Over "Entitled" & Impolite Customers

[Yusshin]

I'm not actually angry. It's more of a discussion thing.

As this affects the cashier, other customers and the cashier's attitude after-the-fact, I'd like to hear others' experiences with overall bad manners from other clients in a store. Any store, of course. Sure, we get those nice "I have a full cart and you have three items; do go first" customers, but they are few and far between.

For the most part, I've had very few poor direct interactions with customers; it is mostly subtle things that irk both myself and other customers.

However, I have had some customers that do not properly understand what's going on or how to react / behave in general, and I've heard others from co-workers. The assistant manager of our store, for example, had a customer who was overcharged for tomatoes and promptly came back for a full refund. She verified the price with an associate from the F&V section and as it turns out, the client was correct - he had, in fact, been overcharged about 0.30$/kg. He was told that he would be getting a full refund, as per store policy, because the price had been incorrect on his bill. He continued to rave at her (note, the 0.30$/kg amounted to about a 10c over-charge for the tomatoes themselves) and then horked on her.

Then there was another lady who had used the TOMA Machines to get ~0.30$ in "consigne" money back. She left it at Customer Service and never received her money for it (apparently) because she up and went away. Seven hours later, she comes back complaining, telling the manager to sift through all ~100+ TOMA sheets for her 0.30$ paper. She pried for a good 20min - 10min after closing - until the security guard had to remove her from the store. 0.30$!

The worst customer I've had (that I can remember) is a guy whose DesJardins Debit wasn't being detected in the machine. Even if you inserted it backwards, there was maybe a 10% chance that it would detect a card's presence. Odd, since every other card worked, but OK because there was (since we got new machines recently) a "fix" to make it swipe instead of requiring chip-insertion. You flipped the card upsidedown three times (or as many times as needed) to get the message "See the Cashier." It would then ask to swipe the card instead. This client didn't want to understand that, yelling at me that it's "in backwards" and "stop it; give me my card back." Even after explaining, "Sir, I know my machine. It's a fix to get it to swipe since your card isn't working," he didn't care. It took 15min to get through just the payment because he refused to give me his card for the "fix." He eventually had to use, reluctantly, a different card; however, do trust a cashier when he or she tells you that they know what they're doing. Inserting a card in wrong may seem silly at first, but do listen when he or she tells you it's to get it to swipe (instead of yelling and cursing).

Luckily, I've never come across someone like that; I've just had snarky-for-no-good-reason clients, and it's not regular (yay).

As a cashier, I observe the behaviour of all customers and build a pattern on it. If two people come to the register sharing a cart, I either:

a) assume it's altogether,
or
b) assume it's two separate bills.

If you put everything on the counter at once without a bar between the "orders," I'm going to assume a) it's altogether.

But you wouldn't believe how many people get angry when it's actually not altogether and the pile of food actually constitutes two or three separate bills. I've had two guys look at my like I'm nuts because I assumed that everything was together.

Then there are separate clients who crowd the register itself. They ignore the bar's existence altogether and no one notices until I'm 5-10 items into the next guy's bill. I can't be looking at what the customers are doing (who's putting what on the counter) and 1) count money, 2) scan, 3) send items and watch not to squish fragile items such as eggs and bread, and 4) socialize with the first customer / ask questions all at the same time. It's the customers' responsibility to separate their orders. Don't give me attitude because I didn't notice who's together and who's not (sometimes, it's very hard to tell) and accidentally put your milk in with the first lady's groceries.

However, the things that bother me most with my line of work is actually stuff that affects the customer more than myself.

Firstly, you can't be focusing on what item prices are or how many bags you need, or paying your bill (without "timing out" on the machine), if you're facing the other way and talking on your cellphone. It holds up the line, too, and no one likes that.

Secondly, when it's time to pay, it's time to pay. I've had people attempt to bag an entire cart of items before paying. Even if I try to politely coax them to stop what they're doing and pay, they continue to jam items into their bags and load them into the cart. There are other people behind you, and they don't want to wait for you to bag your stuff. You can easily pay in approx. 10-15sec (less for cash payments) and then bag your stuff. It's really not that hard.

On my end, bagging first and paying after actually affects my efficiency rating. The longer my till is logged on, the more data that is used to calculate my "Items Per Minute" (IPM) rank. If an order is open and nothing is passed, the computer clocks every second I'm waiting for payment against my efficiency record. If a cashier's efficiency drops below a certain number, he or she could receive formal discipline from the front-end manager. There's a minimum standard for cashiers as per the IPM system, so it's important for us to keep our ratings high lest we get in trouble. So in courtesy for the cashiers (who feel awkward trying to MAKE you pay for your order) and the customers behind you (who have waited long enough), do pay first and bag later.

At our store, it's 5c for a bag. About the beginning (or even before) a transaction is started, the cashier asks how many bags you will need. If the cashier believes that the number given is reasonable/realistic for the number of items, then supplementary bags are free of charge (at the cashier's discretion, not a policy) since it would be silly to squabble for 5c; however, going on this, don't be unrealistic about how many bags you'll actually need. If you have a cart full of small items, don't ask for four bags when you obviously need at least seven or eight.

I have customers who actually ignore the initial question (which I ask again before payment, in this case) and ignore any repeats of "How many bags do you think you'll need?" just to score "free" bags. It's 5c. If you get ten, and need ten, that's 50c. If you don't want to pay 5c/bag, bring a bag from home, or reuse previously-purchased plastic bags. Don't give me a "Well, it's 5c, give it to me for free because I need it" look because you ignored the question on purpose.

Now, some people actually don't hear me, which is why I repeat until I'm heard; however, some people actually hand me all their change towards the transaction, ignore me, pay with debit and expect free bags afterwards. Not my problem

Also, a lot of people complain about customers who leave their carts behind or don't bring it to the front with them; they stay in the line and bag with their cart blocking everyone's way. It's not nice. No one likes that. How is someone supposed to bag their stuff on the other side if you're blocking the way and ignoring/not hearing their pleas to please step aside? And if you bring a cart from outside the store to the inside, it's fairly simple to either, a) take it back out with you, or b) leave it at the front of the store, not in the middle of the line or at the front of the register where other clients are forced to push it aside. In rush hour especially, it's impossible for clients to navigate if there's five carts lying all around the place, and the service associate cannot possibly get to them because there are way too many people / he's outside getting more carts for more people since there are none left.

Then there are clients who nag about American->Canadian funds. Yes, our dollar is worth more. I had a client nag for 10min (holding up the line, ye) about how his 60$USD is worth 60$CAD and that's that. He wouldn't listen to how for every 20$, 1.20$ is deducted due to exchange. That means his 60$USD (that day) was actually 56.40$CAD. Apparently "no one does currency exchange" and that's why we shouldn't, but it's in our own right to accept that money for what it is actually worth CAD, if at all, really. The same can be said about people who have HANDFULS of change. I don't mind change as much as other cashiers, but I can see other customers' beady little eyes glaring at both of us because a middle-aged woman (typically) has 5$ in dimes and 10$ in nickles to count out for me. We have a CoinStar Machine at the front of the store, as do some other grocery stores, so do use it instead of dumping your piggybank on the counter and counting it out.

Also, I don't know who's been breaking the carts to allow for off-property traveling (since ours auto-block outside the parking lot), but not cool man it makes the store look poor and careless, having carts with no handlebars!

As for emptying your own cart, you want it, you empty it, I scan, I send, you pay, I smile <- like that, but not hypocritically (I am genuinely a very happy person all the freakin' time lol). Kinda a standard system at all grocery stores. I get a lot of people who just put the basket on the counter, though, and expect me to take it all out nicely on their behalf. It's not a big deal, but it's a bit impolite to tell cashiers (as this happened with a co-worker) that it's "their job to empty a cart/basket on demand." It really isn't and I'm sorry if you feel so entitled as to treat service agents so disrespectfully. We are people, too!

And when the light is off, it means I'm closed! I know you're eager to go, but it's irksome when it's time for your break and people pry and give you dirty looks for taking a government-mandated 15min. Also happens when you start a shift and need to clear off the till (boxes, overstock), empty overstock basket, put in new receipt paper, break some change, adjust the screen and make sure there are bags ready-to-go. If the sign says I'm closed, that's not because I don't want to service you; it's because I'm either not ready to do it properly or I'm told to take my break I promise!

I love couponing and price-matching and all that stuff. That's why I'm here, and that's why you guys are, too! But some customers (normal and couponers) like to hide our 50% stickers so that at the end, they pay full price and get 100% reimbursed for it. Sometimes it really is a mistake, and that's OK; however, every time that someone does it, purposefully or not, the cashiers get in trouble for not catching it! And that's not fair to us when there's one sticker on a box with six sides and you've faced the sticker either away or under me. Now, I flip boxes I've already seen at 50%-off in the past to make 100% sure no one's trying to rip me (store) off, but sometimes it sneaks by! And for those customers who reuse vegetable bags with 50% stickers on them to always get [fresh] veggies at 50% off, bad! That's not being smart with flyers and the likes; that's just being cheap and mean and it gives everyone who wants to save money a bad name, even if they've never tried such cheap tactics before + gets cashiers in trouble.

And to answer one lady in-store who got a 10$ box of oatmeal for free, yes, I do agree we should have 50% off stickers on EVERY side of a boxed product; however, it is quite dishonest to purposefully hide it, too! Not a good reflection of your character, sadly.

But a happy thing!

Thanks to everyone who's always nice and polite and patient and understanding and such at the cash, who are patient after these people who ditch their carts, yammer on the phone or hold up the line with silly nitpick things. It makes the job more enjoyable to see happy people go home with stuff they like, having been properly serviced at the check-out. And thanks to everyone who compliments my smile, accent or constant cheerfulness, and to that one lady who I call "Beavis" because of her sweater (lol), and pretty much everyone who's polite and not pushy at the register towards myself or other clients. Good reps to you!

Now, does anyone have any especially horrific experiences to share, since we're on the subject lol hopefully hork-free

[krysta lynne]

it's a wonder how you keep your calm as a cashier.

society is a wonderful complex thing

[smileyKT]

I didn't know the part about the 50% off sticker. Do you work in a Loblaws banner store and is it the same across all of the stores? I was charged full price once and customer service just adjusted it for me.

[Yusshin]

That's how our store operates, since technically it's a "price error at the register" and we interpret it as such under the Scanning Code of Practice.

Which means free.

Not sure about other stores, but that's how ours works and people are such poos about it, hiding the stickers!

[GoJays]

Great post! This should be required reading for Martha Shopper

[Shwa Girl]

I didn't know the part about the 50% off sticker. Do you work in a Loblaws banner store and is it the same across all of the stores? I was charged full price once and customer service just adjusted it for me.

At RCSS, I had a pink sticker item. The cash register identified the regular price as being higher and the pink sticker price did not match what the employee had written.
Regular price $24, pink sticker price $12. Incorrect regular price $36, pink sticker $18. I got $10 off the $12 pink sticker price and paid $2 with SCOP.

[c_mcarthur]

hmmm worst customer experience?
Probably my first job at Mcdonalds.
All of 15 years old, first day on drivethru.
Of course drivethru is quick right and your supposed to be quick. Pay at first window, pick up at second window.
I was at second window, handed out drinks and handed out food.
I turn to face the window for the next customer and the previous customer is still there.
customer THROWS his bag of food at me, it hits me in the chest and he starts SWEARING at me calling me a racist B**** and i shouldnt be throwing food at him, blah blah blah.
My manager hears the yelling and comes over and asks what happened, I calmly tell him I have no idea some pyscho just threw his food at me.
According to the customer I threw his food at him because I dont like ''brown people'' and that I should be fired for being a racist.
My manager told him I wasnt being racist and I didnt throw any food at him and that hes sorry he felt that way but I did nothing wrong.
He gave him his money back and once the customer was gone, took me aside and told me not to worry about as$***'s like that. LOL

I've had many customer service jobs as this economy sucks and it doesn't matter if u have a diploma or a degree in anything anymore, so I've had to put up with some pretty crappy people.
Altho where I work now, the Clientele is much better and i rarely have a bad customer. Maybe once a week it's nice!

[Shwa Girl]

I will give my funniest cashier customer experience.
A couple came to my check out a few years ago in the Durham Region area. They were speaking in French and I was able to follow some of the conversation. They did not talk to me, so I did not interrupt their conversation. All of a sudden the lady said in French, "Oh no, we forgot the mustard." I stopped scanning the items and said in English, "Mustard is in aisle 4, left hand side, half way down the aisle. There are still many items to be checked out so you have time to go back. The grocery guys will respond slower than if you went yourself, unfortunately." Their faces turned red. After getting the mustard, they thanked me and they stood in silence until I was finished. I said, "Au revoir" as they left - quickly.

[sjw80]

I also worked at McDonalds as my first customer service job. luckily I never had food thrown at me by a customer. We just threw it at each other (other employees) while bored late at night or whatever. We always got the crazy people who would yell about a mistake in their order. Geez, we're only human and everyone makes mistakes. And, we too had to keep order times down and maximize the number of orders in an hour.

The absolutely worst customer service job I had was at a sub-prime vehicle finance company. For the most part, the customers were people who couldn't get a car loan through a bank and often lived paycheque to paycheque (not all though). I helped delay monthly payments, give information about accounts, etc. EVERY single day, I was called EVERY single bad name you could think of. Typically, it was because a customer would call in to delay a payment, but its all done electronically and you need to call more than 48 hours before to delay it, so these customers would be too late, not have enough money to cover the payment and they would be charged an NSF fee by their bank AND my company ($25 from bank and $75 from us) plus the fee from my company would accumulate interest until paid off. And the interest rates were crazy (typically anywhere from 10-30%). People would go ape-sh$t when they realized they were charged such a high interest. All I could say is its in your contract that you signed and nothing you can do but pay it off early. Sigh, I'm glad I don't work there anymore.

[steen]

oh geez! I have some stories to tell! About 10 years ago I worked in shoppers drug mart in Ottawa. One day this guy stood in front of my cash looking at the candy and gum for a LONG time. Finally he gets in my line and gives it to me to scan. I scan it and tell him the total and he goes ape on me. Freaking out that there was like a few cents of tax on it. Constantly screaming at me to tell him why there was. I mean I JUST started here and this was my first job ever as a cashier. I really don't know the ins and outs of tax but if the register added it I had to believe it was for a reason. Plus I'm sorry generally there is tax on everything because of our government what did he want me to do? I think he expected me to take the tax off because he thought he shouldn't be charged. He freaked out and said there is NO TAX ON FOOD and then whips the gum packet at me and then storms off. I was so shocked I didn't know what to think. I wish I would have thought to say 'I'm sorry but gum isn't FOOD' I am a quiet and somewhat shy person so for him to scream at me like that really upset me. Thankfully the customer behind him tried to make me feel better because I think she was just as shocked as I was about his behavior. Unfortunately my supervisor did not understand why I needed to go out back for a few minutes and compose myself, but let me even though she made me feel stupid for needing to. I kept trying to tell myself that he made himself look like an ass freaking out over a pack of 25 cent gum (or however much it was). But seriously this guy was in an expensive suit to! Some people.

I also tried doing customer service at a call center. Bad idea! I had one guy call me stupid and every word under the sun because I couldn't help him with the whole there are shoes on a cable or power line out by his house. I think he thought he was doing the cable company a favour by calling it in. Maybe he was but I mean I am BILLING? I really didn't know what he wanted me to do. Or another guy doing the same thing to me when he called up and told me that some company was digging in the ground and thought that was a good opportunity for the cable company to bury their cable lines? haha funny thing was this was a call center in canada for a cable company in the states so I had NO idea what area/road/city he was talking about. I think he thought he was talking to his local building or something. It sucks that ONE crappy customer can ruin your whole shift!

I am understanding towards cashiers now since I know what they have been through. I still am shocked at the behavior of people though. I will never work in retail ever again if I can help it.

[Shwa Girl]

I also tried doing customer service at a call center. Bad idea! I had one guy call me stupid and every word under the sun because I couldn't help him with the whole there are shoes on a cable or power line out by his house. I think he thought he was doing the cable company a favour by calling it in. Maybe he was but I mean I am BILLING?

Depending on the company you work for, there may be a policy about physical or verbal abuse by customers.
Calling you stupid and verbally abusing you should not be tolerated. If there is a policy, the first step is to tell the customer that the conversation will end if it continues. Then, you can terminate the call, but you have to document everything.

At the supermarket, we had to call the police on a customer who came in regularly and yelled at employees or threw groceries at employees - veggies or even canned goods.

Workers have rights. Workers should be able to do their job without feeling threatened and without being verbally abused.

[anisa]

it sounds like you need to find a new job in a different industry.

your list of complaints is of incredibly long, and encompasses just about every aspect of daily dealings with customers in a retail store.

there will be miserable and rude people on every level when you are working in a service industry.

maybe these are signs that you need a change

[amandabananda]

I too worked at McDonald's and one of the experiences I remember was this guy brought his McChicken back and complained there was too much lettuce and wanted another one. He was screaming and yelling - but the customer is always right so we got him a new one with half the lettuce. Like really? You couldn't just take some off yourself buddy?

Another one is the McD's I worked at had a separate area with the playland and 3 sections/groups of tables we used for b-day parties. When I would do parties, I would get there early and put up the "we need this room at suchandsuch a time for b-day parties, sorry for any inconvenience". Parents could sit outside in the restaurant area and still see their kids through the windows. So this one guy wouldn't leave and started yelling and swearing at me, so naturally I wasn't dealing with it and got the manager. She came out and he's yelling "I only get to see my F** daughter every other week" " this is crazy, F you" etc. etc. So she says 'Well, maybe you'd get to see her more often if you changed your attitude and didn't swear so much" He left after that.

OK, now you have me on a roll.

Another guy, same deal with the birthday parties says to me "you're going to tell me what to do? you work at McD's and you'll amount to nothing you little B**" Did I mention this guy was about 500 lbs and wearing stained sweatpants and I was in my last year of college and working my co-op job during the week and only working at McD's on the weekends?

People can be jerks, but you just have to laugh at them sometimes. I mean, is too much lettuce really the end of the world?

[SavenRaven]

OP: I think your "Rant" is very well written. I like your positive attitude, even while discussing not-so-positive things. I also think its great that you are more concerned with the effects these ignorances have on your other customers. You sound like a great Customer Service worker.

I also agree that there are miserable and rude people everywhere ... everywhere.

[SavenRaven]

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