And I'm the stupid one?

[BlaqueKatt]

I actually switched to camels after my inability to pronounce "Marlboro" properly confused a clerk. -_-

However it was more to avoid personal embarrassment, of the clerks requiring me to repeat myself

[smileyeagle1021]

And then there's the ... oh, I don't know ..... 4 - 5 people a week (usually men, just sayin!) who saunter up to the counter and say "MARLBORO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I don't get that with Marlboro... but I get it all the time on Copenhagen... "I'll have a can of Copenhagen"
which is when I just turn to the wall with 20 different Copenhagens and stare silently until they finally add "oh, yeah, snus"

[sms001]

but wouldn't the correct collective noun for Camels be "herd"

Or "caravan."

[NorthernZel]

I don't get that with Marlboro... but I get it all the time on Copenhagen... "I'll have a can of Copenhagen"
which is when I just turn to the wall with 20 different Copenhagens and stare silently until they finally add "oh, yeah, snus"

Huh... so snus is called "Copenhagen"? 'Cuz here in Copenhagen, all snus is from Sweden

Anyway, over here the nicknames got adapted by the tobacco companies so most brands go from the same scheme: red = full, gold = light, silver = ultra light, green = menthol. (And then there are some variants of "yellow" and "blue" brands, but I don't smoke them so I don't know the difference)

[Trixie]

I'm not a smoker but I'm good with all the kinds we sell. Mostly, there are some brands that people ask for I just want to ask "Are you sure?" or "We have that?" We still get a good amount of people who still ask for lights or ultra lights though.

What my store has done and it just annoys me is on the shelf strips they have a letter and number that I'm sure someone though would make it easier to find them faster like A21. Maybe for other people but not me. Just tell me the kind you want and I'll figure it out. The first time someone did that I wanted to yell "You sank my Battleship!" I have a coworker that does the letter thing and it confuses me. I know what she smokes so she could just say gimme a pack of cigarettes and I'll be good.

[Kaylyn]

And don't forget the 1-2 people per week who walk up and only say 'I want a pack of cigarettes'

That just makes me think of Clerks where that's literally all the customers asked for throughout the movie because the director didn't want to get in trouble using brand names. Every single time Dante would just reach up and grab a random pack of cigarettes, and if I remember correctly he never handed out change either. It's been a while though.

[CarcinogenCrunchies]

It usually doesn't take all that long to figure out, as a cashier, which cigarettes are which strength. I always ask for lights because I'm just used to it, and I generally get what I want. If there is any confusion, it's not a problem for me to use the new name. Any customer who refuses to say the word "blue" if you ask them the color is more of an asshole than a moron, in my opinion.

My favorite cigarette customers are the ones who want, say, Marlboro Special Blend Red 100s, and you have to guide them through the entire freaking process.

SC: I want a pack of Marlboros.
ME: Red short?
SC: Yes. Wait, no, 100s.
ME: Okay, red 100s?
SC: Yeah. No, I want the other red ones. The special ones.
ME: That's an important distinction.

[BrenDAnn]

There is some small glimmer of hope. I had a customer tonight that not only knew the color/strength descriptions, but was impressed that I knew them as well. She asked for Marlboro Menthol Lights. I grabbed said cigarettes. She said she was impressed because most people have to ask which color. Most people, I'm afraid, haven't been around long enough to know the difference. The unfortunate thing is SCs like in the OP happen because of it.

[wolfie]

That just makes me think of Clerks where that's literally all the customers asked for throughout the movie because the director didn't want to get in trouble using brand names.

Couldn't he have used some made-up names? After all, parody is considered fair use. Suitable examples would be:

- Dromedaries (Camels)
- Cowboys (Marlboro - remember the "Marlboro Man")
- Maryland Anorexics (Virginia Slims)
- Mother Lode (Lucky Strike)

[Kaylyn]

Couldn't he have used some made-up names? After all, parody is considered fair use.

It was his very first movie, literally filmed in the convenience store he worked at after hours, and he wasn't as familiar with trademarks and fair use as he is now.

[mandersdawn]

A little background for the non smokers (of which, I am one), it has been illegal to market cigarettes as "light" or any variation thereof for at least two years now.
Every day I get people, "I'll have a marboral menthol ultralight"
When I ask which box that is I always get the response "what, are you stupid, it's the same box it's been in for years."

You know, I was a cashier at the big blue store when that changeover happened. I wasn't a smoker at the time and had literally just learned the names of most of the major brands when this happened and I was so irritated because I was supposed to learn the new names. (Here they're like 'Marlboro Gold' instead of lights now). Ended up everybody just kept calling them the old names and I'd say, "Oh the golds?" and point to the pack and they'd just agree. But the next time they still called it the same thing. Of course, I left a few months after that and never bothered to learn most of the names but people still do that? Really? It's been two years, learn the new names already.

[Teskeria]

My Dad was always my favorite smoker. He always stood downwind of non-smokers (anyone not currently smoking), carried an empty altoids tin that he used as an ashtray and for butts outside. And when my kids were babies, went outside every time he wanted to smoke out of consideration for their young lungs. Because of him, I don't think every smoker is a jerk, just 80%.
And just the scent of cigarette smoke (and Marijuana also) makes me sick. from just nauseated to full flown vomiting.

[Cooper]

My Dad was always my favorite smoker. He always stood downwind of non-smokers (anyone not currently smoking), carried an empty altoids tin that he used as an ashtray and for butts outside.

I appreciate smokers like this. My whole family smokes and none of them seem to believe me when I tell them it gives me massive headaches. Then they get offended when I don't want to spend time with them in cramped quarters, since they smoke at half-hour intervals.