Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
- genuine smile
- say hello at the beginning & thanks for shopping in a cheery tone at the end
Sadly, many can't even do the above anymore.
More engaging comments that don't requite long answers are:
- How's your day been going?
- Have a nice weekend! (If it's a Friday)
- Find an interesting item the customer is buying that you just scanned & ask if they've tried this before.
I banter with the cashiers. I always ask them how their day is going. Depending on their response, I might go a little further, but not to the point of holding up other customers. In my old age, I've become more gregarious.
This is me, exactly. (Even the “more gregarious” part! ) Except I’m a cashier. I banter with the customers, if they are responsive.
In Boston i expected and only ever got zero engagement from cashiers unless i engage with them which they usually do not like.
In Baltimore there is no engagement 4/5 times but you should be prepared for a cashier to engage you-although im still not a fan.
You bring up a very important point. Yes, there are regional differences in how customers and cashiers interact, some places are very chit chatty and some are very cold and quiet. I find, here in the South, that people tend to be more laid back and friendly than when I lived up North. Not always the case, but a lot of times.
I grew up in MA and got used to cashiers who never smiled and often scowled at you. At the end of the transaction, they never said "thank you". I began to think it must be like that everywhere.
Then I moved south of the Mason-Dixon line---and what a difference! The cashiers would smile and greet you. It was nice. I would shop at the same supermarket each week and got to know a few of the cashiers. We would chat when they were ringing me up. In fact, many would often tell me their troubles. Eventually, I was able to know enough about them to ask them how their kids/husband were doing. If the cashier was recuperating after an illness, I would ask her how she was doing.
Many times, when I was out and about during the day, I would run into a cashier on her day off. She would see me and if neither of us wasn't busy, we would chat. One, after she retired, would give me a hug when we ran into each other
Never once when we would chat while the cashier was ringing me up, did we hold up the line. I always was prepared to pay for my groceries, then move on.
When I moved and would return to my old supermarket, if a cashier who knew me was still at the store, she would remember me and we would chat.
All that said, I never force a conversation. I will say "hello" to a cashier. If s/he didn't want to make conversation, I had no problem with that as long as s/he wasn't outright rude. IOW, if all that was said was "hello" and at the end "thank you", that is fine.
I've worked customer service jobs in my life and if a customer was kind enough to treat me well, it would make my day. Thus when I shop, if I can make someone smile, even laugh, I will do so.
I remember about 20 years ago when Safeway made a rule that all cashiers had to be very friendly. Many said that some customers thought they were coming on to them.
I do know that you're likely to get slapped if you go into a Spanish speaking grocery and ask a woman employee, "Do you have milk?" Gotta make it really impersonal - "IS there milk?"
My husband gets lots more peeved about his encounters with clerks than I do and I have a kind of funny story about that. For years he would stop into a local Mexican fast food place and the same woman would come to the counter and just stand there staring at him. No greeting or asking him what he wanted.
This irritated him to no end. He'd come home and report, "She did it again." He felt he was due at least some acknowledgement. (It wasn't a language barrier.)
Finally he decided to outlast her. He came home and said, "She won. We stared at each other for minutes and finally I couldn't stand it any longer."
This totally cracked me up. Many years later I found out why she liked to power struggle with male customers and the whole thing made more sense. You never know what some people have to live with that makes them act strange.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) Except I’m a cashier. I banter with the customers, if they are responsive.
Here is a Dilbert comic from shortly after that: 
