bad practices and ignorance,
i worked front line too, and was always trained to respect and chat to customers, be friendly, helpful, kind and understanding

My God! What sort of weird place did you work in?

Our managers always taught us, the customer is not only never right but they're also contemptible cretins.

prinz

I don't mind cashiers talking to customers so much. Get pissed off when they start chatting to each other though. I don't care what Tracy and Sharon thought about Jonno scorin' Jacinta ta.

star.chaser

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Yesterday when I was in the supermarker with my mam and she had her stuff on the conveyor belt waiting for it to be scanned, the cashier was chatting to another customer about how useful the gift cards are (the other customer bought a gift card), they must have been a good 5-10 minutes yabbering away. The other customer had no items on the conveyor belt, she had all her items packed in bags and in her trolley and everything paid for. Just stayed for a natter.

I wanted to stay something, but couldn't, mam would have killed me if I'd opened my mouth to the cashier, since mam was next to be served, not me. If I was alone/ahead of mam, I'd have said something.

Presumably this has happened to Boardsies? What did you do, if anything?

next time do the same. after you shopping is scanned and it's time to pay, strike up a conversation with your mam

hooradiation

AnonoBoy wrote: »

My God! What sort of weird place did you work in?

Our managers always taught us, the customer is not only never right but they're also contemptible cretins.

There it is, the truest thing that'll ever be posted on this forum.

rubadub

hooradiation wrote: »

And i can fucking guarantee that if the cashier had done what you wanted and just rattled through the transaction as quickly as possible, some other person with a boards account and a sandy vagina would have started a thread about how cashiers don't give the proper customer service by talking to them
No pleasing people.

There is pleasing people, its not too hard to grasp what people want, people want a normal reasonable medium. In the case described by the poster you quoted, and in the case you described above the cashier is being unnecessarily rude and/or discourteous. The person you quoted did NOT say what you described was what they wanted.

goat2 wrote: »

i do expect to be acknowledged if i spend about 200euro per week at shop, and the cashier ignores that fact, i owe her nothing, she depend on me and others entring the store spending to keep her job

+1, and this can describe both circumstances. In all supermarkets these days the cashier says hello to me, the odd one will make chatty comments like "oh thats good value", without holding up the process. If the cashier hangs on chatting at the end for too long they then are being discourteous and not acknowledging the customer next in line.

borderlinemeath

I work in retail, but I've never worked in a supermarket.

That said I have had to deal with queues of people, intolerant, rude, patronising, aggressive, mean spirited, mean pocketed and of course the old biddies that want to chat for a while until it's time to go to mass.

You have to take the rough with the smooth and as a previous poster said, learn how to read people - office workers - in a hurry, rude - kill them with sarcastic politeness - and the old biddies - let them rant on and hopefully a collegue will rescue you from their life story.

Shop workers can never please everybody - I know I've pissed a lot of customers off because I won't give in to their bullying/aggressiveness/Im going to ring Joe Duffy on you attitudes. I won't lose sleep over it.

Tigger

i work in retail and onbeof the most memorable for me was i was chatting to a customer who was buy €15,ooo worth of stuff, this lady comes in and waits no more than 30 seconds and has a €5 item in her hands then she goes , to the customer "look i haven't got all day for you to to be chatting are ye going to serve me or not" so he turns to her looks at the price and goes "thats 5 euro please" she hands him the €5 and says "i want a reciept" he replies "oh i don't work here"

here face was priceless

its one thing talking to other staff but customer and staff should be encouraged to chat away and if you don't like it go to lidil or tesco where they are all monitored all the time and i'll sgop in the nice shops where human contact and social pleasentary hasn't started to offend anyone

Notorious

Working in retail sucks balls; unfortunately I've had the pleasure of working in it part-time for the last 5 years.

A great way to enjoy yourself throughout your usually uneventful 8 hour shift is to piss off grumpy/rude/arrogant customers. Then you get to laugh about it with your colleagues.

I don't get paid enough to wait on any of you. You want that service, get thee to Brown Thomas.

lucy2010

Tigger wrote: »

i work in retail and onbeof the most memorable for me was i was chatting to a customer who was buy €15,ooo worth of stuff, this lady comes in and waits no more than 30 seconds and has a €5 item in her hands then she goes , to the customer "look i haven't got all day for you to to be chatting are ye going to serve me or not" so he turns to her looks at the price and goes "thats 5 euro please" she hands him the €5 and says "i want a reciept" he replies "oh i don't work here"

here face was priceless

its one thing talking to other staff but customer and staff should be encouraged to chat away and if you don't like it go to lidil or tesco where they are all monitored all the time and i'll sgop in the nice shops where human contact and social pleasentary hasn't started to offend anyone

Lol my dad did exact same thing in Arnotts one day..

hooradiation

rubadub wrote: »

There is pleasing people, its not too hard to grasp what people want, people want a normal reasonable medium. In the case described by the poster you quoted, and in the case you described above the cashier is being unnecessarily rude and/or discourteous. The person you quoted did NOT say what you described was what they wanted.

The problem is that everyone has a different idea of what kind of service they should be getting and proceed to cry if the person behind the till doesn't read their fucking mind and adapt accordingly.

And no, the cashier wasn't acting discourteously in the OP's example i don't know where you people get this crazy bullshit from.