OK so I'm settling into my new job as cashier at an upscale grocery store. I'm not exactly new to retail/customer service (job #9 in this department) but something I've really been noticing lately is how ridiculously impatient [some] people can be. You're in a hurry? Fine. You're late? Happens to everyone. But even during these instances when the clock is running, a painful but unavoidable fact of life presents itself: sometimes, you just have to slow down--maybe even stop--and wait. I guess people just get frustrated and aren't sure what to do with their frantic energy so they behave irrationally. Example:
Yesterday at work a lady was buying some groceries. She paid with a card (credit or debit, doesn't matter.) Unfortunately, as we all know, cards do not work instantaneously; sometimes you have to wait maybe 3 to 10 seconds. Approximately three fifths of a second after swiping her card, she swipes it again...and again..and again. I was too distracted bagging her stuff to notice what can only be described as a card-related panic attack. Somewhere around the 6th swipe I asked her to hold on a moment because the machine was locked up, which had never happened before. An experienced co-worker came in and immediately understood that the customer had actually crashed the system through her incessant swiping, which required a re-boot that took 3 minutes during which time my co-worker accepted a check from the woman who ran out the door long before the system came back on line. Apparently this customer had done this before as my co-worker informed me, and at least it was a learning experience to be a little more assertive with people in telling them to just hold on for 5 seconds if they can manage it. I've noticed other people doing the same thing, though not quite to the same extent thank God.
I sort of see this as akin to tailgating in traffic because you're late. I'm late as often as the next man, but I realized a long time ago that following dangerously close to the car in front of me accomplishes absolutely nothing time-wise. Given the lack of alternatives, it seems to make the most sense to try and relax and just follow at a discreet distance.
Yesterday at work a lady was buying some groceries. She paid with a card (credit or debit, doesn't matter.) Unfortunately, as we all know, cards do not work instantaneously; sometimes you have to wait maybe 3 to 10 seconds. Approximately three fifths of a second after swiping her card, she swipes it again...and again..and again. I was too distracted bagging her stuff to notice what can only be described as a card-related panic attack. Somewhere around the 6th swipe I asked her to hold on a moment because the machine was locked up, which had never happened before. An experienced co-worker came in and immediately understood that the customer had actually crashed the system through her incessant swiping, which required a re-boot that took 3 minutes during which time my co-worker accepted a check from the woman who ran out the door long before the system came back on line. Apparently this customer had done this before as my co-worker informed me, and at least it was a learning experience to be a little more assertive with people in telling them to just hold on for 5 seconds if they can manage it. I've noticed other people doing the same thing, though not quite to the same extent thank God.
I sort of see this as akin to tailgating in traffic because you're late. I'm late as often as the next man, but I realized a long time ago that following dangerously close to the car in front of me accomplishes absolutely nothing time-wise. Given the lack of alternatives, it seems to make the most sense to try and relax and just follow at a discreet distance.
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