Sucky situation at work

[snugglegirl05]

This situation happened earlier this week at work.

A male customer came to my line with several reusable bags with the groceries he wanted to buy. He told me that he wanted the groceries evenly distributed *weight wise* in the bags after scanning them. He also told the courtesy clerk/bagger this. That particular courtesy clerk/bagger likes to pack all of the cold stuff together, the bread and other "squishy stuff" together and so on. After he paid for his groceries he noticed that the courtesy clerk/bagger did not bag his groceries the way he wanted them bagged. So he told her "you did not bag my groceries the way I wanted them. I told you to evenly distribute the weight in the bags, and you did not do that. So I want you to do that." That courtesy clerk told him how she bags groceries, but he did not want her to bag his groceries that way. So she took the groceries out of his bags and started over. He saw something he meant to not buy in one of his bags, and told me this. So I told him he would have to go to Customer Service to get a refund since he already paid for his groceries. He just stood there looking at me. Meanwhile a line started forming behind him. He then asked me if he could just do an exchange. I said yes, just go get what you want.

The customer behind him was getting irritated to the point that she told me that she was in a hurry. The male customer had not left to get what he wanted to exchange, and so I looked at her and then looked at him so she would get the point that he was the cause of the backup. She then motioned with her hands to get him to move along. He finally left to get what he wanted to exchange.

He came back to me while I was scanning the irritated customer's groceries. I had to tell him that he had to go to Customer Service to complete the exchange.

[Pixelated]

Well, it's OBVIOUSLY all the fault of whatever it was that he didn't want which snuck into the bag when he wasn't looking!

[Slave to the Phone]

One can only wonder how the bagger redid the bags. If it was me, there would have been frozen items with hot items, cans with eggs and bread and bottles, meat with the soap. Of course, that's just what I would have done, I'm sure the bagger wouldn't have done that.

I'd rather have your bagger bag my groceries than the idiot SC.

[Pixelated]

I can understand the weight issue but ... it apparently has not occurred to the SC that you can adjust the number of bags per hand to get a nice balance ...

... or invest in some sort of 'buggy' to haul your loot home.

[snugglegirl05]

I can understand the weight issue but ... it apparently has not occurred to the SC that you can adjust the number of bags per hand to get a nice balance ...

... or invest in some sort of 'buggy' to haul your loot home.

He had a 'buggy' with him.

[dalesys]

He had a 'buggy' with him.

As well as the one between his ears...

[bainsidhe]

LOL, I once had a customer tell me to "pack it heavy" with one of the reusable bags. He didn't appreciate that I filled one of them half (only HALF!) full of canned items, because the bag was too heavy for him. So I ended up packing everything like normal, which was cold with cold, similarly shaped items together, etc.

Strangely, it was quite rare for someone to tell me to rebag everything a certain way. It was more common for them to start rearranging and rebagging things themselves. I didn't have a problem with this, because these folks were usually polite and didn't get upset.

[workerbee222]

This is what I read:

Customer told the bagger how he wanted the items bagged. Bagger decides to *ignore the customer's request* and bag them the way she likes her own groceries bagged. Frankly, she screwed up. Then, she decides to add to the error, and JADE. (Justify, argue, defend, or explain) JADE-ing is hardly ever a good idea.

And then look what happened: while she re-bagged he saw something in the bag he didn't want (or more likely, changed his mind because he was irritated). And everybody behind him was held up because he decided to go off and exchange the item, and he STILL had to go to the Customer Service Desk.

This whole sequence of events could have been avoided if she had just. done. as. he. asked. Simple. He'd had gone on his way happy, and wouldn't have held up the line. He wouldn't have known about the unwanted item until he got home.

Sometimes, in some situations, doing what the customer requests is not a good idea. In this case, it would have save everyone some time, and avoided an awkward situation.

[eltf177]

Customer could have done his own bagging if they're that particular.

And what if something got damaged while doing it his way? I guarantee a huge meltdown and temper tantrum...

[April]

This is what I read:


This whole sequence of events could have been avoided if she had just. done. as. he. asked. Simple. He'd had gone on his way happy, and wouldn't have held up the line. He wouldn't have known about the unwanted item until he got home.

Sometimes, in some situations, doing what the customer requests is not a good idea. In this case, it would have save everyone some time, and avoided an awkward situation.

I partially agree with you, partially not. Squishable items tend to be light. Bread, etc. You bag those equal weight with the other bags and you are going to have squished squishables. And then the SC will have a fit.

Cleaning supplies tend to be heavy and bagged separately for safety reasons. If you're buying a lot of cleaning supplies, most people don't want those distributed through out the rest of the bags with the food. Something leaks once, and depending on what food items you have, it's ruined. It doesn't happen very often, but I've had bleach spray leak, shampoo leak, etc.

Most people don't want canned goods mixed with their fruit because it bruises them.

So if the bagger had done what he wanted he might have left happy, but how much you bet he would have come back later having a tantrum over his squished bread?

[vikingchyk]

Customer could have done his own bagging if they're that particular.

I like my stuff bagged a certain way, but not enough to use the self-checkout, and do it myself. Grocery shopping is too tiring for me, so I'm passing the work off where I can, when I can. So I keep my mouth shut, and thank the bagger for doing it for me.

Then swear about them when I get home to find out what bone-headed bag job they did.
(my local grocery store mostly employs developmentally challenged people as baggers, and they need better training )

[Lovecats]

At the Bullseye we were taught a certain way to bag. Chemicals, canned, cold (& frozen), produce, and bread as far as groceries were concerned.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Chances are the way the bagger bags groceries is the way she was trained to bag them, and it works for 99.9% of customers.

If that guy's going to be so picky about the way his groceries are bagged, he can bag them himself.

[Sulhythal]

At the Bullseye we were taught a certain way to bag. Chemicals, canned, cold (& frozen), produce, and bread as far as groceries were concerned.

Wow, they taught that? When I worked there, I had no lessons on how to bag, I had to pick it up via this seldom used method of "Common sense and logical thinking"

Two things that the management (TL's and ETL's) of the Bullseye never seemed to possess

[Sparklyturtle]

I was a commissary checker, and the baggers were trained on what went with what and how to pack bags. There were a few customers who preferred to bag their own, and one charmer who said he bagged his own because he didn't want to have to tip the baggers, as they were only paid by tips. From what I heard this individual would insist on being paid back the dime he loaned someone to make a phone call.