Sorry, checkout closed

rubadub

What I hate is when a new checkout opens and people at the end of the queue leg it up to the new till, and you are stuck halfway in another queue. A manager should come out and guide people near the front to the new one. I just play the game now, in my lidl a little bell goes off about a minute before a new person is going to man the tills, so I gather my stuff and am prepared for the dash!

ejmaztec

rubadub wrote: »

What I hate is when a new checkout opens and people at the end of the queue leg it up to the new till, and you are stuck halfway in another queue. A manager should come out and guide people near the front to the new one. I just play the game now, in my lidl a little bell goes off about a minute before a new person is going to man the tills, so I gather my stuff and am prepared for the dash!

It's a jungle out there, where manners and fair play cease to exist:eek:.

mumof3angels

I worked in retail for years and to be honest I dont get it. Why bother having a complaint system if you dont get any reply from it. Surely if a customer makes a complaint or informs managment of an idea that this can only help that shop cause at the end of the day is'nt it the customer that is keeping them in business. I will say I dont have a problem moving if a till is closing what do have a problem with is if the staff member is rude about it. It cost nothing to be polite...

tinkerbell

This is why I avoid Dunnes & Tesco when doing my grocery shopping unless it's picking up a few small items. I used to do my shopping in Tesco but got so fed up with the crazy queues that now I only shop in Superquinn and do the super scan thing. Scan all my groceries as I go, queue for super scan is non existent, pay for groceries and go. None of this waiting around.

eightyfish

I use the hand-held self-scan in Superquinn. No queues, no putting all your crap on a conveyor belt, no packing everything into bags frantically at the end, brilliant!

jimoc

www.tesco.ie

Shortest queue ever

thebman

Thoie wrote: »

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".

Or they could just install a button that brings across a barrier to stop people queuing.

Tesco used to have a traffic light system in some of them but I've not seen it since they moved to new premises.

Easy Green open, red closed. I never could figure out what yellow was for :P

Fighting Irish

Thoie wrote: »

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

lol

I want to be properly notified when a check out is going to close

scheister

having work in a cinema i know times this happens. What we had to do was get someone to close off our line and finish the people in the line then go on break. As for the people that are talking about people jumpin in to replace some1. I was working one night cue was 15 people deep only one working that till. Another lady came to replace me we switched tills so i cud go get mine counted up and did not realise that i never logged out meaning that my till was now 60 short since sales were still being done on it.

Corruptedmorals

I don't see any point in complaining to a manager, any decent manager will tell you politely that severe understaffing means that they can't throw everyone on tills because then nothing on the floor would get done so there's be zillions of complaints about out of stock items/mess/wrong prices etc. Head Office are responsible, with their appalling budgets are the only way. There should be a light system or barrier too.

eightyfish

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Head Office are responsible, with their appalling budgets are the only way.

I think if they could afford the staff they'd have the staff. Supermarkets are not exactly creaming it at the moment. Superquinn let 400 people go this year, Dunnes also but in smaller groups. If we all supported the Irish supermarkets a bit more we might keep the money in the country and help get out of this mess.

Corruptedmorals

Dunnes are only letting temp staff go, 3 month contracts, except for stores that have closed down- though they've done a good bit to relocate them. Dunnes in particular since they're family owned could afford to up the budget, if only to give people more hours. I don't think they'll ever get staff to 2007 levels once they've seen that the stores still function with half the staff.

The queues are a disgrace, in drapery where there's only one queue, the pressure is unbelievable to clear the thing. I don't think the grocery in mys tore is too bad with the number of tills open.

dudara

The most efficient way to queue is to have a single queue which feeds multiple desk/tills etc. Whoever is at the top of the queue goes to the next open one.

calex71

dudara wrote: »

The most efficient way to queue is to have a single queue which feeds multiple desk/tills etc. Whoever is at the top of the queue goes to the next open one.

Nail on the head there, something like penneys , Dunnes drapery etc.

Unfortunately , I'm not sure how practical or feasible that would be in a super market??? Has anyone ever actually seen that used in a supermarket here or anywhere for that matter? (genuine question as if done right it would be brilliant)

dudara

calex71 wrote: »

Nail on the head there, something like penneys , Dunnes drapery etc.

Unfortunately , I'm not sure how practical or feasible that would be in a super market??? Has anyone ever actually seen that used in a supermarket here or anywhere for that matter? (genuine question as if done right it would be brilliant)

I don't know why grocery stores don't adopt this method. It's demonstratably the most efficient way of queueing, but I'd imagine that Tesco know what they're doing. Therefore, if they don't adopt this, then there must be a good reason.

JohnC.

calex71 wrote: »

Nail on the head there, something like penneys , Dunnes drapery etc.

Unfortunately , I'm not sure how practical or feasible that would be in a super market??? Has anyone ever actually seen that used in a supermarket here or anywhere for that matter? (genuine question as if done right it would be brilliant)

I have heard of it happening in the UK, but not even widely there, it seems. And with the concentration on having as little staff as possible now, I can't see them really wanting someone directing traffic at the checkouts instead of doing something else.

Kintarō Hattori

Random wrote: »

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.

I work in a job where I deal with the public. I'm in a position to give discounts and have done so many times over the years to friends and family. While I'm with friends and family if a customer looks for my attention or asks me something friends/family will be left to one side until they are sorted out. Your everyday customer pays your wages, friends and family don't.

In fairness the person at the till in Dunnes most likely has a poor manager.

thebman

dudara wrote: »

I don't know why grocery stores don't adopt this method. It's demonstratably the most efficient way of queueing, but I'd imagine that Tesco know what they're doing. Therefore, if they don't adopt this, then there must be a good reason.

I imagine the reason is it looks like a massive queue and they are afraid it will put people off.

Also they like to section people into groups like non-alcohol purchases and express lanes for people with fewer than 10 items.

People shopping in a clothes store in general will only ever purchase a few items at a time. Family shopping Vs Single person shopping for groceries requires a different approach or someone like me will go to Dunnes instead.

rubadub

calex71 wrote: »

Unfortunately , I'm not sure how practical or feasible that would be in a super market??? Has anyone ever actually seen that used in a supermarket here or anywhere for that matter?

I have only seen it in action on the self service checkouts, and in dunnes cournelscourt down on a separated end they have about 6 tills in a line with operators, usually only 4 people are on the tills. When a customer is gone I think they press a button and a recorded voice says "next customer to till 2 please". This works OK but some people are not used to it, you get (innocent) queue jumpers the odd time who have no idea what is going on but they cop on fast.

With big trolleys it would be a different story, it would need a dedicated section with room to move, e.g. in my tesco if it is full trolleys go right up the aisles and there is no room to move easily. It would need 1 or 2 co-ordinators at the front to guide people. Maybe some sort of winding line like in the airport passport/boarding pass checkin sections.

In lidl the conveyor belts are very long, I notice people booking their spots, e.g. go straight into the shop, grab bread and another item and stick it on the belt and but the "next customer" dividers in place, then run off and get the rest of your stuff. This is also sometimes due to them having no baskets, so people need to run off & back if they have no trolley.

Ciarán_Dublin

calex71 wrote: »

Nail on the head there, something like penneys , Dunnes drapery etc.

Unfortunately , I'm not sure how practical or feasible that would be in a super market??? Has anyone ever actually seen that used in a supermarket here or anywhere for that matter? (genuine question as if done right it would be brilliant)

Every supermarket I was in in Australia worked like this. Works well except when you didn't buy anything and you still had to walk through the queue to get back out of the shop and your getting eyeballed for skipping.

smelltheglove

I always get my bits and pieces in Tescos as it is close by but a big shop in Dunnes.

My worst experience would have been when the little one bust her lip on the trolley having a tantrum while I was packing bags and the checkout girl just continued checking out, I asked did she have tissue whilst my daughter and myself were being covered with blood and she just said no and continued on. Thankfully a girl who was about to open another checkout jumped up to help getting me tissue and packing the bags with the lady behind me being very sympathetic but I was very disappointed by the attidtude of the checkout girl I was dealing with, not bothered at all about the fact that there was a situation and just kept on doing what she had to, no help at all.

A good experience I did have was once going to the queue and a store manager being in front of me getting his own shopping and offering to pull away so I could go first. Just shows the different attitude between general staff and managers.

eightyfish

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Dunnes in particular since they're family owned could afford to up the budget, if only to give people more hours.

I don't see your logic there.

calex71

smelltheglove wrote: »

My worst experience would have been when the little one bust her lip on the trolley having a tantrum while I was packing bags and the checkout girl just continued checking out, I asked did she have tissue whilst my daughter and myself were being covered with blood and she just said no and continued on. Thankfully a girl who was about to open another checkout jumped up to help getting me tissue and packing the bags with the lady behind me being very sympathetic but I was very disappointed by the attidtude of the checkout girl I was dealing with, not bothered at all about the fact that there was a situation and just kept on doing what she had to, no help at all.

That's awful, even if the girl was in a bad mood , long day or what ever common decency costs nothing. They have blue roll or kitchen paper on every till to mop up spills on the belt, and you were hardly going to mind if she gave you a bit of that instead of a tissue.

boomer_ie

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

Ehhhh no

When I worked in Tescos as it was then I was a grand total of an hour and a half late for lunch because of this crap, not helped by the supervisor letting her friends go off on their lunch on time.

In the end thanks to my contract I was able to take an hour and a half lunch!

ch750536

boomer_ie wrote: »

Ehhhh no

When I worked in Tescos as it was then I was a grand total of an hour and a half late for lunch because of this crap, not helped by the supervisor letting her friends go off on their lunch on time.

In the end thanks to my contract I was able to take an hour and a half lunch!

Damn staff taking lunch breaks. [sarcasm mode off]

Max Power1

boomer_ie wrote: »

Ehhhh no

When I worked in Tescos as it was then I was a grand total of an hour and a half late for lunch because of this crap, not helped by the supervisor letting her friends go off on their lunch on time.

In the end thanks to my contract I was able to take an hour and a half lunch!

adequate management and planning would obviously be needed in such a situation (on management level)

boomer_ie

Max Power1 wrote: »

adequate management and planning would obviously be needed in such a situation (on management level)

Oh it was a form of bullying, upper management at the time agreed with me and hit the roof over it, she had tried to lodge a complaint against me over taking too long for lunch but my contract trumped her complaint to put it mildly.

jpb1974

Was in the local Dunnes around lunch time one day, checkouts were very busy, only had 2-3 items, then I spotted a free checkout.

Went up, put the items on the conveyor belt and the young lady politely told me that "the checkout was for school students only" (they show up in droves at lunchtime for rolls and other deli counter bits).

I looked at her and said "But there are no school students that require the checkout at the moment, so rather than you sit there idle can you not tend to other customers".

She apologised and informed me that "she had been informed by her manager to server school students only".

At this stage a few other customers had queued up behind me and we all started to nod our heads... not only were we playing second fiddle to school students who were getting preferential treatment... it was perfectly acceptable for Dunnes stores management to have a girl sit idle at a checkout.

In fairness the girl at the checkout was very nice and I can't fault her for doing what she was told.

In the end she gave in to the discontent that was starting to build with the 5-6 people that were queueing.

Fighting Irish

jpb1974 wrote: »

Was in the local Dunnes around lunch time one day, checkouts were very busy, only had 2-3 items, then I spotted a free checkout.

Went up, put the items on the conveyor belt and the young lady politely told me that "the checkout was for school students only" (they show up in droves at lunchtime for rolls and other deli counter bits).

I looked at her and said "But there are no school students that require the checkout at the moment, so rather than you sit there idle can you not tend to other customers".

She apologised and informed me that "she had been informed by her manager to server school students only".

At this stage a few other customers had queued up behind me and we all started to nod our heads... not only were we playing second fiddle to school students who were getting preferential treatment... it was perfectly acceptable for Dunnes stores management to have a girl sit idle at a checkout.

In fairness the girl at the checkout was very nice and I can't fault her for doing what she was told.

In the end she gave in to the discontent that was starting to build with the 5-6 people that were queueing.

There's the problem, they obviously do this for a reason. If she let you go then she's have to let everyone go

jpb1974

If she let you go then she's have to let everyone go

Course she should... no point in sitting there doing nothing when paying customers are eager to get stuff paid for and get going.