"Don't answer that!"

[Dave1982]

The Mobil station down the street from my store seems to be a hotbed of sightings lately.

It was fairly busy there today so they had both registers manned. Just as the customer in front of me is finishing up their transaction, the clerk's cell phone rang. The girl running register two immediately told Clerk 1 "Don't answer that!"

Clerk 1: But....

Clerk 2: DON'T answer that!!

Guess what he answered his cell anyway and started carrying on a conversation while he was ringing me out. He ended up saying not a word to me the entire time.

Clerk 2:

If I did that, I'd be written up at the very least. It's unprofessional and rude and taints the reputation of all retail employees.

[iradney]

WOW. Way to be rude man - and I"ll betcha 100 bucks that Clerk 1 is the first to complain if his customer is yakking on his yuppie earring when he's serving that customer.

[Jack]

My first thought? I found myself in Clerk 1's shoes and was extremely irritated that Clerk 2 hadn't even given me a chance to handle it properly before snapping at me as if I'm some sort of unruly child expected to misbehave at every turn. Where does Clerk 2 get off? Is Clerk 2 some kind of supervisor? Or just outgrown her britches? IMO everyone is out of line there. Clerk 1 needs to silence the phone and Clerk 2 needs to mind her own business.

[bainsidhe]

Except I get the feeling this isn't the first time Clerk 1 has answered the phone. And I mean during that same shift. At some point, I'd get pretty pissed too. There's a limit to my politeness.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

The clerk saying "don't answer that" has probably had to deal with fallout from the phone clerks unprofessional behavior and is sick of it. The phone answerer has probably been in trouble for this, or has a habit of being a pain in the butt with his phone.

The clerk doing the calling down probably WAS expecting less than stellar behavior.

[protege]

The clerk saying "don't answer that" has probably had to deal with fallout from the phone clerks unprofessional behavior and is sick of it.

That's exactly what I was going to say. I'm sure that Clerk 1 is constantly on the damn phone, and 2 has always been reamed out over it. I know I'd be a bit pissed if I was in line, and the clerk couldn't leave the damn phone alone. Hell, I might even tell management that I find it a bit rude. I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if 1 is *exactly* the type of person who would bitch up a storm if a *customer* was on the phone in line

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My first thought? I found myself in Clerk 1's shoes and was extremely irritated that Clerk 2 hadn't even given me a chance to handle it properly before snapping at me as if I'm some sort of unruly child expected to misbehave at every turn. Where does Clerk 2 get off? Is Clerk 2 some kind of supervisor? Or just outgrown her britches? IMO everyone is out of line there. Clerk 1 needs to silence the phone and Clerk 2 needs to mind her own business.

Or maybe...just maybe...Clerk 2 understood that if somebody complained about Clerk 1 being on the phone, or if a manager somehow found about Clerk 1's phone usage in his presence, then he would wind up in the shit along with Clerk 1. Or wind up in the shit instead of Clerk 1.

I myself have done the same thing. I make no apologies for doing it. Management expects me to be some kind of a "leader" in the backroom, and I have had to deal with the loss of productivity that happens when co-workers think it's more important to gab on the phone than do their job. Co-worker on the phone doesn't get bitched at for being on the phone unless a manager sees it, but I get bitched at if we don't accomplish everything we should.

So tell me again why I should just butt out and let co-workers flout the no-cell-phones-on-the-job policy.

[Whiskey]

I did something similar at work the other day. My coworker went to pull some food, i glanced over and went " DONT PULL IT EARLY. EARLY ISNT DONE"

Why? He always pulls food early. Its a health violation. He pulls CHICKEN early, for christs sake. AUGH.

[blas]

I agree with Irv. I'm not even a trainer anymore, but ever since I got seniority built up at work, I have always expected to be this model employee, and it's always mine and similar coworkers' faults when newbies or idiot coworkers fail.

So yes, there are times when babysitting or trying to save your own ass by making your coworker look like one are very appropriate.

[aelliflame]

Yeah I've dealt with workers like Clerk 1 before and in all honesty it's likely something that happens all the time and causes problems such as he would then proceed to wander off while there's still a huge line at his register without a word.

[Sandman]

I hate to play devils advocate.. but what if it was an emergency phone call? I know I have gotten those before on my cell phone at work. It was from a person I knew.. but they never called me at that time (knowing I was at work).

If clerk 1 told them not to answer an emergency phone call, then the work phone rang with clerk 1 thinking it was a personal phone call, then clerk 1 would have hell to deal with from everyone.

[Dave1982]

I could tell from the part of the call I overheard that it was NOT an emergency call. It was purely personal.

[Whiskey]

If Im expecting an emergency phone call, I tell everyone on my shift that I'm expecting such a thing. This kid has a record of answering his phone to the point where the other clerk immediately knew he was going to answer it. How many emergencies, that no one has been informed of, can you have?

[Sandman]

Not that many.. I do know when I was expecting an important phone call that could come at any time when I was in retail I had a co-worker with me whenever I was helping a customer, and just explained to the customer the situation without getting into the details.

[Jack]

Good point, all. I hadn't thought of it being an ongoing problem.