Be Careful What You Ask For!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Lemonade and iced tea.

Also known as an Arnold Palmer.

[Canadian In Maine]

In situations like that, I've been known to say something like, "I'm sorry, I must not have heard you when you told me you wanted it toasted."

I went through a very painful order with a man today, bagel and coffee order. Crikey, it was like pulling teeth. A few snippets:

SC: What kinds of bagels do you have?
ME: I have what you see in the showcase.
SC: I'll have a plain one.
ME: We don't have plain.

SC: I'll have a coffee.
ME: What size?
SC: Does it matter?

ME: How do you want your coffee?
SC: What do you mean?
ME: What do you want in your coffee?

More than once I had to remind him that it was he who needed to specifically tell me what he wanted because I had no idea of his tastes.

At the end of it all I looked him straight in the face and said: "I really am sorry to have to pepper you with all these questions but I am not a mind reader and I wouldn't want to make any assumptions."

It was unfuckingbelievable. Sometimes I think they do it just to piss me off because I can't truly believe that people are that fucking stupid.

[Sleepwalker]

"1 coffee"
"What kind?"
"Regular."

[sms001]

"What kind?"
"Regular."

A "regular" coffee is cream and two sugars in the Northeast states, iirc. 'course, it tells you nothing about size. Double suck if you are not, in fact, IN an area where this is common nomenclature.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

A 'regular' coffee is one cream and one sugar here. It also does not tell you what size. Now I want to travel the world ordering regular coffee and see what I get!

[pzychobitch]

I want a pack of L&M's. Which ones? L&M's!!! I got that, but do you want full flavored, menthol, lights? 100's!!


Its like pulling hens teeth.

Oh god fuck me... I had to deal with that a DOZEN times every hour when working at the gas station

[Chromatix]

I want a pack of L&M's. Which ones? L&M's!!! I got that, but do you want full flavored, menthol, lights? 100's!!

One side-effect of some of the "reduce smoking" legislation here has the happy side-effect of forestalling such conversations, at least at the better equipped establishments (such as large supermarkets).

The relevant law is that tobacco *packaging* must not be on display; neither may images of it be shown. Instead, there is a dispenser machine with numbered buttons. If you don't yet know which number corresponds to which product, you ask to see the catalogue, which is kept under the counter. Once the button is pressed, the dispenser will spit out a packet onto the conveyor belt, amongst the rest of your shopping.

The less well-equipped places don't have dispensers; instead they have a cabinet facing away from customers, who have to ask for the stuff by name. The problem is thus not *entirely* solved - but I think Finnish cashiers are permitted to use the Death Glare more freely than Americans are.

[Kanalah]

I always amazes me when people order a big expensive quilt from me, then get all snippy when I start asking questions.

Seriously? I'm not going to spend 6 weeks on something without knowing that it's what you want!

Edit: Especially the darned t-shirt quilts. I had a lady drop off a bag of what she said was 30 shirts she wanted to use in a quilt. It turned out there were over 100! I asked her if she wanted me to use them all or if maybe we wanted to pick some special ones for the quilt. She was like "well there's 3 from this thing and 6 from this thing and I only need one of each." Okay, so you tell me which one(s) to use. Because I'm sure whichever ones I pick will end up being "wrong" and you'll want a full refund.

[aulocksmith]

One side-effect of some of the "reduce smoking" legislation here has the happy side-effect of forestalling such conversations, at least at the better equipped establishments (such as large supermarkets).

The current legislation in Australia has just made it worse for the poor people behind the counter. You see, we don't have these fancy dispensers, just a central desk to buy smokes.

But, we have the must not be on display, we also have plain packaging now as well.

Warning! Do not click here unless you have a strong stomach!

That's right, every single pack of cigarettes is now an ugly olive green, with a health warning in large type at the top, followed by a disgusting picture related to warning, and the brand and variety at the bottom in small type.

Can you imagine the stress that is created by people not know what they want?

[rose_metal_nz]

The current legislation in Australia has just made it worse for the poor people behind the counter. You see, we don't have these fancy dispensers, just a central desk to buy smokes.

But, we have the must not be on display, we also have plain packaging now as well.

Yeah, we have that in NZ now too. Main thing that bugs me is that you can't see the prices - and the staff often won't open the cabinet to *check* the prices, they just say you have to ask for something specific. >.<

[fireheart]

The current legislation in Australia has just made it worse for the poor people behind the counter. You see, we don't have these fancy dispensers, just a central desk to buy smokes.

But, we have the must not be on display, we also have plain packaging now as well.

That's right, every single pack of cigarettes is now an ugly olive green, with a health warning in large type at the top, followed by a disgusting picture related to warning, and the brand and variety at the bottom in small type.

Can you imagine the stress that is created by people not know what they want?

If you don't know what you want, then you shouldn't be smoking. (NOTE: this is not me advocating smoking, rather I used to work at the smoke counter in my old job. I only ever had 2-3 customers not know what they wanted)

I'd imagine it would be worse for the cashiers to try and restock everything or to memorise the locations of where the cigarettes are. Work used to alphabetise the brands, then would list it from strongest to weakest, then menthols (so for each brand, it would be something like Strong, Middle, Light, Weak, Menthol, Menthol Light if they had one).

[aulocksmith]

If you don't know what you want, then you shouldn't be smoking. (NOTE: this is not me advocating smoking, rather I used to work at the smoke counter in my old job. I only ever had 2-3 customers not know what they wanted)

No stress there! I'm a former smoker, managed to give up before the PP laws came in.

I'd imagine it would be worse for the cashiers to try and restock everything or to memorise the locations of where the cigarettes are. Work used to alphabetise the brands, then would list it from strongest to weakest, then menthols (so for each brand, it would be something like Strong, Middle, Light, Weak, Menthol, Menthol Light if they had one).

I regularly see people at my local supermarket trying to articulate what the want without ever saying a brand name or strength. But then, my area isn't known for it's intelligence.

[purple]

the staff often won't open the cabinet to *check* the prices, they just say you have to ask for something specific. >.<

They are not allowed to, listing prices is classed as advertising. They make you ask for something specific due to the law.

[XCashier]

I'm sorry, but these laws are just crazy. What are they trying to accomplish? If they're trying to reduce smoking by making the cashier go crazy and gun down the cigarette customers, I suppose they're working, otherwise what good is obscuring the packaging and names and all that?!

[Ironclad Alibi]

But then, my area isn't known for it's intelligence.

That really pinpoints your location. You're on dry land, most likely.