Damn Proud to have the right to refuse service to rude, cellphone SC's

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

This thread is dedicated to the people who get annoyed by SC's talking on the cellphone when they are checking out. As a working team we not only provide customer satisfaction but filter out those nonsense bullcrap people who become verbally abusive, insulting and impolite (usually the female workers and managers are more likely prone to put up with these things).

Here are 2 incidents I've been hearing when dealing with Cellphone SC's that gives you the right to not serve them

#1. I had a Co-worker ring up someone who was chatting away on the phone, she told him the total and he ignored her while other people are in line waiting. She continued to say the total a few times while he was still chatting and you know what she did.... she suspended the order and rang up the next person. Cellphone person was pissed!

#2. I was told this by a co-worker and I read on the site that this person gets the cellphone SC's who get annoyed at her interrupting when she was telling him the total. I've had that situation once but put up with it. Now here's the must-read...
You can refuse to serve someone who is rude to you while on a cellphone where I work with the following example...(Customers who tell you to not interrupt them when it's time for them to pay for their merchandise)

Honestly.. I've put up with it but really people should step up to those asshats!

[RammsteinGirl]

WTF is wrong with these idiots?

I like to talk on my cell phone too, and I do it while I'm browsing in stores, but when it comes time to pay for my purchase at the register, I can lay my phone down for a minute so I can get my total and dig my money out.

That's good your store can refuse service to people who won't get off their cell phones long enough to complete a transaction. We'd probably get in trouble if we did that at my store. I see lots of places with signs telling people to end their cell phone conversations before approaching the counter for service.

[powerboy]

I hate when that happens to me at work. But we have to put up with it, because otherwise, they might consider it dissemination

[Rubystars]

Dissemination of what? Common sense? Did you mean Discrimination?

[mischugenah]

Ultimate Cell Phone Stupidity

Given the topic, I had to share this. It isn't my story, it was told to me by a police officer I knew. I'm going to tell it pretty much in his words, because he told it so well. Italics and bold are indicitive of facial expressions and tone of voice. You can imagine. Disclaimer: I heard this story many years ago, so some of the specifics may not be exactly right. Don't sue.

"Let me set the scene for you. There I am, in my uniform, in my marked police car. Black and white, red and blue lights, the works. I pull up behind this SUV at a red light. Through the back window I can see that the driver is on a cell phone. That's not illegal, so everything's good. The light turns green. The SUV doesn't move. I figure, maybe she didn't notice. It happens. So I tap my horn. The driver turns around and glances at me - remember, I'm in a marked police car - turns to face front again, and doesn't move. OK, I'm a little annoyed now. So I hit my horn a bit harder. She turns around again looks at me - in my marked police car - then faces forward and doesn't move!! I think, ok, this is getting rediculous. So I get out of the car walk up to the SUV and knock on the window. OK, again, I'm in FULL UNIFORM. The driver rolls down her window, gives me a nasty glare, and says 'Do you MIND? I'm on the PHONE!'
She got a free ride to the station."

Of course, my favorite reaction to cell phones is one I saw at a Rennisance Faire. If your cell phone went off, the actor would STOP THE SHOW, take it from you, answer it, have a short conversation with the caller (being as silly and embarassing as possible of course), then inform the caller that the owner of the phone was busy and could they please call back later? You could see people surripitously turning off their cell phones after that.

[Dark Psion]

Dissemination of what? Common sense? Did you mean Discrimination?

Dissemination of whatever private information that person just said out loud in a public place in front of strangers.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

I like to talk on my cell phone too, and I do it while I'm browsing in stores, but when it comes time to pay for my purchase at the register, I can lay my phone down for a minute so I can get my total and dig my money out.

That's what I do too, but only in big places like wal-mart. If it's a small store, I don't want people to be offended by my conversation.

[Marxfan]

"Let me set the scene for you. There I am, in my uniform, in my marked police car. Black and white, red and blue lights, the works. I pull up behind this SUV at a red light. Through the back window I can see that the driver is on a cell phone. That's not illegal, so everything's good. The light turns green. The SUV doesn't move. I figure, maybe she didn't notice. It happens. So I tap my horn. The driver turns around and glances at me - remember, I'm in a marked police car - turns to face front again, and doesn't move. OK, I'm a little annoyed now. So I hit my horn a bit harder. She turns around again looks at me - in my marked police car - then faces forward and doesn't move!! I think, ok, this is getting rediculous. So I get out of the car walk up to the SUV and knock on the window. OK, again, I'm in FULL UNIFORM. The driver rolls down her window, gives me a nasty glare, and says 'Do you MIND? I'm on the PHONE!'
She got a free ride to the station."

Appalling, and at the same time not that surprising.

By the way, I'm convinced that people's IQs drop dramatically when they purchase an SUV.

[Kara]

I know what y'all mean. I can't stand it when customers call me on their cell phones.

Oh wait. That's my job.

[JustaCashier]

This is one of my pet peeves as well.

IIRC, early on in my current job, I would deal with a moron on a cell in a way so it did not appear as if I was trying to intrude on their conversation, because I didn't want to "offend" them, even though it pissed me off they were on the cell.

Now, I just carry the transaction on, as they if they're not on a cell, and I have their undivided attention. I ring their stuff up, calling out important things such as verifying lumber items from the SKU's on a Loading Ticket, if they have one, and announcing the total when finished.

A good portion of them can actually do the transaction, and don't seem to be any slower than customers not on a cell, so it's mostly the rudeness factor that bugs me. There are some, though, that would be like I would, if I even owned a cell and would be rude enough to be on it at a checkout, and are slow/have troue performing the task of running their credit/debit card.

I have some tolerance for customers who receive a call while checking out. I frequently joke with them that there must be something about the registers, or being near them that triggers the cell to ring.

I very much appreciate those that when receiving a call at the register will say to the caller, "Hey, I'm here the store checkout, I'll call you back in a few minutes". I actually feel sorry for those that are attempting to do that, but the idiot on the other end won't let them get a word in edgewise (we all know people like that!) and the customer is at least indicatiing "sorry" to me through facial expression/body language.

Mike

[BookstoreEscapee]

If my cell rings while I'm being rung up, I don't even answer it; I'll just hit the button to silence it and call the person back when I'm done. Unless I'm expecting some important call (and really, that's not likely) it can wait.

When I had customers on the phone I'd just ring them up like normal, tell them their total, and if they weren't paying attention (and there wasn't a long line and/or I wasn't the only cashier) I'd just stand there and wait. Sometimes I would amuse myself by timing how long it took them to notice I was waiting for them to do something; or make a show of looking at my watch and then at the other cashier or customers and we'd all snicker a bit to ourselves...

[greensinestro]

#1. I had a Co-worker ring up someone who was chatting away on the phone, she told him the total and he ignored her while other people are in line waiting. She continued to say the total a few times while he was still chatting and you know what she did.... she suspended the order and rang up the next person. Cellphone person was pissed!

#2. I was told this by a co-worker and I read on the site that this person gets the cellphone SC's who get annoyed at her interrupting when she was telling him the total. I've had that situation once but put up with it. Now here's the must-read...
You can refuse to serve someone who is rude to you while on a cellphone where I work with the following example...(Customers who tell you to not interrupt them when it's time for them to pay for their merchandise)

#1: That's a great story, and I wish I could actually witness something like that for myself. The closest I came was my brother at the credit union who was behind a woman yacking away on her cellular phone, and the teller just sat there staring at her. After a couple of minutes, the lady said, "Hold on. How come you're not helping me?" And all the teller did was point to the sign that said "Please end all cellular phone conversations before approaching the teller." Lady was pissed as hell. My brother, who would have complained, actually laughed at her.

#2: I hate it when someone is on a cell phone call while they call me. And it lately got to the point where we have been able to tell customers things like, "In order to do this correctly, I need your complete and undivided attention, or you will need to call at a better time." I've been ripped a new one for it, but it does get the message across on how rude they're being.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"Now, I just carry the transaction on, as they if they're not on a cell, and I have their undivided attention. I ring their stuff up, calling out important things such as verifying lumber items from the SKU's on a Loading Ticket, if they have one, and announcing the total when finished."

I used to do the exact same when I was running register. Unless I was TAKING orders. If a SC came to the counter while still on the phone, I would carry on as if he wasn't. And he had a split second to respond to me as if he wasn't, because if he hesitated for longer than that, I'd turn to the next person in line and start taking orders RIGHT THEN, ignoring any protests or shocked expressions.

I found you only had to do that once in front of each crowd. Nobody else would push you after you'd turned one of them into an example.

[LadyAndreca]

Today I had one...I finished up a complicated exchange for a customer, and the next one in line meandered leisurely up to my counter and set down a bag, talking animatedly the whole time on her phone. After about 30 seconds of waiting, I made eye contact with the woman behind her, who was waiting patiently but looked annoyed at the cell phone use. After another 30 seconds, the second woman just walked up to the counter.

The woman on the phone FREAKED OUT and almost hip checked her to get her away from the counter, she was so panicked that she would lose her place in line. (It's not like there was a third person. Both returns and payments usually take under a minute.) Did she hang up? No! But she did manage to tell me that she wanted to make a payment and get her bill and cash out of her purse.

When the second woman finally could come up to me, her little girl looked at the departing talker (still on her phone!), looked up at her mother, and said, "Mommy, why was that lady so rude?"

[DesignFox]

Of course, my favorite reaction to cell phones is one I saw at a Rennisance Faire. If your cell phone went off, the actor would STOP THE SHOW, take it from you, answer it, have a short conversation with the caller (being as silly and embarassing as possible of course), then inform the caller that the owner of the phone was busy and could they please call back later? You could see people surripitously turning off their cell phones after that.

This is why Faires are so much fun... if you are rude, people WILL call you on it.