Because all us fedora-wearers are sleazy pervs, of course. Well, I am, anyway.
BTW, I claim band name rights on Presumptuous Cashiers.
I got 2 out of 10, I get shaky in the morning just before my meds and breakfast, we cant figure out why, it isn’t my blood pressure and my morning glucose stick is normal [for me], and I got real angry when some jackasses at an AA meeting were bound and determined to force me into agreeing I was an alcoholic - on the grounds I drove a friend to a required meeting because he couldn’t drive, and I like to cook with wine or booze as a flavoring [to add extra flavor instead of salt or fat] and i liked a teaspoon or so of brandy in coffee a few times a week just before bed.
You can have the band name, I want dibs on the username Presumptuous Cashier.
Trust me - the guy at the vibrator store isn’t remembering your face.
FWIW I got it.
I’ve worked in retail a long time, despite my best efforts to change careers all the same.
So, let me share something with you: The poor sod behind the register is bored out of their tree, probably has about eight billion pointless tasks they’re supposed to complete (despite not being able to leave the counter), is probably mentally lamenting the fact they’re not going to get their coffee/smoko break because someone phoned in sick so they’re understaffed again, and once again some cranky customer has yelled at them because of something they’ve got no control over (price/lack of availability of an item, most frequently), and quite possibly lonely.
So, with all that in mind, it’s little wonder that occasionally the staff will try and talk to the customers. Now, personally, I wouldn’t comment on what someone’s buying except for something like letting them know there’s something similar which can save them money (eg someone buying a 32Gb USB stick might not know a 320Gb Portable Hard Drive is about the same price) or observing that they’ve made a good choice (or possibly purchased an item I’m interested in getting too), but the fact is lots of register staff do actually like to talk to customers.
Even if they’re not doing it in an attempt to feign (or genuinely show) friendliness, they may be doing it simply so you’re not both standing there robotically completing the transaction in complete silence.
All of which is a very long way of saying: “Sure, sometimes the register staff say things or ask questions that you may think are none of their smegging business. There’s no need to get the manager involved and generally be a dick about it. Brush it off, be a grown-up, and move on with your life.”
Obviously, if the register person makes really, really out of line comments (eg scolds a customer for purchasing condoms, observes that a customer might not be so obese if they weren’t buying soft drink by the keg etc) then that’s an entirely different kettle of fish, but a register operator observing they’re not a fan of lobster or expressing surprise that someone likes [product] is, IMHO, not something to be giving the manager an earful over.
Judgmental is one thing. But guess what: the people working in a service industry are PEOPLE. One of the few things that makes working in service even remotely tolerable is interacting with people. The work you do has very little purpose. It’s easy. Anyone can do it. There’s no end goal, there’s no “Hooray You’ve Helped A Thousand People” party, there’s just an unending stream of more shit to do, more bags to fill, blank-faced person after blank-faced person.
So the most fun in a job like that – assuming you legitimately like people – is making small talk. Usually this works best with regulars: after all, you see them every day/week/whatever. You’ve almost built enough seconds in their lives to be an acquaintance. They’re not trying to be dicks, for the most part. They’re trying to liven up their day and yours.
Mostly, if a person isn’t TRYING to give offense, I don’t take it. And if they are, I don’t care. If I did, I’d never get anything else done.
Nah, would have ruined it. What I needed was this:
As I said at the very beginning of my post, I try to be a cheerful and friendly member of society. Under normal conditions I would just laugh it off, and not waste my time talking to an indifferent manager. But in this case, money is tight, and buying lobster was a very large splurge for us, and this chump pissed on the parade. Perhaps if you had been there, and seen the actual malevalent behavior, you might think differently. Involving the manager was my attempt at preventing this from happening to the next unfortunate slob.
So you can’t write concisely, so I am an asshole.
Geezus christ, you need counseling.
This tends to be my reaction to restaurant waitstaff who go on about what their favorite entrees are.
Were you buying Chianti by any chance? Did you look her up and down and say “Love your suit”?
To chime in with the others with retail slave experience, cashiers are often required to encourage customers to get additional items, larger quantities, or anything else that squeezes out an extra buck or two. There may even be a quota in place that must be met Or Else. This practice is as universally loathed on the other side of the register as it is by the people who receive this harassment, but much like advertising and spam, there is a substantial portion of the population that it works on, and anything that generates more sales than complaints is considered a net gain by the beancounters.
Actually, it was Friday afternoon, not Sunday as you erroneously declare. Later I was taking my son out to dinner and didn’t want to have to stop. Oh, and I was wearing a tan sports coat and jeans.
I usually only buy beer once a week because several guys bring beer (they like their own brand) and after the game there’s always plenty left over and I take mine home.
Are these details *really *that important to the narrative? Or are you merely sniping? I think the latter.
Yeah, I’d have to agree with you.
While I generally disdain Presumptuous Cashiers and other retail minions - only because I’m just not chatty - one time did turn out well.
While bartending at a strip club, I would get off work at 5 am, stop by the Waffle House near home for a burger, and go home to sleep. For weeks, the same cute waitress would take my order, ring me up, and tell me to have a nice day.
One morning, she had to ask why I get a burger at breakfast time and what kind of work I did.
I told her what I did, and this was dinner time for me. She mentioned that she had been thinking of becoming a dancer, but didn’t know if she had the right figure.
Being a red-blooded, average 23yo [del]pig[/del] male, I replied that I would have to see more in order to render a valid professional opinion. I certainly did not expect the response I got, which was “I get off in 10 minutes. You want to take a look then?”
Turns out she was more than qualified, and we met recreationally most mornings for many months.
Good times.
Well, if I’d gotten into that kind of exchange with the cute Middle Eastern male clerk, I’d have bought the extra case of beer toot sweet.
Dear Penthouse Forum,
I usually wouldn’t write in like this, but…
Dear Penthouse Forum…
- pout *
I prefer to think that the story is, indeed, true. Call it denial, I don’t care. I thought it was kinda … sweet, in a way. So I’m ignoring Otis, lahlahlahIcan’thearyoulahlahlah.
I only recall one instance of having a presumptuous cashier. We were in a CVS and they had. a cheap brew your own beer kit near the front. My wife saw it and on the spur of the moment we bought it. When I was grabbing it from the stack, this 16 year old clerk tells me very solemnly that I should never drink and drive.
A flippant, ‘Aww, but Dad, I was gonna install it in the back and drink -while- driving’, sprang to mind. But I realized the kid probably just had some anti drunk driving stuff at school was trying to do me a mitzvah, not realizing he was being a sanctimonious prick. So I laughed it off and solemnly assured him I wouldn’t.
Hoping that post was a joke. If so, :p, and whew.
Why does friendliness make some people angry? 