Dang it! Was I an SC?

[Havering]

I try so hard not to be, but it's been a number of years since I worked retail, so I throw myself on the mercy of the cour....er....board. Was I an SC?

We have a house-rabbit. His Royal Bunness gets mixed greens in the evening and a few leaves of radicchio in the morning, along with a moderate-sized hunk of carrot. Thus, I buy a fair amount of radicchio during the week. Many of the checkers I meet, have no clue a) what radicchio is or b) what the code is for it. So I don't have to wait forever (when I'm not using self-check), I've memorized the code for radicchio. My usual MO is to wait until the checker gets to it, cheerfully give them the code ("It's 4738.") and we both move on with our days. Not yesterday.

I fully understand why the clerk was cranky. The woman ahead of me had a mix of 48 candy bars of several different sorts along with a cartload of other items and was a, "Ooooh! Wait! I think I have a coupon for that!"-type person. The scanner was being a pain in the neck and she had to scan the candy individually (after several tries). Fair enough. Bad day at Black Rock, yadda-yadda. She finally completes the transaction ahead of me and starts scanning my items. Up comes the dreaded radicchio. "That's 4738," I say cheerfully. Clerk stops scanning, looks at me, and saids, "Oh. You don't think I know my job." "No, no," I say, "I just run into a lot of people who don't know what the code is." "I think after doing this 47 years, I know what the hell I'm doing," she states.

There isn't much I can say to that, but, "I'm sure you do!" still with a smile. I wind up with one bag weighing in at about 40 pounds (with my bread at the bottom) and one weighing in at about 8.

Was I sucky? Should I not volunteer the code for something obscure? Should I make the clerk bumble through the book trying to find the damned stuff? Should I let clerks run it as "Purple cabbage"? (Not happening--that would be dishonest.)

[Shyla]

No, you were fine. She was snippy. And if you were an SC you would have heard the snippy and made a scene.

[Pixelated]

Nope, you were not an SC. I'm sorry her first customer was being a PITA but that doesn't justify her being bitchy with the next customer in line. If I were her manager and heard that, I'd be having a quiet word with her about her attitude.

[Slave to the Phone]

I agree, you were not a SC and even if she had memorized all of the codes for all of the produce they sold, she shouldn't have been so snippy. You were trying to be helpful, I wouldn't stop doing that. Not everyone has worked that job for 47 years and knows everything about everything.

[Sulhythal]

Nope, not at all. While I was behind the registers I admit I got mildly annoyed when people "Helpfully" chirped in with the name of common produce "Those are Roma Tomatoes!" with a big smirk. I would never say anything about it, and I was GLAD when people actually said the code for it instead of the name(because even if I hadn't known the name, I'd have had to look the code up in the book, because I certainly hadn't memorized them all!

I really can't imagine what was going on in her head to reply that way, must have been a truly epic bad day...or maybe one those weird ones you get that are always rude but never ever get in trouble for it, somehow.

[Kittish]

Even if you had been an SC (which it doesn't sound to me like you were), that vindictive bit where your bread wound up under lots of heavy stuff was uncalled for.

[Rosco the Iroc]

By the looks at how these bags are packed you need 47 more years.

*mike drop*

[Havering]

*hat tips to Rosco for a most excellent comeback*

Thank you! If I was doing something annoying, I wanted to know so I could knock it off.

Sulhythal, that would drive me nuts--"Roma tomatoes! Because you obviously wouldn't know what they are!" complete with smirk would drive me bonkers. I would never do that with something "normal" and only started with the number recital after having numerous poor clerks flipping through the Massive Book o' Codes--"Lettuce? Cabbage? Arrrgh!" and for my own convenience when I do self-checkout.

[drjonah]

When I used to cashier, I was always extremely grateful when a customer would help out by either giving the PLU number or saying specifically what it was. Would always save so much time because not every produce had a sticker on it and I've always been bad identifying not often purchased produce.

[purplecat41877]

"That's 4738," I say cheerfully.
"I think after doing this 47 years, I know what the hell I'm doing," she states.

I have coworkers who have worked for the grocery store for longer than me and they don't have as many produce codes memorized as I do. In fact, some of them ask me for the produce code on some of the items.

I even have some of the soda 12 pack UPCs memorized. I have also memorized the UPCs for the different brands of 24 pack bottled water.

[wordgirl]

Did she have some kind of tattoo on her forehead that said "I've worked here for 47 years?"

My general rule is, there are enough people in this world who are actively or passively trying to hurt/pester/annoy/harass me. Someone who is genuinely trying to be helpful, in a low-key way? Love that person, even if I already have the information they've just given me.

Even if they're acting a little condescending (which you were not) I can't really be bovvered to get upset.

[bainsidhe]

It's a shame she was so miserable/frustrated after 47 years. I find that life is a lot more pleasant if I don't automatically think every conversation is a critique or attack against me. I'd rather assume a customer was trying to be helpful by identifying produce, than they were trying to pick a fight. Over produce. I mean, really?

[Bumbershoot]

Nope, not at all. While I was behind the registers I admit I got mildly annoyed when people "Helpfully" chirped in with the name of common produce "Those are Roma Tomatoes!" with a big smirk. I would never say anything about it, and I was GLAD when people actually said the code for it instead of the name(because even if I hadn't known the name, I'd have had to look the code up in the book, because I certainly hadn't memorized them all!

I really can't imagine what was going on in her head to reply that way, must have been a truly epic bad day...or maybe one those weird ones you get that are always rude but never ever get in trouble for it, somehow.

I am not a cashier, but since I still have cashier numbers I end up working the register almost every day. (We lost many cashiers the day of high school graduation, and I don't think the Morlocks have hired anyone to replace them yet.) I don't like cashiering, especially since I have too much work to do anyway. The other day I was on the register and working a little faster than other cashiers. I tell a customer to have a nice day and greet the next. Somehow the next customer decided I was in a bad mood or something, because she ordered me to take a deep breath. I wasn't really in a bad mood until she decided to start counseling me right then and there.
I'm sure she thought she was being helpful, but it just seemed condescending.

I wish customers would tell what the produce was more often. I counted 14 varieties of apples available at the megamart. Peaches or nectarines? which kind of peach? Cilantro and Italian parsley look the same inside those bags.

[Sulhythal]

Yes, I admit, it IS helpful sometimes. Roma tomatoes are pretty distinct, and I was normally in grocery, not produce or cashier, but I was occasionally tapped to run a register. And I more dislike the smugness in their voice, like they were educating the lowly retail slave. If they sounded like they were honestly being helpful I explained that I needed the code, not the name of the product.

[Slave to the Phone]

A smirk is always uncalled for. Its like they are saying that retail plebs might not be exposed to the "better things in life" like Roma tomatoes.

We are just retail slaves/robots who live by eating vending machine food after hours and then sleeping on the floor in the mythical back room so we can be magically called to back to work when the lines are backed up, the restrooms need to be cleaned after their kids tried to flush a roll of toilet paper down the toilet or whenever the SC wants a personal shopper.

I am so glad that I rarely have to have face to face interaction with our customers now.