Cashiers

[Valiant]

Are you suggesting that person was being 'slow-witted, or dull'?

[S J]

Kate, in most cases I agree. Lazy or just really don't care would fit the cashiers description more often than stupid.

But I have to share a Tim Hortons story.

At the time a French Vanilla cost $1.76
A donut 70cents.
I was getting 2 of each. The till came up to something around $8.
I started to get my money out then the little light went off in my head.
I told her that wasn't right. She rang it all in again and came up with the same amount!.

I told her is should cost just under $5. She told me that the till couldn't be wrong twice in a row. I politely suggested she was ringing in something wrong. She insisted that wasn't possible.

I told her if a donut was $1, a french vanilla was $2 then that would only be $6. ( I was thinking she could do simple math if I rounded it up)
Well I shouldn't of thought at all because she couldn't.
She calls over her manager..who apparently also failed grade 2 math.

I was SOOO annoyed that I just left.

I'm sorry, but they were just STUPID. And I'm certain I included other words in that sentence that can't be typed on here.

I beg to differ from you here , I totally agree that after so much persistent they should have been able to see what they are doing wrong but two things work against cashiers when it comes to math during transaction.

1. prolonged relying on computer does makes you dumb! not joking when i started working at Metro{then dominion} for first few weeks I was able to calculate mentally how much money i need to return to the customer and didn't had to look at the computer to tell me but as the job got monotonous I became lazy and started relying on the computer which definitly made me dumb in math. I lost my confidence in calculating simple decimal additions and had to look at the computer to check if I was right or wrong. and believe me I have done masters.

2. cashiers have to deal with all sorts of people there will be people who will be holding few coins of 20cents and pennies and 5 cents and if cashier offers to count out their change they will act as if she/he is trying to steal and there will be people who wouldn't believe you that you have given them the right change until you show them how it was done on a calculator.


once I had a customer who told me a bread i had just scanned for him for 2.56 $ is actually 2.36 $. i was in an express checkout and there were 20 ppl in queue but I pageid bakery and asked them to call . when the bakery called I asked them the price the girl at the other end said 2.56$ , she checked the price list.{my job was done I could easily have told the customer he was wrong!} but i asked the girl to check it again because the customer was insisting. she now went to the display and checked then said yeah he is right its 2.36${no sorry I was wrong}. i hung up and started saying sorry the bread scanned wrong and as soon as I said that he started yelling at me "why cant you do simple things right? why does things scan wrong ? why cant you do your job?" and so on .................

was this my fault ? I was the one who insisted the girl to recheck and I was being punished
believeme, I took my revenge usually i used to tell customers about SCOP and give them stuff for free {I feel it is also a good way to make repeat customer , specially if he / she isn't being given hard time about it}, this time I didnt and not to mention those others who witnessed the whole fiasco and symatized with me after he left, one customer even called him a rude sad person!

so you see its not one sided , just try to think how many stuff cashier has to go through and remmeber ,how can they be expected to know each and every small item sold in the store ?

[freebiehunter]

I say the ratio of stupid and rude cashiers pretty much reflects the ratio of stupid and rude people in general - including customers!

[lekate]

Oh SJ!!! That's another one of my pet peevs, when people say the cashier scanned it wrong! OMG how did I scan it wrong?! I held the item, UPC down over the scanner, the computer registered it! If I scanned it wrong then the item wouldn't have gone in the computer!!! Oh you mean the price came up wrong?! Dolt.

And yes Valient, the cashier I had at that timmies was slow, dim-witted, whatever you want. I'm sure MANY people have said I'm stupid, but I'm actually MORE aware of things than them, just because I can't answer their stupid question. I'm MORE aware of how the store works, and why things happen. I have more logic when it comes to retail.

[Justine]

I was a cashier too once up on a time, at sobeys, it wasn't too bad, it was tiring for sure with 9 hours shifts often, but hardly anyone used coupons at the time, I don't know why, this was... 5 years ago or so, I very rarely got anyone with coupons.

I wouldn't ever call a cashier stupid, that is not for me to judge, people are tired, they don't understand policies perhaps because they haven't been explained to them. As othesr have pointed out, the cashier's job is simple, scan items and take money at the till. They do not know anything most of the time about stock or when something is coming in if it's out, so when they say they don't know, they really don't. At sobeys we were expected to know where certain products were if we were asked at the till, or we were instructed to call that department and get someone to help them, if you can't help them, find someone that can kind of policy.

I get irritated often with cashiers, mostly at SDM because they make up their own rules for coupons, like my thread recently about using 3x$1 royale coupons on 3 royale tps, she said it was one per purchase, and thus I could only make one transaction with it, so I asked her to put it through 3 times. But whatever, you shop where you like and I avoid SDM as much as possible for this reason, the irritation is not worth it for me, I can use my coupons at WM or some other place.

[Mistress Mya]

Wow a cashier thread? lol right up my alley. I may work in a call center now but my entire working career has been as a cashier. Ive worked at Timmie's, mcdicks, 7-11, a dollar store, subway, asm at a cotton ginny, etc. and yes you get some rude customers but really most of it is common sense. i believe in giving great service and yeah ive got some fabulous math skills, i could total your order and give change even if the till was broken. This being said, nothing pisses me off more than when I am out somewhere and I ask the cashier something and she/he looks at me like i have 4 heads. i mean really? i know your job sucks and your getting minimum wage, but guess what? businesses want repeat customers and they rely on the staff to provided the environment that makes you WANT to come back! if you don't like the job, then by all means look for something else. i see it as , my purchase is helping pay for your wage, i expect my cashier to SMILE, and thank me for my service. Not that hard.

[Justine]

I know I think WM has some of the most unhappiest cashiers. But I can understand why, and not until recently I found out that they do not get minimum wage, they get quite a bit more, so I felt less sorry for them.

You gotta make the best of any job, all jobs suck in some way, and are good in other ways. Being a cashier is not a glamourous job but if you do it, it's the only one you've got. I remember working at sobeys and old navy at the same time as a cashier that was..awesome "sarcasm" I got the retail and the grocery people complaining to me. But I must say, it became more bearable when I put on a happy face and just dealt with it, smiling does make you feel better, and others feel better, it's true.

[Evil.Kitten]

Well some places do train their staff to know the product [Personal experience; Coles bookstore, bulk barn and penningtons] and when the next shipment will be coming in [coles and penningtons and to a point the bulk barn]. Some staff members arent in the loop.. some don't care..

When my dad went to purchase my brother overalls at marks work warehouse last month when they had that $10 "gift card" on the flyer thingie.. He had to wait at the counter behind this women whom had a pile of items and about 15 of the $10 "gift cards".. The manager and cashier were trying in vain for literally 15 minutes explaining over and over and over again that it said on the card something like 1 card per person or per household or soemthing like that.. and she couldn't combine all the cards to make her purchases.

But she didnt "get it".. They kept explaining to it to her. My dad said he was "this close to grabbing the card and shoving it his the b*tchs face and screaming the small print at her. What's not to get. This isn't hard to understand" He was red in the face for the rest of the night stewing about it. lmao.

The manager gave up and opened the second til to ring my dad thru. As he was leaving the woman started yelling at the cashier telling her she was tryignt o "screw her". Um.. right.. [my mom was there to corroberate this story lol].

My point? I dunno.. Customers are y and tired as well.. I've been on bothsides of this... I have only made it to the "I don't care.. I'm ringing you thru just to get you the hell out of my face, I'm tired.. go away" mode once at penningtons on boxing day.. 8 hours of non-stop customers trying to steal, asking the same question, etc etc.. I hate people =) no offense

My mother wants me to get another job as a cashier.. hell no! I'd rather work at Zellers as a night stocker with my cousin. I don't like working with people basically.. I hate listening to them complain about stuff and not really being able to help drives me insane or seeing people abuse a return policy for no reason other than to screw the company.

By that I mean this.. When I worked at penningtons their return policy is CRAP they will take back ANYTHING even if you stained it!.. I had to return this witches money on christmas eve because "her friends didn't like the shirt".. there was pit and deoderants stains on the shirt, smelt like booze and smoke and had perfume stains around the collar and chest.

I sold her that shirt and she knew it.. But my manager [even after I explained this to her] gave her money back plus a discount of 10% off because I was starting to get into it with the witch.. ugh.. I hate it so much.. The customers is not right when they are screwing around like that.. ugh.. oh well.. It ruins it for people who genuinely are trying to return things.


Sorry forgot to add my to the point comment lmao... anywho! I was always plesant and polite to a point. Especially when the customer tells my manager/supervisor that I'm trying to screw them or harassing them. Okay harassing.. at penningtons I was told over and OVER again that you have to go up and greeet a customer within 30 seconds [I was scolded several times] and you have to go back about every 5 minutes to ask the customer why their there... what they are looking for.. how I could help etc.. I hated it soooo much.. plus I was always told to "layer" the customers.. if they grab a shirt.. show them a jacket.. pants... underwear, bras, sweater etc etc to make your sale higher to reach your daily quota. It felt like harassment to me and I hated doing it.. I loved my 3rd supervisor, she told me to let the customers be aside from saying hello and letting them look around. Than asking them after a few minutes if they need help.

I remember workign there during the christmas rush.. This one middle aged woman just wouldnt let me explain the scratch cards I was trying to show her [every customer can scratch a card to see how much of a discount they get off their purchase... I avoided going up to her the whole time she was there.. I walked to a shirt table to refold shirts that were thrown about and heard her snap to someone on the phone "this b*tch won't stop following me around the goddamn store!" o.O Ididn't even realize she was at the rack behind the table. I moved on to ring people thru and she was done and I tried to be pleasant and ask her if she found everything... how was her day,, yadda yadda... she snapped "Pushy customers and annoying staff that harass their customers." and left...
Rant done.

[Justine]

haha, maybe it was someone on this forum that was trying to use all the marks cards at once, it wouldn't surprise me.

This is a prime example of the nonsense that cashiers have to put up with all the time. It takes one person to ruin your day, or upset you that is for sure. You gotta be reasonable and polite and you will get what you want.

[itsjustmebub]

You're absolutely right, except for those times when the cashiers ARE stupid.

LMAO I'm sorry but that was awesome.

If YOU are a good cashier OP then that's awesome. But lets face it, not everyone is. Do some of them simply have bad moments/days? Yes of course, but are some of them just completely unfit to be a cashier? Also yes.
But that's life! That's every job everywhere.

[itsjustmebub]

I say the ratio of stupid and rude cashiers pretty much reflects the ratio of stupid and rude people in general - including customers!

My point exactly!


And lastly, you'll also notice VERY often on this forum how many times people PRAISE their wonderful cashier.

[Justine]

My point exactly!


And lastly, you'll also notice VERY often on this forum how many times people PRAISE their wonderful cashier.

I think people praise on this forum yes, but there are equal if not more complaints about poor cashier experiences. People are more likely to complain.

[joseff]

it's been said that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers
and the only stupid question is the one not asked
but I really have to wonder sometimes if the customer isn't the stupid one to begin with
I work in a service industry and I try, oh I try, sometimes to keep it together long enough to get the customer out of the door, but sometimes, just sometimes, I pass it on to someone else cuz I'm at my wits end and want to throttle someone for just not getting it.
one per person means one per person, bring your family in to shop with you if you want more than one
you cannot return an item that is not physically with you
you need to have a receipt for returns at our store or you get the last, lowest sale price (How can I prove that you paid more????)
no I cannot give you a deal on something, I'm not the owner of the company, I just work here and don't make the prices
Sorry, I can tell you my next order comes in today, but I really don't know what's in it
No I cannot order you something that I don't carry because we don't do our own ordering here
No I cannot give you change from $100 if you're only spending $10, it's first thing in the morning, if I've had no cash sales....how can I if my float is only $100 to begin with???? and NO I cannot go to the bank for you to get change for it (most days I am alone in my store)
If I'm closed for a moment, I probably had to pee
If I'm coming in with my boots, coat, toque and mitts on, NOOOOOO I am not open yet!!!

Oh I think I need to find another job!!!

[itsjustmebub]

I think people praise on this forum yes, but there are equal if not more complaints about poor cashier experiences. People are more likely to complain.

for sure!
people have to vent to someone right?

the point is, if you are a great cashier then don't worry about someone calling a completely different person a name ... it has no effect on your performance! and i think we can all agree that an SCer is likely a fabulous cashier

[itsjustmebub]

it's been said that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers
and the only stupid question is the one not asked
but I really have to wonder sometimes if the customer isn't the stupid one to begin with
I work in a service industry and I try, oh I try, sometimes to keep it together long enough to get the customer out of the door, but sometimes, just sometimes, I pass it on to someone else cuz I'm at my wits end and want to throttle someone for just not getting it.
one per person means one per person, bring your family in to shop with you if you want more than one
you cannot return an item that is not physically with you
you need to have a receipt for returns at our store or you get the last, lowest sale price (How can I prove that you paid more????)
no I cannot give you a deal on something, I'm not the owner of the company, I just work here and don't make the prices
Sorry, I can tell you my next order comes in today, but I really don't know what's in it
No I cannot order you something that I don't carry because we don't do our own ordering here
No I cannot give you change from $100 if you're only spending $10, it's first thing in the morning, if I've had no cash sales....how can I if my float is only $100 to begin with???? and NO I cannot go to the bank for you to get change for it (most days I am alone in my store)
If I'm closed for a moment, I probably had to pee
If I'm coming in with my boots, coat, toque and mitts on, NOOOOOO I am not open yet!!!

Oh I think I need to find another job!!!

customers are equal ding-dongs a LOT of the time too lol