Do's and Don'ts For Customers Shopping in Retail Stores (credit cards, best, coffee)

[Colddiamond102]

Originally Posted by DubbleT

Aw, c'mon... thirty minutes or an hour of looking at food prices is enough to make anybody a little hostile. It's nothing personal, have some sympathy.

I DO have some sympathy...thats the reason its only a watermelon I invision throwing at their heads...

[blkgiraffe]

DON'TS----IF THEIR ISN'T A DAMN BAGGER AND I'M SCANNING AND YOU SEE CRAP PILING UP AND FALLING OFF THE COUNTER, HELP BAG!!!

-Sorry this has always pissed me off, customers come in with like 6 of their kids and no one even attempts to help. They just stand around and look as if I'm doing something wrong.

Please just say hello to the worker. I one greeted a customer and they completely ignored me. I was getting audited by a check-out manager, and got in trouble for not "greeting" the customer. I did,but the customer didn't respond.

Yes please put your carts in the cart return thingies! I work in Texas in 100 degree weather pushing carts for 4-6 hrs straight! It's very hard work and it's extremely annoying when you have to walk all the way across the parking lot just to get a basket.

If you have a minimum of atleast 10 or less bags. Don't ask for a carry-out. Unless your handicap. I've done carryouts for people who've only had like 1 bag and they seem to park all the way out at the back of the parking lot.

-I wouldn't be complaining if I was getting paid good money,but I was only making 6:35 a hour!!!-

[Colddiamond102]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

DON'TS----IF THEIR ISN'T A DAMN BAGGER AND I'M SCANNING AND YOU SEE CRAP PILING UP AND FALLING OFF THE COUNTER, HELP BAG!!!

-Sorry this has always pissed me off, customers come in with like 6 of their kids and no one even attempts to help. They just stand around and look as if I'm doing something wrong.

Please just say hello to the worker. I one greeted a customer and they completely ignored me. I was getting audited by a check-out manager, and got in trouble for not "greeting" the customer. I did,but the customer didn't respond.

Yes please put your carts in the cart return thingies! I work in Texas in 100 degree weather pushing carts for 4-6 hrs straight! It's very hard work and it's extremely annoying when you have to walk all the way across the parking lot just to get a basket.

If you have a minimum of atleast 10 or less bags. Don't ask for a carry-out. Unless your handicap. I've done carryouts for people who've only had like 1 bag and they seem to park all the way out at the back of the parking lot.

-I wouldn't be complaining if I was getting paid good money,but I was only making 6:35 a hour!!!-

AMEN!

And another dont:

DONT go through the 10-items or less checkout with MORE than 10 items! yes, those lil itty bitty cans count as an individual item!

If it says 10 items or less, it MEANS it!

[Naptowner]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

DON'TS----IF THEIR ISN'T A DAMN BAGGER AND I'M SCANNING AND YOU SEE CRAP PILING UP AND FALLING OFF THE COUNTER, HELP BAG!!!

-Sorry this has always pissed me off, customers come in with like 6 of their kids and no one even attempts to help. They just stand around and look as if I'm doing something wrong.

Please just say hello to the worker. I one greeted a customer and they completely ignored me. I was getting audited by a check-out manager, and got in trouble for not "greeting" the customer. I did,but the customer didn't respond.

Yes please put your carts in the cart return thingies! I work in Texas in 100 degree weather pushing carts for 4-6 hrs straight! It's very hard work and it's extremely annoying when you have to walk all the way across the parking lot just to get a basket.

If you have a minimum of atleast 10 or less bags. Don't ask for a carry-out. Unless your handicap. I've done carryouts for people who've only had like 1 bag and they seem to park all the way out at the back of the parking lot.

-I wouldn't be complaining if I was getting paid good money,but I was only making 6:35 a hour!!!-

Why is it the customer's responsibility to help do things the store should do? I realize it's a low-paying job - I did it in high school, but come on.

[overtaxedunderpaided]

Originally Posted by Colddiamond102

Ive thought of making this thread for a while, and decided to just go for it. Some of 'em are my lil pet peeves...others happen quite often.

For those who have worked in retail, maybe some of these do's and dont's will be familiar.

For those that havent worked retail, maybe this will teach you some ways to help your store clerk, cashier, etc. while you are shopping. There are probably some more of these things from other's experiences, so feel free to add to it!

DO's

1. READ the sales ads before you get to the checkout line! Sometimes those ads are item-specific. You need to read the fine print. Just because the bold print line in the ad says (for example) "General Mills Cereal 2 for 6.00" doesnt mean that the fine print doesnt specify certain types!

2. If you are shopping in a store that has shopping carts, PLEASE take them back into the store, or put them in a cart return at the very least!! Somebody has to go out and bring those carts in (which are heavy and hard to control in large numbers), and the less this has to be done, the happier the store clerks.

3. Tell someone immediately if there is some sort of mess or spill. Its surprising how many people will knock things over or break things and not tell anyone about it so someone can fix it.

4. Say "hello" or acknowledge the person waiting on you at least once. Sometimes I get a customer that says " Show me where such-in-such is" and wont say another word after that. No 'thank you' or anything. Yes, we ARE doing our jobs by showing you, but we arent robots. We like some acknowledgement too. Oh, and GET OFF YOUR CELL PHONE IF YOU ARE ASKING SOMEBODY FOR SOMETHING!!!!!

5. Remember that we're working to earn a living, just like you.

Dont's

1. Don't NOT read the sales ad then get angry and insult a store employee because you picked up the wrong item. YOU are the one who didn't read it correctly, so why should the employee be the one to suffer your bad temper?

2. Don't habitually leave your cart between cars in the parking lot, then be the one to complain when one runs into and damages YOUR car.

3. Don't pass by a conversation between two employees, make assumptions as to what they are talking about, then report them to their manager.(This has happened on several occasions to others, and each time the conversation was on something else entirely)

4. DONT sneak up behind an employee while they are working and put a hand on their shoulder to catch their attention ( this is a pet peeve of mine. I HATE strangers touching me, and I hate even more when people come up behind me and do it). Instead, use a line such as "Excuse me, beg pardon, etc"

5. Dont forget that clerks are people too, not slaves or robots to do you every bidding.

6. If there IS a mess, DONT walk/run over it with your feet or shopping cart. Its bad for both parties( employee and customer...besides you might ruin your shoes!.

OOh i got a few more:
1. wait until the absolute last moment to fish out your debit card, credit card or cash
2. if there's also a bonus card such as a "air miles" card..........bury it at the bottom of your purse and make every in line roll their eyes
3. pay for everything with pennies
4. treat the clerk like a long lost friend with a long winded unnecessary conversation and keep the express line from moving
5. force everyone to listen to your lame cellphone chat.......yes we all know your important but i secretly wish that phone would absorb into your head and destroy your last brain cell
6. hold up the line for an item with no price tag........didn't you look?
7. maybe the item has a slight flaw.........eg. a woman held up the express line at Walmart for a tiny dot on a child's hat........after 15 minutes and much chest beatin......she got a whole 40 cents off........your kiddin me right?!

And please if i'm behind you, and YOU say "Sorry" DO NOT look for sympathy!.........i work with the public too! and i Will let you have it!(cause the clerk can't) Probably why nobody wants to go shoppin with me anymore?!.......Gee, maw your too embarrassin?!

[jsqueezer]

Sorry, Colddiamond... my remark about shopping online referred, of course, to things other than groceries.

I didn't read your original post really carefully. If I had, I'd have realized that your rules were directed at Walmart-type/grocery shoppers, and that you are a store cashier. I was thinking of things like clothing, small appliances, pet supplies, etc. that I seldom buy in an actual store. Online is better for me... more convenient, I'm not ignored by sales people, I'm not listening to people yammer inanely on their cell phones ("I'm in the sock department now"), I'm not standing in line watching 50 people line up to check out at one of the 2 (out of 12) registers open at the bookstore. While the manager stocks the magazine rack, oblivious.

Groceries I must buy in person, and I hate it. I await the day I can order groceries online and have them delivered.

[sskkc]

I've worked in retail, fast food and other "customer service" jobs in the past.

While customers can be rude, employees need to realize that they are getting PAID to deal with it. If all customers scanned their own goods, bagged em, brought them out to the car, returned the cart to the front of the store... how many front end employees would a grocery store need?

As a former Mystery Shopper, let me tell you - I'd say about 90% of clerks don't do everything they are being paid to do. For instance...

A big box store trains ALL their employees to approach anyone looking like they need help with this exact phrase, "Can I help you find something?" If they don't use those EXACT words, they're not doing their job correctly. If they do use those exact words and the customer happens to be a Mystery Shopper, they "earn" an additional $50 - just for doing their job! The same store has a program for cashiers too. How disappointing for me when the cashier's are too lazy to ask about their credit program (a reminder comes up on their screen) and I can't "reward" them.

Lazy, lazy, lazy. If you don't want to deal with the public, get a job (and some training/schooling) that doesn't require it.

[harry chickpea]

"A big box store trains ALL their employees to approach anyone looking like they need help with this exact phrase, "Can I help you find something?" If they don't use those EXACT words, they're not doing their job correctly. If they do use those exact words and the customer happens to be a Mystery Shopper, they "earn" an additional $50 - just for doing their job!"

I wouldn't say that. The proper phrase is "MAY I help you find something?" I'll pass on a chance at $50 that requires murdering the English language, just because some num-nut in corporate is anal.

[cathyde]

You know, I worked for one summer at a fast food place, and I will forever remember the way I was treated there. I was ALWAYS wrong, even when I know I wasn't, and not able to say one word to the offending party. (That "everyone makes mistakes" rule does not apply to retail!!) I was treated like people's personal maid, cleaning up their messes, when a trash can was within arm's reach. People making nasty comments right in front of me, as if I couldn't understand them! Thank goodness it was before cell phones became an everyday staple, or I'm sure I would've been dealing with the "talkers" - absolutely my biggest pet peeve!!!

I remember telling my dad after I finished working there, "I think everybody should have to work a retail job, if only for a summer. Then maybe people would treat everyone a bit nicer and with more respect." I can see that maybe that's what still should happen.

Great thread, BTW!

[61-OH]

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!