Supermarket fun

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Stopped by the local supermarket today, needing just a few things. As usual, only a few checkout lines were open, but the ‘express’ line (“16 items or less”) had just two people in it, so that looked like the ticket.

Unfortunately, the woman at the front of the line had a lot more than 16 items. This has happened enough that I’ve now made it a rule to comment rather than simply suffer in silence. A couple of items had probably gone by before I arrived, but I started counting and when I got to 20, I was counting out loud.

“Twenty-one … twenty-two … twenty-three.”

She quickly rose to the bait (guilty conscience, no doubt): “Look - when I got here there was nobody in line!”

“Sorry - I guess I missed the part about how it’s only an express line when someone’s ahead of you - where did you see that?”

“Everyone knows that’s how it works!”

I asked the teller if this was right. He was quite timid, but stated that there was no such exception (but of course he hadn’t enforced the rule).

“Well, I can’t help it if this store does things funny.”

“Sure you could - you could read the sign.”

“Everyone knows that what it really means is this line is for when you have less than a full cart.”

“Then why does it say ‘16 items’?”

“You’re just trying to be rude!”

“That’s right - I’m calling attention to a very inconsiderate customer who I hope will think twice next time.”

“I won’t be coming back to a store where I’m treated this way!”

“Suits me.”

By this time she was done and walked off in a huff. As normally happens, the others in line thanked me for saying what they were thinking but were unwilling to express.

The lady in front of me looked to be no problem - just 3 frozen dinners. Unfortunately, the price for one of these wasn’t in the computer. The teller called someone over for a price check, and off he went with the package.

Five minutes went by - no sign of the price checker. I asked the teller if there might be a way to cancel out the two frozen dinners and process some other customers, but apparently this isn’t possible. People behind me deserted the line and went to other non-express lines. I was thinking about moving when the price checker returned - joy. But no - he reported that he wasn’t able to find a price. A manager-type person was called in to do another price check.

I decided to pack up my stuff and move to another line (several slots behind a couple of people who’d recently been behind me). Other folks queued up for the express line, despite the teller explaining that a price-check was underway.

Soon, another manager-type appeared and opened a new checkout line, just to serve those trapped in the moribund express line. I caught the eye of the timid teller, hoping he would intervene and put me into this new line - but no, my gestures seemed to mean nothing to him. The special line (3 customers) was quickly despatched and shut down. My non-express line was moving, but slowly.

The second price-checker at last returned - success! The frozen-dinner woman was done. More customers were now in the express line, and they were quickly handled. My line continued to move slowly. The woman in front of me had a large order, which the teller seemed to be handling efficiently. But what’s this? Another item not in the computer - another price check!

This one, mercifully, took only a couple of minutes, so I was out of the store no more than 15 minutes later than if I’d avoided the express line.

2

This is why I hate Wal-Mart and have for several years. Circa 1999 I go to the local Wally World at about 2am on a weeknight. (I was on leave and needed whatever it was.) The customer in front of me was buying a table of some sort. The register could not scan the item. After waiting for about five minutes I commented to my wife that the lane was labeled express guaranteed. After ten minutes of waiting for a price check, I wondered out loud what the guarantee would be. After thirty minutes, I started voicing the opinion that another register should be opened. (Yes, the only one open was the “guarantee express.”) After forty five minutes, the price check had been completed and we were allowed to check out. We were rang up by the same manager who ran the price check on the couple ahead of us. I asked him what was meant by the guarantee. He said that it only applied if they had someone to open another register. I asked what the guarantee implied if another register could not be opened. He said that it does not apply then.
I called the manager during business hours the next day and was given an apology for making me wait, and was told that the guarantee could not be given if they could not open another lane. So again, I asked, what is the F*****G guarantee?

The answer: We will open another register if we can.
I know this has nothing to do with the OP, but I had a chance to vent. Thank you.

Sgt Schwartz

3

Cashiers have little to no power to eject a customer from their line. Basically ten items or less meant anyone with a basket in my store. Don’t complain to the cashier or the other customers. We know they shouldn’t be in that line. Go to the customer service desk or telephone the Manager and make a formal complaint if you want the store to take a position.

4

It sounded like the OP only really complained to the person in violation of the rule, as opposes to the “other customers.” I’ll bet the violater will think twice before pulling the same shenanigans again, which is in all likelyhood, more effective than complaining to the store.

5

A basket? I can barely fit 10 items into one. How about a shopping cart?

6

whatever happened to basic courtesy? not the last time i was buying groceries, but fairly recently, i had a good cart full of stuff. i was last in the shortest “regular” line, not the express, with 2 people ahead of me. the express line - all people just holding baskets, stretched well into the aisle behind’ at least eight or ten people.

a man with about six or eight cans in his basket passed, looking worriedly at line lengths. i spoke up, and said “heya? looking to get out fast?”

he turned, smiled, and said “uh, ya… whats the shortest line you think?”

i replied, “hey go ahead of me. i’m not in a rush.”

he thanked me, then as he was passing me, stopped, looked at my cart, then offered me four coupons for items i was buying, which he was not. dude saved me over two dollars, just for being polite to him.
if i ever cut coupons, or equivalent, i swear i’ll do the same to the next person that is nice to me in a line-up situation.

i mean, it’s far from a big deal, but shit. that’s still way cool, i think.

eta: “next”

but also, fuck next. every. why not? lets all be nicer people.

7

Different stores do work differently. I’ve been called over to the express line by the cashier when I’ve obviously hade more than the limit.

8

hey, if the regular lines are close to empty, or at least “normal” in waits… and the express line is completely empty… hey, i think falls into first come, first served territory. but when people are lined up at least a few deep in all available lines, the express line really should be respected.

9

The cashier and the other customers were party to the exchange. I was involved in a couple of similar incidents as described above and I never really saw any benefit to “shaming”. Some people are just jerks who feel they have a right to get away with anything they can and sure enough they would be back pulling the same shit next week.

The store (as in the Manager) should take a stronger position and the only way they will is from customer feedback.

10

All of the stores I have visited recently have allowed (even promoted) the use of the “express lane” checkout when there’s no line. No one complained or even batted an eye, might be a southern thing. I don’t see the outrage. So what if the person in front of me has 28 items instead of 20? Might cost me a couple extra minutes, but I’m not gonna bust a blood vessel over it. Of course, I enjoy shopping and am in no big hurry so YMMV.

11

My husband was in a Wal-Mart a couple years ago when the few open lines were moving so ridiculously slowly that another man in line finally took the lids off the two cartons of ice cream he had been going to buy, turned them upside down, and the now melted ice cream went PLOP! on the floor. Then he calmly put the cartons down and walked out of the store to the cheers and applause of the other customers. :smiley:

I only wish I had the nerve to do something like that.

12

that is just stupidity multiplied…
if it were me, i’d at least have tasted the ice cream. i mean, why not at that point?

also, the lines move as fast as they do… get used to it. i have, which is why i can afford to let someone ahead. i know i gotta spend as least x time in the place. so i plan for it. really, just get used to it. give yourself a margin of a few minutes to do what you gotta do.

spend th extra minute st home loving it up. or whatever you do.

13

I realize this is usually so, but I think it’s stupid to have a sign that says “16 items or less” when the real meaning includes “unless you feel like ignoring this rule.” IOW, a rule that’s not enforced is just a way of punishing the honest and rewarding the obnoxious.

In the words of Ken Kesey “When a guy’s gettin’ screwed he’s got a right to holler.” I make it a point to be civil, but I balk at the idea that a woman can inconvenience me by flouting the rules yet I must suffer in silence.

I have done so several times. It’s basically a way to spend 10 minutes hearing soothing apologies that mean nothing.

14

And if I’m there, they’ll again be hearing about it. I’m not naive enough to think I’ll reform these miscreants, but it still seems right to call attention to their misbehavior (as the frequent thanks of the other customers seems to confirm).

They should, but rarely do. Their motto is along the lines of “peace at any price” - they seem to want to appease even the most obnoxious customer. I think this is foolish, but that’s how it is.

15

Not a supermarket grouse but a corner shop one.

The woman, and it’s always a woman, who pushes to front saying “You don’t mind if I push in do you?, only I’m in a hurry”

Well yes I fucking do mind. If you are in so much of a hurry you should have got here sooner.

Now piss off and get in line

16

My guess is that most supermarket managers operate under one rule, " NO OVERTIME." If they don’t have enough people working at the check out lines, then it is just too bad. Most of the time, when the lines are long, the manager is out back smoking.

I don’t go into express lines with more than the allowed number of items unless I’ve been asked to by a cashier.

17

As a former supermarket cashier (who didn’t last long in that position), I did tell customers with full cars that my line was 10 items or less. Once they set their items on the belt, you are screwed, but before that, you are expected to tell them.

18

I lasted 3 yrs and worked in 3 different stores for a company that employees over 140,000 people. I had experience on both the till and the management side. Obviously it varies store to store but in my experience the Manager would write you up if you ever turned a customer away, for any reason.

I sympathize with the OP. I loathe people who can’t follow simple social graces but in my experience the only way to get the Managers attention is to make a formal complaint. If they don’t start enforcing the policy then make sure they know they’ve lost a customer.

19

Our local hardware superstore (B&Q, for the Brits), last week, about 4.45 pm. They close at 8. The store is fairly quiet, and there’s only one register open. I had one item, but one that I could only get in that store, or I’d have to go all the way into Oxford city center. Somebody in front of me is paying with a check. Dingbat bumfluff beard boy behind the register doesn’t know how to ring in a check. He punches ineffectually at buttons on the register screen for about five minutes before he has the initiative to call an assistant manager.

Meanwhile the line is getting longer and longer. The assistant manager hums and has for another five minutes, and also pokes at the screen. By now there are about 15 people waiting in line.

A fully-fledged manager saunters over and also pokes at the screen for five minutes. It’s been a quarter hour now. Finally I say, very politely, “perhaps you could open another line?”

To which the manager says, “she’s on her break”.

“Pardon?”

“She’s on her break. I would open another line, but she’s on her break. The girl.”

“Surely you have the authority to open another line, even if ‘she’ is ‘on her break’?”

“Yes, but see I’m trying to help here. And I don’t do registers now.”

“Well can you transfer this transaction to another register so we can all get on?” I motioned to the now-20-something line behind us.

“Not really, I have to do this, see.”

At this point the guy behind me threw down his stuff and stormed out. And the guy behind him. Then I threw my stuff on the growing pile of hardware on the floor, and walked out too. And maybe another four or five people followed me.

What pissed me off the most was that the explanation was in the spirit of “though I am the manager, I am incapable of using my initiative to alter, temporarily, our processes. You and I are in the same predicament.” No, fucknut, you have the power to fix it. Either you, or your store policy, are stoopid.

Fucking useless bunch of bastards.

ETA: sorry for the language, I thought this was the Pit.

20

Vive le revolution!

I’d have joined in, too.