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  • Failure to communicate

    Yesterday I was working 12-4, or so I thought.

    At 3:59, I asked the last customer in my lane if they could please put the Closed sign on the platform at the end of the belt. He does so (after asking and being reassured that he was already in line so I would ring him up). At that point there is nobody else in line and my light is off. After that order is finished I sign off and go to clock out...

    ...SM asks me "Did you see that guy?"
    Me: "Which guy?"
    SM: "The one that just left."
    Me: (thinking he's referring to the last customer I rang up) "Yeah..."
    SM: "He almost walked out, he's very offended that you closed your lane down."



    I would rather stay a few minutes late rather than bail on a legit waiting customer and SM knows this. I now realize what happened and that SC must have plopped himself in line after I had made it clear that I was closed*, then tried to spin a tale of woe.

    SM: "Just act apologetic and open up again, I know what happened but this guy does this a lot. [NB: So you're letting him think he gets his way?] Were you going on break?"
    Me: "I'm leaving, I clock out at 4."
    SM: "I need you till 6:30."
    Me: "Okay I can do that, but given that I was here at noon without a break I'm taking one at 5."
    SM: "Deal."

    Earlier, A had asked me when I was scheduled until and SM was talking with her. I think SM had told her he wanted me later, but A never told me (that's on her head, not mine as I had to reason then to suspect he wanted me to stay late).

    * It can be hard to see the signs, but you don't have to actually get in line to notice them. I've seen that some stores have bars/ropes to physically block off the lane when a cashier closes, and think we could use that system...good luck actually getting it implemented though
    Last edited by Dreamstalker; 03-25-2012, 03:44 PM.
    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

  • #2
    The sign doesn't matter. Light off=lane closed, a system that's been in use probably 50 years. There's no excuse for refusing to see it. I call it willful ignorance.
    "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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    • #3
      Which seems par for the course with this cuss-tomer base. I think the only thing that would deter them is having a cattle fence activate in front of a closed register.

      If I had put the sign up when there were still customers in line (which someone did today), the SC might have had a case, but that didn't happen. Although I have seen closed lanes where the cashier forgot to shut the light off, so maybe that leads the SCs to think that no registers are ever really closed (I used to sneak in and shut the lights off, but no more as there were assumptions that a person meant the line was OPUHN and nothing was going to keep them from it).
      "I am quite confident that I do exist."
      "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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      • #4
        Quoth Food Lady View Post
        The sign doesn't matter. Light off=lane closed, a system that's been in use probably 50 years. There's no excuse for refusing to see it. I call it willful ignorance.

        You could put out a sign that was 3 miles long & 3 miles wide & SC's wouldn't bother to read it cause they just don't care if you're going on break, lunch or going home for the day. It's not willfull ignorance, it's plain disregard to the employees.

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        • #5
          Agreed completely, light off=lane closed, and given how hard the sign is to see unless it's placed just so it shouldn't matter as much as the light. Of course, if the lightbulbs and poles were all working properly <_< there shouldn't be any confusion.

          My electric-fence idea may even encourage some of them
          "I am quite confident that I do exist."
          "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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          • #6
            We had one supervisor who would stand in front of the lane that was closed so the cashier could leave, go on break, or whatever and he would have some customer try to duck under his outstretched arms.
            "They gave me a badge with my name on it. In case I forget who I am." Dr Who - Closing Time

            "I reject your reality and substitute my own." Adam Savage-Mythbusters

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