Not that I would ever, ever make comments like those mentioned here, but…
When I worked at a local retail store, we were required to make conversation with each and every customer. It’s rather difficult to sound enthusiastic about what the weather’s like for the hundredth time in one shift.
It’s easier to be inspired by what people may be buying. OTOH, it absolutely should be kept to niceties and nothing more. “Oh, nice, I have that same air freshener in my kitchen and absolutely love it,” versus, “Oh, great, like you’ll really be able to attract visitors with that stench wafting about your house.”
Since one customer once made me cry for the next three, until I could finally break away for the restroom, I’ve made it a point to try to never act angry toward the cashier… even if I am feeling it. Considering I often say things without first thinking, it would be kind of hypocritical to make a huge deal about the faux pas of another. A chilly smile and thanks ought to make the message clear.
My downfall would be giving people the benefit of the doubt. Don’t listen to me. Please. Or, at least wait until I’m in another room before you laugh. Thanks much.
Here’s a fun one: {Wrinkle your nose and sniffle a bit} “Well, since you’re being so helpful, let me return the favor. I recommend you use a better douche.”
I don’t know how tacky that is, but it certainly is tacky.
"Americans’ life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2001, while age-adjusted deaths hit an all-time low, according to a new report released today by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. "
I once bought beer and mini-cream puffs for a party, and the Cashier said “Looks like someone is being naughty.” I said “Looks like I’m not the only one.” Her face turned beet red. I thanked her and left.
Where exactly did I say I permit that sort of behavior? Nowhere.
As a matter of fact I don’t permit it from either side of the counter. I’m tired of self-important egotistical jerks coming in and walking all over employees because they feel they have the privilige of doing so. Just because someone is making slightly more than minimum wage does not make them less of a person.
I’ve seen cashiers being yelled at, made fun of, called names and threatened. I’m advocating a mature and reasonable resolution to any conflict that may arise.
Some of the suggestions made like those in posts 5, 18, and 30 are not conducive towards that goal, I think. I don’t like to see situations escalate over tiny, insignificant things like an offhand remark. A simple comment to the manager is more than sufficient and whole lot more effective, I can assure you.
But it doesn’t free them from the basic human responsiblity to be kind, and responding to their remark directly seems more like treating them like a person than running behind them to go tattle tale to their boss. That would be appropriate only for something mind-bogglingly rude (like the ciggarette story above)
No one has advocated anything like that.
Why would I want to get someone in trouble with their boss over a “tiny, indignifigant” thing? I’d much rather let them know–with a cold stare or a brief remark–that they’ve hurt my feelings and crossed a line of socially acceptable behavior. I am not going to be hateful, but I might well say something like “That was an unbearably rude thing to say.” or “That’s none of your business” Frankly, if a clerk has made remarks I find humilating, I am not going to want to repeat the remark to a stranger, and I don’t really like to get people in trouble.
Gosh, but you were willing to chastise people who consider responding to what is, by any standard, appalling rudeness in kind? If a cashier is so absolutely rude to me, and I’m rude in response, I probably haven’t done my karma any particular favor, but the responsibility still rests with the cashier. If a cashier treats customers that way, that is the problem; what he or she may evoke in a customer is a minor issue at most.
Besides, if your cashiers are behaving that way, it’s not particularly my responsibility to tell you. Ideally, if you trained your cashiers, they wouldn’t do such a thing. however, should it happen anyway, I’m far more inclined to use social pressure - an icy look or cutting response - rather than involve a manager (who will certainly be very difficult to get a hold of anyway - I should take twenty minutes out of my day to inform you that your employees aren’t properly trained? Isn’t that what you have mystery shoppers for?)
I remember an episode of Dahrma and Grag where Jenna Elfman did this when she was filling in as a grocery store cashier. I think that if the grocery store cashier looked like Jenna Elfman I probably wouldnt complain to the manager…I would probably go find more unhealthy stuff to buy and get scolded for.
I’ve got nothing rage-inducing. The most annoying comment I ever got from a checker was when I was babbling on about the size of the ravens in Japan to my aunt when we were at the plant nursery.
Me: “Really, they’re frigging huge, like pterodactyls or something. I saw a couple of them harassing a hawk once. The hawk was actually smaller than them.”
Checker: “Pterodactyls were dinosaurs, not birds.”
Me: <stunned silence from the sheer stupidity of this pronouncement and his temerity at butting into the conversation to add that ass-nugget of a comment>
“I know that. Where do you think birds eventually came from? Also, ever hear of the word ‘simile?’”
I’ve had a couple instances where I got remarks from the cashier: one who liked the bedsheets I was buying (she hadn’t seen them before, it was a new article in a huge supermarket) and one who’s known me since I was knee-high and figured my grandparents must be in town from the amount of fruit I was carting out. Grandma has been known to eat three kilos of peaches in one seating.
The remarks listed by the OP would have met fire and brimstone right there.
This thread is about cashiers being nosy assholes. Start a thread that talks about how much cashiers are maligned, and you’ll get some positive response. This aint the thread for that sentiment.
Start another thread. I’m all about social rights for the underpaid.
People get enraged over the slightest things these days. So she chit chats. So the world falls apart.
heh! I wish I got grocery girls like that. Mine can’t hardly be bothered to say hello. Some really good looking girls among them too, that I would be thrilled to be insulted by.
and us humans came from mouse-like mammals, does that mean I can call you Ratty?
Some of stories here show rudeness on the part of the cashier, but many of them show my fellow dopers to be a bunch of cry-baby, whiny, drama-queens. Hell, a couple of the stories are obvious flirtation attempts that fell flat. Fuck get over yourselves. Except you Antigen nobody attacks Mom!
That right there is the problem. As long as store management and workers see customers as completely replaceable, customer service will be nonexistant. It used to be that if you had lousy service and high prices and were always out of stock on the sale items, you would go out of business for lack of customers. No more. Too many people in too much of a rush and so they buy the product that is CLOSE to the one they wanted, from the really rude cashier, because they need something and need it now. So there’s no penalty for lousy, rude service. So, what next? Is it only going to get worse? (Have I turned into a cranky old fart overnight?)
Funny, that’s just how I feel when I hear someone bragging about how often they’re tempted to demonstrate what an arrogant, rude, nosy fucker they really are. So hard to bite my tongue.
Og, why is this so complicated for some people? I think I’ve experienced this from every conceivable angle: as a cashier, as a supervisor of cashiers, and of course as a customer. It’s common sense; you’re having a socially expected interaction with someone who is otherwise a complete stranger. Be polite. I actually like it when a cashier personalizes the interaction with a little relevant small talk, even if it’s a little informal.
Good example: OneCentStamp is at the checkout line a couple weeks ago with a bag of charcoal and a couple of really nice ribeyes.
(18-22 y/o male) Cashier: Man, can I come over to your place after work? OneCentStamp: Sure, as long as you bring the beer.
(both laugh)
Now, if he’d said “you know, you’re a little fat to be eating those” (none of his business, unsolicited, insulting), or even “you know, charbroiled muscle meats are known to cause cancer” (none of his business, unsolicited), that would be another matter. But I still would have dealt with it directly to his face rather than get the manager. Going over the cashier’s head and trying to get him in trouble seems far mor dickish to me than just glaring him down or telling him to mind his own fucking business.
The OP brings up on of my pet peeves. Other than the crappy bagging, this is the thing that bugs me the most. Yes, I buy a lot of bottles of water at once, because I don’t feel like going shopping that often, and I drink a few bottles a day. I don’t need to hear “Someone’s thirsty!” every time. I also don’t need to hear your sarcastic comment about how “nutritious” my frozen dinners are.
And, no, there isn’t always another customer. We’re a small town and eventually you will use up everyone. No need to alienate the people who do come in.
