Today I had an odd twist on the paper/plastic thing. I use the reusable bags that are $1 each. I usually bring enough of them with me to fit my shopping. Today, the checker “fluffed out” 6 PLASTIC bags, after taking my “cloth” ones from me and putting them at the end of the belt. When I asked him why he got out plastic bags, he said he planned on putting my groceries in the plastic and then putting the filled plastic bags into the reusable ones. :smack:
Talk about not being clear on the concept… :rolleyes:
Heh… that’s rather funny. Stupid funny. Don’t get that around here though; Ontario recently passed a law this past summer that requires grocers to charge 5c per bag. I think it’s supposed to apply to all retailers, but there are still a lot that don’t charge. Those that do though you have to ask and pay for plastic bags if you want them. (I don’t think we’ve ever had the “paper or plastic” option here in Canada, or at least not Ontario.)
Absolutely nothing. However, the keyword is “little”.
This is so funny to me because when I was in Japan I found it genuinely welcoming whenever I’d walk into a department store and two identically-clad female store employees would call out “Irrashaimase!” in high-pitched, cutesy voices while bowing, yet I find it annoying, and a little weird, to be greeted in an American store.
What, they let her take free samples home with her?
You know, that was the exact image that popped into my head when I read the OP- walking into a store and finding several employees standing in a row calling out “Welcome to [store name]!” in unison. An everyday occurrence in Japan, not so much in America.
“No, it’s not good. Not good at all. In fact, I loathe this product with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. That’s why I’m fucking buying it, you dipshit!!”
For what it’s worth, here on the other side of the planet I’ve noticed the exact same thing. Employees as thick as locust swarms, in bright new orange polo shirts, pestering you every time you take step. Looks like a new mandate from Corporate.
But it’s also clearly part of a new and irksome management fad. For example, we got our car serviced by the Toyota dealership the other month, and Toyota just won’t leave us alone. They’ve called four or five times, emailed another half dozen or so.
Does any right-thinking person like this sort of thing?
If you want to have a little fun with these people (only works in person), when they launch into their spiel, delicately touch your finger to your lips (the shh sign) and whisper, “no words”. Shuts everyone down every time.
Better yet, touch your finger to their lips. :eek:
My wife and I do this to eachother sometimes when the other is rambling, but we usually say “No more words, just feelings.” And since I haven’t mentioned my dog lately… One time we were talking while lying on the bed with the dog, and the dog put her paw on my wife’s lips. I guess even the dog gets tired of hearing us talk sometimes!
Most of this crap is thought up by middle and upper management corporate types who know absolutely *nothing *about how the company works at street level.
The worst offenses are usually by phone-in customer service reps. “Thank you for calling Company X, where blah blah and blah blah are blah to blah. My name is Y, how may I provide you excellent service?” This kind of gush makes me cringe for the poor person saying it. I usually make a point of mentioning how much I dislike that, either by responding immediately, “wow, you must hate having to say all that,” or by mentioning at the end of the call (after the ubiquitous “is there anything else I can do for you today?”) that I think all that fawning obsequious language is really kind of offensive and condescending.
Case in point: a relatively recent call to the electric utility. I was moving, and they’d shut off the power early. The remarkably unhelpful CSR kept inserting, “I see that you’ve been a good customer with us for several years,” which just kept making me madder, as she wasn’t giving me any good news about getting the power switched back on. By the end of the call, all those smarmy little mandatory script bits had me frothing at the mouth, and it took all I had left to keep from screaming at the poor woman on the other end. It wasn’t her fault - she was just doing her job.
In a retail setting, most of it I just let slide. I’ve been in that position before, and I know how annoying it is to be told to do some moronic song and dance or lose your job. If I find any of it to be especially annoying, I’ll hunt down a manager or a comment card and let my opinion be known.
This is a rule at Disney too. It’s actually the 10-4 Rule - if a cast member (staff are ALL cast members) is within 10ft of a guest, they are required to make eye-contact and smile. If they come within 4ft, a verbal greeting is required. And, of course, greetings must be varied, so the guests don’t get bored.
If a supervisor sees a CM NOT doing this, there are repercussions.
Good grief! Do the employees - er, I mean cast members - have to carry around a tape measure just to cover their asses, metaphorically speaking?!?
Then there’s Coldstone ice cream, where the workers are required to sing a little song if you tip them. I always slip a tip into the jar when their backs are turned so there’s no singing.
I will not frequent ColdStone because I find this “policy” demeaning to the employees and the customers.
I dunno, it annoys me in Japan, too, although I guess not quite as much. I’m trying to imagine hearing “Welcome to 7-11!” every three seconds I’m trying to buy beer back home. Doesn’t really translate.
The only times it doesn’t annoy me is when it’s the most vocal, like the guy working stocking produce in the grocery store that makes a call out of it. “Irasshaimase! IrasSHAI irasshai! Aa, irasshai! Irasshaimase!” Or maybe it’s because he actually seems to be enjoying working and yelling that, like his own work song or something.