# Retail Stupidity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807 "2019-07-09T23:58:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/301 "2019-07-31T18:00:44Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > When they first came out, I thought self-checkouts were amazing. Now, about half the time I use them (which is rarely), I spend more time re-scanning, removing that double scan and waiting for the person watching over them to fix an error, than I would have in the regular checkout. > > One morning I saw a line at the single cashier. Hmm…I’ll save time using the self-checkout. For some reason the checkout errors and a message and flashing light on the top comes on to wait for the manager to clear it. I give up and go to the cashier. Just as I’m finished, I see the manager finally come to check the machine. Would have been faster to use the regular cashier in the first place! Yeah, when there’s a error, it takes just as long as going thru the line, usually. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/302 "2019-07-31T18:12:28Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I cannot tell you how many people have asked where the batteries are while standing within 3’ of the battery display. Some genius at AH (a supermarket chain here) decreed workers drop everything when a customer asks where something is, go with them and physically TOUCH the item when pointing out where it is. It has caught on with other retailers and my shopping experience has greatly improved. No more “on the left in ail 6, next to the cereal” bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/303 "2019-07-31T21:26:44Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > If you aren’t there at all you won’t be at the register when someone steps up to it, either. In a public facing job there are going to be times when you might be doing nothing but being available. But being available for the next customer IS doing something, even if it’s boring, even if some permanently n00b manager just looks for constant movement. . Fortunately, _most_ of our managers are OK with the waiting cashiers speaking to the next person over. Occasionally, I surreptitiously read the magazines in the checklane. I hate having nothing to do, so when I moved over to cashiering I asked to be put on the busy shifts. > [@](#): > > Granted, if you’re one of the too few cashiers on duty, the upset customers should be communicating with the manager (or higher if necessary) instead of taking it out on the ones who can’t do anything about it. Our local store director has surprisingly limited say in how people-hours are apportioned. We tell people to call the corporate headquarters. Of course, half the time they sneer “that never works!” Well, not always, but it certainly won’t change if you don’t tell them you’re unhappy. They sure as hell don’t listen to us peons! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/304 "2019-07-31T22:55:15Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > When I contrast this statement and the hopeful, positive attitude that it conveys with the other poster’s (primarily two of them) who work as cashiers and the obvious outlook that you have on your customers compared to the way they come across, it tells me volumes about both you and them. > > My guess is they are going to be stuck bitching about the human scum they are forced to deal with for the rest of their working lives, while you sound like you are destined for bigger and better things ahead. Eh. While it’s nice to keep a positive attitude, having a few pet peeves doesn’t necessarily make one a hopelessly miserable misanthrope. I don’t work in retail _per se_, but I often conduct financial transactions with the general public, and there are things I see on a daily basis that cause me to roll my eyes. For instance, people will wait in a very long line of customers, surrounded by large and numerous signs indicating products and services, clearly marked prices, descriptions, etc., and when they finally reach the front of the line, they will have absolutely no idea what they want to purchase and how much it will cost. And only after that’s settled will they realize they might need some form of payment, and begin the process of fishing out a wallet-within-a-purse-within-a-backback-stuffed-underneath-a-stroller. And yes, I know you remember when it only cost $X. So do I. It costs more now. A loaf of bread used to cost a quarter; what’s your point? I can’t haggle. Go to a flea market if that’s what you want to do. I genuinely like my job, and I like dealing with most of the people I encounter. That doesn’t mean I can’t think that _some_ of them are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/305 "2019-08-01T13:15:35Z")
My store had three rules about when to call the second cashier: When there are three people on the line When someone has a full cart When someone says “Can’t you open another register?” I added a fourth, which got approved: When dealing with a crazy customer (mostly to get the other customers away from crazy, and also so the first cashier can concentrate on dealing with said crazy. If I ask the second cashier to take the next customer, please, someone is going to call one of the (male) aisle workers to the front for backup and/or protection.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/306 "2019-08-09T21:53:05Z")
This morning work opened up with a customer rising out of a motorized scooter to engage one of the managers in actual physical combat. Personally, I consider the chosen manager a poor choice of opponent given her size and strength but whatever. Then the alleged customer is inspired to deploy the n-word, the c-word, and a reference to sexual intercourse in a juxtaposition of maximum emotional impact. It took not one, not two, but THREE men to pull the enraged manager off the alleged customer, and two more people to prevent the alleged customer from following the trio dragging the manager off her to continue the conflict. The police were called and the “customer” was removed in handcuffs as one of our security guys was prying unpaid-for-merchandise out of one of her fists and the police were reading her the Miranda rights. And there was muttering to the effect of “well, at least it wasn’t a shooter”. Hate my job? Sometimes I hate reality. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/307 "2019-08-12T13:47:53Z")
Friday afternoon. Very busy time for us, and we have to get the customers out of the store two hours before sundown. I’m doing “last cash” running the only register that still has cash in it. Customer pays in cash and when the drawer opens, comes to my side of the register. I mean, could you_be_ any more obvious? I put my right hand into a fist, give the customer a long, hard stare, take out her change and slam the drawer shut. If she had moved one inch closer to the open drawer, her nose would have been punched out by my fist. That’s the fourth time I’ve seen a customer very obviously trying to get into a cash drawer. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/308 "2019-08-12T16:16:58Z")
Do you have security, or are you security? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/309 "2019-08-12T16:19:35Z")
She is the cashier. She is not “security” as her main job, but she is security as one of her tasks. I’m not security at my job either, but if I see someone other than Fred moving our servers away without prior warning I’m not gonna just look and think “uh, wonder what those guys are doing with the big computers”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/310 "2019-08-12T16:42:17Z")
I am a cashier, but I know a lot about security, self-defense, and punching someone out. Had I made any type of commotion, two of the male aisle workers would have immediately rushed to the registers. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/311 "2019-08-12T20:07:26Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > This morning work opened up with a customer rising out of a motorized scooter to engage one of the managers in actual physical combat. A bit of an update on this: It seems the scooter driver _ran over_ the foot of the manager, then fisted her in the face as an opening gambit. THEN the manager went ballistic. Manager had been approaching the person in question to ask if she needed assistance and discovered the hard way the “customer” was a belligerent would-be shoplifter. As the “customer” was clearly the aggressor (it is on more than one security camera tape so they have multiple angles on this) and the manager acted in self defense she apparently still has her job and, aside from some bruising, is uninjured. I am actually pleasantly surprised the corporation did NOT summarily fire the manager for getting physical with someone when it was a matter of self-defense. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/312 "2019-08-13T13:06:45Z")
If they had fired the manager, a good lawsuit would have resulted. Self-defense defends and supersedes everything. Had the person in my previous post made any move, all I’d have to say in my defense is “I thought my right (only good) hand was being threatened.” Since she was on my right side, nobody would have questioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/313 "2019-08-13T13:07:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Friday afternoon. Very busy time for us, and we have to get the customers out of the store two hours before sundown. I’m doing “last cash” running the only register that still has cash in it. > > Customer pays in cash and when the drawer opens, comes to my side of the register. I mean, could you_be_ any more obvious? > > I put my right hand into a fist, give the customer a long, hard stare, take out her change and slam the drawer shut. If she had moved one inch closer to the open drawer, her nose would have been punched out by my fist. > > That’s the fourth time I’ve seen a customer very obviously trying to get into a cash drawer. So does the customer get banned from the store for this sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/314 "2019-08-13T13:24:12Z")
No, because I didn’t make a fuss, it being Friday closing time and last cash. But we have the video of the incident with the person being clearly on tape. If she pulls that stunt again, the manager will be called and she will be banned. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/315 "2019-08-13T14:01:57Z")
Not stupidity, just carelessness. I caught the woman at the deli counter rolling her eyes at me. I was waiting my turn behind a woman and her brats, so couldn’t see the types of ham that were in the deli case. When my turn came up, the counter person, who has been there for years and knows my face, asked what I wanted. I told her ‘some ham’, but had to look at what they had on hand. I spotted what I wanted, and when I looked up to tell her, she was rolling her eyes impatiently. At least she had the decency to look sheepish. I don’t really blame her much, as I’m sure she gets people all the time who dither endlessly over what they want. Working retail is a royal pain in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/316 "2019-08-13T14:08:41Z")
I had one incident where a customer went to write a check and when I said “Sorry, we don’t take checks,” told me “I always write checks in your store.” After I finished the transaction, I went and told thing exchange to the manager, who responded “That’s a fucking lie.” The customer who was walking out of the store heard her, came back and made a complaint about her use of “inappropriate language.” And just yesterday when I told someone we don’t take American Express, she responded “Are you sure about that?” No, I’ve only worked here going on six years, but I don’t know what forms of payment we take. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/317 "2019-08-13T16:23:02Z")
Yesterday I also answered a phone from someone who asked if we had our Christmas items out yet. I stifled my first response, which was to ask “What month are we in anyway?” I just said “Sorry, no.” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/318 "2019-08-13T17:22:10Z")
Wow… > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I am a store cashier. I could write a book on this very subject. Some of the routine questions I get asked: > > You don’t carry (insert item here). Why not? Are you going to get any in the future? Where can I buy it? I see nothing wrong with this. Perhaps it’s something you usually carry, but you’re out of stock. Do you not have an opinion as to where I might go to get that product? You know, just to be helpful, and nice? > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Which one of these items is better? I see nothing wrong with this. Do you not have an opinion as to which product is better? You know, just to be helpful, and nice? Is it that much of a problem to just say: "I’m sorry, I don’t really know anything about that product. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > How much is this item (because I’m supposed to know the price of everything in the store) Are you an employee of the store? Because I’m thinking that you, as an employee would have a better chance of finding out a price of a product than I would. When someone is asking the price, I don’t think anyone is actually asking for you to come up with the price off the top of your head. What they’re asking is HELP determining the price. You know, just to be helpful and nice. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Do you have any more in the back (I always want to answer this: Yes, we’re here to sell things. That’s why we hide them). It seems reasonable to me that at one point you had more product than what would fit on a shelf; therefore necessitating the need to have some of that stock in the back. It doesn’t seem unreasonable. Again, I don’t think that’s retail stupidity; it’s more like you just don’t want to be talked to. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’m standing at the register, my light is on, and I’m scanning items. People will come up and ask “Are you open?” I’ll give you this one to a small degree. But I get it, if something was off… like all of the checkout lines had 10 people in queue, but yours had only the peron currently being checked out. I’d definitely ask if your lane is open. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As for people who dump things at the register, I hope there’s a special place in hell for them. I swear, there are people who think it’s funny to bring things to the register and throw them there. I guess they think we have little elves who return everything to the shelves. I’m not sure I understand this one. People come up to a register with no intention of buying a product; but just want to drop them at the register? Or are you talking about someone who decides not to purchase something? In that case, what am I supposed to do? Put it back? If that’s your thought, I’m sorry, but that’s part of the retail lifecycle. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/319 "2019-08-13T17:33:50Z")
Annie-Xmas, I take it all back. After reading some of your other posts; I don’t think I’d want to work where you work. Sounds like you should get combat pay. (I worked for a convenience store chain; if you were assigned a store in a rough neighborhood, you’d get ‘combat pay’. It was a nice little bump in pay for the extra danger. You know you’re in a rough neighborhood when they raise the floor up behind the counter to give you a height advantage, and the place convex mirrors in a convenience store with only 1 or aisles. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807/320 "2019-08-13T17:45:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’m not going to ask you five times, but I’m curious so I’m going to ask once: why do they forbid you to give out price information? Do they think this will force people to come in to the store? I’d think it would be more likely to cause customers to spend their travel time going somewhere else that would answer the question. I actually know the answer to this one. Reason 1)If you have to come into the store to price check, there’s a higher chance you’ll buy something; even if it’s not the item you wanted the price check on. Reason 2)Some stores have this policy on exact items that can be sold at other stores, and it’s to curb another store from undercutting you. When I worked at a huge chain of convenience stores, this was especially important with fuel prices. If someone was going to undercut us on fuel prices, they were going to have to at least drive by and look at the pump. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-stupidity/836807.md?page=17)