I was in a similar situation once. I decided to try the new “Cinnamon Rush” flavored toothpaste, and at the checkout the cashier (after she’d scanned it) said, “I got a sample of this stuff in the mail. It is awful! Tastes like crap! I wouldn’t brush my dog’s teeth with that stuff.” All I could think to say (between giggles) was, “…That’s OK, I don’t have a dog…”
I mean, really! Was she trying trying to talk me out of it? She’d already scanned and bagged it!
Chances are I would have said nothing. However, I do have a passive-aggressive streak a mile wide that sometimes rears its ugly head, and I might have had this conversation:
Cashier: I think they’re going too far with this low-carb stuff.
Me: Too far? Too far? OH MY GAWD, did they stop making regular bread? I mean, I like this kind of bread, but I think it’s just TOO MUCH for them to take the regular bread off the market. That’s like Big Brother, ya know? People should have a choice to buy whatever kind of bread they want to, I can’t believe they are actually preventing people from purchasing regular bread. You’re absolutely right, that is just TOO FAR.
I would say this loudly, in hopes that maybe other shoppers would hear me and madly rush the bread aisle in hopes of finding those few remaining loaves of regular bread.
I think the appropriate reply would be shouting “SHUT UP AND WORK, AUTOMOTON!” at the top of your lungs. Not because she deserved that response, but because it woould accurately reflect your attitude towards service personnel.
She was making conversation. It’s what friendly and/or bored people do. There’s no need to analyze her comments in search of an insult, as it is extremely doubtful that one was intended.
I think she was probably trying to make conversation, but it’s really annoying when people comment on what you’re buying, especially when they’re making critical comments. She overstepped, and I think that your response - silence - was best.
[hijack]The past few times I’ve gone to the grocery, I’ve had the same person help me check out. She’s very nice and we’ve chatted a bit - mostly because we both like sushi and she told me that if I ask, I can get free samples from their sushi chef. Last time I saw her, though, my mom was with me, and she told my mom how glad she was that I was with someone for a change because I was really lonely and always came in by myself and should have some sort of companionship. (I’m getting married in 2 weeks, but she didn’t know that.) It was kind of surreal. [/hijack]
Totally. Any of y’all ever worked as a cashier? Not real exciting. You look for excuses to start a conversation. If you ask if something is good, it’s because you’re genuinely curious about that product.
And I really think the cashier in the OP was just trying to be friendly. She didn’t say something like “OMG, you’ve been suckered into the whole Atkins crap, you cow!” I would responed just as angelicate suggested. OTOH, if her tone of voice was really snide, I’d respond in the same way, just much frostier…
A remark can have all the “good intentions” in the world and still be thoughtless, annoying, stupid, and rude. Witness the thoughtless things that “well-meaning” people say to people who are grieving, sick, overweight, disabled, etc. Or the person who sent me the Klingerman “virus” warning, and when I politely corrected her as to its veracity, she snapped, “Well, I only sent it because I care!” :rolleyes:
If the cashier wants to make conversation, a good place to start is by not making negative comments about other people’s choices. I don’t care to have cashiers, or any other random strangers for that matter, commenting on what I have chosen to buy. Especially if it’s to say “Eww ick” or something like that.
I agree, when I go shopping I usually start up a conversation with the girl at the till (that’s what us furriners call checkouts), and it’s nearly always about something I’m buying …
"Yes… yes, you’re right! They HAVE gone too far with the ‘low-carb’ business!
I can’t BELIEVE I’ve fallen for such a transparent marketing ruse! Curse my trusting nature!
Thank you SO much for lifting the scales from my eyes! I see it all now… the blatant manipulations… the fiendish imposition of unrealistic expectations… the doctored medical reports… DIABOLICAL!!
All this repulsive low-carb ‘food’… A POX UPON IT ALL!!"
(sweeps food off the counter and onto the floor, proudly marches out of the store)
“Aye, too much yappin’ not enough scannin’ – Chop, Chop Fatty” Said, of course, while snapping your fingers in front of you. (my dad actually said that minus the Chop, Chop Fatty bit when he was buying things to make homemade meat sauce and the cashier said, “Isn’t it just cheaper and easier to buy the bottles?”
I LIKE low carb breads. I love the fact that they are smaller in size too. Other breads out there doesn’t fit into my toaster. Orowheat is the best, IMHO.
You could have asked her ( picking up a box that should be in every order just incase this ever happens again) " What do you think of the lubricated Trojans?"
It would be best if performed in a booming voice.
Seriously, I’d probably say something like, " Well, the All-Ben & Jerry’s diet was a bust. I thought I’d give this a try."
They have an all Ben-and-Jerry’s diet?!? THAT I think I can get on board with!
I don’t like customer service people chatting me up at all, and it’s not because I think I’m better than they are; I just don’t like to talk to anyone while I’m shopping alone. That’s not a crime, is it?
I’m sure I would have been speechless, which is what happened when I was standing in line to check out my groceries at a health food store once and the man behind me said, “Wow, I don’t recognize any of that stuff.” Yes, I’m vegan and I eat a lot of Asian food. That isn’t an invitation to make personal remarks. Later I wished I’d said, “If you’ve never seen romaine, you need to get out more.”
I’m another who would have assumed she was simply making small talk. I’m a small-talker myself. I would have responded, “Maybe. But all these low-carb products have been a real boon for diabetics like my dad. Some of the products are kind of nasty, but this bread is actually pretty good – and he can have a whole sandwich for lunch instead of making do with half.”
I am just wondering why her obesity had to be noted here. Seems just a bit judgemental that her weight was part of your defensiveness about her comment on a purchase of low carb bread. In fact the whole low carb thing has gone a bit too far, meaning it has replaced meaningful dialogue about health eating in general and being touted as just the next cure all. It wont work for everybody because we all didnt come from the same cookie cutter.
Personally I wouldnt have even been offended by this even if I was on a low carb diet. It was an observation of our culture at the moment, not a personal judgement of your purchase.
Yeah, I wondered about this part too. There’s a thread in the Pit about the “fat bitch buying doughnuts” using a check in the express line. The OP in that thread was totally jumped on for using fat (and commenting on her purchases) in a derogatory manner even though other posters claimed it was merely descriptive. The implication seems to be the same here (although in much politer language) yet didn’t spark the same outrage.
I don’t necessarily think that this is a judgmental statement. I think it leans more towards the casheir’s “state of mind”. IME, a lot of overweight people who are not doing anything about their problem are defensive about it. So they may have a tendency to go on the defensive by denigrating whatever the latest weight-loss trend is, or knocking people who are participating in it. I’m not saying that’s what the woman was doing, only that the OP seems to believe that it’s a possibility.
If the cashier had said the same thing to me, I probably would have smiled and said “well, maybe they’re going too far, but it’s working really well for me, and I’m happy that the products are so much more available than they used to be”.