I work at Safeway, and I abhor calling people by name unless I know them. But, unfortunately, I HAVE TO. I think it’s a frigging stupid policy, and everyone else I talk to agrees. Management is under the impression that it will “build customer loyalty”, but in reality it just makes the cashiers look like morons, especially since the monkeys that they had inputting the names spelled about 90 percent of them wrong.
I wish they would get that people don’t care about this crap. Customers want to be rung through quickly and accurately by a friendly person, and would like their stuff bagged so nothing is damaged. Period.
Don’t blame the cashiers for stupid corporate decisions! Please complain to management, it’s the only way they’ll believe that people actually DON’T enjoy this policy.
Put me as “against” too. I don’t really like when the bank tellers use my first name. I think last would be even worse.
<paranoid rant>
What if you’re in line with an unsavory person, and he or she over hears a teller or cashier using your last name? My family has a unique name (one of those “americanized” surnames that there are supposed to only 1,600 people world wide using) so if they wanted to look up my unlisted number and address, it’d be easy to do…though that sort of thing happens rarely here, I can see this being a problem for some people.
</paranoid rant>
Thanks for the great response, guys! I am considering showing this thread to my supervisor, which is where the memo came from(but I’m thinking she got the order from one of the library higher-ups). According to the memo, this is just a trial to see what people think about it and how it works. I’m guessing, from your reactions, that it won’t last long, thank god. We are at least going to be asked for our opinions on the matter and how the customers are reacting, both of which will be negative, I’m sure. Right now this is my plan: I work 5 shifts a week, two on Tuesday, two on Thursday, and one on Sunday. My supervisor is only there for one of those shifts (Thursday morning). I will tell her my feelings about the policy (she loves me ) and if she still insists I try it out, I will do so… when she’s there. Otherwise… it really irritates me and makes me feel weird, so I’m going to avoid it when she’s not there. I will show her this thread if necessary. Thanks! (feel free to reply some more, the more evidence that this is dumb, the better.)
And thanks for the compliments on my name. I hated it when I was little, but now I’ve learned to appreciate it, as it will be perfectly appropriate when I’m famous. My middle name’s awesome too.
This is cracking me up. If this thread represents a cross-section of the US it seems almost universally people hate this practice. So I guess all the bright bulbs that came up with this plan never bothered to check if their brilliant idea actually has merit.
Im waiting for when they review the company policy again and then realise all this “Customer Service” stuff could all be done faster and cheaper by a computer and downsize the lot of you.
Hate the idea. For the most part, people can’t pronounce either my first name or last name properly. What ever happened to ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’? Plus I use a nickname 99% of the time, so using the first name listed on my credit card or DL is going to make me cringe because nobody uses it.
I abhor the practice! What I hate even more than some kid I’ve never met saying, “And please shop again, Mrs. Poodle” is anyone I don’t know saying, “Thanks again, Yapping!”. That first name thing happens with more than sales clerks. Clue to all potential suppliers who are trying to gain my company’s business - Do NOT ever address me by first name in your random e-mail, phone call, letter. I don’t know you and it’s very bad manners.
Thanks, I had to get that Emily Post out of system!
So true. This is one of the many reasons I shop at the Pathmark rather than the Shop-Rite. The Pathmark by me almost never has a line. In fact, there are often open lanes where the cashiers are just waiting for customers. It’s really great. And the cashiers are also reasonably friendly and bag everything properly. What more could I ask?
I don’t know why stores ignore the basic tenets of customer service (like that people don’t like to wait on line) and try to institute these ridiculous strategies.
I don’t mind at all when they call me Mrs. Last name, but when they use my first name I get creeped out. Although, after I got married, they were still calling me Mrs. Maiden name so I turned in paperwork to change it. THREE times and it never got changed. It really drove me nuts, especially when I’d be handing them a check with both my and my hubby’s names on it. Never failed that they’d look at the receipt and call me whatever was printed on the receipt instead of the check. Since there was no option to have them not use a name at all, finally I just filled out a whole new application for a Safeway card with the right name and quit using the maiden name one. What a PITA. Don’t know why it bugged me so much but it did.
Also, as far as the whole “thank you for shopping” thing…I always feel awkward and don’t know how to respond. Saying “you’re welcome!” seems funny so usually I just smile and nod. Of if they also tell me to have a nice day, I’ll say “you too!” and hustle out.
Another vote for ‘dislike’. This practice presumes an acquaintance that is not present: as someone said upthread, I’m a customer of the establishemnt, not a friend. And then there’s the name-mispronunciation problem. Does any business really want to annoy its customers that much?
This is why I don’t wear my nametag at work unless I have to. People, even if they’re just coming up to ask for directions, will have a totally impersonal exchange of words with me and then go ‘Thanks, Mnementh!’. I don’t know you. Stopit.
Oh, and add me to the list of people that tell employees that customers hate that crap. Won’t change otherwise.
Never, absolutely not, uhhuh, NO.
I’m a very friendly, outgoing type and have no problems exchanging pleasantries with my cashiers or sales assistants while my stuff is rung up. I do have a problem with the names though- the instant a stranger stumbles over my first name my inner-stalker creepy weirdo alert goes off, and I don’t want them to concern themselves with my day, much less the niceness therein. It’s definitely the forced factor that makes it so unpleasant. It feels like mngmt. is making you and the unwilling cashier go on a blind date or something, ick. The whole thing is just bothersome.
[minor etiquette hijack] Skerri- Where I was raised referring to someone as “sir” or “ma’am” is the proper respectful form of address for strangers. It’s far less presumptous than even using a surname (and skips all the Miss/Mrs./Ms. weirdness. The cashier using “ma’am” may not have meant to offend.
[/minor etiquette hijack]
Yeah, I hate the damn practice, too. I go by Chuck and anyone who uses Charles is someone I immediately mistrust (it’s how I know someone is a phone solicitor, for example).
Mr. Last Name is better, but my reaction isn’t “they’re taking an interest in me,” but rather, “who is this person and how does he know me? Where did we meet?” I get pretty pissed off when I realize he doesn’t know me.
I also get annoyed with the “Have you found everything you needed?” question. If I hadn’t found it, don’t you think I would have mentioned it in the first place?
If a doctor called me by my first name, I’d find the most ridiculous nickname for his own first name and answer with that to see how that feels.
Every week I go through that awkward moment at Safeway as the cashier struggles to pronounce my last name.
One trick I use is that I have a fake name that I give at any place where they will be taking my order and then calling my name out when it is ready. There are a whole bunch of sandwich places that know me only by my fake first name – I’ve even had sandwich shop employees pass me on the street and say "Hi, {fakename}.
Of course this doesn’t work at places where they get your name off your credit card or grocery discount card.
I don’t like it , although I think I am getting used to it. It bugs me if thet repeat it four times. Also most people just don’t say it right.
I have to do it at work, customer service. I am dreading the day somebody is gonna yell at me “don’t call me John, do I know you? huh? do you know me? no! don’t call me John…”
Yikes…
I don’t like it. As Cranky said, it’s overly familiar. And I don’t want to be called <Miss/Mrs/Ms><lastname> either because I will invariably be called Mrs when I’m not.
They tried to do this once at Kmart and I refused and said I found it ill-mannered. To me, “Sir or Ma’am,” is proper.
I said it was fake, rude, and presumptious, and I wouldn’t do it-even if I were to be written up.
Hell, I hated it when people would read my name tag and go, “Hi, Kathi!” Or, “Thanks, Kathi.” If they were regs, I didn’t mind at all-because I got to know a lot of the customers there and when I worked at a groccery store.
But when someone I totally don’t know starts calling me by my first name, it completely wigs me out.
I don’t like being called by my last name at the grocery.
But as I think about it, it’s never bothered me anywhere else. I’m not sure why. I think it has something to do with the fact that, unlike other stores I visit, I’m at the grocery every week. Random people who might overhear my name are slightly more likely to be able to find me again. A bit paranoid, I suppose, but it just bothers me.
) and if she still insists I try it out, I will do so… when she’s there. Otherwise… it really irritates me and makes me feel weird, so I’m going to avoid it when she’s not there. I will show her this thread if necessary. Thanks! (feel free to reply some more, the more evidence that this is dumb, the better.)