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Once when i worked retail, this lady came in and was rather rude, I was kind to her and helped her as much as Icould. When she wnt to pay I noticed on her check that I had the same bank as she did. I told her how I enjoyed doing bussiness wiht the same bank. She asked how I had an account there because only employees and there family members have accounts there. Ithen procceeded to tell her my father worked at that company, she goes oh who is your Dad maybee I know him> Told her my Dad's name(reminde you she was very rude to begin with) My Dad ended up being her boss. She looked at me and said oh sorry um did not know that you are his daughter. I smiled and said thats okay I am like my Dad and keep work at work.
I work at a call-in/take out pizza & hoagie shop and i could probably write several books of things that people do that bother me. Here are a few:
DON'T:
-order food, then not look at the price and only bring a ten dollar bill in, when it is significantly higher, then have to run back out to the car to get more money, holding up the entire line.
-order food, come in and then realize how expensive it is, and start complaining to the cashier about it like its his fault. NEWS FLASH: the cashier DOESN'T decide the prices!! That the one thing that bothers me the most about people that come in!
-call the business, they answer ready to take your order, and then you tell them to hold on!! When people do that to me, I just hang up the phone. I'm ready to take their order, but if they're not ready to give it, why should I have to wait?
-call and start placing the order, and not know what somebody wants, then proceed to SCREAM into the phone asking if they want lettuce, tomato, and onions on their hoagie. I think I'm partially deaf in my one ear due to the number of people that do this on a regular basis.
-call an order in, then 5 minutes later decide you don't want it, and call back to cancel it. Chances are we already started it, or are almost finished.
DON'T EVER EVER EVER:
-go to a pizza & hoagie shop less than 20 minutes before its closed! They are trying to get everything cleaned up, and everything is probably off, and they don't want to have to turn it back on just to make you food.
Well, thats my list. I work at a pizza & hoagie shop and I could just go on and on and on about stupid people coming in and doing stupid things. i really do hate it, but then you have some really nice customers that come in every week and cheer you up!
Wouldn't it be easier to clean up after you close? It's confusing to go to a place that's "open," only to find out they're really not.
Another peeve of mine: when I would deliver to a customer and they would try to "haggle" with me about the price. Kind of like when they complain to the cashier - the delivery person doesn't have the ability to set the prices.
DON'T EVER EVER EVER:
-go to a pizza & hoagie shop less than 20 minutes before its closed! They are trying to get everything cleaned up, and everything is probably off, and they don't want to have to turn it back on just to make you food.
Having worked these things before, I know that you guys clean up early, so you can go home early. BUT here's the thing... if I OWNED the place, and found out you guys were cleaning up early, possibly being rude to folks who came in within the last half hour of closing, I would sack each and every one of you.
If your boss (not the teenage manager) wanted you guys to clean up that early, he'd close earlier.
From a different angle - you are most likely an hourly employee. If you clean up early and leave at 10:05pm exactly (for example), then you are cheating yourself out of 20 minutes of pay.
DON'T EVER EVER EVER:
-go to a pizza & hoagie shop less than 20 minutes before its closed! They are trying to get everything cleaned up, and everything is probably off, and they don't want to have to turn it back on just to make you food.
Having worked these things before, I know that you guys clean up early, so you can go home early. BUT here's the thing... if I OWNED the place, and found out you guys were cleaning up early, possibly being rude to folks who came in within the last half hour of closing, I would sack each and every one of you.
If your boss (not the teenage manager) wanted you guys to clean up that early, he'd close earlier.
From a different angle - you are most likely an hourly employee. If you clean up early and leave at 10:05pm exactly (for example), then you are cheating yourself out of 20 minutes of pay.
But some places complain if the employees are staying too long. For example, we have a payroll "budget" and if we go over it, everyone's hours get cut. So we try to do as much as we can before we actually close (and we have some "closing" time built in). So yeah, you better believe that 20 minutes before we close we'll be doing things to clean up.
For cashiers: If you are going to open another register, please direct the next customer in line at your line to go to the next line. Don't just say, the next register is open,because inevitably, there's a mad rush of customers at the end of the current line getting in line first at the next open register. It is unfair to those who are lined up in order. In some stores, the cashier opening the new register actually walks over to or directly addresses the next person in line of the current open register and asks them to start the new line. From that point forward, customers can make a decision to stay in the current line or move over.
well, not to nitpick, but you should really scan crushable items like bread, eggs, and produce last, or set them aside so they don't get crushed, b/c in the end, when those items do get damaged, it will not only be SOLELY your fault, but you've cost the store money and getting in return an irate customer
at my old job, we were located near several high rises where the majority of the residents were elderly or disabled, so we didn't get the luxury of assuming they would help bag orcarry out their own groceries. regardless, it is NOT the customer's job to bag and if you're scanning in such a way that their items do get damaged, that's your fault and a customer has every right to be upset w/ you and "throw a tantrum".
trust me, I hate it when there aren't any baggers around, but that just means you need to revise how you do things. instead of just scanning and tossing the stuff blindly down the other end, stop and bag some stuff so it doesn't pile up. if the customer helps out, great, swell, but if they don't, you can't get upset at them for not doing something you were paid to do
oh, which reminds me, to keep it balanced, here are some Do's and Dont's for retail workers:
Do:
-learn to bag properly!!!! stop putting my cleaning products in w/ my veggies, don't bag my bread w/ the 2L soda bottle, and if something needs to lay flat in the bag (ie, a tray of cupcakes), please don't slip in in sideways or upside down so it turns into a huge mess (I swear, some baggers/cashiers seem incapable of bagging in such a way that the items stay flat at the botton!)
-look ahead and don't wait till the last second to call over a supervisor to ring up my liquor purchases, esp. when it's very busy and it takes that sup a while to head over. in fact, do mark which cashiers can do liquor sales around certain holidays like NYE and XMas so I can choose my cashier accordingly and the sups aren't bouncing around all over the place
Don't:
-harass me to sign up for credit cards or to buy the item of the week. I know some supervisors hassle you to push these products, but when I say no, please stop blabbing on about the perks of owning your card or how awesome the item of the week is and that it's on sale
-continue talking to a co-worker while a customer is waiting for your attention. I hate it when I need to ask a question and I have to wait for two employees to finish their chit chat
-brush off a customer looking for help when you're busy helping someone else. if you are busy helping another customer and I come up to you looking for help, please at least say you'll be right back or you'll send someone to help me, don't just rush off and say "I'm busy" (it's amazing how often this happens to me in electronics stores like BB and CC!)
-similar to the above, but don't brush me off b/c you're going on your break. this happened to me a couple of days ago and the guy just called over his shoulder that he couldn't help me b/c he was going on his break. this PO me off to no end and I made sure to complain about it later. I get the fact you don't want to waste your break helping customers, so at least lead me to an employee who can help me or point me in the right direction. ditto if you are punched out and heading home and I didn't realize this when I stopped you (this is why I remove my work shirt or put on a sweatshirt over it when I go on break or head home, so customers can't stop me, though I will stop to help lost looking customers if time permits)
I'm not sure how other grocery stores work,but I worked at H.E.B, and it's a very hard job. When you first start, you start off as a bagger,and if good you become a cashier. There is usually only a limited amount of baggers working each day so There be about 6 cashiers and 4 baggers. We have this thing called IPMS[Items scanned per minute]. When I have to stop and bag and put your stuff in the basket; it affects my IPMS,causing me to get in trouble or if it happens too much....demoted.
When I'm at the grocery store getting checked out and I see no baggers, I bag my own stuff. You people abuse the fact that since your not working or getting paid, you become completely lazy and don't even attempt to lift a finger.
Were constantly being watched by assistant managers,bosses,and mystery shoppers. So were always under alot of stress....including dealing with rude customers who are very picky about they way there stuff is bagged. If were crowded and I have no bagger, and I'm taking up to 10-20 minutes on each customer because there too lazy to atleast put the bags in the basket than demand a carry-out when there is no available baggers, it's not good.
You make it seem like I'm asking the customers to do my job, when really I'm just saying it would be nice to help to keep the line flowing smoothly and prevent me for dealing with the angry customers behind you.
DON'T EVER EVER EVER: -go to a pizza & hoagie shop less than 20 minutes before its closed! They are trying to get everything cleaned up, and everything is probably off, and they don't want to have to turn it back on just to make you food.
Having worked these things before, I know that you guys clean up early, so you can go home early. BUT here's the thing... if I OWNED the place, and found out you guys were cleaning up early, possibly being rude to folks who came in within the last half hour of closing, I would sack each and every one of you.
If your boss (not the teenage manager) wanted you guys to clean up that early, he'd close earlier.
From a different angle - you are most likely an hourly employee. If you clean up early and leave at 10:05pm exactly (for example), then you are cheating yourself out of 20 minutes of pay.
Don't run your business, it wouldn't last long. When your forcing people to work overtime your going to have to cut other peoples hours. I don't want to waste gas to come work and be told to go home. Obviously, I don't think some of you understand exactly how hard and stressful it is to dealing with cusomers.
DON'T EVER EVER EVER:
-go to a pizza & hoagie shop less than 20 minutes before its closed! They are trying to get everything cleaned up, and everything is probably off, and they don't want to have to turn it back on just to make you food.
Perhaps the pizza shop should close 20 minutes earlier.
If a shop it open, it's open. Period. Its workers should be available to serve customers. If I walk in at 10:55 and the shop closes at 11, I would expect to be served. Otherwise, my business will go elsewhere.
Quote:
You make it seem like I'm asking the customers to do my job, when really I'm just saying it would be nice to help to keep the line flowing smoothly and prevent me for dealing with the angry customers behind you.
How is it the customers' job to protect you from other customers? If you do your job well, the line will flow smoothly. If not ... oh, well. Deal with the fallout.
I'm not sure how other grocery stores work,but I worked at H.E.B, and it's a very hard job. When you first start, you start off as a bagger,and if good you become a cashier. There is usually only a limited amount of baggers working each day so There be about 6 cashiers and 4 baggers. We have this thing called IPMS[Items scanned per minute]. When I have to stop and bag and put your stuff in the basket; it affects my IPMS,causing me to get in trouble or if it happens too much....demoted.
When I'm at the grocery store getting checked out and I see no baggers, I bag my own stuff. You people abuse the fact that since your not working or getting paid, you become completely lazy and don't even attempt to lift a finger.
Were constantly being watched by assistant managers,bosses,and mystery shoppers. So were always under a lot of stress....including dealing with rude customers who are very picky about they way there stuff is bagged. If were crowded and I have no bagger, and I'm taking up to 10-20 minutes on each customer because there too lazy to at least put the bags in the basket than demand a carry-out when there is no available baggers, it's not good.
You make it seem like I'm asking the customers to do my job, when really I'm just saying it would be nice to help to keep the line flowing smoothly and prevent me for dealing with the angry customers behind you.
oh my old job had ISPMs too (I believe we were expected to do about 17-19 IPM minimum and your totals were reviewed biweekly), but our bosses stressed continusouly that ISPM was no excuse to damage produce. I saw a lot of cashiers literally hurl items down the other side so hard they would bash against the far side and get damaged. at my job, you got into far more trouble for damaging a customer's food than for going below the average ISPM. no customer wants their $10 worth of heirloom tomatoes squashed by a hurried cashier (this happened so often in my store, our sups had to pull us aside one by one and tell us to be careful w/ our scanning and it wasn't unusual for one of them to step up behind you as you scan and forcibly slow you down by grabbing your hand!). and as a customer, if I see you tossing my stuff down the belt haphazardly, I will ask you to slow down, ISPM be damned, or I simply won't pay for the damaged goods and ask for it to be exchanged. as a cashier, you have to know how to be fast w/o damaging the produce. honestly, it seemed to me from your post that you were letting the bread and eggs get crushed just to prove a point
most of the time when I go shopping, I bag my own groceries, sometimes even send the bagger away, b/c of all the instances where my stuff was bagged wrongly (see the above post you quoted. I've had baggers bag MEAT and CLEANING PRODUCTS w/ my PRODUCE!), but there are days when I just don't feel like bagging, either b/c I'm tired or my hands or full or I'm otherwise preoccupied. I've worked in supermarkets on and off for 8+ years, have been a cashier, bagger, and floor sup, and trust me, I go out of my way to show respect to those in the field and don't take advantage of anything. but don't dare call me lazy for not doing something you should be doing! honestly, if this is such an issue at your store, I'd talk to a sup about why you aren't meeting your ISPM goals rather than taking it out on a customer by purposely letting their food get damaged. I have a job too, spend almost 9 hours on my feet dealing w/ my own brand of customers, I don't want to go to a supermarket an come upon a surly cashier who expects me to do their job as well (if I wanted to bag my own junk, I'd just use the self scanners. nowadays, i find myself using these more since I've become disgruntled about the quality of customer service at my local supermarket, and frankly, it's not rare that I know the produce codes better than the cashier!).
trust me, I've done my fair share of complaining about customers, even right here in this thread. and while it would be great if customers unloaded their baskets (my major cashier pet peeve as stated in this thread, moreso than customers who don't say hi) and bagged their groceries, I just can't let these pet peeves influence my customer service. I don't demand customers unload their baskets or yell at them for leaving a half gal of ice cream out on the shelves, or allow their food to become damaged just to meet my goal. really, the latter is my major gripe, since it did come across you were letting food get damaged just to force a customer to bag their foods
regarding the whole pizza/sub place closing time thing, yeah, from what I've been told, the ovens, grills, and fryers all get turned off earlier than the stated closing time and these people are not going to turn them back on 20 minutes before closing (think about how long it takes your oven to preheat, or how long it takes a at home fryer to heat up). but many of the places I've been to were happy to make you a cold cut or tuna salad sandwich close to closing time (just not too close). frankly, I see this issue as no different than laundromats that have a stated closing time of say, 11pm, but request last washes be started no later than 10pm. a lot of stores won't even allow new customers to come in when it gets close to closing time and only remain open to allow the customers already inside to finish their purchases. just b/c a place is physically open doesn't mean you can expect 100% of the services to be provided to you 20 minutes of less before closing.
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Perhaps the pizza shop should close 20 minutes earlier.
