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  • I was afraid to post this anywhere else.......

    Hello...

    As a brand new user, I thought my first post should be confined to the Orientation - New Members subforum (regardless of the content of my post) so as to not interfere with the rest of the forum...

    I've been reading customerssuck.com for over a year, but have never registered, because I am... well.. I'm a customer. Although I've worked in positions that place customers precariously close to me at times, I don't and have never worked in retail.

    However, reading this forum has made me aware of many SCish things that I used to do before reading your posts, and has made me question a few other potential SCish things that I still do. Let me get to the point: I kind of need your help. I want to be that customer who makes the retail worker wonder why nothing went wrong. When every third customer seems to be a precarious minefield of tomfoolery, I want to be the guy with valid coupons who declared them too late -- AND the guy with invalid coupons who declared them too early -- all rolled into one unlikely, bewilderingly polite supercustomer.

    Okay, that sounds a little ridiculous, so I'll just skip to the burning questions I've wanted to ask retail workers since I started reading here...

    (#01) - "The Change Toss..."
    I'll admit, as a customer, I am offended when the retail worker refuses to hand me my change, instead, placing it in a random pile of bills and coins on the counter. However, as a customer (and a poor one at that) I will often calculate exactly what I owe before I ever enter the cashier lane. I will have the amount ready, and politely (and slowly) place exact change on the counter.
    Question: Is this rude? I find it rude when a cashier places my change on the counter without placing it in my hand. But there's a difference. I presume a cashier already knows how much change I'm owed. If I hand a pile of coins to a cashier, they must count it anyway, to ensure it's the proper amount, right? So... is politely placing exact change on the counter O.K.?

    (#02) - "Tipping Trepidation..."
    This question is specifically addressed to those who may work for the home of the grand slam breakfast. I'm not naming names. Suffice to say, the moon's over my hammy! It's a full service diner. Anyway, I want to know how tips work (this may end up applying to all full service diners). I ordered a meal that came to $25. I tipped $5 (20%) but.... I did it at the cashier's station. I paid cash, and the tip, at the cashier's station, but I did not leave any tips/cash on the table itself. What I really want to know is.... will she be aware that I (individually, as a table) tipped her? Ominously, will she be aware at all? Money can vanish. All I told the cashier was "My total is $25, can you keep the rest for the waitress?" and he said "Okay." But..... what is the process whereby that tip eventually reaches the waitress? Does she see the receipts from all the tables in her section at the end of the day? Could my tip have vanished into cashier oblivion? That would hurt me immensely.

    (#03) - "Pillaged Plate Placement"
    As an SC at a diner (and a member of a party) I used to create huge mounds of "cleaned" plates, ostensibly to help the waitress carry away used leftovers from the table with a minimum of effort. Plates covered on the top with uneaten food, but below that, "cleaned" plates with the uneaten remains of undiscovered food on top. Is that wrong? Since I've read CS.com, I've left my party's plates unstacked, at the edge of the table, with all non-kitchen items (such as used napkins, used straws, and exhausted coffee cream containers) in my own pocket, for disposal later.


    As an addendum...

    I did say I worked close to customers once. So I do have one short story about a customer, hee hee. Background: I'm working as an overnight stock-boy in a massive grocery chain in Canada, when an "oh hello, what do you mean you close at 10pm? bollocks!" customer accosts me in my section of the store:

    Me: {stocking shelves and doing other hopefully non-customer related things}
    SC: Ketchup????
    Me: {i heard her perfectly, but was giving her a chance to interact politely as humans do...} Pardon me?
    SC: Ketchup!!!!!
    Me: {Shazbot! My first SC.........} Oh! Right here, ma'am! -points to the fifteen brands of ketchup we have for sale in our store... all of which she is standing in the middle of and could be drowned by if that was her wish...-

    At least I didn't get a CBF.

  • #2
    First and foremost, to ! As you've read, we're friendly sorts. Someone should be along with bacon and cookies shortly. Along with if you're of age, and , which, I assure you, you will want to have handy for the appropriate occasions.

    As to your questions --

    Change -- Most people seem to feel that it's rude to lay down change if the recipient is already holding their hand out for change; this works both ways. Also, a few SC's (usually the really bad ones) will intentionally put it down in a pool of liquid, on a moving conveyor belt, etc.

    Tips -- (I am assuming you mean US restaurants) -- I've never worked at the place you mentioned, but a rule of thumb anywhere is, unless you put the tip on the card receipt, just hand the tip directly to the Server. No questions on whether they got it that way.

    Plates -- I do it the first way, myself. If it bothers you, ask your server about it next time you go.
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
    "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
    "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
    "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
    "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
    "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
    Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
    "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

    Comment


    • #3
      I don't like change on the counter simply because it's usually placed far enough from me that I have to lean over to get it, which on many days makes my back hurt more. Also, trying to pick coins off a countertop is hard when one has carpal tunnel. So I guess it's rude in that it doesn't consider someone else's hardship.
      "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

      Comment


      • #4
        EricKei-
        Thanks for the welcome.
        I'm in Canada, not the U.S., and that particular multi-national chain requires everyone to pay their check at the cashier's station. But from now on, I will give the tip directly to the server, just in case. Thanks!


        Food Lady-
        Let me clarify, if that's ok...
        If my total is, say, $15.50, I will hand the cashier a $20 by hand. But, as a poor person, sometimes I only have exact change. In that case, I will attempt to calculate my total including taxes before I even reach the checkout lane, and usually I'm pretty close.
        When I do have to put a pile of change on the counter, I'm careful to gently place it right next to my product (as close to the register as is reasonable). I've never considered that polite gesture to be rude, since I've handed cashiers $3.75 for a $5 purchase before: They ended up splaying the coins on the counter anyway, so they could count it... and if I can only afford exact change, I try to have it ready on the counter, so the cashier can more quickly attend to the next person in line, who will more than likely be shocked that paying for his groceries actually involved some sort of wallet-searching ritual, hmm... let me check.. I've been in your store for 45 minutes, but I didn't think I had to pay for all this! heheh

        Comment


        • #5
          As a cashier I'm offended by customers who put the money on the counter instead of in my hand. Especially when they slowly count the money out on the counter. I have to count it anyway once it's in my hand, and even without carpel tunnel it's a pain in the butt to pick up change from the counter. It's just as easy for you to count it out into my hand as it is to count it out onto the counter, and it's easier for me. I usually count out cange into the customers hand, except when they put their payment on the counter, and I'm feeling Passive/aggressive then I will count out their change in exactly the same place.

          edited: I'll just add -- in a lot of cases with the customer putting exact change on the counter, they have grabbed their stuff and are out the door before I've even gotten their money picked up -- and now I've got the next customer giving me their cigarette order, or how much gas on which pump, and they are now having to wait for me to pick up, count and deposit your payment into my drawer.
          Last edited by EricKei; 08-29-2013, 10:18 PM. Reason: merged consecutive posts

          Comment


          • #6
            A. Welcome aboard!
            B. Don't be afraid - Mods can (and do) move things to more appropriate areas when needed. And the site doesn't break if a "Sighting" gets written in "Brain Burps."
            C.
            #1
            Really gotta play this one by ear. I worked a VERY high volume c-store, and the option to be doing something else besides having my hand out for cash exchange was great. But the places they could put it down was pretty limited, and not inconvenient/inefficient for me. If they have their hand out, and you don't have a phobia (and aren't sick! ) by all means, hand it over. Otherwise, look at the physical layout and think about how the person on the other side of the counter will retrieve that money; can they scoop it up or pull it toward themselves easily?
            #2
            Give the tip directly to the waitron whenever possible. Does this mean missing your dentist appointment to track them down? No. Most places I've worked missing tips were unheard of. But better safe than sorry.
            #3
            I stack plates too. But bussing your own trash may be a bit much. The wide range of messes you encounter as a server means that yeah, that nice guy who puts things in reach (and tips!) is cool, but the ones who don't do it aren't jerks or anything, they're just custys.

            Which brings me to a point I ponder now and again. Occasionally I find myself erring in my interactions with service people WAY too far in their favor. I'll overthink, or over do, and honestly, while it may help brighten someone's day, it's usually unnecessary. That person on the other side of the transaction is being paid to do a job that encompasses a pretty wide range of customer behaviour, and as long as we treat them as fellow humans, we're doing no harm.

            Comment


            • #7
              judecat -
              Thank you for the feedback. I often have to pay in coins (say, for a $3.90 purchase when I had $5.00) but from now on, I will hand the change to the cashier, followed by the bills. As to your remark about customers with exact change checking out before their transaction is complete, I never intended to delay them: My goal is to finish the transaction well before the next customer comes along. I think: If I only take 20 seconds at the checkout, that frees the idiot behind me to take 40 seconds. Etc, lol...


              sms001 - I read your post. If I have to leave exact change, I *always* leave it right next to the product I'm purchasing. But, $9.98 is always $10.00 - in Canada, we have a weird nickel penny-rounding system lol. [sometimes $9.99 becomes $10.00 and the SC will blow a damn gasket!]




              sms001 - Thank you for the advice. From now on, I will always find a way to give the tip directly to the waiter/waitress.
              btw: Since I started reasoning this forum, I have always collected non-restaurant-related trash (eg napkins) and disposed of them myself. Who wants to collect Manicotti cheesy plates... lol

              Comment


              • #8
                - Personally, I prefer the cash handed to me. I've bitten my nails since I can remember. The more stress I'm under, the worse it gets and the last couple years have been extremely difficult with my husband losing his job and finding only a part time job, then me quitting a job due to the intensity of the stress that they were putting me under (including things like being a week late with my paycheck and being so raging angry at my manager at the end of a day that I'd be screaming and crying in the car on the way home), then me losing my next job... my nails are bitten below the quick. It's much easier for me if you give me the cash so I don't need to try to pick it up with nonexistent nails.

                - Tips are something I'm very sensitive about. I give a 10% tip in general, upwards if I receive exceptional service. I really dislike tips, especially in Canada (I'm from Alberta). In Canada, the employee will make minimum wage anyway, whereas in the US, the employee will usually make around $2 an hour or so and live off their tips. I've always felt that tips should be given for exceptional service and nothing else but have had to amend that due to the fact that I feel horribly guilty if I don't give a tip here because of the amount I know they're actually being paid per hour. I currently live in the US and the way the serving staff is treated here is a travesty.

                That's not to say that I didn't tip when I lived in Canada, it just depended on the circumstance.

                For example... any delivery person usually received a higher than 10% tip from me because the poor thing had to go out in the weather and be subjected to possibly crazy people with guns and worse.

                In Vancouver, when I went for my meeting with the US immigration people, I thought I'd have some fun and go to the Vancouver Aquarium (I highly recommend it. Wonderful place). When it started to get late, I decided to go back to the hotel but I didn't have a car and called a taxi. The taxi company promptly left me alone outside of the Aquarium for an hour and a half in spite of the dozen or so phone calls to them (I was told "It's rush hour) complaining. So I called another company. The driver arrived in five minutes. I was so grateful and he was so nice that I gave him a $25 tip because I felt he saved my life (the cost of the cab was $40 back to the hotel so I paid $65). To this day, I feel that he quite possibly saved me from something very nasty happening to me.

                However, in Canada, I don't tip for me standing at a bar, the waiter turning around and filling a glass of soda and then giving it to me. I could have done that myself if I had been allowed behind the bar and it cost him ten seconds of his time.

                That being said...

                If you are going to leave a tip, I suggest leaving it under the dirty plates on the table. That way no one else can see it, and the waitress will see it when she picks up the dirty dishes. Either that, or hand it to her. She probably won't receive it if you give it to someone else. She may receive it if you just leave it on the table, she also may not.

                - As to stacking the plate, I'd suggest you don't do that (though I have to admit that we do that if we are in a buffet place like Golden Corall). Mostly because it may make it difficult for her to pick them up and she ends up with the food all over her clothing or her hands.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Placing change on the counter is ok as long as your not slapping it onto the table, and it is withing reach. If you slide it across the table in a crumpled heap, or THROW it at the cashier it is considered offensive.

                  Also, helping your waitress with the plates is a good thing, because food service workers go through the most torture. But be careful with the tips, because she may or may not have ever received it. I like to give it to them If I can..

                  P.S. Your story about the SC was funny.
                  “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.”
                  ― Rebecca West

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I'm another one in the please put the change in my hand camp. It's much easier for myself and quicker for my customers if I don't have to pick up a pile of change.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Certainly not recommended is picking up the change and throwing it like a waterfall of confetti over your server.







                      Well,go ahead,try it.See how that works out
                      The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Kit-Ginevra View Post
                        Certainly not recommended is picking up the change and throwing it like a waterfall of confetti over your server...
                        Well, if it's a handful of krugerrands...
                        I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                        Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                        Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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