# Cashiers: would it kill you to be friendly to a customer? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 25, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631 "2013-04-25T00:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/101 "2013-04-26T14:15:50Z")
Bland, generic politeness got me through my time in retail. I’m sure it pissed off the customers who wanted Little Susie Sunshine, but at the same time it made me look politer than the Stinkeye Brigade so I can live with it. > [@nogwart](#): > > Cashier after completion of transaction: [complete silence] > Me, walking away: Merry Christmas! > Cashier: [complete silence] > Me after about 5-8 seconds of silence, trying to make light of her rudeness: Oh, “Bah, Humbug!”, huh? (chuckle, chuckle) > Cashier: It’s too early. > Me: Wow! Opinion of a 10 year retail survivor: She was rude, but you should have kept walking away. Sticking around to see if you were going to drag a response out of her, then poking at her again, just antagonized her. Consider the lot of a retail drone around about Christmas time. At the store I worked at, all the decorations were required to be up the first week of November and Christmas merchandise (trees, decorations, lights) started to roll in in October. The Christmas music started Thanksgiving week. So, before it’s even December 1, you’ve been staring at the same tacky wreath and snowflake banner for a month, you’ve just heard “Frosty the Snowman” for the 93,846th time in a week, AND just had the 93,846th customer complaining about the music, the decorations being up so early, Christmas being nothing but a big toy grab anymore… because that’s all your own personal fault!!! Consider also that you have no way of knowing if the customer before you is a christian or belongs to some other faith or is an atheist. Because there are people out there who will take an innocent “Merry Christmas” as a personal insult, an opportunity to lecture you on the stupidness of religion, or a combination of the two. But wait! you say. There is a helpful alternative in “Happy Holidays.” No one can possibly object to that, right? HA! That gets you lectured by the “Jesus is the reason for the season” brigade, or the fucktards who think they are being oh-so fucking original when they joke, “Holidays? Like Memorial Day? We should just say Happy Holidays all year round!” So out of desperation you quit using any type of holiday-oriented greeting, and then the next customer says, “What, no Merry Christmas, Miss Grinch?” and you idly daydream about punching them in the nose so hard it becomes embedded in the back wall of the Bed, Bath & Beyond clear across the mall… Not to mention you just got your schedule for next week, 50 hours of joy where you have to work 2 pm to midnight two days in a row then be there for opening time the next day because the seasonal “help” they hired got fired for dipping into the till or getting their family’s presents with a five-finger discount or walked out an hour into their first shift because real life isn’t like the happy perky training videos… and it’s only the 1st week of December… ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/102 "2013-04-26T14:56:48Z")
I feel bad admitting this but I am absolutely loving the stories of retail worker misery. Please, keep them coming. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/103 "2013-04-26T14:57:01Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Yah, maybe. But it’s possible that the previous ten customers were similarly smug and dismissive, and the difference between a clerk’s good day and shitty day was the one guy who appreciated and returned the courtesy. Who said anything about smug and dismissive? Interesting reflex you got there. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/104 "2013-04-26T15:04:07Z")
double post. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/105 "2013-04-26T15:05:14Z")
I know they’re instructed to ask the questions they do but damn. No, I do not have your saver card. No, I do not want to sign up for one. No, you can’t have my phone number. No, I don’t need a gift receipt. No, I don’t want to donate a dollar to your charity. No, you can’t have my zip code. No, I don’t want a bakery treat for 99 cents. No, I don’t want your instore insurance. No, you can’t have my email address. No, I don’t want to sign up for your newsletter. No, I won’t put my pants back on. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/106 "2013-04-26T15:54:30Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I feel bad admitting this but I am absolutely loving the stories of retail worker misery. Please, keep them coming. 😃 Oh, drew, you’ll be cursing yourself for opening the floodgates… 😃 Standing in the middle of the girls’ clothing department one July day, surrounded on all 4 sides by clothing racks with girls’ clothes on them, an elderly woman comes up to me and asks where the girls’ clothes are. I indicate that we are, in fact, up to our shoulders in girls’ clothes and ask what exactly she’s looking for. Her: “I told you: I want girls’ fall clothes.” It being early July, we were only starting to get some fall stuff and all we had were a few sweaters, sweatsuits, and jeans. So I tell her we’re just starting to get our fall stuff so all we have right at the moment are school uniforms and these couple racks of… Her: “I told you, I want clothes! THOSE are not CLOTHES!!!” Me: …😕? Her (face approximately this :mad: color by now): “I want CLOTHES! Those are not CLOTHES! Those are SWEATERS, JEANS and JOGGING SUITS!!! I want BLOUSES [slapping her purse with her hand] and DRESSES [slapping purse] and SKIRTS [poor pursie!]” What I wanted to say: “Amazingly enough, styles have changed enough in the past 40 years that other garments are worthy of the name clothes. Also, you’re a fucking lunatic.” What I said: “Like I said, ma’am, this is the only fall stuff we have right now…” and she stormed off. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/107 "2013-04-26T15:54:57Z")
At least put the underwear back on. Please and thank you. Have a nice day. Thank you for shopping at Au Naturale. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/108 "2013-04-26T16:05:36Z")
> [@colander](#): > > Where does this come from? Did they invite all the people waiting ahead of you to their wedding reception but decide to give you the cold shoulder? Surely you agree that it is irrational to take as a personal affront the mannerisms of a cashier who acts identically indifferent to every customer, right? What? Again, I’m not wanting cashiers to be superFriends, or invite me anywhere, or even smile at me warmly. Is it really to much to ask that I be greeted, or thanked? Not even both, I’ll take one or the other. Say something. Most of us are not robots, solely focused on procuring merchandise in the most efficient way possible. I find it very awkward and weird when they just don’t say\* anything\* except the total of how much money I’m supposed to hand over- that’s all I’m saying. Stop trying to make it seem weird, like I’m wanting them to lick my asshole or something. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/109 "2013-04-26T16:11:41Z")
> [@Myrnalene](#): > > All the posters saying “well, with that shitty attitude you’ll never get a promotion!”. Uh. You realize not everyone is trying to make a career out of their cashier job, right? Some people do choose to make a career out of retail and are happy and fulfilled and that’s great for them. But many people who work at entry level positions in these places do it as a stopgap because it’s the only thing they can get at the moment. Everyone knows that cashiers work very hard for little money but typically it’s a job that’s easy to get and hey, sometimes you’d rather not be homeless. > > And before “well if they don’t slobber sunshine and rainbows at me that means they are professional victims and will never get anywhere in life!”…no. It means _that job_ sucks ass and people are human beings who get worn down by it sometimes. Yeah. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the cashiers who lackadaisically ring up my purchase without making eye contact once, without a single break in their ongoing conversation with their co-worker about some dumb shit their boyfriend did or what they saw on _The Real Housewives_ the day before, and don’t even bother telling me the total but instead sit there silently rolling their eyes and waiting for me to read it off the display, are not going to become stellar, aggressively motivated career climbers if and when they ever land a “real” job. I know retail sucks and I don’t need to be coddled. “Hello” will do. It’s really not too much to ask. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/110 "2013-04-26T16:19:04Z")
When I worked as a cashier in a restaurant at Disneyland, I would aim for efficiency and keep the brainwashing Disney tripe to the minimum. Managers didn’t notice because there were usually too many of us to watch individually, and they were generally impressed by my speed. The customers, ahem, “guests” appreciated it too. If you’re spending $75 per person to enter the park, you don’t want to spend one minute more in line than you have to. Typically, my exchanges would go: Me: “Hi, what can I get for you?” Guest: \ Me: “Ok, that’ll be $$$, I’ll be right back with your order” Guest: \ Me: “And here you are, thank you very much and have nice day!” They wanted us to do some bullshit 2-part greeting, like “Welcome to so-and-so, what can I get for you today?” I figured “Hi” was good enough. I refuse to chit chat with people unless we were currently waiting for food and can’t process the next order, or there was nobody else in line. Even though I was dressed looking like a clown who had vomited all over himself, I know they didn’t come to see me and its all I could do to keep from throwing ice cubes at idiots. I didn’t want to speak to them and they didn’t want to speak to me, so I obliged them. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/111 "2013-04-26T16:27:49Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > What? Again, I’m not wanting cashiers to be superFriends, or invite me anywhere, or even smile at me warmly. Is it really to much to ask that I be greeted, or thanked? Not even both, I’ll take one or the other. Say something. Most of us are not robots, solely focused on procuring merchandise in the most efficient way possible. I find it very awkward and weird when they just don’t say\* anything\* except the total of how much money I’m supposed to hand over- that’s all I’m saying. Stop trying to make it seem weird, like I’m wanting them to lick my asshole or something. I don’t think anyone is saying it is weird to want common courtesy. What does seem weird (at least to me) is the “bent-out-of-shape” responses some people give if they don’t get what they believe is the response the cashier should give. There might be reasons that folks weren’t friendly, so why not let it go at that. Your next cashier in your next retail transaction will probably be fine. Same goes for the customers. You have a rude one, just let it go. Why is it so important? Heck, I don’t think we could get everyone here to agree on what is a proper way for a cashier to behave in a given retail situation. The cashier is criticized no matter what they do by somebody. Often the cashier is at fault. Sometimes not. But barring extreme examples we won’t get consensus. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/112 "2013-04-26T17:16:36Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#): > > Has this ever happened? I mean, actually, ever? That would be over the top even in Disney World. Once, we were told to greet people in a “space-theme” since we were in Tomorrowland. So yes, it has happened. One of the suggestions were “Solar Seasons Greetings”. It makes me cringe to remember that. At Disney. Horrible horrible Disney… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/113 "2013-04-27T13:14:08Z")
When I worked at Total Camera in Houston in 1981, we were told to answer the phone with: “Thank you for calling Total Camera, home of the lowest prices on the best photographic equipment. Have you tried our laser print enlargements\* this week?” \*or whatever that week’s special push was. We usually answered the phone with: “Thank you for calling Total Camera” or an even more basic: “Total Camera” People usually knew why they were calling. I had customers in the store also. So, getting to the point was needed and appreciated on both sides. What sucked was when upper management would call and then bitch at the store manager for us not answering the phones properly. He would take the heat, tell us to at least smile as we answered (on the premise that this would change our voices to happier ones ymmv on this), and then tell us what was actually important for that week or day. We did have really good prices, too! On stuff from as basic as a Canon AE-1 or SureShot up to a Mamiya RB67, darkroom set ups, and studio lighting. . ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/114 "2013-04-27T23:35:13Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > you’ve just heard “Frosty the Snowman” for the 93,846th time in a week, Jimmy Durante or Leon Redbone? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/115 "2013-04-28T01:09:39Z")
Without reading through this thread, I estimate that about 90% of the clerks and tellers I deal with are friendly. And most of the remaining 10% were probably too busy or pre-occupied with something or other to be bothered by my banter. Considering that except for small business owners, none of them had a stake in being friendly and I strongly doubt any of them are well paid, I’d say that says something pretty good about human nature. ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/116 "2013-04-28T02:25:06Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Nice post, but you left out a few things. Like not having the front-end supervisor or manager on duty respond to you pages (or radio it’ll be a 5-15 min wait), customers freak out over getting carded, try to cut in line, complain about people cutting in line, try to use their foodstamps to buy stuff that isn’t food (or hot food), WIC, pay with gift cards from other stores, use Canadian money, checks when the store doesn’t take checks, coupon games, notice that you’re white and make a whispered comment about how many niggers are in the store today (& get upset when you get offended), proposition you sexually, ask if you’ve found Jesus, tell you that you shouldn’t be working on the Sabbath or holiday, flip out because they’re short & need to run out to their & you won’t let them take the groceries with them, or insist the register’s math is wrong. _Not_ that they insist something came up wrong, or they didn’t get a discount, or they’re being charged tax when they shouldn’t, but that the register made an actual mathmatical error adding fully correct prices up. :rolleyes: Something I’ve never, ever seen or heard of any POS doing. Well said, but you left out the drunks when you work the night shift, the lovely reaction when you try to explain to someone that their credit card has been rejected, people claiming something rang up wrong when they read the wrong price on the shelf, the screaming kids, the parents screaming back at their kids, jerking them around or spanking them or ignoring them while they almost fall out of the cart and then scream at you when you point out the kid is about to fall out, the scammers, the shoplifters, the people who want to tell you their life story, the couple arguing with each other, the person piling a cart load of items on your 10 item or less line because the manager told him it would fine, the management that never backs you up because the customer is always right even when they are wrong. I last worked in retail 24 years ago and I still occasionally have nightmares about it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/117 "2013-04-28T04:54:52Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Take Taco Bell, the food comes out of a caulking gun for Christ’s sake 😛 Ha! ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/118 "2013-04-28T07:24:09Z")
> [@Clarisse\_McClellan](#): > > Well said, but you left out the drunks when you work the night shift,… How could I forget the drunks. :smack: Also the stoners, drug dealers, prostitutes, and their clients (actually the dealers & hookers tended to mind their own business & not cause problems). And of course the college students. So many experiances from working 3rd shift at a campus adjacent c-store. The obnoxious brats who can’t even be bothered to show their fake IDs to get their precious tobacco. People urinating on the curb/gas pumps/floor. I’ll never forget the freshman pledge who was supposed to streak back to his house, but chickened out & ended up trapped in our bathroom naked except for shoes & a skimask. Or the drunken bachlorettes who could neither tell the difference between annoyed clerk & male stripper or keep their hands to themselves. :mad: That was the first time I’ve to actually hit a woman, and if the sexes had be reversed I’d have ended up on the news as a local heroine. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/119 "2013-04-28T14:18:47Z")
I’ve encountered much ruder retail employees than cashiers that don’t greet or make eye contact. Clerk who refused to end her personal phone call when I came in-- as a bonus, it was the store’s landline, which is why I had to come in to find out if the shop had what I wanted Employee who told me a transparent lie about how the equipment just broke down so go away A bartender who cut off drinks a good half hour before the posted closing time because she wanted to go to another bar Hardware store employees who hid from customers to avoid waiting on them Cashier at a convenience store who gave me bad directions with a shit eating grin, I guess he didn’t like my looks Etc. However, I understand because I worked retail. Customers suck. They steal, they make a mess, and they complain to management if they don’t get their asses kissed. I hated customers sometimes, and sometimes it showed. If a particular customer went away and didn’t come back all that meant to me was one less hassle. It’s not like I got a bonus if sales were good. The chain I worked for got bought out, so maybe it wasn’t just me with the attitude problem. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631/120 "2013-04-30T04:26:59Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Here’s what pisses me off most about some cashiers. I believe that from the time I put my purchases on their counter to the time I get my change and bagged merchandise, they should refrain from having conversations with their cow-orkers (except for a price check), their cell phone, and any friends who might be hanging around. I can live without conversation, especially if there are a lot of people waiting behind me. Oh, and cashiers should cut friendly, post-transaction conversations short when there are people waiting in line. QFT. As long as I’m not getting active hostility, I can deal with someone who isn’t feeling all perky-cheery. Cashiers are human beings, after all, and might have had to come to work on little sleep, dealing with a medical/emotional problem, etc., because they can’t afford to miss that day’s pay if they want to pay their bills. All I really insist on is that they do their job at a reasonable speed, and prioritize performing the duties they’re being paid for over social chit-chat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-would-it-kill-you-to-be-friendly-to-a-customer/656631.md?page=7)