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I work as a cashier at a *major grocery store chain*, and the majority of the cashiers greet the customer and thank them at the end of the transaction, but one of the Front-end supervisors wants the cashiers to be more engaging than that.
As a customer at a grocery store, what do you want the cashiers to say beyond the usual greeting and thanking the customer?
I work as a cashier at a *major grocery store chain*, and the majority of the cashiers greet the customer and thank them at the end of the transaction, but one of the Front-end supervisors wants the cashiers to be more engaging than that.
As a customer at a grocery store, what do you want the cashiers to say beyond the usual greeting and thanking the customer?
I would prefer they not do that.
You should play them that clip from Idiocracy....
Where in the future Costo employees greet customers with "welcome to Costo" "I love you".
My personal preference is no engagement at all, other than regarding the transaction. However, some cashiers are talkative (whether by force or naturally so), and I will respond cheerfully and chat in those situations.
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.
It is not a cashier's job to entertain lonely people who come in the store. If someone feels that way, they need to go out and make some friends and get a life. Cashiers have to interact with as many a hundred people during an 8 hour shift. Can you imagine how exhausting it would be to engage in friendly chit chat with all of them?
I don't mind a little bit of the "did you find everything", or "what a beautiful day it is (or not!)" - just superficial chit-chat.
What I do have a problem with is something like what happened to me last week at my favorite major chain grocery store. I'm a dishwater-blond green-eyed Swede, second generation in the US, no foreign accent. My first name is a version of Mary and my last name is a simple to pronounce Anglicization of the original Swedish name. I'm always well dressed and groomed. Nothing to make me stand out from the crowd. I wrote a check to pay for my purchases as this store doesn't take credit cards, only debit, or check, or cash. I've been shopping at this particular store for 12 years. It's in an upscale area.
For some reason, the cashier honed in on my names and started questioning my country of origin/nationality, while actually using my full name loudly in front of other customers. Totally unacceptable! She was a new cashier so maybe this was a product of her previous training. Was it some type of profiling? Hopefully it was an isolated incident. I tried to just carry it off at the time and not make a bad situation worse. But if it ever happens again, I'll be speaking to management.
So if that's the kind of engagement that the OP's employer is encouraging, it's just plain wrong. I'm wondering if the OP happens to work for that chain, if she would like to share that detail.
I work as a cashier at a *major grocery store chain*, and the majority of the cashiers greet the customer and thank them at the end of the transaction, but one of the Front-end supervisors wants the cashiers to be more engaging than that.
As a customer at a grocery store, what do you want the cashiers to say beyond the usual greeting and thanking the customer?
I think your supervisors are wrong. Simple greetings are fine and maybe I'll end up having a conversation with the cashier, maybe not, but forced friendliness just comes across as store owners using tricks to get more of my money and it feels FAKE. It also looks tiring and uncomfortable for the cashiers, which in turn makes me feel uncomfortable for them.
Three of the stores that I go to tried that a couple of years back and I hated it so much I pretty much stopped going to those places for a while. Eventually they calmed down so I started shopping again at two of the places, but never to the third one that was so over the top with it's bell ringing silliness. They chased away a customer with their aggressive "friendliness".
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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No, no no, that’s why some of us line up at the self check even with cashiers open and available. It also accounts for much of the online sales. We are not there to chat, or listen to canned niceties such as “Did you find everything” or “How’s your day going.” A simple greeting of hello, good morning, or good afternoon, perhaps with a smile, and thanks after are all we want. If someone does want to chat they will start a conversation, but the people in line after will be annoyed if you stop checking there items to chat and delay them.
Last edited by Hemlock140; 09-29-2019 at 01:16 PM..
No, no no, that’s why some of us line up at the self check even with cashiers open and available. It also accounts for much of the online sales. We are not there to chat, or listen to canned niceties such as “Did you find everything” or “How’s your day going.” A simple greeting of hello, good morning, or good afternoon, perhaps with a smile, and thanks after are all we want. If someone does want to chat they will start a conversation, but the people in line after will be annoyed if you stop checking there items to chat and delay them.
Maybe that is the manager's thinking... all the customers will line up for the self serve and they can fire the human people because the customers don't want to use them anymore.
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