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Nearly every morning I stop at a local Safeway and pick up a USA Today and a few groceries. While there are some friendly people at the store, the check out folks are cold as ice. Every morning I try to be friendly by passing on some brief small talk just to see if I get any response. Rarely will I get even a grunt. On the other hand they are efficent and do say "how are you" when I approach and Thankyou when I leave. (Both overly scripted)
Do you feel like it is the responsibility of a customer service/retail sales person to reply in kind when I attempt some type of small talk?
A cashier is not a "customer service" person, really. Those are the ones behind the "Customer Service" sign at the edge of the store...the ones who handle problems, returns, and the like.
Cashiers are BUSY. I almost never chat with a cashier. I say "Hi...man it's hot out there" or whatever, Then "thank you" or maybe "Did I get all my bags?" when we're done.
They should be pleasant, and if they feel like it, they maybe can chat a bit. But they aren't supposed to engage in conversations much, because they're supposed to be focused on ringing up the right amounts.
Besides, I'm BUSY, too. I watch the ringing up, making sure the amounts are correct, that the cashier gets everything, putting in my card to check out, etc.
My brother is lonely; he engages workers in conversations all the time. It's embarrassing, since I see them trying to be polite, but wanting to get back to their jobs. A time or two another customer has intervened to chew my brother out for gabbing while other customers are waiting...one said "We others here have lives. Just because you apparently don't doesn't mean you can stand here and chat while other people who are busy have to wait."
Nearly every morning I stop at a local Safeway and pick up a USA Today and a few groceries. While there are some friendly people at the store, the check out folks are cold as ice. Every morning I try to be friendly by passing on some brief small talk just to see if I get any response. Rarely will I get even a grunt. On the other hand they are efficent and do say "how are you" when I approach and Thankyou when I leave. (Both overly scripted)
Do you feel like it is the responsibility of a customer service/retail sales person to reply in kind when I attempt some type of small talk?
No, but I think it is very nice when they do unless there is a long line and they get more involved in small talk than they do in actually helping the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time.
I personally dislike small talk, but if a clerk or someone asks, "So what do you think of this [very hot] weather?!", I don't become irritated, and I will say something like, "I hate it, and I can hardly wait for it to cool down!" It may be old-fashioned, but I still believe in having good manners and being pleasant to people.
In South Carolina, chitchat in most stores is the norm.
However, I don't believe its the "responsibility" of the salesperson/clerk to speak to you or anyone else beyond " Hello" and "Have a Nice Day".
My employer can make me do a lot of things for my paycheck, but speaking to a customer beyond the phrases above is not, and should not be my "responsibility". If a clerk doesn't want to talk, then its up to he/she. All they are required to do is their job.
I work for a *major grocery store chain* as a front-end cashier, and for the past several months the cashiers and baggers/courtesy clerks have and still are being evaluated on a weekly basis. A front-end supervisor, manager or the store manager have been doing weekly written evaluations on the front-end staff. The written evaluations have certain criteria for the cashiers, and certain criteria for the baggers/courtesy clerks.
I do greet and thank the customers, but one supervisor told me that I need to be more engaging.
I go by how engaging the customer is.
Last edited by snugglegirl05; 08-21-2019 at 10:48 AM..
I don't mind small talk if the cashier is able to talk and ring groceries at the same time.But, I have run into a lot of cashiers that once they start talking they slow way down. I would rather not have to stand in line and wait while the workers chit chat with customers and take forever. Big, big, big pet peeve of mine. Just say a friendly hi and thank you and let me be on my way.
Regarding the bolded part in pink.
One of my supervisor's expects more than just that from her staff members.
I also wanted to add something else from a retail salesclerk's (not a cashier's) perspective. We have a lot more duties than just selling! It is our job to put away unwanted merchandise, put out new merchandise, and keep the department as nice-looking as possible. Yes, customers come first, but if it is less than a half-hour before closing, it is very difficult to be interested in a customer's small talk if the department is a mess and it needs to be straightened before we leave. A customer who spends ten minutes talking about their grandchildren or latest vacation might mean that I will be leaving ten minutes late or face the irritation of a manager the next day. That is particularly true today, when it is not at all unusual to have only two salesclerks on an entire floor of several different departments.
Yes, I have done this many times -- spent a lot of time talking to an elderly and obviously lonely person -- but although I appeared to be friendly and interested, inside I was almost seething and impatient to have her leave.
I grew up in the NY metropolitan area where the clerks can go from friendly to indifferent to ignoring you and anything you say. I typically don't engage the clerk but will sometimes crack a joke or 2 if the situation allows. Otherwise I'm too busy bagging my own stuff to chat.
When we moved to metro Detroit it was a shock how friendly the cashiers were. People go from chit chat to all of a sudden the clerk is bouncing the customers baby in her hands (I'm not kidding). It drove me insane at first but once after I managed to acclimate myself to the local culture I probably grew to enjoy the polite interactions.
My favorite supermarket story though was when we went to Dallas to visit family and scope out Texas as a potential destination to move to. We were checking out and we had a dozen eggs. The cashier checked our eggs and called someone over to get us another carton when she noticed a few were cracked. If that happened in NY they'd be like "you already paid for those eggs, they're yours now" LOL.
I work in customer service and I think that customers create the "chit chat" level. Anyone providing customer service should smile and be polite. There's nothing wrong with some chit chat until the task is completed. It might take a little longer, but making the customer feel good, is better than a quick transaction. People who work in customer service need to realize that if they make customers uncomfortable or unhappy those customers will go away. When customers leave their money leaves. The customers money is what pays your salary. I think today's economy helps people see this a lot clearer than before.
Regarding the bolded part in pink...
that is true.
And supervisors need to realize that when evaluating you.
Last edited by snugglegirl05; 08-21-2019 at 10:47 AM..
I've noticed, that the cashiers at Whole Foods are more engaging than in other stores. I suspect they're told to be chatty with customers, to help create a positive experience in the store. I don't experience that chattiness in other grocery stores.
Way way back in the day, right after my first husband and I separated, my first job was a cashier at a grocery store. For ME it was a harder job than I would've thought. I lasted about 6 or 7 months I guess.
Seriously, it took a lot of concentration for ME. Now...I could've been more chit-chatty I guess, but that would've sacrificed speed, and who knows, I might end up scanning your can of green beans twice, because I wasn't watching what I was doing.
And here's another aspect that I dealt with and I assume most cashiers have at one time or another. People try to scam and con the cashier. I remember a particular money scam where someone gives you entirely too much money, and then they tell you they want such and such money back. Meanwhile, they're fast talking you, and the line is getting longer, and you get confused...
Well, long story short, for me, you can have accuracy or you can have friendliness...but it was hard for me to balance both.
I've noticed, that the cashiers at Whole Foods are more engaging than in other stores. I suspect they're told to be chatty with customers, to help create a positive experience in the store. I don't experience that chattiness in other grocery stores.
Right, there are some stores, like Trader Joe's and Starbucks, where the staff gets trained and evaluated on engaging and creating connections with customers. It may seem forced, and you might not like it as a customer, but they're just trying to keep their jobs.
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