I'm not dumb or blind, thank you.

[Kogarashi]

Just had to vent this a bit.

After playgroup this morning, I swung by a local supermarket (the one with the red and green circles on the sign) to pick up some milk, as we were all out. I rarely go to this particular supermarket, let alone any in the chain, as for various reasons it's more cost-effective for Hubby and I to drive half an hour to the nearest Wal-Mart Supercenter for our bi-weekly groceries. So I'm not too familiar with the register setups at the store. But I like it well enough, since the cashiers are usually quite friendly and often give us the loyalty card discount without even asking (one of these days, we *will* get that card, since that's the closest actual market to our apartment and is good for late-night runs for necessities).

Anyway, I'm in the store perusing the ice cream aisle, because I've been hankering for an icy treat, and I notice this one brand of ice cream is on a 60%-off sale or somesuch. $6 tub for $2. So I grab it (and the sign doesn't even mention the loyalty card, though I was prepared to ask if necessary), some sherbet for smoothies, and the milk, and head to a register. The lines at self-checkout were huge, so I went to one of the farther registers where there was less of a wait and a real cashier, should I need to ask for the loyalty card discount.

So the cashier gets to my things and begins scanning them. Now I do know enough about the register setup here to know I need to look at the big screen behind the cashier to see my purchases being rung up. And first thing I notice is that the ice cream scans in full price, and the total is showing $4 more than it should. So, politely I think, I say, "There's a special on the ice cream...," thinking that the cashier will politely reply that I need the member card for that, or explain that there's something wrong with the register, or tell me that the discount will show up shortly, or whatever.

Nope. What I get is a tart, "See the screen? Watch the screen now." In that tone of voice that says, Either your dumb or just blind, because any twit knows that's how it works. Well, excuse me. I shop at Wal-Mart, where sales are applied right when the item is scanned, and not at the end of the transaction. I'm not used to that method.

So I respond that I didn't realize and I'm not used to that, and I go to swipe my credit card. Being used to Wal-Mart's pinpads, I accidentally swiped it the wrong way and didn't realize, until she snapped at me, "If it's not showing up on the screen, that means the card didn't go through." And yes, she snapped that. Just as I realized for myself that the screen hadn't changed, and was pulling out the card again. This time I looked at the litle picture on the machine and realized which way to swipe it, and got through the rest of the pinpad setup.

To her credit, she did tell me to have a nice day. And she wasn't so rude that I felt the need to complain to management about her. She probably gets a lot of people who don't know how the discounts are displayed on the screen, and if you ask me, the supermarket chain should really ask their register company to change the programming if they want to avoid further comments about that. Hmm...maybe I'll go e-mail corporate about that idea....

Anyway, this just had me a bit annoyed at her attitude, since I've been a cashier and make it a point to be as polite as possible about any explanations I have, rather than condescending or snippy. I just wanted to vent that, and now I shall go and pretend it never happened.

[blas]

I would have told her "Have a happy period, bitch!"

Anywho...

The grocery store I worked at, the loyalty card discounts didn't show up until the end. It wasn't a good thing.

Customers would read the screen and flare their arms and wail "NO NO NO NO! It's ON SALE! I KNOW IT IS! NO NO NO NO!"

Then I'd get to the end of the order, say "Watch", and all the discounts showed up at once.

So yes, I was that tart crass bitch once or twice. But hey, you weren't used to it...

Although I was never THAT bitchy and never was condenscending to a customer...

[MystyGlyttyr]

When I went to PetSmart for the first time, I didn't know their discounts went off all at once. So when the food rang up at a higher price, I asked nicely "Is the food on sale?" And the lady said "Oh yeah, they all come off at once. Watch this." She finished ringing it up and hit the total button, the total came up on the screen, and then ZOOOOOOOM, it counted down backwards super-fast to the actual total. Coolest-looking cash register ever. I actually went "Oh wow!" and giggled like a little girl, and she laughed and said "It's always fun to watch people see that for the first time."

So, my experience was the "Good" example, and Kogarashi's was the "Bad" example.

[Kogarashi]

Exactly, Mysty. If she'd been any sort of nice about it, I wouldn't have thought twice.

[Catwoman2965]

We get that at my store too, with sale items. If we have a promotion, as we recently did, buy one t-shirt, get one 50% off, we have to do the 50 off manually. And if they bought more than 2, it meant ringing them all up, then going back to the lowest price and taking the discount....i can't tell you HOW many people watch the register, and say, some not so nicely "It's 50% off!" - i just say nicely, yes, but i have to do it manually.

what i really want to say is "if you weren't so darn impatient, you would SEE that i take the discount off" - now if i had forgotten it, and they nicely asked, no problem esp, if its my fault...but those who don't see the sale price right away irk me.

Same thing if items were just marked down that day; it won't ring up at the lower price until the next day, or a percent off at the end of the sale - we have to do them all manually at the end. And these are people who shop there ALL THE TIME! so they should know - but then again, they're the same ones that will take their receipt and scrutinize it before leaving.

I hate that; i am VERY careful, and if someone is buying 6+ items of clothing, after i ring, i will count the items, and compare to the nubmer of items on the receipt, just to make sure!

[Sliceanddice]

I always change stores, but i go to two so often they know my by name. I like them and the discount shows up right away. But one i use to go to alot but dont dont because its too far away.. did the end tally thing.... i never noticed till i was helping my dad shop for his monthly grocerys, i almost freaked... but my dad was strangly calm... it was surreal...

[Becks]

I wish my store had the discount(s) come off at the end. That's just way cool.

[BookstoreEscapee]

That's why I was always glad my customers couldn't see the screen. On the other hand, if they could, it would save a lot of repeating their total. Toward the end I got in the habit of automatically hitting the charge button so the total would show on the pinpad screen. If they paid some other way I could hit cancel (and usually I was able to hit it before the impatient ones swiped their card...).

Then of course there was the guy who insisted that it was illegal for a store to have screens that the customer couldn't see.

If they could see the screen it would be a nightmare if you deleted anything. When you delete something it still stays on the screen and also puts up another line with a minus next to the price and quantity. So for every one thing you delete there are 2 lines (but they don't show on the receipt). Given the indecisiveness of customers and the ease with which you can accidentally scan something, that would cause many tantrums, I'm sure.


Kogarashi, the baby is just tooo cuuute!!! Those giant dark eyes!!! Gah! I keep seeing your avatar and stopping just to look at that face

[Kogarashi]

Thanks, BookstoreEscapee!

Yeah, Wal-Mart's registers have a much smaller screen that shows each item as it scans (already at any discounted prices they should be). The pinpads are starting to get fancy enough to show the last five items scanned, with an additional line for produce (to show weight and price per pound) or for sale items (to show original price and amount saved). I've only had customers dispute a price when it *didn't* go through properly, or when I ran produce and they thought the pound measurement was the price per pound instead.