I have plenty to do, thanks.

[Dreamstalker]

Regarding jokes, hear the "tee hee you look bored" one a lot as, due to my Aspergers, I find smiling difficult so often have a blank face. Ha ha, my sides just split.

Ditto. My favorite shift lead told me to just imagine a difficult person bursting into flames in front of me... That's led to "if you see Dreamstalker smiling that way, someone's on very thin ice and should be gotten away from her."

[Racket_Man]

Ditto. My favorite shift lead told me to just imagine a difficult person bursting into flames in front of me... That's led to "if you see Dreamstalker smiling that way, someone's on very thin ice and should be gotten away from her."

With me it is if I become very quiet and non-talkative and non-interactive and mumbling incoherient stuff, they KNOW to stay away from me.

[Lace Neil Singer]

^ I feel the same. It puts me in the position to sympathize with the person.

I don't know about anyone else, but personally, I find it hard to sympathise with a person who's ranting and raving at me about an issue that's a) not my fault, b) out of my hands and c) something I can do nothing about. But when I tentatively suggest that the customer could call head office or speak to a manager, the answer is usually, "Oh, I don't have time for that."

But you do have time to scream at a lowly cashier? Arsehole.

[Dreamstalker]

Exactly. But making a phone call or finding a manager would require them to do the legwork and possibly getting a verbal bitchslap, therefore (in their eyes) wasting their time. Time spent screaming at a 'slave' is productive for them (although it is a waste of the employee's and everyone else's time).

Classic example of SCST (SC Standard Time).

...did I just really explain that? I must be bored.

[Food Lady]

I don't know about anyone else, but personally, I find it hard to sympathise with a person who's ranting and raving at me about an issue that's a) not my fault, b) out of my hands and c) something I can do nothing about. But when I tentatively suggest that the customer could call head office or speak to a manager, the answer is usually, "Oh, I don't have time for that."

But you do have time to scream at a lowly cashier? Arsehole.

Well, yeah, but I was thinking of people who don't yell but instead are telling the cashier about a problem so that the cashier can get him/her to the right person to help. The polite customers who do this often say "I know this isn't your fault..." because they don't want the cashier to feel attacked. I know the difference and appreciate it.

[notalwaysright]

The polite customers who do this often say "I know this isn't your fault..." because they don't want the cashier to feel attacked. I know the difference and appreciate it.

And it also depends on how they finish that sentence. If it's "the line was really long" or "I can never use my coupon" or "your sales are confusing" then I'm sorry, but... no. I have no control over that, and have heard it multiple times a day, since the day I started. If they end the sentence with "someone clogged the toilet in the customer bathroom" or "someone spilled coffee over there" then yes, good. That is useful information that I can in fact do something about.

[Food Lady]

To quote myself:

are telling the cashier about a problem so that the cashier can get him/her to the right person to help.

What's wrong with that? Maybe you can't do anything about a coupon that won't work or whatever, but someone else can. Maybe we have more power over such things than you have at your company. idk

[Lace Neil Singer]

If it's a coupon that won't work, that's easy; we have an option on the till to put a coupon thru manually. If it's a problem at the supermarket, for example, the toilet is out of order, we can direct the customer to the public toilets over the road. However, the vast majority of customers who use that phrase at the moment end the sentence with, "The fuel price is way too high" which I can do nothing about. Of course, I can suggest that they call the care line or post on the store's Facebook page, but SCs much prefer to bitch at me rather than do something useful. I don't set the prices, so bitching at me about them wastes my time, their time and the time of the other customers waiting in line.

[notalwaysright]

What's wrong with that? Maybe you can't do anything about a coupon that won't work or whatever, but someone else can. Maybe we have more power over such things than you have at your company. idk

If the coupon doesn't work and it should, then we can totally fix that. If the coupon doesn't work because it's not supposed to (fine print, exclusions, etc) then not really, no. I can explain why it won't work, and if the customer is still pushing then I can call a manager about it. So I suppose someone can do something, but if I clearly show them why the coupon won't work and they refuse to accept that, then I would call them sucky. The people I'm talking about are the ones who understand the coupons, know why they can't use them, and just want to complain about the fact that they can't use them.

So broad statements aren't useful. They're just complaints with a pretty cover. I almost feel like people say "I know it's not your fault but" like some people say "no offense." Like it's a free pass or something. Hopefully that make sense.

[Dreamstalker]

We can override coupons if they scan but throw an error (a lot of Catalina coupons will cause the system to reject it but say "Family group valid" and then it's a matter of looking at the item and any restrictions on the coupon). If the coupon and item match, I can approve it without a supervisor. Generally I think cashier coupon overrides are tracked so I try not to do them unless I can verify everything.

Manual entry requires a supervisor (or, according to the newest SC catchphrase, "someone who cares" ). Nothing I can do about that, this needs a key and you can either wait or just pay now and take it to the desk (hint: just paying and going to the desk will be faster).

SCO attendants can manually override coupons without a supervisor but again those are tracked so I try not to. If an item-specific coupon won't scan I send them to the desk (9 times out of 10 they're trying to use one that's expired or for the wrong item).

[Food Lady]

but if I clearly show them why the coupon won't work and they refuse to accept that, then I would call them sucky.... I almost feel like people say "I know it's not your fault but" like some people say "no offense." Like it's a free pass or something. Hopefully that make sense.

Oh, yeah, those people are irritating. I hate answering a question and being argued with. I got in trouble for being offended by that last week. Sometimes you just have to hand them off to a manager. I don't do that often enough.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

"I think that will fit!"

Yeah, okay. You bought a dining table and six chairs and left the truck at home, so I guess it has to be crammed into your car that looks suitable to have 12 clowns pile out of at the circus.

Oh, you were able to fit even bigger things in there, you say? All I have to do is take all the crap out of the back, put the seats down and take all the furniture out of the boxes? Just because you have all day to shit around with this doesn't mean I do. I'm shackled to a phone that could ring at any moment with a cashier having another carryout for me to do. And then when I don't answer the cashier will page the carryout over the PA, and nobody will respond. Then management will assume I'm ignoring my phone and the PA for no good reason and get angry.

If I'm around to see the end of this management regime, that carryout phone is going to have an unfortunate "accident." Just like the leg lamp in A Christmas Story.

[Lace Neil Singer]

We can override coupons if they scan but throw an error (a lot of Catalina coupons will cause the system to reject it but say "Family group valid" and then it's a matter of looking at the item and any restrictions on the coupon).

Ah yes, Catalina coupons. Those are annoying; they often print the barcode so that there's a coloured line in them, which means that the coupon won't scan. That I can fix; I can either enter the coupon manually or scan one the same that works. I just check the date and the type of coupon first.

However, if the coupon is out of date or the wrong kind (for example, the customer is trying to use a supermarket only coupon for fuel), then I refuse it and explain why. Nine times out of ten, the customer will accept what I'm saying. The ones who don't are the SCs who are generally the ones using the "I know it's not your fault but..." phrase. SCs also like to say "I pay your wages!" which might technically be true, but I've only ever heard it from the mouths of SCs. It's stupid too cuz if the person works in a sector that is paid by the government, then I pay their wages thru my taxes.

[veniteangeli]

Once when an elderly man tried the whole 'You look bored' shtick, I told him "I haven't been bored since 1976".

See what you should have done is said "I haven't been bored since nineteen dickety-two" and then launch into the full blown Grandpa Simpson story, not letting him get another thinks-he's-funny word in edgewise for the rest of the transaction.

"We had to say dickety because the Kaiser had stolen our word twenty. I chased that rascal to get it back, but gave up after dickety-six miles. What are you cackling at, fatty? Too much pie, that's your problem! Now, I'd like to digress from my prepared remarks to discuss how I invented the terlet..."

[Dreamstalker]

SCs also like to say "I pay your wages!" which might technically be true, but I've only ever heard it from the mouths of SCs.

I've heard that from Shithead a few times; his usual response to a customer saying "Thank you" is "Thank you for my paycheck" The first time I called him on it he said "We don't get paid if people don't shop." ...while technically true (payroll hours is based on sales) last I checked we don't work on commission so we do in fact get paid regardless.

Once when he said that a little kid said very loudly "You shouldn't say that! Say you're welcome! My mom doesn't pay you!" Front end goes dead silent for about five seconds, then laughter. Shithead thought we were laughing at what the kid said, but some shoppers knew better and proceeded to complain to the desk about what he was saying to 'connect with the customer'.