Cashier conversations!

JRant · 03-01-2013 02:03PM

If it's customer + cashier having a chat I couldn't care less. Nobodies in that much of a hurry that they would begrudge an old dear a bit of a chat. However what is it with women of a certain age paying for all their items and just as they're about to walk away they ask for scratch cards? It happens in an awful lot of shops.
Now cashier + cashier conversations drive me around the bend. Was in a sports shop over the chrimbo and two "OMG, like totz amazeballs" girls were in a full blown conversation. They didn't acknowledge any of the customers paying for goods and when it came to my turn was left €40 short in change, when i pointed this out i was told i was mistaken. Manager came, checked the till and apoligised, when i pointed out the cashier was just plain rude and ignorant she made a bee-line for the cashier and asked her to apoligise as well.

ash23 · 03-01-2013 02:04PM

ChubbyHubby wrote: »

You're not being paid to have a conversation and most customers didn't go there to chit-chat. It's bad customer service when most people just want to pay for their stuff and get the hell out.

You are though. You're being paid to give the customer what they want. The company then decides what that is. Sometimes it's low cost which means cuts to the time given to a customer (Aldi and Ryanair being good examples). Other times the prices are higher but you expect to be given more time and not rushed.
I worked in a place when I was a teenager where an old guy came in every week and we used to walk around the shop with him helping him with his shopping because he was partially sighted. Now I work in a place where if some customer rings up to chat about the weather you just smile and go along with it until THEY are ready to hang up, not when we are ready to get rid of them.

Sorry, you saying you can't be friendly and helpful without having a 5 min conversation with some customer when there's a queue forming? Having a conversation with the customer is hardly in the cashiers job requirement. It's a supermarket, not a local ma and pa shop.

Who the hell ever complains about some cashier won't chat to them? You saying not chatting is being unfriendly?

Not what I said at all. Just saying that perhaps that customer she was chatting to is a regular and they always chat to them and to not do so would mean that person would feel they were rushed or handled badly.

I just think it's gas that so many threads are about customers feeling fobbed off or unheard or rushed or that they are getting poor customer service and here's a girl who's being nice and chatty, not rushing customers as being just another number to get through as fast as possible, and there's a thread complaining.
:rolleyes:

cantdecide · 03-01-2013 02:17PM

I was in a filling station before Christmas trying to get a road sambo and there was a three way conversation going between between two yungwans at the till and the girl at the deli counter about some mad night they'd had at some house party the night before. Saying things like 'shur Shane puked in the living room' and 'I drank this much and that much' and 'she went off with this guy' and all as if there were no one there but the three of them.

Agricola · 03-01-2013 02:17PM

I hate ignorant cashiers. There was a guy who ran a petrol station with his family near where I used to work and he was the absolute pits, as were his kids. Neither him or his kids could say hello, please or thanks - the only people who made an effort to be civil were the foreign nationals workings there.

All you'd get was zero eye contact, a request for a sum of money and then the change would be thrown back at you onto the counter, normally ignoring your outstretched open hand!

So a friendly cashier is something that is a very small but pleasing thing in life. But yeah, they should really keep the discussions to a minimum and try to move people along during peak times.

Shenshen · 03-01-2013 02:25PM

ash23 wrote: »

A lot of people frequent certain supermarkets for the chat. Might be the only person they get to talk to all week.
The likes of Supervalu can't compete with Tesco and Lidl in price so make up for it by staying old school and relying on customer loyalty. I see it in the town I live and the town I'm from. Supervalu checkouts are much slower but they are way chattier.

Which is why if I'm in a hurry I don't go there. But I know plenty who prefer that to the self service in tesco or the Aldi speed round.

Best of luck to them, but it's the one main reason why I never, ever shop in SuperValue if it can be at all avoided.
Crappy music over the tannoy and waiting ages with your shopping while the lady at the checkout chats away with someone, and if you're really out of luck some spotty kid trying to pack your bottles of lemonade on top of your eggs so you give them money to go horseriding in Iceland... sorry, no, not for me.

Give me Aldi or Lidl, no fuss, no awful music, quick and friendly checkout, and cheaper as well.

lovelyjubbly · 03-01-2013 02:26PM

ChubbyHubby wrote: »

Who the hell ever complains about some cashier won't chat to them? You saying not chatting is being unfriendly?

I worked in a local shop and yes, regulars do complain if you don't chat to them. The owner inherited the shop from his dad so preferred to maintain good relations with regulars than appease the once-off customers. You can try move people along but if they don't then you have to listen. Most of the regulars were older and you would know a lot about their life whether you wanted to or not.

A big part of that job was having a relationship with the regulars.

ash23 · 03-01-2013 02:28PM

Shenshen wrote: »

Best of luck to them, but it's the one main reason why I never, ever shop in SuperValue if it can be at all avoided.
Crappy music over the tannoy and waiting ages with your shopping while the lady at the checkout chats away with someone, and if you're really out of luck some spotty kid trying to pack your bottles of lemonade on top of your eggs so you give them money to go horseriding in Iceland... sorry, no, not for me.

Give me Aldi or Lidl, no fuss, no awful music, quick and friendly checkout, and cheaper as well.

Same as. I make small talk at work all day so I don't want to do it in the evenings. Weekly shop is in Aldi where I can get in and out with minimum fuss. Bits and bobs are done in Tesco where I can use the self service.

But some people hate being rushed with a passion and so they go to places like SuperValu. That's my point. Those are the people Supervalu are catering to. It's their selling point.

anncoates · 03-01-2013 02:30PM

Irishcrx wrote: »

Here's a story for ya you twat , your in ****ing work not the pub so shut your pie hole and start working I don't want to be standing here listening to your crap I'm hungry and want to go home....

She can't hear you.

03-01-2013 02:32PM

Let them talk for a few minutes - pleasantries should take maybe 5 minutes max. After that cough and step forward.

leahyl · 03-01-2013 03:16PM

One can still be pleasant and have a brief conversation with the cashier while packing one's bags at a reasonable pace - it's called multi-tasking - I thought women in particular were meant to be good at this but funnily enough it's always women that are the slowcoaches at the checkouts. It really annoys me - maybe I'm just too considerate but I am always conscious of a queue behind me and if it's a long one then I ensure that I get out of there as soon as I can.

up for anything · 03-01-2013 04:01PM

If there weren't any chatty check out staff I'd have to pay a counsellor. Leave us our chat.

JRant · 03-01-2013 04:16PM

leahyl wrote: »

One can still be pleasant and have a brief conversation with the cashier while packing one's bags at a reasonable pace - it's called multi-tasking - I thought women in particular were meant to be good at this but funnily enough it's always women that are the slowcoaches at the checkouts. It really annoys me - maybe I'm just too considerate but I am always conscious of a queue behind me and if it's a long one then I ensure that I get out of there as soon as I can.

Ah yes, multi-tasking also known as being able to do many things at once poorly.

My personal favourite is the woman who has been queuing for 10 mins, had all her items scanned and then looks like a rabbit in the headlights when asked for money.

Penn · 03-01-2013 04:48PM

JRant wrote: »

Ah yes, multi-tasking also known as being able to do many things at once poorly.

My personal favourite is the woman who has been queuing for 10 mins, had all her items scanned and then looks like a rabbit in the headlights when asked for money.

THAT annoys me. Everywhere... supermarkets, petrol stations, clothes shops etc. Happens everywhere, and not just with women. How do you not at least know where your money is? How do you not have a general idea of how much what you're buying will cost?

If I'm buying approx €12 worth of stuff and I know I have a tenner in my front pocket and a twenty in my wallet, when I get to the till and put the stuff down, I instantly get my wallet.

Yet people are always standing there, having waited in line for a few minutes, stand there watching the cashier scan the items, then the cashier says "That'll be €XX.XX" and the person looks like they're astonished by the fact that they have to pay for these items they want.

Even if you're not getting your money ready while standing in line, at least make sure you know where your money is.

leahyl · 03-01-2013 05:12PM

JRant wrote: »

Ah yes, multi-tasking also known as being able to do many things at once poorly.

My personal favourite is the woman who has been queuing for 10 mins, had all her items scanned and then looks like a rabbit in the headlights when asked for money.

Very true, I must be the exception to the rule in that I realise that I will actually have to pay for the items and have my purse out ready to pay

Eve_Dublin · 03-01-2013 05:18PM

I'm from an average-sized town where everyone knows everyone (or at least back then) and used to work on a checkout in supermarkets in my late teens/early twenties. It's not that easy to shake off customers, even if you wanted to. I never had the heart to cut a conversation short with an old person. I'd get my regulars in every day and it was very obvious there that they were just lonely. Any suggestions on how you'd actually end the conversation without coming across like an arsehole?

leahyl · 03-01-2013 05:25PM

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

I'm from an average-sized town where everyone knows everyone (or at least back then) and used to work on a checkout in supermarkets in my late teens/early twenties. It's not that easy to shake off customers, even if you wanted to. I never had the heart to cut a conversation short with an old person. I'd get my regulars in every day and it was very obvious there that they were just lonely. Any suggestions on how you'd actually end the conversation without coming across like an arsehole?

I guess just still be polite but sort of chat to the next customer - something like "have you got a points card" or something like that but keep smiling away at the previous customer - maybe that will make them realise that you must get back to work - it must be difficult alright with elderly people especially who sometimes just want a chat.

efb · 03-01-2013 05:32PM

Last time I was in tesco I kept getting 'unexpected item in the bagging area' from the checkout.

I find Dunnes far too slow and problematic- I love lidl - v pleasant and efficient

Cashier conversations!

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