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A little late, but what the heck

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  • #1

    A little late, but what the heck

    I walked in for my shift today to find something new has been added ... an electronic system that lets each cashier notify waiting customers when they are free. Think Walmart or (for Canadians) Canadian Tire. The cashier pushes a button and the computer / monitor at the front of the line announces in that placid voice computers always have "Please proceed to cashier number [whatever]."

    The advantage, of course, is that now the cashiers actually have time to clean the damn belts before bringing in the next customer. When it was up to the person monitoring the line, it wasn't unusual for them to bring on a new customer before the cashier was finished with the first one ... and if there was some kind of hangup, that stressed out the current customer and exasperated the new one (although people were generally very good about it). I have to add that I'm not blaming the line-watchers ... they had to monitor 5-8 registers, so they didn't have time to contemplate life before sending a new customer up.

    The downside (and it's a small one) is that the number of the free cashier(s) only stays on the monitor for a second or two ... so if there's nobody there, when a customer DOES come up to the monitor, they won't know who's free. So if we go into a slump the cashiers will have to hit that button more than once.

    I was on register #1 today and the monitor is near #7, so often people would start walking my way, spot a closer cashier with no customers, and wheel into the register. I suggested putting an addition sound into the system ... that of a cashier sobbing because she can't get customers to come to her line.

    Somehow I don't think that's gonna fly.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Quoth Pixelated View Post
    ... that of a cashier sobbing because she can't get customers to come to her line...
    Mostly because whenever they try to record it, you break into giggles in the middle of the sobs.
    I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
    Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
    Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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    • #3
      Quoth Pixelated View Post
      The advantage, of course, is that now the cashiers actually have time to clean the damn belts before bringing in the next customer.
      The sad thing is that there are many places where the manglement would get mad if a line watcher/computer did NOT cause that to happen. Can't let cashiers get five seconds free to catch up and catch their breath, now can we?
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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      • #4
        This is one of the reasons I will not miss being on a register. On one hand we're supposed to clean the belts/scanner between each customer, on the other hand you have a CDH waving people to a register that's in the middle of being cleaned (or worse, before the poor cashier has even opened up).
        "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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        • #5
          Quoth dalesys View Post
          Mostly because whenever they try to record it, you break into giggles in the middle of the sobs.
          How well you know me ...

          Quoth EricKei View Post
          The sad thing is that there are many places where the manglement would get mad if a line watcher/computer did NOT cause that to happen. Can't let cashiers get five seconds free to catch up and catch their breath, now can we?
          How ironic that you should say that. Because at this point they still have someone monitoring the line (that is supposed to stop next week) and she was shovelling customers up to the registers -- in the name of "efficiency," or so she said -- without giving cashiers time to use that button. One cashier said she was going to have a word with said person today. I'm going to see if it continues and if it does, I will go right over her head with my complaint.

          Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
          This is one of the reasons I will not miss being on a register. On one hand we're supposed to clean the belts/scanner between each customer, on the other hand you have a CDH waving people to a register that's in the middle of being cleaned (or worse, before the poor cashier has even opened up).
          This same person says "Well, just tell them to wait." So instead of waiting in the main line for the first cashier who is actually ready for a new customer, it's better to make them wait in the cashier's line?

          Not to mention it does happen where the new customer comes up and starts to unload immediately. So the cashier is dealing with a customer who may have a question or problem or complaint, and now the new customer is waiting while the cashier deals with that.

          There's a lot of other potential problems but no point in listing them all. Suffice to say that I really hope somebody can rein this idiot in. I'm pretty sure we've complained about her before.
          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
          ~ Mr Hero

          Comment

          • #6
            So instead of waiting in the main line for the first cashier who is actually ready for a new customer, it's better to make them wait in the cashier's line?
            If the "line monitor" is judges based on how fast the PRE-register line moves, then...yeah. To them, anyway.
            "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
            "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
            "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
            "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
            "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
            "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
            Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
            "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

            Comment

            • #7
              Quoth EricKei View Post
              If the "line monitor" is judges based on how fast the PRE-register line moves, then...yeah. To them, anyway.
              That appears to be exactly what she's doing. And she seems incapable of understanding that it's probably quite frustrating for many of those customers to be sent to what they believe to be a "free" cashier ... only to find the cashier is still helping the previous customer and there's a delay for some reason.
              Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
              ~ Mr Hero

              Comment

              • #8
                They need to do a bit more training for the monitor people, then.
                "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                Comment

                • #9
                  Quoth EricKei View Post
                  They need to do a bit more training for the monitor people, then.
                  I think it's more a case of this person's personality than anything else. But in any case, the line monitors are supposed to be gone as of next week. Which will leave us with the fun of customers who don't notice the giant monitor that notifies them of the next free cashier, but that's a whole 'nother problem ...
                  Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                  ~ Mr Hero

                  Comment

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