Just a Few

[Gaki]

I have a guy who comes in every so often and he is just the epitome of what annoys me. He will buy a scratch ticket and then stand there at my register and scratch it and expect me to continuously give him tickets, stand there patiently, redeem it, and then sell him another one.

No.

Doesn't happen that way, buddy. Last time he tried to do that I had a line eight people deep and I took the girl behind him AROUND him. She did it too which I commend because a lot of people feel awkward doing it and when he tried to get me to redeem his ticket I told him that he'd have to get back in line.


Our coffee lids are apparently hard to find. How do I know?

SC: Well I CAN'T find your COFFEE LIDS.
Me: They come out of a pull tab mechanism. There's two by the coffee and then one on either side of the coffee island over there. You just pull where it says "Pull"
SC: ...eeeeeeeeeeeeeerm??
Me: *just goes and gets them a lid*
SC: ...oh.


Sometimes it's almost just comical the amount of this I get:

"Bathroom?"
"Where's the bathroom?"
"Do you have a bathroom?"
"Hey, Bathrooms?"
"Women's room?"
"Restrooms?"
"Men's room?"

It's almost like a chorus or something sometimes. And the worst part is that my store is a SQUARE. That means they couldn't find a DOOR on the side of a SQUARE that only has two available sides for having bathrooms. Hint: It's not the doors that have keypads on them.

[Draper Mel]

I find that convenience stores/gas stations that have public bathrooms usually have a sign of some sort. I try to look for signs before I ask someone.

[BrenDAnn]

Gaki! My fellow convenience store minion! As always, oh, lord, do I feel your pain!

1) *tiwtches* I. Hate. This. Thank whatever deities exist that most of my customers take their damn tickets with them!

2) You expect customers to actually look and see what's right in front of them? Better, you expect them to be able to follow simple instructions? Oh, you're funny. So very funny. Our lids, straws, cups, everything are in a metal holder on a center table RIGHT BY THE COFFEE AND FOUNTAIN POP. Do people see them? No. They do not. *sigh* Also, coffee stirrer is not a straw. Yes, people make that mistake at my store. A lot.

3) It is so tempting to, just once, tell someone that no we don't have a restroom. Really. I find myself biting my tongue sometimes to force myself not to reply with "No, we squat and pee behind the building" or some such. Of course, some wise one would believe me, and actually go and squat behind the building, and then we'd both be in trouble. There's just no winning, is there?

[KatherineB]

Also, coffee stirrer is not a straw. Yes, people make that mistake at my store. A lot.

Then (serious question, and one I've wondered a lot) why are they hollow? Spoons are not hollow. Icecream sticks are not hollow. So why are those irritating little stirrers hollow when surely that would make them more expensive, as well as prompting people (myself included) to suck hot beverages through them.

[BrenDAnn]

Good question. They CAN be used as straws, yes, no denying that. Thing is, we have bigger straws...straws that you can actually drink, say, a 32 or 44 ounce drink with. That's all I really meant. People will grab a large drink, and think that one of those tiny stirrer straws is going to work for it. Um...No. XD I am kind enough to hand them a regular straw, though.

[bainsidhe]

I'll admit, I always have a hard time finding coffee lids. Regular soda lids, no problem, but coffee lids are always a mystery.

[TheSHAD0W]

Then (serious question, and one I've wondered a lot) why are they hollow?

It makes them less expensive, actually. Less expensive than solid plastic, and more sturdy than a flat strip. They're made in a continuous tube and cut as it's formed.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I was glad when the Virginia State Lottery scratch-ticket dispenser at the wholesale club was replaced with a snazzy new one that not only dispensed scratch tickets, but could also be used to purchase regular lottery tickets (Va. State as well as Mega Millions and Powerball).

This is because they moved the lotto machine (the one where people could buy their tickets) from the customer service desk to the express register. I had to deal with a few people who tried to skip the line by cutting straight up and asking me to check their tickets, or to buy their tickets. I very quickly told them to get in line.

Of course, I got plenty of people who still wanted us wage slaves to check their tickets for them once the new dispenser was installed, but usually they were the ones who'd already checked them to determine they were winners.

[Jester]

The bathroom people are hilarious. As someone who's worked in restaurant for well over two decades, I can usually just look at the expression on people's faces and point to the bathroom. They are usually surprised that I "read their mind" so easily, but as I tell many of them, "At this point, I know The Look."

But then there's the people who ask. The typical questions are the following:

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" No. No, I don't.

"Can you tell me where the bathroom is?" Yes, I can. But I won't.

"Do you have a bathroom?" No. We are a restaurant and bar, but we have no bathrooms.

Yes, I know what they all MEAN. But the smartass in me just wants to answer them with what I'm thinking. Sometimes, I actually do. Sometimes.

All of the above is so common that I got thrown for a loop the other day when I guy walked purposefully up to the bar and asked, "Where are your bathrooms?"

I just pointed. After all, there was nothing in his question I could legitimately be a smartass about, at least not under the Unified Geneva Codes and Standards of Smartassery. Since his question was direct, intelligent, and didn't insult anyone's intelligence, least of all his own.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I will point out right now that I am a horrible, terrible, person.

I work for a Company that utilizes Red Shirts. The grocer closest to me does the same. I've had more than one person ask me, while wearing a COAT over my red shirt and in the grocer's, where MY bathroom is.

Customer: Where's your bathroom?
RW: *Looking through the various freezer foods looking for something to eat and not paying any attention* In the RV.
Customer: You don't have a bathroom?
RW: *Still not looking up* Sure I do, it's in my RV. Where ELSE, logically, would it be?
Customer: For customers.
RW: I'm not a traveling hooke- *looks up at a lady with a kid* Uhm, I'm shopping, I don't work here, but if you ask that guy there *points to store manager wearing blue* He should be able to tell you where to go.

[PepperElf]

SC: Well I CAN'T find your COFFEE LIDS.
Me: They come out of a pull tab mechanism. There's two by the coffee and then one on either side of the coffee island over there. You just pull where it says "Pull"

We had a new gas station open up here that has those. I LOVE it! I can grab a lid and not get my fingers all over every other lid in the stack.

[dalesys]

... I don't work here, but if you ask that guy there *points to store manager wearing blue* He should be able to tell you where to go.

And a much better place than I am about to tell you to go...

[RetailWorkhorse]

And a much better place than I am about to tell you to go...

Oh, don'cha worry, I thought it. But, who seriously expects someone all wrapped up in winter-gear, reading the back of a microwave-meal, to be working?