Sorry, checkout closed

Saint_Mel

This really grinded my gears today ... I was in Dunnes doing the shopping and as usual they had feck all staff on the checkouts so it was fairly busy around the area with queues building up.

As luck would have it I saw someone unload the last of their trolly on the belt and there was nobody else behind them. So up I go with my trolly and just as I start putting my items on the belt the cashier says "Sorry, I'm closed after this customer". Ragin, but fair enough I thought and at least she told me before I had much stuff on the belt.

So I manouver into the next queue about 3 people deep ... and a minute later another staff member, in uniform but off the clock wheels her full trolly up to the checkout I'd just been dismissed from ... and guess what, it suddenly re-opened to accomodate her!!! Its not as if she only had 1 or 2 items ... by the time she had everything unloaded and ready to pay, I had already gone through my queue!!!!

Considered writing a letter of complaint but cant see it making any difference
Needed to vent!

lalee17

Bástards

bmaxi

I would have made an issue of it there and then. Ask to speak to the manager, tell him the story and that you are making an official complaint to head office.

Cabaal

Does this not belong in ranting and raving? :pac:

Saint_Mel

And the backstards overcharged me for 2 items!!! Got the extra charged money back though

Random

People look after their friends first and others after. That's what happened. Have you ever done similiar in your job?

That's my thoughts on it. Would p1ss me off I guess but wouldn't be too pushed.

Saint_Mel

Random wrote: »

People look after their friends first and others after. That's what happened. Have you ever done similiar in your job?

Actually no, although I'm not in a customer facing role. I just get on with my work as it comes to me

Random

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Actually no, although I'm not in a customer facing role. I just get on with my work as it comes to me

I guess my point would apply more to those in retail then.

calex71

Unless she told you before the 1st few items hit the belt , I would have said nothing and continued to unpack the trolly pretending not to hear her.

If she said it again, that she was closed I'd have politely said "oh you should have said that before I started to unpack" and then continue to unpack

Thus the mexican stand off begins........

Wosrt case you lose a few minutes while the manager is called and tells her to scan the stuff. Now don't get me wrong I would have no problem going to another till but as soon as more than one item hits the belt tough luck I say

borderlinemeath

exact same thing happened to me in my local Dunnes, I approached one of the express checkouts as I only had a few items. The woman was sorting out gift vouchers or redemption vouchers and said "I'm closed" so I joined a long queue and before I had got anywhere near the top she reopened her checkout to the general public.
I was livid, when I finally got out of the queue I was in I approached a manager and told him what she did, but I guarantee nothing was done about it.
I work in retail and if any of my staff behaved like that they would be disciplined.

SoupyNorman

Ever hear of Tescos?

I have both a Dunnes and a Tescos equidistant from my homestead, I always shop at Tescos for a few reasons:

• Generally cheaper
• Symetrical layout
• ACTIVE QUEUE MANAGMENT

Whenever things get busy (or sometimes when it's not so busy) there is a duty manager presiding over the queues, expediting, managing, observing and just all round directing traffic so even when there are queues you can see something being done which really keeps your stress levels low.


Dunnes on the other hand is a disgrace, Tescos seem to have a standardized layout from store to store, Dunnes also have a standardized layout but unfortunately their layout is organic, every store is different, Dunnes in Donameade for example is like Aladdans cave, you come to more dead ends, and you find yourself trying to figure out if you've been down that isle already! (Dunnes Athlone is much the same).

Then you get to the queue where you have trolly's everywhere, people everywhere, no managers hurrying things along, just a bad all round model and attitude.

Dont get angry, vote with your feet.

borderlinemeath

SoupyNorman wrote: »

Ever hear of Tescos?

Dont get angry, vote with your feet.

Tescos is about 2miles away from my house but Dunnes is only half a mile away and on the route home from work:)

I shop in Tescos about half the time and alway use the self service checkouts, but I won't go out of my way after a hard days work.

punkindrublic

The staff in my dunnes always look like they're on death row or something, never see any of them smile or interact with customers they just have this awful look on their faces like the world is out to get them. Then you bring a DVD box to the counter (which means they have to get up to go get the actual DVD) and they start huffing & puffing. Hate the staff in there.

The staff in my local dunnes always do what happened to you OP. I'm pretty sure the people they let through are friends or family, doesn't excuse it though

Buzzthebatgirl

Working in retail will do your head in as the customers are the worst in the world, but closing a belt and then reopening it is uncalled for.

This is why I prefer to use the self service check outs. I know what I'm doing and don't want some staff member who couldn't give a crap piling up my shopping and then taking the next customer and throwing their stuff on top of my shopping, while I'm trying to pack everything away.

parsi

SoupyNorman wrote: »

Ever hear of Tescos?

I have both a Dunnes and a Tescos equidistant from my homestead, I always shop at Tescos for a few reasons:

• Generally cheaper
• Symetrical layout
• ACTIVE QUEUE MANAGMENT

Whenever things get busy (or sometimes when it's not so busy) there is a duty manager presiding over the queues, expediting, managing, observing and just all round directing traffic so even when there are queues you can see something being done which really keeps your stress levels low.
.

The one duty manager that Tescos have must be in your shop. The crowd in Mahon Point are invisible.

Dunnes in Douglas however have active managers who keep a close eye on things.

The moral of the story seems to be that every branch is different ...

Corruptedmorals

If you worked in Dunnes, you wouldn't be happy either. Whatever it was like to work for before the recession, it's a lot worse now. But then I don't have a huge amount of sympathy for checkout staff, they have it easy. But yeah, there's feck all checkout staff because there's feck.all.staff altogether. Seriously, they're running on empty.

Anyway, that's a bit weird, clearing the line for her friend? Wouldn't blame you for reporting that, surprised a manager didn't see. But in general, they have to close their checkouts to go on break and lunch..it's a lot easier to do that in drapery. In Dunnes, you can't jump on someone else's till which complicates things.

We're supposed to deface all valueclub vouchers and gift vouchers and write our operator numbers on them. Sounds like what that other girl is doing. Again, much more awkward to do on a checkout rather than a till but she didn't mean she was closed permanently.

FortuneChip

I can't stand being told "Sorry, checkout closed"
Why is it closed? If there is a queue, there should be people working to get through it, closing a checkout will only make the queue get longer.
I mean, if the person is scheduled to go on their break they can wait another minute or two to serve another person. And if the queue is continuous, then surely there should be someone to jump in their place

antocann

but thing about tesco's is if you get over charged there rules are your get a full refund and the item for free
not many people relise this

Corruptedmorals

FortuneChip wrote: »

I can't stand being told "Sorry, checkout closed"
Why is it closed? If there is a queue, there should be people working to get through it, closing a checkout will only make the queue get longer.
I mean, if the person is scheduled to go on their break they can wait another minute or two to serve another person. And if the queue is continuous, then surely there should be someone to jump in their place

You can't jump on someone else's till unless a manager authorises it, switching tills and whatever. Generally wouldn't be so many staff that there aren't enough tills for them, but if there is then they won't jump around with it..they'll just open and get the queue moving over that direction.

Checkouts are just really awkward for anything because of the individual queues. What if their shift has ended? Stay until the queue goes? Checkout staff have to leave them when theres customers, and yeah I can see how it's really annoying but it's not very pleasant from the other side either. The entire chain suffers from being badly managed and ridiculously understaffed, it's so stressful and depressing there. Management are often not the problem either- it all comes from head office.

bette

Aldi will actually open a checkout when it starts building up queues. Thety are also considerably cheaper. They also have better and more varied cooked meats.

JohnC.

FortuneChip wrote: »

I can't stand being told "Sorry, checkout closed"
Why is it closed? If there is a queue, there should be people working to get through it, closing a checkout will only make the queue get longer.
I mean, if the person is scheduled to go on their break they can wait another minute or two to serve another person. And if the queue is continuous, then surely there should be someone to jump in their place

If a shift is ending, they have to go. Going over time is strictly forbidden. I don't just mean "overtime", which is doubly forbidden, but going over their rostered hours. There won't necessarily be staff to provide break relief either, as staff is often so tight now that it is non-checkout-staff (such as floor staff) who are manning checkouts at busy periods, thus having a knock on effect of not getting their own jobs done.

They are given a budget for wages and the store management get in trouble if they go over that. And it is being cut again now. With rumours of more redundancies on the way too. Staff have no control over management policies. Store management have no control over head office policies. But it is staff who have to put up with the complaints from decisions coming down the chain.

wmpdd3

parsi wrote: »

The one duty manager that Tescos have must be in your shop. The crowd in Mahon Point are invisible.

Dunnes in Douglas however have active managers who keep a close eye on things.

The moral of the story seems to be that every branch is different ...

That's because payroll is so tight in Mahon the managers are on check outs.

I had an employee's mother attack me because her daughter is never out of work less than 15 mins after her shift ends. She is serving customers she has to stay she can't just walk off. There is nobody else to take over they are all on check outs too.
The worst thing about relief check out operators being called is that as the store is busy, there are no staff on the shop floor to serve customers.

Maybe they should just put the price of groceries back up 2007 levels and put more people on tills.

OP did the operator not have a sign saying the checkout was closed?

Sounds more like the member of staff that was served after you was a manager or someone, why else would the operator go on her break late just to serve someone?

whiterebel

parsi wrote: »

The one duty manager that Tescos have must be in your shop. The crowd in Mahon Point are invisible.

Dunnes in Douglas however have active managers who keep a close eye on things.

The moral of the story seems to be that every branch is different ...

Customer are different too, because I think Dunnes in Douglas is a complete joke. I'd swear they have more managers than staff (and customers) and they never do a tap. Half the stuff isn't priced correctly, if at all. Amazes me how they can get away with it. Tesco in Midleton is the pits, though. Actively manage queues????? 99% of the time you can't see a manager, and the staff don't give a toss. Last week I was in there and there was a teenage girl walking around the store for about 20 minutes with a dog in her arms. This included walking past about 10 Tesco staff.......

Corruptedmorals

Not much chance of going over your hours if you're flexi, they're not getting 37.5 hour weeks at all with hours slashed. Staff budget is 8% of total sales, that's disgraceful. In drapery, sales are WAYY up but we don't have the staff to cope with that but total value is way down because prices are halved on their 2007 levels. We have managers on tills so we have a chance of getting out an hour after the store has closed, instead of an hour and a half (maximum time after shift has ended) after plus leaving loads of stuff. There's just been a voluntary redundancy scheme so we're losing a good few of them, and then they just got rid of half of our temp staff. Ladieswear in my store will now have less than 10 staff total for all opening hours, people for morning deliveries, till, and closing for floor. It had 26 in 2007.

Nolimits

calex71 wrote: »

Unless she told you before the 1st few items hit the belt , I would have said nothing and continued to unpack the trolly pretending not to hear her.

If she said it again, that she was closed I'd have politely said "oh you should have said that before I started to unpack" and then continue to unpack

Thus the mexican stand off begins........

Wosrt case you lose a few minutes while the manager is called and tells her to scan the stuff. Now don't get me wrong I would have no problem going to another till but as soon as more than one item hits the belt tough luck I say

I work in Dunnes, I dont work on the checkouts but will occasioanlly get called over there, if I was leaving and you did that I'd tell you twice and then no more if you ignore me its up to you but when I'm finished the customer ahead of you'll I'd be leaving you there alone. And to be honest you really dont come off very well as a person for saying that.

FortuneChip wrote: »

I can't stand being told "Sorry, checkout closed"
Why is it closed? If there is a queue, there should be people working to get through it, closing a checkout will only make the queue get longer.
I mean, if the person is scheduled to go on their break they can wait another minute or two to serve another person. And if the queue is continuous, then surely there should be someone to jump in their place

As has been already mentioned somone else can't jump onto your checkout the hours have been cut way back as while they are doing more volume than a few years ago as the prices are down they're not making the same money. Not all staff are checkout trained though occasionally they go through a period where a big batch will be trained, when I get pulled over to the checkouts it really pisses my manager off as he has had his hours cut aswell but is expected to make do without me as well and keep the place looking well.

Also has been mentioned going over your rostered hours is stricktly "verboten" not just into overtime but just in general.

calex71

Nolimits wrote: »

I work in Dunnes, I dont work on the checkouts but will occasioanlly get called over there, if I was leaving and you did that I'd tell you twice and then no more if you ignore me its up to you but when I'm finished the customer ahead of you'll I'd be leaving you there alone. And to be honest you really dont come off very well as a person for saying that.

My point was really if I have stuff on the belt and an am then told it's closed there is no way I am putting the stuff back in the trolly. As I said if i walked up and was told it was closed before I started unpacking I'd happily go to another one. I'd be the 1st to realise people have to go on break/home. I really don't care what you think of me as a person or what that has to do with anything??

Thoie

Some supermarkets have a "barrier" that the cashier can close - but that's awkward as it involves getting up, walking around, and trying to close it on the last customer and their trolley. I've never figured out why they don't have a special red "Checkout closed" triangle (like the "Next customer" triangle, but bigger) at each till. When someone wants/needs to close, they ask the current customer to put it behind their groceries. When they're finished, stand up away from the till, and put the sign back under the desk. Problem solved.

Even if the cashier is still at the position sorting out paperwork, they can at least just nod towards the sign as they politely smile and say "Sorry, this position is closed at the moment".

Fighting Irish

Saint_Mel wrote: »

This really grinded my gears today ... I was in Dunnes doing the shopping and as usual they had feck all staff on the checkouts so it was fairly busy around the area with queues building up.

As luck would have it I saw someone unload the last of their trolly on the belt and there was nobody else behind them. So up I go with my trolly and just as I start putting my items on the belt the cashier says "Sorry, I'm closed after this customer". Ragin, but fair enough I thought and at least she told me before I had much stuff on the belt.

So I manouver into the next queue about 3 people deep ... and a minute later another staff member, in uniform but off the clock wheels her full trolly up to the checkout I'd just been dismissed from ... and guess what, it suddenly re-opened to accomodate her!!! Its not as if she only had 1 or 2 items ... by the time she had everything unloaded and ready to pay, I had already gone through my queue!!!!

Considered writing a letter of complaint but cant see it making any difference
Needed to vent!

:rolleyes:

Nolimits

calex71 wrote: »

My point was really if I have stuff on the belt and an am then told it's closed there is no way I am putting the stuff back in the trolly. As I said if i walked up and was told it was closed before I started unpacking I'd happily go to another one. I'd be the 1st to realise people have to go on break/home. I really don't care what you think of me as a person or what that has to do with anything??

You said the first few items hit the belt, the cashier could easily be distracted talking to the customer they're serving, fair enough if you have half a trolley or even alot of stuff but if you think its okey to ignore someone because you put three items on the belt before they saw you then you deserve to load up the whole belt then take it off and walk over to another one.

Fighting Irish

What i'm getting from this thread is that everyone never wants to see a checkout close

Ye cos that would work

Thoie

Fighting Irish wrote: »

What i'm getting from this thread is that everyone never wants to see a checkout close

Funny, what I got was that people want a better system to notify them that the checkout is closing.