Please try to be kind to the voice on the phone. I’ve worked in call centers, and while your CSR may be typing away (or having to wait for information he/she needs), s/he could easily be getting dinged by QA for allowing too much “dead air”, and if that call center’s looking to cut staff, those points on a QA score can make a difference on staying employed.
I DO try to be as nice as possible to the CSR. I know that the CSR is almost certainly doing exactly what Management has decreed from On High, and if Management thinks that Active Listening will give the customers warm fuzzies about the company, then all the CSRs WILL do Active Listening, no matter how they, as individuals, might feel about it.
If I think that I’ve been the tiniest bit sharp in my words or tone, I immediately apologize, and explain that I’m mad at the circumstances, not at the CSR. Usually I get told that I’m fine, they wish that all their customers were like me. I did this even before my brother got a job as a CSR. This is partly because I empathize with the CSR, and partly because of enlightened self-interest. If the person on the other end of the phone thinks that I’m being reasonable and polite, s/he is more likely to put forth more than the bare minimum. I just prefer to listen to dead air than listen to Active Listening, or information about the latest products and services.
It’s not the person on the phone who makes the Active Listening a policy, it’s someone much higher up, and I understand completely that griping about this policy to the CSR is only going to make his/her shift a little shittier, and won’t do any good at all. If Management listened to their CSRs in the first place, then probably this policy wouldn’t be in place, or it wouldn’t last long.
On behalf of call center workers, thank you for directing your ire to the correct place. That’s all we ask, that you understand that we have policies and such to follow that we probably don’t like any better than you do. 
If it’s not too painful for you to tell, I’d like to hear this story.
I witnessed one a few years ago. Long line at a Food Lion while several cash registers were being serviced/upgraded/changed out by official looking techs in matching shirts. A large, deep-voiced woman in line behind me kept grousing about “they need to open another line, this is ridiculous” etc. While I was checking out, the 20ish girl at the register was looking desperate and frustrated, and near her breaking point. Loud customer said “Good god, girl, are you blind? Look at all these people. Open another register!!” She looked around at the empty, cash-register-less lanes and said “Lady, what would you like me to do, *shit *a register? There aren’t any registers to open. Jesus I can’t take another day of this shit.” She said “sorry” to me, pulled her smock over her head, grabbed her purse from under the counter and walked out.
The manager who showed up to complete the transaction was furious. Said the girl had worked there nearly five years and asked what in the world someone said to make her walk out like that. The gruff woman behind me was pretty pleased with her work. I wanted to belt her.
I understand people’s frustration with not opening registers, having to wait in line an inordinate time to give a store my money gets on my nerves too. Our Food Lion is infamous for that. But that was totally out of line on the customer’s part.
Of course one assumes that most customers are aware of the connection between “Extra Low Prices” and extra low staffing…
I stopped at a grocery store on the way home from work to purchase a gallon of milk. The “express lane” cashier was having a conversation with another cashier and skillfully rang up my single-item purchase without breaking her conversational stride.
After passing the gallon-jug over the scanner, she adeptly turned to the plastic grocery bags, still engrossed in her conversation.
“I don’t need that in a bag.” I said.
One hand pulls open the next bag…
“I don’t need that in a bag.” I said again.
The jug goes into the bag.
“I don’t need that in a bag.”
Pulls the bag free from it’s holder.
“I don’t need that in a bag.”
Hands the bag to me.
“I don’t need that in a bag.”
She says “what?”
“Did you hear ANYTHING I just said?”
“No,” she said “I was talking to HER” (pointing to the other cashier).
“I said I don’t…need that…in a bag.” (I’m sure I sounded gruff)
She responded with “well all you had to do was SAY SO!” (snatches the bag off the jug).
PSA: This thread is 2 months old… (which is not the end of the world.)
Two things:
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I became more self conscious of my cashier interactions after posting here. There really is quite a bit of (thankfully formal) “Please”, “Thanks”, “How are you doing?”, “Ok, yourself?”, “Hey have a good one”, “You too”.
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Part of the earlier controversy comes from different human temperaments. Specifically, some are introverted, some are extroverted. Extroverts get their energy from chatting with others (and sometimes thinking out loud). Introverts get their energy from being alone (and plotting our doom, muh-ha-ha). I take it the OP is an extrovert.
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“The customer is always right” is a fine retail guideline. But really: it’s a convenient fiction. For this consumer, I like to not cause unnecessary and gratuitous difficulties. So I go through all the largely meaningless pleaseThanksImDoingOKhowAboutYourself with complete strangers whom I have nothing against butHonestlyIcanReallyDoLittleAboutSoMyExpressionsOfConcernAreEmptyNoise. It’s easier and better for everyone: the world does not revolve around my introverted self.
I’ve worked a lot of crappy customer service jobs. My response to that last part would be something along the lines “Go and get your manager, NOW!” (said while staring directly into her eyes).
Whoa! Everybody, step the fuck back, alphaboi is here to demand managers NOW and chew bubblegum, and he’s all out of bubblegum.
Why stop there? Why not call a lawyer? Or the police?
Another option might entail, “Ma’am? Point of information: I said that, um, about 6 times? Hey, no worries though!”
Or: “Have a nice day!” That’ll show 'em.
But, let’s say you are the kind of do-gooder buttinski who thinks it is your job to make sure you report her so that the next customer has a better experience, or whatever they tell themselves…
You can just go over to Customer Service, ask for the manager, and say, “Cashier on line 6 seems more interested in her personal conversations than offering great customer service.”
It’s not something I would give a fuck to do, but if you are the type to have to do stuff like this, that is the way to go. Not to stare daggers and make tough guy demands.
ETA: Uggghh. I just hate people who get all tough with service people. I have an irrational amount of rage for cornballs like that.
I’ve literally never had a cashier ignore me like that but if that happened to me, since I know how bags work, I would simply exit with the milk but sans bag and leave them staring at their empty sack wondering where did it all go wrong.
It’s because you can be nice as peach and some douche customer will ruin your day anyway, eventually you will get very jaded if you’re just not a people lover.
I had a family of real jackasses.
Me: “Hey, how we doing?”
Them: Stony silence
Me: “Ok…” (scans their items and bags them up in silence since they obviously cannot treat me like a human being and respond to me)
Me: “Ok, that’ll be $xx.xx”
Young guy my age, early 20’s: “Well you’re just real pleasant, aren’t you.”
Me (WTF???): “I said hi, you guys said nothing so I said nothing, I don’t understand what you want.”
I can’t remember what these assholes said in response, but on average you will encounter someone like this once and/or multiple times per day. You cannot win when dealing with the public, there are some shitty, shitty people out there. And this story is far from the worst I’ve had.
That being said, having worked in customer service so long I am always extremely polite to customer service people (plus I was just raised properly, seems a rare thing nowadays), so when a CS person is rude I know it is THEM and not ME. I have stopped going to a branch of Herfy’s because of how rude the young girls working there are, which sucks because I love the food and it’s near work.
Who the hell are you to tell people they can’t talk to their co-workers if they are working? Literally my worst customer EVER tried to tell me not to talk to my co-worker. She told me to focus on bagging her fucking groceries and cut out the “chatter”, which is ironic because 90% of the time you don’t even HAVE a bagger while you are at the register helping you, so she was ALREADY getting faster than usual service. We weren’t working ANY slower by talking, and this bitch already did not respond when I said “hi”, so she just hated the fact that other people weren’t sullen bitches like she was. I told her “Sorry for being human” and she narced on me to my manager, I just told him what happened and he didn’t give a shit.
There’s this sandwich shop near where I work, staffed entirely by a team handpicked from the top 0.0001% of the most obsequious people on earth. They don’t just ask how you are, they ask how your work day has been, what your fucking weekend plans are, all kinds of stupid shit. It’s so obviously insincere, and thus so dreadfully awkward, that I physically have to restrain myself from just letting rip and shouting “Fuck off! You’re not my mate. Just gimme the fucking sandwich!” In fact, there’s one cashier there who’s so bad I queue hop to avoid her. I still go there 'cos, in fairness, the sandwiches are pretty damn good, but I really don’t like it.
At the other end of the scale, there’s another shop nextdoor where the cashiers look like they’re barely alive. They take your shit, scan it, stick their hands out and they’re just like “$3.50”, and that’s it. Just absolute zombies, the lot of them. And while I prefer this to the phony ass-kissers in the other shop, it’s still not what I’d call optimum customer service.
There is a middle ground, and it’s wide and easy to aim for. I will now bestow upon you the collected wisdom of 12 years customer service experience. Here’s how to be a good cashier in 5 easy steps.
Step 1: Make eye contact.
Step 2: A little smile. That’s it. Just a little one. You don’t even need to keep it going for more than one second. It doesn’t have to be a thousand watt beam, just a little smile to show the customer that you’re alive.
Step 3: “Good morning/afternoon”
Step 4: Scan their shit. Avoid small talk.
Step 5: Little smile again, “Will there be anything else?” And then a quick “Thanks! Have a good day.”
Some people may not be satisfied with this. Fuck those people. You’re doing it right.
And that’s really all there is to it. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to grin your face off and suck any dicks. Just be, well, normal.
So that’s where I’ve been going wrong! I always thought that’s how people say hello!
Thank God I don’t work retail anymore. You and I agree about what is the optimal cashier, and because I’m not fake, I was this optimal cashier. I said a greeting 100% of the time, and maybe engaged in a little bullshit like “how’s it goin” etc, but because I didn’t step-and-fetchit and dance a little jig and grin like a mentally handicapped person (what exactly is there to grin about when we’re not talking about something interesting and I’m on hour 7 of my shift???) there will SURELY be a person who has to say something like “My aren’t YOU a friendly one” sarcastically. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE. I gave a pleasant greeting, and YOU did not have the social skills to advance the conversation while I am scanning your bags, so why are you SO OFFENDED that all you got was quick speedy service, and a pleasant greeting, and “that’ll be $.XX, do you want it all in one bag?” I’m sorry I am not a bubbly teenage white girl who fakes being SUPER EXCITED because YOU stopped in and you are SO SPECIAL and amazing that your sour face just lights up my day and makes my feet hurt just a little less! :rolleyes:
edit: Service being equal I’d also prefer slightly rude to fake corporate pretending to care about my day or weekend plans as well. There are people that can genuinely BS about that stuff while ringing you up (my ex-roommate) and not have it seem forced, but most cannot.