X-ray Vision needed for employment?

[Kyree]

"I want THIS!" *pointpoint*

*Twitches*

I think I'm going to flip if I hear one more stupid customer say that. All right...I should probably back up a bit, hm?

Well, as you know, I work in a deli. I'm short. I can see over the counter /just/ enough to see if there's a customer on the other side. I can see their heads, that's it. But, it never fails. Every day. At least 50 times this same scenario plays out:

SC: *Walks up to the counter and points.* I want that.

Me: I'm sorry, which salad do you want?

SC: THAT ONE! *Points harder.*

ME: *I check the salads in the general direction of where I think she's pointing.* The..coleslaw?

SC: NO! THE PASTA SALAD! *Rolls her eyes.*

Me: [thinking] which freaking pasta salad?! There's 5 of them!
[actually says] Ma'am, can you please tell me the name on the sign?

SC: I'm pointing right to it! It's the Premium Asiago salad! UGGG.


Now, if the salad hadn't have had a name on it for some reason, I could understand the not giving me the name of the salad. But I know for a fact they DO have the names on the salad, because I started checking every day I came into work to try and stop that from happening. But no...they're just too lazy to merely say the name of what they want.

Oh! And that's only half the fun. The other half is trying to figure out what size they want. 90% of these people come in and say "I want a pint of ____".

Isn't pint a measurement for...liquids?

[Fraggle]

Thats just pure laziness and theres no excuse for it unless your cletus the slack jawed yokel.

[Seshat]

From the customer's side, most of those cases look like the employee should be able to see what you're pointing to. Most people don't think to think about parallax, reflectivity of surfaces, and the like.

Now, people should be smart enough to generalise that the employee's side doesn't let them see what you're pointing to, when they hear that a lot. But ask any computer tech - most people can't figure out that 'cut/copy/paste' is in the Edit menu of almost every application, or that 'save/load' is in the File menu. People don't generalise enough!

Anyway, this is me long-windedly saying that most people probably think you can see what they're pointing to. It might be helpful to start saying 'I can't see your hands from this side of the case, ma'am. Please just tell me the name of what you're after.'

They'll probably try moving their hands rather than reading, but if you can figure out a way of saying 'the case prevents me from seeing what you're pointing to' that works... yay.

[Banrion]

Quoth Kyree

Oh! And that's only half the fun. The other half is trying to figure out what size they want. 90% of these people come in and say "I want a pint of ____".

Isn't pint a measurement for...liquids?

Guilty! Maybe it is because I frequent too many chinese food restaurants and NY delis for soup, but I swear GC deli containers look exactly the same as the soup containers for anywhere I have ever gotten soup to go, therefore in my head, the small one is a pint, and the large one is a quart. Although as I seem to be buying alot of potato salad lately, I am learning that is approx 1 lb, and 2lbs respectively.

[McSlave]

Meh....I work at Subway and have the same issue. I am 6'3" and can't see under the counter to the stuff they point at. Just like you said.." some of these peppers" "which ones?" "these ( pointing)" finally...."there are 3 kinds, which one?" oh....green ones" and they'r ALL green...sheesh.

[MoonChild2007]

It might be helpful to start saying 'I can't see your hands from this side of the case, ma'am. Please just tell me the name of what you're after.'

the OP asked her 3 times what the customer was looking for and the customer kept saying, "that one!".

[BaristaGirl]

I have the same exact problem.

I'm a floating employee, meaning, I work at a whole bunch of our locations, but I encounter that problem at almost all of them.

"Sir, I'm almost a midget. You are pointing to a pastry that is on a shelf two times my height. I'm going to have to get the ladder and clock in for hazard pay as it is. Just say the name of the pastry you want and let me handle the rest."

Lucky me, I've been on bar making drinks a lot lately and haven't gotten this in three weeks or so. ^.^

[Sparky]

Quoth Kyree

"I want THIS!" *pointpoint*

Oh! And that's only half the fun. The other half is trying to figure out what size they want. 90% of these people come in and say "I want a pint of ____".

Isn't pint a measurement for...liquids?

Not necessarily. A pint of something is anything that fill a container that holds a liquid pint. I see strawberries advertised by the pint or by the quart all the time. KFC sells cole slaw and other side dishes by the pint.

What I have trouble with, as a customer, trying not to suck, is that I know what size container I want, and in the stores where I shop they're usually labeled "pound," "half pound," etc. I don't know how much the food weighs. If I ask for a pound of something, they poor clerk is either mashing it down trying to get more in, or delicately adding more or taking some out, trying to get it to come out just right. So I usually say "I want a pound-size container of that, I don't care what it weighs." There has to be an easier way. Maybe I should start asking for a pint.

[Imogene]

Quoth McSlave

" oh....green ones"

"Light green; deep, deep, green; or sky green?"
Banana peppers, jabaneros, and I have no idea what, in that order.

[LizaMarie]

Oh lordy, I work for a coffee company in CS and I cannot tell you how many customers I get saying, "I want a case of regular and a case of decaf."

me: "Well sir, as you can see from the order form we send you every time you order, we have a lot of different kinds of regular and decaf coffees."

"Oh. Well. Um....We want whatever we got last time."

*headdesk*