Yet Another Whiny Customer Service Minirant.

[Daithi Lacha]

Or not so much customer service, but customer dis-service.

So Lady Lacha and myself are in Dollar Tree yesterday, buying cleaning supplies and non-poisoned food for the cats outside. We're on Register 2, not on Register 1. Actually, there's no one on Register 1, which turns out to be a good thing.

Cashier 1 shouts over to Cashier 2: "Hey, can you watch my counter? I gotta take a pee break."

Cashier 2: "What?"

C1: "Pee break. I gotta go pee. Can you watch my register?"

C2: "You coming back soon?"

C1: "Yeah - I just gotta pee and I'll be right back."

Supervisor, approaching: "What's up?"

C1: "I'm just stepping away to go to the bathroom. I gotta pee."

S: "Ok, that's fine. See you in a minute."

Oh, for the sake of fuck! Yes, yes, you gotta pee - we get it! We get it! Stop fucking announcing it! Or maybe it's a magic word: by saying "pee" often, the sensation of a grossly distended bladder is lessened? Yes, that must be it; it's the only explanation. I mean, how often do you need to announce to the world at large what your bodily functions are? Maybe it's cool in the breakroom (which I doubt they have), but not at the counters, not in front of customers. And the supervisor didn't even bat an eyelash.

OK, rant over. It was small and whiny wasn't it? Thank heavens; I have to go take a shit.

[Dog80]

It's a dollar store, not Harrods.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Originally Posted by Dog80

It's a dollar store, not Harrods.

Yeh, if it were Harrods the cashier would have been shouting, "I must go micturate."

[Kalhoun]

I'd never announce something like that (hell...I don't even like to tell my best friend I 'm peeing when we're on the phone!). However, it doesn't surprise me in the least.

[Ponder Stibbons]

Originally Posted by Daithi Lacha

... I have to go take a shit.

Good heavens! I've seen a "Take a Penny, Leave a Penny" jar before, but never one for that!

[Daithi Lacha]

Originally Posted by Ponder Stibbons

Good heavens! I've seen a "Take a Penny, Leave a Penny" jar before, but never one for that!

*singing*
... little brown jug, how I love thee ...

[Celyn]

Originally Posted by Daithi Lacha

..........I mean, how often do you need to announce to the world at large what your bodily functions are? Maybe it's cool in the breakroom (which I doubt they have), but not at the counters, not in front of customers. And the supervisor didn't even bat an eyelash.
OK, rant over. It was small and whiny wasn't it? Thank heavens; I have to go take a shit.

Well, I suppose it's good that she she didn't have lots of customers waiting at her till, and for all I know, she might have been saving up this pee for a long time, but, yes, she does seem to have shouted "pee" quite a lot. Really far too much. Heh, if I had been a customer waiting there, I have a horrible feeling that I too would have felt a sudden need to piss off, as it were. I might not make a public announcement of it though.

Suggest to her that she should move to the U.K. and take a job in a small local shop - a newsagent sort of thing - where she will mainly sell cheap things – papers, confectionery, some cigarettes, and so on - that way she will have plenty of chances to shout out loudly "sixty PEE" or "eighty PEE". * Even if the price is > = a pound, a bit of quick thinking will make sure she never just asks for, say, "that will be four pounds 53, please, "but rather "that will be N pounds whatever PEE, please".

See? How to enhance her day-to-day working experience. (Ooh, I think I am Celyn the Career Advisor today).

And I think you should plan to return to the same shop, just to see whether she escalates to or “I REALLY need to get to the bathroom 'cos I just must change my tampon” or “I want a SHIT”, or even a long description of what she had for dinner the night before and why it was bad and why she now she really needs to VOMIT in a big way?

All right, yes, I do see your point, but perhaps she was just some idiot very young thing that had no manners but will soon have to learn some if she plans to remain employed at all in the world that is not a school? Eek, I suppose, even if that is the case, why do they employ her at all? And I regret using the word “remain” now, lest the person do it in the plural version and take to chattering loudly about corpses she has known.

Hmmm. Heck, from the sounds of things, though, at least you were there to buy cat food and cleaning materials, so not quite as bad as it would have been had you gone there to buy a whole load of lovely fine food for a very beautiful dinner party. Although, had that been the case, you might have been quite entitled to shout out loudly how much she made you want to vomit because she would be ruining your good plans for nice dinner.

And I don't know what A “Dollar Tree” is but on first reading it, it sounds wonderful, as in dollars that grow on trees, but with my more cynical hat on, it sounds like the same thing as a “Pound Store” in Britain, that often has good bargains, but often has stuff that is not bargain at all. Annoying, 'cos I still want to find that place where “money grows on trees”. Boo, hiss, sob sob.

* Sadly, we don't have a unit of currency that is called a "crap" or a "shit". Well, not officially.

[Jackmannii]

Originally Posted by EddyTeddyFreddy

Yeh, if it were Harrods the cashier would have been shouting, "I must go micturate."

[whiterabbit]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

(hell...I don't even like to tell my best friend I 'm peeing when we're on the phone!)

Your friend knows already if you pee while on the phone...trust me.

Ewwwwwwwwww.

[Daithi Lacha]

Originally Posted by Celyn

All right, yes, I do see your point, but perhaps she was just some idiot very young thing that had no manners but will soon have to learn some if she plans to remain employed at all in the world that is not a school? Eek, I suppose, even if that is the case, why do they employ her at all? [snip]
And I don't know what A “Dollar Tree” is but on first reading it, it sounds wonderful, as in dollars that grow on trees, but with my more cynical hat on, it sounds like the same thing as a “Pound Store” in Britain, that often has good bargains, but often has stuff that is not bargain at all. Annoying, 'cos I still want to find that place where “money grows on trees”. Boo, hiss, sob sob.

That's just the thing - she said it to a manager/supervisor, and either he didn't pick up on it (!), or he just plain didn't care. And she was young, but she wasn't that young. As Dog80 pointed out, though, it was only a dollar store (exactly so - like a pound store or a Euro store [depending on your locale]), so I couldn't possible expect Silver Service. But still ...

As for your quest, try getting a specimen of Lunaria annua, the Silver Dollar plant (you might know it as "Honesty.")

[vetbridge]

*clean up, aisle one*

[Telperien]

Hoo boy, that was tacky. You don't suppose she was one of those people who insist on always "telling it like it is," which in practice means generally using the most vulgar terms possible to describe something, and saying pee instead of piss was her one concession to decorum?

I got nothin'.

[Ensign Edison]

Let me be the first to say so fucking what? And I don't mean "so what you were grossed out" or "so what you think it's tacky", I mean why the fuck would you have those reactions, all of you?

[garygnu]

Why is this labeled as a customer service rant?

[KidScruffy]

Originally Posted by garygnu

Why is this labeled as a customer service rant?

Because there are eight words you can't say if you work in customer serivce:
shit
piss
fuck
cunt
cocksucker
motherfucker
tits, and
pee

[Liberal]

When it's your turn at checkout...

You: Hang on a sec. My balls itch.

Clerk: Pardon?

You: [...digging into your pants...] My balls. My balls itch. I have to scratch my balls.

Clerk: That'll be $12.48.

You: [...squinting with obvious discomfort...] God, my nuts are on fire! Can you check out someone else?

Clerk: My machine is tied up with...

You: Oh! That's the spot! Oh, yeah! Right near my taint! Oh, yeah! [...blissful expression...]

Clerk: Sir, I believe you're...

You: Oh, I think I'm going to shit now, this feels so good!

Clerk: [...leaning over PA mic...] Manager assistance at checkout, please.

You: Can you smell my shit? It smells like roses to me. [...offering her a sniff of your fingers...]

[...manager arrives...]

Manager: What's the problem here?

Clerk: This man is vile.

You: Could you ask her to hurry, please. She smells like pee.

[monstro]

The only explanation that doesn't make her look like an exact doofus is that it was an emergency-type dealie and she didn't want people to think she was stepping out for a smoke break. But in that case, a discrete "I've got to go to the ladies room" would have done the trick.

Sometimes at work, when people are bombarding me with questions and it's clear I'm heading to the bathroom, I'll interupt them and say, "Hold it! I've got to pee really bad!" And then I dash away because usually at that point, I really have to go (I'm bad about waiting till the last minute). I don't know why I do it, except that it's funny sometimes and I like making people laugh.

But I wouldn't do it in front of strangers or customers, if I had them.

[Lissa]

Maybe the phrase I've seen used by people playing World of Warcraft is a good one: a bio-break.

[kaylasdad99]

I don't have customers in my workspace (thank Heavens), but when I need to unplug from the phones and leave my coworkers to handle the calls, I'll usually mutter something about needing to inspect the porcelain fixtures in the men's room, just to make sure they're still there...

[Justin_Bailey]

Count me in as another who thinks you all are fucking prudes. She had to pee, so what?

On top of that, I've been a lot of places where if you need to leave your designated area during a shift, the only way to do it is make it known you have to go to the bathroom.

[Daithi Lacha]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

Count me in as another who thinks you all are fucking prudes. She had to pee, so what?

On top of that, I've been a lot of places where if you need to leave your designated area during a shift, the only way to do it is make it known you have to go to the bathroom.

It has absolutely nothing to do with prudishness. I'm the first guy to laugh at a fart or belch, but not when they're coming from someone in a public place. Your bodily functions at that point are your own, and should remain as such. Really, there shouldn't be a distinction between a dollar store and Harrods, in terms of what's acceptible and what isn't. Me screaming at the counter staff wouldn't be acceptable in either place, so why should what the staff can say on the work-floor be subject to different standards?

Lib, you almost made me piss myself, btw.

[Viridiana]

There's nothing wrong with the word 'pee,' for heaven's sake. For all you know, the manager told her to say "I'm taking a pee break" whenever she had to pee. Who knows, it was a dollar store.
Plus, it was accurate.

[Daithi Lacha]

Originally Posted by Viridiana

Plus, it was accurate.

It would also be accurate for me to go around to various people, proclaiming loudly, "You're fat! You smell! You're ugly! You've got a big butt,"* but it goes against social convention and basic politesse. What if she had her period? Would anyone necessarily have wanted to hear "I'm bleeding really heavily, I'll be right back!"? Or how about "I'm cramping, I have to defecate so badly!"? Where is the line drawn between what can be expressed by a person in the service industry and what can't? Or is the announcement of a runny nose that requires blowing of an equal social nature to the proclamation of a sudden attack of diarrhoea?


* AKA "family reunion."

[Justin_Bailey]

You seem to be stretching these social faux pas awfully far. "I have to pee" isn't close to any of them. Would it have offended you less if she had said "I have to go to the bathroom." Because, ya know, it's the same basic idea.

Plus, I subscribe to the idea that "when you gotta go, you gotta go." If someone needs to use the bathroom, at that moment there is no greater need in their life. They get all the slack they need.

[Epimetheus]

Oh please, get over yourself. You must have such a terrible life if somebody saying pee a couple times when trying to get a restroom break incites you to write a long ass pit. My god, some of us actually have troubles in our lives. Must be so nice to have such a wonderful fucking life all you can think to bitch about is somebody saying pee.

[Daithi Lacha]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

Oh please, get over yourself. You must have such a terrible life if somebody saying pee a couple times when trying to get a restroom break incites you to write a long ass pit. My god, some of us actually have troubles in our lives. Must be so nice to have such a wonderful fucking life all you can think to bitch about is somebody saying pee.

You think that was long? Hoo boy, wait 'til I get a couple of beers in me and then hear someone mix a metaphor. I've had bar staff mop around me, turn off the lights and go home, while I was still holding forth.

Sorry your personal troubles are so great you can't observe social niceties at work.

Yeah, I know I'm being an asshole. I'm never an asshole. But this time around, I feel like being an asshole.

[saoirse]

Sorry, I have to agree that pee is not the least bit offensive. If hearing the word three times in public is the worst thing that happens to you all day, hell even if it's the tenth-worst thing that happens to you all day, you lead a blessed and charmed life.

[Liberal]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

Must be so nice to have such a wonderful fucking life all you can think to bitch about is somebody saying pee.

That'd be a good point if the OP had said, "This horrible girl at the market said 'pee', and I am outraged!" Read it again for context. She didn't say pee; she shouted multiple times for the whole store to hear that she needed to go the nasty place, hover her ass over bacteria infested water, spray her urine against a ceramic backsplash, dab herself with institutional flash paper, wash her hands? — god only knows, and return to the register to HANDLE PEOPLE'S FUCKING STUFF. If you don't understand why that's uncivilized, then you are one of her.

[Daithi Lacha]

Dammit, it's not about offensiveness (and I agree, the word itself isn't offensive. "Piss," maybe. "Wee-wee" would actually have been pretty funny). What I'm taking issue with is the fact it was done by a cashier, on shift, in front of customers, loudly, over the head of said customers, and repeatedly. I just don't think it was appropriate, that's all.

[Duke of Rat]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

I'd never announce something like that (hell...I don't even like to tell my best friend I 'm peeing when we're on the phone!). However, it doesn't surprise me in the least.

I was taking a power dump (well about to, I was in position with the paper in hand, but hadn't made a move yet) Saturday morning when the phone rang. It was close by so I got up, grabbed it, sat back down and proudly proclaimed my current activity to my buddy when he asked what I was up to. Hell, it was my birthday, I can shit while on the phone if I want to.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Daithi Lacha

Dammit, it's not about offensiveness (and I agree, the word itself isn't offensive. "Piss," maybe. "Wee-wee" would actually have been pretty funny). What I'm taking issue with is the fact it was done by a cashier, on shift, in front of customers, loudly, over the head of said customers, and repeatedly. I just don't think it was appropriate, that's all.

Having to use the bathroom is inappropriate? What is this, 1950s television?

People piss, people shit and sometimes they have sex!

Get over it.

[Daithi Lacha]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

Having to use the bathroom is inappropriate? What is this, 1950s television?

People piss, people shit and sometimes they have sex!

Get over it.

Man, that would have been freakin' awesome.

"Hey, can you watch my counter? I gotta get screwed."

Cashier 2: "What?"

C1: "Screwed. I gotta go get screwed. Can you watch my register?"

C2: "You coming back soon?"

C1: "Yeah - I just gotta get screwed and I'll be right back."

S: "What's up?"

C1: "I'm just stepping away to go bend over shelving in the back. I gotta get screwed."

S: "Ok, that's fine. See you in a minute."

[lisacurl]

Dude, I would shop at that Dollar Tree every day.

[Epimetheus]

Well, I don't see the difference between saying "I gotta pee" and "I need to use the restroom" except the former is shorter and displays an urgency the latter does not. If the person in question is a cashier, they can't leave and go to a place where there are no customers, or some asshole would write a pit about them leaving their post.

Since a cashier, by the definition of their job is around customers, and their boss may be filling a cashier on another register, they can't exactly say it circumspect.

And it is about offensiveness. If the cashier had said "I need to take a restroom break," would you have gotten offended and disgusted like in the OP? If no, then it is about being offended at the word "piss" cause going to the restroom and pissing is exactly the same thing. Now if she said all what liberal said, sure I would be offended, but you gotta be pretty fucking retarded to think that what liberal said and "I gotta pee" are equivalent.

If you think it is bad manners to say "I gotta go the restroom," then you should just stay the fuck home or something, cause it is a big bad world out there and people say pee, penis and other baaaad words.

So if it isn't about offensiveness, then whats the problem?

[Epimetheus]

Originally Posted by Daithi Lacha

C1: "I'm just stepping away to go bend over shelving in the back. I gotta get screwed."

S: "Ok, that's fine. See you in a minute."

Yeah, cause "I gotta pee" is SOOO much like "I'm gonna go screw."

[lisacurl]

I think a lot of less sophisticated people might associate the phrase "I gotta pee" with what children are taught to say, and thus consider it less offensive/more polite to say than what they might normally say ("I gotta piss" "I gotta take a leak").

Depending on the demeanor of the clerk, I might have assumed she was expressing what she needed to do in the most cultured way she knew how.

[monstro]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

Well, I don't see the difference between saying "I gotta pee" and "I need to use the restroom" except the former is shorter and displays an urgency the latter does not. If the person in question is a cashier, they can't leave and go to a place where there are no customers, or some asshole would write a pit about them leaving their post.

Since a cashier, by the definition of their job is around customers, and their boss may be filling a cashier on another register, they can't exactly say it circumspect.

And it is about offensiveness. If the cashier had said "I need to take a restroom break," would you have gotten offended and disgusted like in the OP? If no, then it is about being offended at the word "piss" cause going to the restroom and pissing is exactly the same thing. Now if she said all what liberal said, sure I would be offended, but you gotta be pretty fucking retarded to think that what liberal said and "I gotta pee" are equivalent.

If you think it is bad manners to say "I gotta go the restroom," then you should just stay the fuck home or something, cause it is a big bad world out there and people say pee, penis and other baaaad words.

So if it isn't about offensiveness, then whats the problem?

While I think being offended by "pee" is overboard, I agree with the OP that it isn't very professional. Nor is it grown-up.

It's all about the picture you paint. If I say, "I've got to run to the ladies room", the image I've painted is me running daintily to the ladies room. If I say, "I gotta pee", then the image I've painted is me squatting over a pot. Can you honestly say that both images are equally pleasant?

What if the cashier had announced that she had to change her tampon? Peeing and menstrual duties are both bodily functions requiring urgent action. And while I do both and am not offended by general discussions of either, I would prefer not knowing about those intimate details of a stranger's life.

When you were in school, didn't your teachers ever scold students who didn't excuse themselves discretely? You were to raise you hand and ask to go to the restroom. Not announce to the class that you had to make wee wee or go boo boo.

I think that's all the OP is saying.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I'm another one who doesn't get the pearl clutching and thinks some people around here need to lighten up. So she had to take a piss. Who gives a fuck?

[Epimetheus]

If said cashier had said "I need to dispose of my tampon" I would have had no problem with the OP.

It's pee, people say it and worse all the time. Get over it. I heard "gotta go shake the snake," "drain the lizard," drop the kids off at the pool" all the time. Not in the "Dollar store" mind you, but I wouldn't even blink if they did. Wouldn't even register, let alone drive all the way home and bitch about it to a bunch of strangers.

I still say you got problems if somebody saying they gotta pee bothers you, and even more if you drive all the way home and compose a pit thread about it.

Oh no, intimate details of a person, gods forbid.

[monstro]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

If said cashier had said "I need to dispose of my tampon" I would have had no problem with the OP.

How come? How's that different than, "I gotta pee"?

[Epimetheus]

Because "I gotta pee" isn't gross. To me, to several here, and likely to most of the population.

"I got diarrhea and gotta go splatter in the toilet" is gross, "I gotta drain the lizard" is less gross, but still not probably acceptable. "I gotta pee" is something a kid would say and is no way gross, else prudes like you wouldn't let them say it.

[Duke of Rat]

"I gotta drop a deuce or we're gonna need a clean up on register 3!"

[monstro]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

Because "I gotta pee" isn't gross. To me, to several here, and likely to most of the population.

"I got diarrhea and gotta go splatter in the toilet" is gross, "I gotta drain the lizard" is less gross, but still not probably acceptable. "I gotta pee" is something a kid would say and is no way gross, else prudes like you wouldn't let them say it.

I never said that "I gotta pee" is gross. It's just uncouth. It's not polished or smooth, especially when emphasized three times in a row. The fact that it's what kids say is EXACTLY the OP's point. He wasn't in a kindegartern. He was in a place of business.

Now is it a Pit-worthy complaint? No. The OP was right when he said his was a whiny rant. But some of the responses here are equally stupid, including yours. You're acting like it's so outrageous to expect an adult to excuse themselves like a fucking adult.

[Liberal]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

Because "I gotta pee" isn't gross. To me, to several here, and likely to most of the population.

Goddamn, you're one hard headed clueless fuck. Nobody has complained about "I gotta pee" despite how trailer trash it is all by itself. The complaint is about SHOUTING IT, repeating it over and over, painting a picture of her nasty ass hovered over a cesspool, splashing urine on her thighs, sticking her nasty hand down there, and then coming back to handle your shit. Fuck, I hope you don't work for the public.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Boo hoo, the poor customers had to be momentarily aware that other people urinate. This is the kind of thing that needs to be filed under "move on," if any notice is taken at all.

[Epimetheus]

Originally Posted by Liberal

Goddamn, you're one hard headed clueless fuck. Nobody has complained about "I gotta pee" despite how trailer trash it is all by itself. The complaint is about SHOUTING IT, repeating it over and over, painting a picture of her nasty ass hovered over a cesspool, splashing urine on her thighs, sticking her nasty hand down there, and then coming back to handle your shit. Fuck, I hope you don't work for the public.

Ahh poor liberal...

Actually the OP was complaining about it. I find it funny the champion of fighting against the term "white trash" uses "trailer trash" but whatever, the OP said they shouted, but I've been to many a family dollar, and the cash registers are always very close together, so I assumed it was a figure of speech.

And she only said it the second time because cashier #2 obviously didn't hear her. So she couldn't have been YELLING it, now could she, you stupid old fucker. She said it the third time because she had to report to her supervisor what she was doing because her supervisor asked.

Wah, wah wah, somebody shouted Pee in a store, how uncouth, bunch of fucking fuddy duddy old hoity toity pieces of shit. Boo fucking hoo, what is somebody of your obviously elevated position of society doing in a fucking family dollar anyway. Go blow your Idol Donald Trump and leave us "trailer trash" alone.

[Bryan Ekers]

I'm also glad there wasn't a line at her register.

...'Cause, y'know, you gotta mind your pees and queues.

[Astroboy14]

Originally Posted by Liberal

Goddamn, you're one hard headed clueless fuck.

Now that would offend me if a clerk were to shout it at me in the dollar store! I'd laugh later, though.

[saoirse]

Originally Posted by Bryan Ekers

I'm also glad there wasn't a line at her register.

...'Cause, y'know, you gotta mind your pees and queues.

God will punish you for that. And soon.

I thought the OP was bothered by the use of "pee" as well. I thought that had the cashier shouted "I have to use the ladies" our OP would not have been PO'd. I have gotten used to "pee" being part of everyday vernacular. It took some getting used to, but I'm acclimated to it. Apparently, not everyone is.

[Liberal]

Originally Posted by Epimetheus

Ahh poor liberal...

Actually the OP was complaining about it. I find it funny the champion of fighting against the term "white trash" uses "trailer trash" but whatever, the OP said they shouted, but I've been to many a family dollar, and the cash registers are always very close together, so I assumed it was a figure of speech.

And she only said it the second time because cashier #2 obviously didn't hear her. So she couldn't have been YELLING it, now could she, you stupid old fucker. She said it the third time because she had to report to her supervisor what she was doing because her supervisor asked.

Wah, wah wah, somebody shouted Pee in a store, how uncouth, bunch of fucking fuddy duddy old hoity toity pieces of shit. Boo fucking hoo, what is somebody of your obviously elevated position of society doing in a fucking family dollar anyway. Go blow your Idol Donald Trump and leave us "trailer trash" alone.

Look how you make shit up. I've never fought against the term "white trash". The OP didn't say anything about a Family Dollar store. There's no mention of how close together the cash registers are. There's no indication that the other cashier couldn't hear ("What?" may simply mean "what the fuck did you dare to say?") I may be old, but I'm not stupid. My idol is not Donald Trump; it is Rob Mariano. And you are a blithering idiot who cannot read.