Supermarket workers chatting while working...

The Lovely Muffin · 13-03-2010 07:47PM #1

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?

bonerm · 13-03-2010 07:48PM

I just hit them repeatedly with the plastic Toblerone yoke until security escort me off the premises.

Biggins · 13-03-2010 07:49PM

I've seen it happen loads of times.
i think its downright rude! I end up saying something like "Excuse me - HELLO!!!!"
- and I make damn sure I say it loud enough that she/he gets some attention, especially from the manager is she/he is near. Stuff them.

msg11 · 13-03-2010 07:49PM

Self scan springs to mind...

Sea Sharp · 13-03-2010 07:50PM

Perfect opportunity to flip out and let off some steam.

sink · 13-03-2010 07:53PM

Reminds me of this! :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT5t678S1f4

The Lovely Muffin · 13-03-2010 07:53PM

msg11 wrote: »

Self scan springs to mind...

There aren't any self-scan checkouts in this supermarket.

Biggins · 13-03-2010 07:54PM

Its no fun when you at a till with four young kids, a crap load of shopping and your under pressure to get them home for meal times.
Meanwhile the person in the till is ignoring you and having a good old LONG chin-wag with a best mate that just popped in to say "hello"

Grrrrr. Reg rag to bull! :mad:

pikachucheeks · 13-03-2010 07:55PM

Just say "Excuse me, I'm waiting to be served"

If you don't say anything, they'll just keep on chatting.

It's even worse when they're serving you and they're chatting to the cashier on the till next to them, completely ignoring you! :mad:

Scarydoll · 13-03-2010 07:57PM

Having worked in retail for quite some time, I can say this happens all the time lol Some times the people are just lonely and want someone to talk to.
I remember one time a woman I was serving was telling me how her mother and sister had died of cancer. I didn't know what to say only I'm sorry to hear about that etc etc.
Oh there was this other time I was on the 'express' checkout and this old guy gave out to me for a full ten minutes because we were selling kingsmill bread.

msg11 · 13-03-2010 07:59PM

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

There aren't any self-scan checkouts in this supermarket.

I would start shopping somewhere else then. Only joking, It's two worlds really;

Say something rude and the operator will go really slow with your stuff.

Don't say something and the operator will still chat away.

Just start coughing or something simler, low key get's there attention. Or just start asking about the gift card yourself too.

amcalester · 13-03-2010 08:02PM

If the customer was talking to the cashier then what was she to do? Ignore 1 customer to serve another?

Damned of you do and damned if you dont.

Saying that the cashier should try and keep the conversation as short as possible.

mikom · 13-03-2010 08:03PM

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.

13-03-2010 08:07PM

if the cashier was talking to the customer about the giftcard, she was only being nice and friendly to the customer. its not her fault if the customer has no home to go to and wants to stay yapping to her for 10 minutes.
this happens to me all the time, people just love to tell me there life story. you just have to embrace the talkers out there! and join in the conversation!!
if you didnt say anything to her, she genuinely might not have even seen you, plenty of times i havent noticed people and they've been waiting...!

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!!!

force majeure · 13-03-2010 08:24PM

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.

Too true, 110% you aced it mikom.:D:D

Coriolanus · 13-03-2010 08:28PM

In my local Supervalu, I usually push all the stuff off the conveyor and inch it onto the scanner without them noticing. They they get all flustered when they notice, so announce that your were just trying to help them and get all offended!

ejmaztec · 13-03-2010 08:44PM

Switching into "bastard mode", you can walk away from your trolley and tell the cashier that you'll be back later when she's not so busy. Eventually, when you don't come back, they'll have to put the trolley's contents back on the shelves.

uriah · 13-03-2010 08:58PM

was once in a 'pound shop' and arrived arms laden with lots of small items (no baskets available) to the checkout. Customer in front of me, who had completed her business, and employee obviously knew each other and continued conversation about customers offspring who were sooooo successful, travelling to very exotic places and having the most fabulous time. When I could stand it no longer, I dumped all my items on the counter in front of employee and said "may come back later when you two have finished your personal discussion"

After I had left the shop, the now very red-faced customer accosted me to tell me how rude I had been.
"I'm so sorry," said I. "Should I have waited there until you had discussed your entire family with the person who was being paid to serve me?"

The.Wanderer · 13-03-2010 09:08PM

As others have said, sometimes it can be difficult to get rid of the first customer. I had a woman once who came up to my till to ask me how to send a text on her phone (I should point out I work in a supermarket, not carphone warehouse!) so I showed her, no hassle.

The next 25 minutes were spent with her telling me about her daughter in australia who she was trying to text. People started forming a queue behind her so I tried to wrap up the conversation as nicely as possible but she wouldn't budge! At one point she even turned around, saw the 3 or 4 people behind her and said to me "Oh they want to be served, ah sure they can wait". %&$£ sake! I said to her "If you could just move a little to the side so I can serve this lady behind you..." But no. She just would not leave. It was beyond ridiculous. I eventually had to outright say to her she was going to have to let me serve the people behind her but if my manager heard me say that to a customer I would have been killed.

Some people are just impossible to get rid of.

rubadub · 13-03-2010 09:18PM

scareydoll wrote: »

Some times the people are just lonely and want someone to talk to..

That is very true, one supermarket I go to is full of auld ones and they are always talking to one cashier, who is a middle aged woman. I look at the people in queues to see if they are likely to be chatters. The cashier in this place is grand though and trys to move them on and does process my stuff.

Shop in aldi or lidl and you won't see this happening.

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

bonerm · 13-03-2010 09:23PM

The.Wanderer wrote: »

At one point she even turned around, saw the 3 or 4 people behind her and said to me "Oh they want to be served, ah sure they can wait".

I wish a swift death for this person. (and no that is not just a humourous throwaway remark.)

Knifey Spoony · 13-03-2010 09:50PM

msg11 wrote: »

Self scan springs to mind...

That won't help at all. Usually there is someone in front of you who just has to feed there entire change purse into the machine and will take there damn time doing it.

Or you could get stuck behind someone trying to scan the contents of their shopping trolley.

Or even worse, you get past all of those obstacles and when you scan the one and only product that you have the machine decides to break down. Then you have to wait for some employee to stop talking to another customer and help you out. It is just one visious cycle in those damn supermarkets.:mad:

Mrmoe · 13-03-2010 09:53PM

It think it is worse when they are speaking another language other than English and you can't even have a good auld nose into what they are saying. I was in 24H Dunnes last night, not too many people around , nobody on the checkout, I was tempted to walk out but I needed the items so not an option. What really irked me was the non chalant way the employee walked strolled up to the checkout 5 minutes after being called by her colleague.

The.Wanderer · 13-03-2010 09:53PM

bonerm wrote: »

I wish a swift death for this person. (and no that is not just a humourous throwaway remark.)

I agree! Then I'm the one who gets in trouble because the queue wasn't moving?! :mad:

goat2 · 13-03-2010 09:57PM

ejmaztec wrote: »

Switching into "bastard mode", you can walk away from your trolley and tell the cashier that you'll be back later when she's not so busy. Eventually, when you don't come back, they'll have to put the trolley's contents back on the shelves.

and hopefully there would be plenty ice cream on board, on a good hot day

dambarude · 13-03-2010 10:04PM

What annoys me is the cashiers who don't acknowledge you, but continue to keep SINGING whatever's on the radio the whole way through the transaction, and then push the change at you at the end. :mad:

The.Wanderer · 13-03-2010 10:14PM

And when the cashier throws the change on the counter with barely a glance in your direction when I had handed them the money with a smile. That really annoys me.

Bonito · 13-03-2010 10:17PM

In the Q you are not a human being. You are merely a customer. Which is an inanimate object to said cashier.

13-03-2010 10:17PM

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.

goat2 · 13-03-2010 10:32PM

The.Wanderer wrote: »

And when the cashier throws the change on the counter with barely a glance in your direction when I had handed them the money with a smile. That really annoys me.

that happened me today, i said hello, did not get an answer, at the end handed her the money with a smile, she looked at me with a bold look, i had done nothing to upset her, yet i was spending my money there as i have every week, and she could not see that it is hundreds like me in that has her in her job, least she could have said was thank you. i know the owner of the shop, am thinking of letting him know, as this action did upset me today, she did not make my day brighter, she put a cloud on it for 20 minuits

The.Wanderer · 13-03-2010 10:37PM

goat2 wrote: »

that happened me today, i said hello, did not get an answer, at the end handed her the money with a smile, she looked at me with a bold look, i had done nothing to upset her, yet i was spending my money there as i have every week, and she could not see that it is hundreds like me in that has her in her job, least she could have said was thank you. i know the owner of the shop, am thinking of letting him know, as this action did upset me today, she did not make my day brighter, she put a cloud on it for 20 minuits

Definitely say something to the owner, that kind of thing is not on. In my place we actually have really good customer service but that's only because we keep everybody on their toes.

goat2 · 13-03-2010 10:44PM

The.Wanderer wrote: »

Definitely say something to the owner, that kind of thing is not on. In my place we actually have really good customer service but that's only because we keep everybody on their toes.

thank you for your advice
i will be doing that

OutlawPete · 14-03-2010 03:47AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1BPuLZ995M

Mc Love · 14-03-2010 05:11AM

I hate when shop assistants feel the need to chat to you and you couldnt give two ****s what they say. Just let me buy my shopping and GTFOOH

goat2 · 14-03-2010 10:25AM

Mc Love wrote: »

I hate when shop assistants feel the need to chat to you and you couldnt give two ****s what they say. Just let me buy my shopping and GTFOOH

but if they did not acknowledge you hello, and say thank you in the end you may not like that either, especially when she has a cross face, and not uttering a word

pipelaser · 14-03-2010 10:45AM

amcalester wrote: »

If the customer was talking to the cashier then what was she to do? Ignore 1 customer to serve another?

Damned of you do and damned if you dont.

Saying that the cashier should try and keep the conversation as short as possible.

He/She should start scanning while talking if they must speak to the lonely/old person.
I hate the slow ****ers. They ruin my life!

dan de man · 14-03-2010 11:24AM

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?

if i was a cashier and i had to put up bitchiness of your kind there would be slaps im afraid,hate people like you,my sister is just like you

RATM · 14-03-2010 11:33AM

Cashiers talking whilst scanning your shopping is one of my pet hates. The Dunnes Stores beside me is so badly run and managed that this happens all the time.

This week I've had to listen to cashiers having conversations about Serena and her dominating boyfriend as well as a story of how Sharon in the Home department fell pregnant. :rolleyes:

I think I might just go up to tills listening to my iPod in future- that way I can match their ignorance with some of my own

The Lovely Muffin · 14-03-2010 01:56PM

dan de man wrote: »

if i was a cashier and i had to put up bitchiness of your kind there would be slaps im afraid,hate people like you,my sister is just like you

How excatly am/was I being bitchy?

I wanted to get my shopping and get home, not be left standing/waiting while two people have a convo.

If the cashier and other customer were chatting while the cashier was scanning mam's stuff/my stuff, I wouldn't have cared.

rubadub · 14-03-2010 01:57PM

dan de man wrote: »

if i was a cashier and i had to put up bitchiness of your kind there would be slaps im afraid,hate people like you,my sister is just like you

So do you slap your sister around? charming lad.

Minstrel27 · 14-03-2010 01:59PM

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

What did you do, if anything?

I moved my food to another cashier. When she spotted this it said she would scan them through I told her not to worry and keep chatting. Her manager called her away for what I assume was a bollocking.

The Lovely Muffin · 14-03-2010 02:08PM

Minstrel27 wrote: »

I moved my food to another cashier. When she spotted this it said she would scan them through I told her not to worry and keep chatting. Her manager called her away for what I assume was a bollocking.

If I'm ever in a situation again like I was on Friday, this is exactly what I'll do.:D

Thanks for the idea!:)

falan · 14-03-2010 02:18PM

I hate this idle chat in supermarkets. Happens all the time. A few weeks ago i was held up, made me late for work...:mad:

Just because they have no life doesn't mean the rest of us don't.

goat2 · 14-03-2010 03:04PM

falan wrote: »

I hate this idle chat in supermarkets. Happens all the time. A few weeks ago i was held up, made me late for work...:mad:

Just because they have no life doesn't mean the rest of us don't.

in my case she could have said hello at start, and thank you in the end thats all, well 2 hours ago i got her name while in the shop,

dan de man · 14-03-2010 03:55PM

rubadub wrote: »

So do you slap your sister around? charming lad.

it was a joke
w a n k e r

Biggins · 14-03-2010 04:10PM

dan de man wrote: »

it was a joke
XXXXXX

You make a joke about slapping people around in a public place, perhaps insult your sister and then call a mod something rude?

Nice! :rolleyes:

Sharpshooter · 14-03-2010 04:24PM

dan de man wrote: »

if i was a cashier and i had to put up bitchiness of your kind there would be slaps im afraid,hate people like you,my sister is just like you

dan de man wrote: »

it was a joke
w a n k e r

Banned.

j1smithy · 14-03-2010 04:42PM

Some people here have obviously never worked on tills. The amount of **** and abuse you have to take on a daily basis can be astounding particularly in the run up to christmas. Auld wans would come in after collecting the pension and get their few things, and proceed to tell you their life story. Personally I never minded it there appears to be so many lonely people out there, if talking to me helps then so what. Often the under pressure office worker following them would eat me, because in order to keep queues down, I would deal with the following customer whilst still talking to the auld wan. I understood this could appear as rude, but you couldn't tell granny to get lost. Customers sometimes told me I wasn't nice enough, smiled enough and other such bullshit, then which I politely told them to talk to my manager. Nothing was ever said to me because I had gained quite a following of auld wans who would queue specifically for my till.

When I was there the till staff had a system of being able to just look at people and being able to expect the attitude to follow. You had young people who generally didn't speak to the cashier. Same attitude from the young office worker, in-out as quickly as possible. The mother/father doing the weekly shop with children in tow. These are the ones who give you grief. The bitter auld fella was another one. On a Sunday evening we used also get the auld wan bargain hunter.

lucy2010 · 14-03-2010 04:51PM

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.

yeah did you ever notice how fast they scan your stuff; swoosh,swoosh,swoosh..I always wondered do they get commission for how quick the scan the stuff.... Nothing like Sundays in my Tesco... christ almighty its like they hand pick the staff on a Sundays ...:mad:

OutlawPete · 14-03-2010 04:57PM

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

Anytime I use the express automatic self service check till thing .. you know what I mean :mad:

I near have a breakdown, damn stuff won't scan, unexpected item message going off, roars at you to insert cash when you are, people tuting behind you .. I'm surprised someone hasn't died.

Thoie · 14-03-2010 04:58PM

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

There aren't any self-scan checkouts in this supermarket.

If you're tall enough all checkouts can be self scan!

I don't mind them chatting with other customers so much - that can be seen as friendly. It's when they're chatting to each other and ignoring all the customers that I find it irritating.

Supermarket workers chatting while working...

Comments