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Supermarkets saying hello.

2

Comments

  • #32
    M cebee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭M cebee


    hope they don't try it on me
    i'll prob freak out


  • #33
    MistyCheese
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,006 ✭✭✭MistyCheese


    mackg wrote: »
    Goodbye?

    That dog won't hunt, Monsignor.


  • #34
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,920 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    The only thing that supermarkets say to me is, "Unexpected item in the bagging area".


  • #35
    MistyCheese
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,006 ✭✭✭MistyCheese


    Deleted User wrote: »
    The only thing that supermarkets say to me is, "Unexpected item in the bagging area".

    Ooooooh, Mr. Moneybags, shopping at Tesco.


  • #36
    flutterflye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,538 ✭✭✭flutterflye


    I thought they always did that?
    It annoys me when they say anything more than "hello" or "hi", coz then I'm expected to say something back other that "hello" or "hi", and I'd rather not.


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  • #37
    Mint Sauce
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    ballsymchugh wrote: »
    it's just common manners really. better than a grunt from someone who makes dealing with you look like a chore.
    it's not near as annoying as shops that have greeters. it's getting very common in the UK. doubt it'll be too long before the UK chains have them in ireland too.

    Or even saying nothing and just sticking their hand to take the money from you, and not even tell you how much your shopping came to.


  • #38
    starviewadams
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,116 ✭✭✭starviewadams


    The staff in Waitrose in the UK are the friendliest I've ever experienced,real smiley,happy and chatty.

    Makes a nice change from some moany auld bint in your local Dunnes who doesn't know how to give cashback.


  • #39
    kneemos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,605 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    starviewadams wrote: »
    The staff in Waitrose in the UK are the friendliest I've ever experienced,real smiley,happy and chatty.

    Makes a nice change from some moany auld bint in your local Dunnes who doesn't know how to give cashback.

    At least the auld bint is genuine.


  • #40
    krudler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,788 ✭✭✭✭krudler


    jaysus next they'll be saying please and thank you, worlds gone to hell.


  • #41
    wobbles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,090 ✭✭✭wobbles


    There was a survey done in the UK about this recently, and the results have made supermarkets more aware of this kind of thing.

    The supermarket i work in even went so far as to have a training session with all staff to highlight how important it is to be friendly/polite etc because theu did so bad in the survey.

    Personally i like that the people on the checkouts acknowledge you, but i dont want to make small talk. Just scan my stuff and let me pay so i can get out of there


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  • #42
    Voltex
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭Voltex


    Put it this way:
    1. Fiday night in Aldi: Checkout assistant greets me with a smile and asks me how I am. I leave the store thinking...Wow what nice people they are...I must come back here again
    2. Sunday night in Tesco Cabra: Im standing at the checkout waiting for my groceries to be scanned because the yolk on the till is having a conversation with some flute 2 tills away about how he'd probably get battered if he goes to a public house called the Oasis (I may have picked up the name wrong..I couldnt be sure given the local skanger dialect she was using). I leave there thinking why cant Aldi sell Cow & Gate Stage 2 Infant Milk!


  • #43
    Rubber_Soul
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,726 ✭✭✭Rubber_Soul


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzRkwa2qwxY


  • #44
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 31,693 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    cml387 wrote: »
    Yes, and you might like to say hello and thanks back.

    Read this thread and weep for humanity

    Hm, seems to be just me that can't access that thread 'go away looksee you can't come in here'. I feel shunned and rejected. :(


  • #45
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I work at a till and I always say hello to the customers. It's not store policy, it's just the most basic social etiquette there is.

    Basic Manners:
    -Acknowledge a person when initiating an interaction with them.
    -Say please when asking for something.
    -Say thank you having received something.
    -Acknowledge a person's departure from an interaction.

    So every customer gets a hello, please, thank you and goodbye, or variations of those terms. It's not some huge conspiracy, and it's pretty rude when a customer doesn't reciprocate.


  • #46
    Miss Lockhart
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭Miss Lockhart


    looksee wrote: »
    Hm, seems to be just me that can't access that thread 'go away looksee you can't come in here'. I feel shunned and rejected. :(

    I can't access it either. :(


  • #47
    kneemos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,605 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    looksee wrote: »
    Hm, seems to be just me that can't access that thread 'go away looksee you can't come in here'. I feel shunned and rejected. :(

    First class passengers only.


  • #48
    PizzamanIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,147 ✭✭✭PizzamanIRL


    Oh I don't know OP, why on earth would one human being say to another human being 'Hi, how are you?'

    Madness I tell ya. Next thing they'll be saying 'bye, have a nice day'.


  • #49
    Ted_YNWA
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 71,833 ✭✭✭✭Ted_YNWA


    Ya cant win on AH,

    Moaning that cashier acknowledges the customer.

    Next week it will be :

    that ignorant (insert additional adjectives of choice) person in Tesco's grunted at me when i went to buy a pint of milk

    Its all madness Mary, i tell ya , madness


  • #50
    snubbleste
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 31,119 ✭✭✭✭snubbleste


    A supermarket has never spoken to me even though I wander past every day and enter a few times a week :(


  • #51
    stupidfishy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 74 ✭✭stupidfishy


    Saying hello is basic manners.

    HMV are taking this a bit further, there was a member of staff standing at the door at the weekend individually thanking each customer for coming in. Took me by surprise anyway, they must be getting fairly desperate at this stage.


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  • #52
    skinny90
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,607 ✭✭✭skinny90


    Miss Lockhart wrote: »
    I really don't get this. Saying hello to somebody is very customer service based and is an American thing?!

    It's just saying hello to somebody. That's it. It would be weird not to. This is nothing like the American practice of having a scripted and pre-rehearsed spiel for every customer.

    I was on about the greeting at the door


  • #53
    Miss Lockhart
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭Miss Lockhart


    skinny90 wrote: »
    I was on about the greeting at the door

    Fair enough - I took "greeting" to mean just saying hello.

    I don't like shops where you are pounced on by staff the moment you enter. I know it's not the staff's fault, that it's company policy and they're just doing their job, but I think it probably annoys more customers than it pleases.


  • #54
    Corruptedmorals
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    starviewadams wrote: »
    The staff in Waitrose in the UK are the friendliest I've ever experienced,real smiley,happy and chatty.

    Makes a nice change from some moany auld bint in your local Dunnes who doesn't know how to give cashback.

    Dunnes do not customer service train their staff and there is a reason (long list of reasons) why they are regarded as notoriously awful employers. If you want happy staff then go to M&S.


  • #55
    Corruptedmorals
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    Miss Lockhart wrote: »
    I can't access it either. :(

    Cries of Retail is in the Ranting and Raving forum, which is private. You need to PM a mod for access- the current list is: dr.bollocko, Fluorescence, Grand_Rajnah, keefg, S. De Sousa

    It is well worth it, you will be appalled at what staff have to put up with but also just laugh at the amount of stupidity displayed by the general public. It's a life lesson in itself! Just checked it there- the thread is 4,324 posts long and 4 years old.


  • #56
    Miss Lockhart
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭Miss Lockhart


    Corruptedmorals wrote: »
    If you want happy staff then go to M&S.

    I have to agree that M&S staff, and Superquinn staff, always seem genuinely happy.
    Corruptedmorals wrote: »
    Cries of Retail is in the Ranting and Raving forum, which is private. You need to PM a mod for access- the current list is: dr.bollocko, Fluorescence, Grand_Rajnah, keefg, S. De Sousa

    It is well worth it, you will be appalled at what staff have to put up with but also just laugh at the amount of stupidity displayed by the general public. It's a life lesson in itself! Just checked it there- the thread is 4,324 posts long and 4 years old.


    Ok, thanks. I have to say I worked as a shop assistant in Penneys for years and I never found the public too bad to deal with.


  • #57
    Feathers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,082 ✭✭✭Feathers


    flutterflye wrote: »
    I thought they always did that?
    It annoys me when they say anything more than "hello" or "hi", coz then I'm expected to say something back other that "hello" or "hi", and I'd rather not.

    Really? It'd hardly kill ya to be a bit pleasant, it's not like you've to sit down talking to them for half an hour.
    stupidfishy wrote: »
    Saying hello is basic manners.

    HMV are taking this a bit further, there was a member of staff standing at the door at the weekend individually thanking each customer for coming in. Took me by surprise anyway, they must be getting fairly desperate at this stage.

    Last time I was in HMV it seemed to be reaching desperation levels alright — the staff were circling the customers, I think management must've told them to push for sales, which really doesn't work in a music shop



  • #58
    skinny90
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,607 ✭✭✭skinny90


    Miss Lockhart wrote: »
    Fair enough - I took "greeting" to mean just saying hello.

    I don't like shops where you are pounced on by staff the moment you enter. I know it's not the staff's fault, that it's company policy and they're just doing their job, but I think it probably annoys more customers than it pleases.
    You have to look at it from the flip side...most people walk into a medium /large shop for the first time,We stop,look around to see where to go,Typically that means walking around looking up at the big signs or isle numbers to find that out.all that can be sorted out by that person at the door,A simple "can I point you in the right direction. would suffice.
    Retail is more or less in decline,more and more people are buying online so B&Ms cant compare prices so they need to create value,And that is service be it greeting/acknowledging consumer pressence and other activities.


  • #59
    Feathers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,082 ✭✭✭Feathers


    skinny90 wrote: »
    You have to look at it from the flip side...most people walk into a medium /large shop for the first time,We stop,look around to see where to go,Typically that means walking around looking up at the big signs or isle numbers to find that out.all that can be sorted out by that person at the door,A simple "can I point you in the right direction. would suffice.
    Retail is more or less in decline,more and more people are buying online so B&Ms cant compare prices so they need to create value,And that is service be it greeting/acknowledging consumer pressence and other activities.

    The answer to this, I think, is having people available to help but letting a customer initiate it. No-one like needing help & spending 10 minutes trying to find someone, but I don't think culturally we've taken to this 'service' of someone approaching you just as you come in the door. From experience, it's more likely to set a customer on edge than put them at their ease.

    The trouble is when American companies (or UK companies trying an American model) try to impose this because it works abroad.


  • #60
    flutterflye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,538 ✭✭✭flutterflye


    Feathers wrote: »
    Really? It'd hardly kill ya to be a bit pleasant, it's not like you've to sit down talking to them for half an hour.

    I say "hi", and I say "thank you" when they're done - That's pleasant enough.
    Anything other than that is pointless crap.
    They don't actually give a sh1t how I am, so why ask?
    It's bullsh1t, and it's not genuine.
    I don't see the point of making idle small talk with someone for the sake of it.


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  • #61
    Feathers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,082 ✭✭✭Feathers


    flutterflye wrote: »
    I say "hi", and I say "thank you" when they're done - That's pleasant enough.
    Anything other than that is pointless crap.
    They don't actually give a sh1t how I am, so why ask?
    It's bullsh1t, and it's not genuine.
    I don't see the point of making idle small talk with someone for the sake of it.

    Surely you could say the same about everyone that's not a close personal friend? Maybe it's just an outlook on life in general: I guess if you want to be reserved around anyone you don't know well it's up to you.

    I find that talking & being pleasant to people costs me very little, even if I don't know them from Adam & a lot of the time I meet some interesting characters & have a better day overall from it.


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