To customers everywhere: Rules for the supermarket

hunnymonster · 28-01-2007 01:22PM

LadyLotts wrote:

But then all the extra cents they gave out that day will be added up and taken from that staff members pay and the staff member may be disciplined for coming up short. Is 1 cent really that important to you? There may be nothing smaller than 10 0r 20 cent coins. Those would add up very quickly in a busy shop like a supermarket.

Several times I haven't even been asked but just handed the reduced change. Please don't assume I don't want my change. No 1c is not that important to me but the principle whereby the server makes that assumption is.

Wishbone Ash · 28-01-2007 01:39PM

LadyLotts wrote:

Go complain to managers if you feel you're being ripped off. I'm sure they'll give you your one cent and if they get enough complaints they may actually do something.

But is saying to a customer "Can I owe you the cent" officially approved by management? Somehow, I doubt it. It's usually done without waiting a reply and the till has just been shut. Not very professional or customer friendly. Why ask a customer a question if you are not prepared to accept their answer?

Nightwish · 28-01-2007 02:21PM

I worked in retail for over 6.5 years and the mystery shopper bullsh!t is such a load of crap. You have to say the exact same thing to every customer, ask them a million questions such as "Would you like Replacement Product Cover?" or "Would you like batteries" etc etc, and I hate that kind of crap, pressuring people into buying stupid add-ons like insurance. And then you get some poor sod just off the plane from Poland who hasnt a clue what you're on about, and the manager is watching, and you still have to ask him :rolleyes:

Still, its pretty easy to spot the mystery shopper. They are always female, they buy small cheap things like a kettle or a toaster, and refund it an hour later.

superdudeman007 · 28-01-2007 08:38PM

1) If you're doing a week's shop and a person behind you is only buying 1 item, let that person go ahead of you.

2) Don't queue for self service if you don't know how to use it.

3) Don't queue for 10 items or less if you have more than 10 items.

BostonB · 28-01-2007 08:47PM

Just have a sign in the shop saying...

"If you shopped online you could be doing something far more fun right now"

dabbler2004 · 28-01-2007 09:09PM

Customers:
When you've asked for an item to be told that we no longer stock it or it's no longer available DON'T then say 'but I got it here yesterday/last week/whenever' !

Stop asking 'Where are the eggs?', you're a regular customer and the eggs have been in the same section for the last 3 years.

Stop asking if the car park attendant is off today, it only costs 30c an hour to park here you cheap pr**k!

When you see staff coming towards you with 20 trollies please don't stop up in front of them to have a chat with your friend especially when you both have trollies/kids/buggies.

Supermarket staff are people too, not receptors for your foul and abusive language, threating behaviour, bad moods and downright ignorance.

Ste.phen · 28-01-2007 09:58PM

dabbler2004 wrote:

Stop asking 'Where are the eggs?', you're a regular customer and the eggs have been in the same section for the last 3 years.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IMwTEFCC9nk

When you see staff coming towards you with 20 trollies please don't stop up in front of them to have a chat with your friend especially when you both have trollies/kids/buggies.

You're clearly unaware that just becase 5-15 trolleys weighs far far more than the customer's, they can be stopped and maneuvered just as easily. Sheesh!

dabbler2004 · 28-01-2007 10:06PM

Igy wrote:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IMwTEFCC9nk

You're clearly unaware that just becase 5-15 trolleys weighs far far more than the customer's, they can be stopped and maneuvered just as easily. Sheesh!

Ah a fellow sufferer I see

Nala · 28-01-2007 10:28PM

I had a customer shout at me today, he refused to show I.D. for a cheque. Said why should he, he knows his cheque is his own. i said could you please stop shouting at me, everyone has to have I.D. for their cheque, how am i supposed to know that cheque is yours, if someone robbed it and I let them buy stuff in here with it you'd be in shouting then as well.

Danno · 28-01-2007 11:02PM

1) You're going to have to do better on the price...
Feck off, it's a €12 toaster you cheapskate, and you are not going to dictate to me how much below the advertised price I am going to give off...

2) Is that all you are giving me off the price...?
Yup, it is a percentage game muppet, that €X is X% of the profit which pays my wages... are you not happy to be recieving discount?

3) I bought this toaster and it's not working...
Fair enough, but please have the courtesy to clean the damn thing first, I don't want to see remnants of your last 6 months worth of breakfasts there... also, don't put cheese in the toaster, you toast bread, not cheese idiot.

4) This item does not work...
SA: "Did you read the instructions?"
CUS: "No"
Well, 99.99% of the times things work and you are supplied with INSTRUCTIONS MANUAL for that purpose. R.T.F.I. Moron.

Rant over.

dSTAR · 28-01-2007 11:22PM

daiixi wrote:

To me it's not, no. In fact in Australia we don't even have 1 and 2 cent coins anymore however, I'm lead to believe, that when the euro came in the Irish population demanded 1 and 2 cent coins be included...

I can't understand this. What the bloody hell can you buy with a 1 cent coin anyway? Oooh maybe if I save them up for a few months I can take them to the bank like a 5 year old and have exchanged for a crisp note or gold coin and go and buy myself some lollies!

Do retailers seriously think that shoppers are still stupid enough to believe that something sounds much cheaper because its priced at 99 cents and not a dollar! Like daiixi says if something is priced at 99 cents you hand your dollar over BUT simply don't get any change back.

But before you fall off your trolley off claiming all those 1 cent coins added up over the course of a year amounts to thousands...it actually benefits the customer. If something is 93 cents it is rounded down to 90 cents. Likewise if it is 94 cents it is rounded up to 95 cents.

Faerie · 29-01-2007 12:14AM

God this thread is perfect because I had the worst day at work!

Nala wrote:

7. Believe it or not, as we sell thousands of different things we don't know how much a certain thing is without checking, nor do we automatically know if something is on special offer without checking.

8. We can only accept coupons when you have actually bought the product. No, that coupon for Cadbury's chocolate will not work for Mars. No, we cannot put it through anyway.

10. When you come to the checkout, and you ask "you don't know if there's any whole chickens/size 7 runners/etc left"?, we don't know because we do not work in that department...

11. When we ask you for 15c for a plastic bag, please keep your remarks to yourself. We don't care if you think "that's ridiculous!!!", we don't care if "that's very mean of you". It's the law, bitch.

12. Please READ the special offers before you try to buy something and then start complaining that "that special offer didn't come off!!!". Yes, that buy one get one free was for the LARGE tins of beans. No, we can't put it through anyway if you decided to buy 2 small tins.

15. Please, if there is a divider at the checkout, USE IT. If you don't, we actually are not going to automatically know what is yours and what is the next customer's. Should we be so incredibly stupid as to not have such mindreading skills please tell us STRAIGHT AWAY that the stuff we are scanning is not yours. Don't stand there watching us and then about 20 items in say "You do know none of that stuff is mine?"

17. Golden rule: Please remember, we are only doing our job!!!!!!!

These, I think, should be the rules that everyone should follow!!

Customers who don't use dividers drive me mad!! They just stand there and watch as we scan their stuff in someone else's shopping and then the customers roll their eyes at each other as if we're the stupid ones - you're the retards who can't use dividers and yes I have to get a manager's key to void out all those items! (well where I work you do anyway)

And the stupid 15c bags, people are so tight! It's a law to protect the environment and by the way, stop giving out about the quality of the bags - I don't manufacture tham and I don't give a **** anyway.

To the people who complain about us asking for the loyalty card, well I can't tell you how many customers go mad (yes literally shout at me and one even called me a 'stupid little girl') because I forgot to ask or they didn't hear me ask OR because they were in last week and they weren't asked.

And the final rule, yes we are just doing our jobs. I go to college all week and then have to put up with rude, patronising, STUPID customers during the evenings and weekends so I appreciate it when customers are nice, polite and understanding.

By the way, do any other supermarket workers notice that women are the rudest? Particularly middle aged women and mothers? Men in general are much more polite and much less PETTY.

Blush_01 · 29-01-2007 01:50AM

I don't work in a supermarket, but I work in supermarkets, convenience stores and newsagents. Yes, women, especially so-called middle class, middle aged women, soccer moms with kids in tow and (shockingly) old ladies are usually the rudest. I had a lovely long rant typed out, but I figured the therapy was in typing it, so I deleted it.

Basically, the job of every cog in the supermarket/convenience store wheel sucks a bit, except being an owner. Those guys/gals are making an absolute fortune. They're raking it in and we're the poor stupid fools paying the extortionate rates for what they're selling. The margins on the products... ouch.

Also, I'm quitting my job at the middle of next month... which is only 17 days away! Somebody congratulate me, you guys have made my mind up for me!

bug · 29-01-2007 02:28AM

ah the tolerance. I'm laughing my ass off at some of the little things in this thread that drive shoppers mad.

So bloody what if someone has to spiel a one liner at you asking if you have a loyalty card? Seriously, is it that taxing having to inhale and exhale to answer yes or no?

Seriously if you find life that difficult, dig a bunker in your back garden and don't get out. Its funny as hell.

dabbler2004 · 29-01-2007 03:55PM

bug wrote:

ah the tolerance. I'm laughing my ass off at some of the little things in this thread that drive shoppers mad.

So bloody what if someone has to spiel a one liner at you asking if you have a loyalty card? Seriously, is it that taxing having to inhale and exhale to answer yes or no?

Seriously if you find life that difficult, dig a bunker in your back garden and don't get out. Its funny as hell.

and in a certain supermarket chain you will now be asked the following at the till;
Do you have a loyalty card?
Would you like some cash back? (Laser transactions)
and
Would you like some mobile phone credit?

I can't wait to see some customers explode

Sleepy · 29-01-2007 04:43PM

LadyLotts wrote:

But then all the extra cents they gave out that day will be added up and taken from that staff members pay and the staff member may be disciplined for coming up short. Is 1 cent really that important to you? There may be nothing smaller than 10 0r 20 cent coins. Those would add up very quickly in a busy shop like a supermarket.

No business can take money out of your paypacket for monies you've lost their business whilst carrying out your duties. Any that do so are acting illegally.

And if you are disciplined for being 25c short at the end of an evening because you haven't adequate change, that's a management problem tbh.

MarkR · 29-01-2007 05:35PM

Wertz wrote:

Rebuke to that list.

Dear supermarket staff:

1: Some people do in fact use hand baskets since we don't do enough shopping to warrant a trolley....kindly replace baskets at the entrance instead of having us have to walk the lenght of the checkouts to find one.

2: Those are my f*cking groceries you're firing at me....some of them are soft and breakable....I've only got two hands with which to fill my reusable plastic bag. Kindly slow it down just a little since you can't start serving the next customer until I've cleared the till anyway.

3. Smiling wouldn't hurt. Please and thank you, likewise, wouldn't cost you that much effort. I don't want your phone number or your hand in marriage....just a little courtesy like I've shown.

4. No I do NOT have a bloody loyalty card...if I had I'd have given it to you already...

5. Please remember we are the paying customer...most of us don't even want to be here but it's the closest to where we live, the parking is usually good and we just can't afford to fly our food in from Harrods so we're stuck with this kip....try and make it as pleasant as possible for us....we'll be gone in 20 minutes...

Wow. You must have it hard. You had to look for a basket and the till person was too fast for you?

Bet you'd be the first person to complain though if that same till person was too slow scanning items of the customer in front of you.

I'm 100% sure the people asking you if you have a loyalty card are not doing it for the good of their health. They are obviously doing it as part of their job.

I don't even know where to go with number 5. You just sound bitter!

Attol · 29-01-2007 07:14PM

Sleepy wrote:

No business can take money out of your paypacket for monies you've lost their business whilst carrying out your duties. Any that do so are acting illegally.

And if you are disciplined for being 25c short at the end of an evening because you haven't adequate change, that's a management problem tbh.

Then report the supermarket or don't shop there! Once again it is one cent. I really pity you if one cent is so important to you. Or else envy you if that's the biggest problem in your life. If it's a big deal to you why don't you complain if you find it happening regularly? Or don't go there? I just don't understand what good bitching about it online then going back and supporting them again does. One cent! How uptight is that. What can you do with one cent?

Nightwish · 29-01-2007 07:31PM

Faerie wrote:

By the way, do any other supermarket workers notice that women are the rudest? Particularly middle aged women and mothers? Men in general are much more polite and much less PETTY.

I totally agree. In all my years serving people at the Customer Services counter, its middle aged women who go mental over stupid things - want a refund in cash when the paid in gift vouchers, or better still "How come the kettle I bought last week has gone from €15 to €9.99? Why didnt you tell me it's going down in the sale?". Like I know what products out of the 30,000 we sell is going down in price :rolleyes:

Rowley Birkin QC · 29-01-2007 09:13PM

walrusgumble wrote:

5. if some past teachers come into the store and notice us seem to be working full time, please try not to give us that look of disappoointment that this is all that we have come to, i am sure theres an explanation, like not everyone has the luxury of having mummy and daddy to fund all our college funds or we have finished college just waiting for our cv's to go through to the places/poisitions/job vacancies we have applied for

Bet they would be disappointed if they saw this post.

C+. Must try harder.

randylonghorn · 29-01-2007 09:48PM

dabbler2004 wrote:

Stop asking 'Where are the eggs?', you're a regular customer and the eggs have been in the same section for the last 3 years.

In fairness, that's true of very few supermarkets these days. Every couple of weeks, something or other gets changed around / moved. I understand that this is a management decision, and that staff are probably just as peeved with it as customers are ... but sometimes customers will just have to ask.

Bettyboo2u · 29-01-2007 10:05PM

I have been on both sides of the counter so to speak. For 5 years I worked in a supermarket that had a high profile MD. The wages were **** and most of the time I was treated like ****. To this day I am still amazed with what I had to put up with. It is fifteen years since I last worked there but the memory is still fresh.

Management treated staff very badly; they were only short of asking you to lick the customer’s shoes as they entered the store. The customers were aware of the company policy and boy did a lot of them take advantage of it. To me these people thought they should be treated like customers of a five star hotel and their every whim should be taken care of. Working there i only learned one good lesson, always be polite and courteous to any person who’s job it may be to serve. To this day I always say please and thank you when I’m being served.

As a shopper now I am disappointed with the level of service I receive in supermarkets. It is nigh on impossible to get a staff member to stop when you try to catch them to ask a question. At the checkout more often than not the till operator will not look up and greet me this despite me saying hi. At the end of the transaction I say thank you but again very rarely will I receive a thank you from the till operator.
Charged too much, again this happens a lot. Whether it is the ticket price was incorrect or the operator scanned more items than I purchased. When I bring it to the attention of the operator I am told to go to the Customer Service Desk for a refund. Now forgive me but why the hell should I have to waste my time queing again and having to explain myself again when I am the injured party!

As for the operator talking to the operator beside them whilst holding my increasingly limp lettuce:mad:

beanyb · 29-01-2007 10:30PM

Bettyboo2u wrote:

I have been on both sides of the counter so to speak. For 5 years I worked in a supermarket that had a high profile MD. The wages were **** and most of the time I was treated like ****. To this day I am still amazed with what I had to put up with. It is fifteen years since I last worked there but the memory is still fresh.

Management treated staff very badly; they were only short of asking you to lick the customer’s shoes as they entered the store. The customers were aware of the company policy and boy did a lot of them take advantage of it. To me these people thought they should be treated like customers of a five star hotel and their every whim should be taken care of. Working there i only learned one good lesson, always be polite and courteous to any person who’s job it may be to serve. To this day I always say please and thank you when I’m being served.

I think I may have worked in the same chain as you. Except since that 'high-profile MD' has left the staff constantly have to put up with 'oh this place isnt the same as it used to be.' Believe me, we know. It's gotten even worse for the staff.

I've only been out of there just under a year after being there part-time for 4 years on and off, and I have to say the wounds are still so fresh that I absolutely LOVE this thread.

Where I worked the mystery shopper expects the staff on the tills to call the customer by their name if they use a clubcard. It's the weirdest thing in the whole world and I always refused to do it. I'd hate if a random shop assistant called me by my name and who is to say that the person using the card is even the person named! My mum always used my card since I got staff points, but she has a different surname to me. I got in trouble from a manager the one time I served a mystery shopper because I didnt do it. She completely ignored the fact that I'd been given full marks for being friendly and greeting the customer and all the things that customers actually care about!

Someone earlier in the thread said that loyalty cards are of more benefit to customers and that's totally untrue. The card allows the company to keep track of what each particular customer regularly buys. It's used by marketing companies to direct their advertising at you. Believe me the shop are not doing it for your benefit. It's 100% their own.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 29-01-2007 11:21PM

Another two points to fuel the debate

1) If women are narkiest customers, has anyone noticed how the East Europeans seem to be the politest check-out staff, or is that just me being lucky?

2) What's wrong with the automatic checkouts?

randylonghorn · 29-01-2007 11:30PM

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

1) If women are narkiest customers, has anyone noticed how the East Europeans seem to be the politest check-out staff, or is that just me being lucky?

No, I think that's fairly much the case.

Youngsters (i.e. 16 / 17) can often be quite friendly / helpful too (with the odd one being very much the opposite).

Also, older staff who are returning to work full-time or part-time are often very good, in my experience.

walrusgumble · 29-01-2007 11:39PM

bigkev49 wrote:

Bet they would be disappointed if they saw this post.

C+. Must try harder.

cheeky.lol. ah not bothered, be making more money than some of them within 5 years now, so ha ha ha i have the last laugh

Blush_01 · 29-01-2007 11:55PM

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

has anyone noticed how the East Europeans seem to be the politest check-out staff, or is that just me being lucky?

While that's sometimes the case, I think you're just lucky. I can reel off the lists of shops where staff hate customers and people who do my job and have no problem letting you know. A certain chain supermarket in an affluent part of Dublin has to have the most narky and irritable foreign checkout staff (although the ones on the floor will go out of their way to help you and can't be beaten on courtesy) while the complete reverse applies to the natives.

Sad Professor · 30-01-2007 12:00AM

beanyb wrote:

Except since that 'high-profile MD' has left the staff constantly have to put up with 'oh this place isnt the same as it used to be.' Believe me, we know. It's gotten even worse for the staff.

The funny thing is the changes started long before he actually sold out. The new owners were a breath of fresh air at first but the honeymoon period is most certainly over now. The staff really don't give a sh*t anymore. How the staff treat the customer is usually a reflection of how management treat the staff. So it's only going to get worse.

Where I worked the mystery shopper expects the staff on the tills to call the customer by their name if they use a clubcard. It's the weirdest thing in the whole world and I always refused to do it.

Agreed. I only know of one person who actually did this and they usually got alot of very weird looks from the customers.

Also the amount of questions staff are expected to ask customers is totally ridiculous. As it stands I only ask the essentials and can still feel a customer's irritation at what practically amounts to a quiz while they're trying to pay for their shopping.

randylonghorn wrote:

Youngsters (i.e. 16 / 17) can often be quite friendly / helpful too (with the odd one being very much the opposite).

Also, older staff who are returning to work full-time or part-time are often very good, in my experience.

I should also point out that older staff are usually treated much better by management than the younger people, who in my experience are frequently referred to as "hey you" and spoken to like they're dirt.

ChRoMe · 30-01-2007 12:07AM

Sad Professor wrote:

. How the staff treat the customer is usually a reflection of how management treat the staff. So it's only going to get worse.

Firstly I thank my lucky stars I have never worked in retail. I have however worked technical support which would make some of the "abuse" being mentioned on this thread seem insignificant.

Imagine how a customer reacts when a service doesnt work and they are paying 100,000 euro's or more a year.

But your management treating you badly is no excuse to be rude to customers thats a cop out.

Nala · 30-01-2007 12:19AM

Bettyboo2u wrote:

Charged too much, again this happens a lot. Whether it is the ticket price was incorrect or the operator scanned more items than I purchased. When I bring it to the attention of the operator I am told to go to the Customer Service Desk for a refund. Now forgive me but why the hell should I have to waste my time queing again and having to explain myself again when I am the injured party!

That's because there are far more customers than there are supervisors. If the supervisor went to the customer instead of the other way around nothing would ever get done.

To customers everywhere: Rules for the supermarket

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