Do NOT look at my screen!

[WorkAtBBuy]

Nothing annoys me more than customers who feel the need to look at my screen. Although we have a policy of customers not being able to see them, unfortunately my store doesn't have the registers set up so that the screen isn't facing the customers. So it's VERY easy for a customer to just roll up at your register and shove their faces into your screen. I do the best I can (turning the monitor towards the wall, etc.), but there's no way to maintain 100% privacy. It becomes an issue when I'm issuing or looking up account info for Reward Zones or our credit cards. But customers just feel the need to be Looky Lou's!

Scenario 1:

Me: Do you have a Reward Zone card, sir?
Him: Oh yes, I do. But I don't have it with me...
Me: I can look it up for you if you'd like, sir.
Him: That'd be great. *leans over the counter*
Me: What's the phone number?
Him: *leaning even further* 555-55--....*watching me the entire time*

AGH! BACK OFF! I can manage to type by myself thank you!

or

Scenario 2:

(typically happens in group situations. One person will stand a respectable distace across the counter and one or more will stand almost exactly next to me, usually a combo package that won't ring up UNTIL I get to the total screen)

Me: (internally: *sigh*) How are you all today?
Them: Oh we're fine.
One person (usually female): *stands RIGHT DIRECTLY BEHIND ME, watching the screen* You didn't ring that up right!
Meinternally: *sigh*) (repeats for the 1,000,000,000th time): I won't get the combo price up here until I total it up.
Them: Oh...ok. *watching me like a hawk*
Me: *wanting to stab them in the face*

Variant on Scenario 1:

Me: *after looking up the info* I'm sorry sir/ma'me. I don't see your name under this phone number.
Him/Her: *leaning over the counter and peering into the screen*

I CAN READ, DAMMIT!

[earl colby pottinger]

In their defence

Nothing annoys me more than customers who feel the need to look at my screen.

The main reason I want to look at the screen is to see if the info on it it right.

NOT YOUR TYPING!

I am talking about the company's data base. The number of mistakes I have found over the years is horrible. But worse a lot of it is caused by bad data base design.

My name Earl Colby Pottinger
My dad's name Earl Culbert Pottinger

Our address, the same. Our phone numbers were the same till I got my own installed.

Result, when the age or SIN is not double checked and the stupid database only supports a single letter for the middle name or even worse will not allow you to add JR. to your last name, data gets keyed to the wrong person.

[WorkAtBBuy]

I might have failed to mention that customers have the chance to confirm the info AFTER I look it up on the signature pad across the counter. So there's really no need for them to look at my screen.

[TiNAMARBLEx3]

I kinda know how you feel. When I'm making coffee, I hate when their trying really hard to look at how I'm making the coffee. It just makes me nervous!

[rerant]

Try saying, "I'm sorry but I can't have you looking at the screen while I'm ringing things through. I have a lot of customer's information on here and I'm sure you wouldn't want someone seeing any of yours."

[EclipseDragon986]

I know what you mean by the screen, ours don't turn either. So when I look up a customers information and see them start to look over, I turn my screen off and have them recite their address for me before turning it back on and checking to see if it's correct. Then I give it to them to confirm.

Usually I warn people about the package prices before I ever start ringing it up, so I haven't gotten scenario B yet.

[theredbaron47]

It was that way at the hardware store, too. The big CRT monitors could barely be turned out of sight of the customers, so as I'd be ringing an order through, their eyes would be GLUED to the monitor.



It's the same feeling I get whenever someone is breathing down my neck when I'm doing something. Back the hell off, you're making me nervous!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I once had a guy (well, more than once, but it was the same guy) who insisted that it was illegal that we didn't have screens that the customer could see their transaction being rung up (or at least the total, I forget)...

Um, no...

I actually would have liked it if the total was displayed where the customer could see it...it would have saved me having to repeat it a million times while they write their check or dig out their cash one bill/coin at a time (and when we got the pinpads I got in the habit of always hitting the credit key so it would show their total)...but having them see the whole transaction would have been a pain in the ass if we made any mistake whatsoever...if we delete an item, it still stays on the screen, and it adds another line with a minus in front of the quantity and price, and I can just imagine the reactions we'd get to that! Plus there's the whole issue of privacy when we look up member cards, which pulls up phone numbers, addresses, and email.

[Rahmota]

Actually I look at the screen as a form of error checking as well. It is my data and my transaction going on there and while I may trust your typing or your ability to read I feel more comfortable watching to make sure that the bar code scanner gets what the shelf or tag says, that the data is in the computer for me right on any warrenty or other databases its linked to. And while I may not call it illegal and get hissy about it I do find it rude when a cashier gets bent about hiding my transaction info from me. Makes me suspicious of their behavior.

One of the things I like about the autozone is they have the screens turned around so you can see everything that goes on there and it does help reduce the amount of mistakes, miscommunications.

[B&NGoddess]

i dont know, i find it incredibly rude when someone is looking over my shoulder/screen. i consider myself fairly competent, and smart enough to know when shit aint right. you do not need to hover. under any circumstances. if you were meant to look at that screen, it would be turned around so you could see it. but its not, so you shouldn't.

and i dont think its a matter of typing skills (or lack thereof) or the computer misreading a barcode, its simply a lack of trust. if you have that little faith in my capabilities or the computers' for that matter, perhaps you need to go elsewhere.

[Rahmota]

Well I dunno what to tell you. I dont hover but I do try to position myself so I can see the screen. If theres nothign to hide then why get bent? And after all if its my data on the screen then there should be no problem about me seeing it unless the company has something to hide.


And besides which I have caught mistakes that the person has made before by watching over their shoulder. Honest to goodness mistakes that would have cost me a buttload of money. Computers are only as good as the data they get and as long as there is a human in the chain somewhere thigns are gointo go SNAFU at some point. Its in my best interest and the best interest of customers everywhere to watch their data and make sure of whats going on.

[WorkAtBBuy]

The thing is, it's not just YOUR information on the screen. It could be someone ELSE'S. Would you want your information displayed out in the open like that? I know I wouldn't! It's not that anyone's trying to hide anything, it's the simple fact that I'm trying to protect people's privacy. If the name Bob Jones pops up at 123 Johnny Randomguy St, Anywhere, USA 11111 and you look at my screen and say "Oh, yea. That's me!" how do I know that? It's not as if I'm allowed to check ID for Reward Zones look ups, for example. Let the cashier send the information to you on the signature pad or ask you to verify it. You don't have to look at the monitor for that. It's so annoying when I get the last name of the person and they're already practically hopping over the counter to verify it and then have to verify it AGAIN on the signature pad. If they could have waited 10 seconds, that would NOT have been necessary. And most of the "mistakes" that customers point out to me aren't mistakes at all (not saying I never make any, but that they don't know how to do my job and shouldn't tell me how). "That's supposed to be free!" "I know that. It won't ring up that way until I do the total." "Oh" or "I'm supposed to get a $5 gift card!" "That won't come up until I do the total." "Oh". All kinds of uncessary explanations when if the customer would STAY ON HIS/HER SIDE OF THE COUNTER I wouldn't have to make.

[slick]

Our monitors at the hotel are recessed into the countertops, so basically, there is an opening in the counter with a sheet of glass covering it and the monitor is mounted beneath the counter.
What bugs me is when I am checking someone in, and I am asking for information (Name, Address, phone number, etc.). Instead of just giving it me, they lean over the counter to try and get a glimpse of my monitor. Then they seek out info, like maybe which field I am entering the info into (its not easy to read a computer monitor upside down). So if I ask "May I have your phone number please?" and getting "555-1234" as an answer, I get, "Uhh....5...*stares at screen to see where I entered it*...5....5....1....2....3....4". What the hell do they get out of doing this?

I am going to install flat panel LCD's for the computer, and I am going to make "shields" that go around the monitor, so the only way to see anything is to be standing on our side of the counter, not the "customer" side.

[mattm04]

In my store (grocery) we use the keyboard with the little tiny screen for the cashier and a larger CRT (LCD in new stores) monitor for them to see. it is not the best system, but it works. The keyboard is on a stand directly in front of the cashier (with the scale) directly below and any customers in the lanes behind the cashier will just see their back. Still some customers try to look over the stand and see what the cashier is doing. I have had this happen to me and told them to watch the screen. Their is NOTHING that they need to see. If they watch at the right time they could see cashier sign-on ID's and passkeys. The big 17" monitor is for you to see the item and the price it rings up at. Old people can be the worst, one actually tried to lift the keyboard up to see what the cashier was doing. sadly the cord only had a inch or two of slack in it which caused the plug to come loose from the CPU. The old lady was not to happy to have to wait while the head cashier created a new ID for the cashier, (since he couldn't sign off on the broken register) and unbagged her order, rescanned at another register. We could have just had one of the baggers who was trained as a cashier(and had their own ID) scan her order again, but we decided that she was begin so rude this would be more fun.