List of things that annoyed the crap out of me as a cashier

[sms001]

Quoth me:
No it's not. I bet we could do twenty pages on it.

We came close before.

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of. It's like the SCs are at home running their little hamster wheels overtime to think of new stoopid.

[Bright_Star]

....don't get mad at the store cause your cart is wet & it's pouring rain outside. We don't control the weather!

...I don't know the prices of EVERYTHING in the store!

...Tell me the type of ciggs you want. Getting mad cause I don't automatically know isn't going to help u get them any quicker!

...I turned off my register light & put out the "Lane Closed" sign cause I'm going home, lunch or break. Don't have a cow about it!!

...Don't get pissed off cause I didn't laugh at your corny jokes. I've heard that joke a million times already!

...You have to show ID! I don't make the rules so don't get mad at me!

[Estil]

For the ones who give you a hard time about ID...simply play the mystery shopper card. That is, simply explain to them (politely of course) that you simply can't take a chance that the person giving you a hard time might have been sent undercover (by either law enforcement or store higher ups) and is simply testing you for compliance. I mean, who's to say they're not?

[freespirit114]

Ok, one more from me. Stop pushing your cart into the person in front of you in line or throwing your stuff on the counter when the person in front of you is still unloading theirs. This Will not make them or the cashier go faster. It's just really really rude and childish. Respect personal space.

[Kittykat]

Exactly! And when I have my purse on my shoulder, that means I'M NOT WORKING. I either A: Just went to lunch, B: Am going home, or C: Am not on the clock yet. And if I'm in street clothes and have my kids with me, obviously I'm not working, I'm shopping.

[Brojekk]

Biggest retail pet peeve ever - carts!!! People are terrible for leaving carts (buggies if you wish) and hand baskets right at the til! I got so annoyed with this I would ask the customer to move them and pointed to the correct spot, and if they refused I would push/kick/fling the cart/basket out of mine and the next customers way. The looks on peoples faces were priceless... I wasn't rude about it, but i certainly made it clear that our small counters have no room for laziness. (Note: not once did I get in trouble for this; if a manager had said something I would have stopped immediately. But they let me get away with a lot because I was gloated as one of our best cashiers.)

The second biggest pet peeve I had were the people who move the carts... To sit right in front of the exit doors. Of course then it was monkey see, monkey do, and eventually it would get so bad people couldn't leave through that exit! It wasn't like the actual cart pile was far... It took 4 extra steps to put the cart away properly!

I did retail for 2 years and I still curse the lazy bastards who couldn't be bothered to correctly put away a cart.

My biggest pet peeve when collecting carts from the parking lot.....customers leaving would push their now empty carriages aimlessly towards where we have them stacked inside. They end up diagonally or sideways making me stop my train of carriages to tuck the wayward carriage in with the others before I could park the ones I was bringing in. They can't walk the extra few steps or so and tuck it in themselves?

[Sunshine]

Please get your club card out of your fsking wallet
please dont help me. I have cashiered for 16 years. I know how to find the barcode
the price does me no good without a barcode or item number
You dont need to stand next to me. We arent friends.
See that sign?? Yeah, the one that says no one but associates??? It means keep your candy ass on the other side of the chain link fence!

[fireheart]

You have summed up most of my four years as a cashier. Here's my take on most of these-as an Aussie too!

1. For the love of God, if you have an ENTIRE CART (Buggy for us in the south) Of WIC items, do NOT come to the 20 items or less line. And if I'm on a regular register, please inform me BEFORE you start unloading, that these items are WIC so I don't ring them up and have to void the sale.

I've had a couple of people who had orders to be done under specific options. For those, we actually had to contact the manager afterwards. People would frequently forget to tell me until afterwards!
Another one was the use of particular gift cards. We were not allowed to put cigarettes or alcohol on These ones and people would forget to tell us that and say that they had a cigarette order to boot.

3. If it says one price, and you say the shelf price was more then a 5 dollar difference, yes, I DO have to check.

Unless it was in the catalogue, we had to check for EVERYTHING. I used to get the catalogue and keep it on my register, which saved me the hassle of calling for groceries five or six times,

5. CONTROL YOUR BRATS! LOL, I swear, mine know better then to act up in a store, because I will take them to the bathroom and bust their tails. I've been stepped on, pushed, had to clean up countless spills, and even had a child's diaper leak so badly we had to close down my register and call maintenance. (That was just ew)

We had one kid split his head open on the bag racks, another kid hurt his head, one kid crawled under the bag racks, but surprisingly, minimal issues with the kid lets . Then again, I kept them engaged.

7. Why do people never ever EVER read signs? We had a woman once who came in the day after a sale, and proceeded to YELL at me when I explained that the sale ended yesterday and the price was clearly labeled on the shelf.

Best example I had of this was a woman who misread the prices on some dip, challenged us on the price, turned out that we were right and the woman lodged a complaint because the signs weren't big enough.
Another one was when I was working at a smaller store, which didn't carry as much as the bigger stores. This gentleman threw a fit when he discovered that we didn't carry a line of seafood that the bigger stores did and it was even stated in the catalogue that it wasn't available at all stores!

8. Do not put your child on top of my register belt, just common sense! They MOVE!

I only had this happen once in four years. Luckily the conveyor belt was short and they had the common sense to take bubs off afterwards.

11 - Please don't bring up an item in a dented box and expect me to give you a discount on it when the contents inside are not damaged.

I had this happen quite a number of times. We did not provide a discount for damaged items. Unless it was reduced to clear, if the customer didn't want the damaged item, we donated it to food bank.

12 - Please don't come to the express line where it clearly says "cash only", then whip out your checkbook to pay for the items.

The Aussie variant of this: coming to a plastic-bag free register and expecting me to have plastic bags ready!

13 - Do not, under any circumstances, expect me to ring up your order after I have turned off my light and put the chain up at the entrance, no matter how much screaming and hollaring you do.

Had this several times. My manager would always stick by me when this happened to prevent that.

15 - Do not dump off your items on the conveyer belt, then decide you need to leave the line to pick up one or two more items that you "forgot" to pick up while you were doing your other shopping.

Had this several times, although I would bag everything before they came back.

16 - The magazines are there for purchasing. If you are going to read the entire contents of that Soap Opera Guide, please put it on the counter so I can scan it.

I'm guilty of doing this a few times. I'm a bad fire heart

17 - Even though we can go to the office for this, please go to the office and purchase your cigarettes there instead of making me stop what I'm doing to walk to the office and get your pack of Bullshit Menthol 100's.

We had a variant of this at both the stores I worked. Basically we could only sell cigarettes from the "smoke counter" and that was at the front of the store. So many people had to be reminded that we could not get their carton of whatever from the front and take it around, they had to take their shopping around.

Ok, one more from me. Stop pushing your cart into the person in front of you in line or throwing your stuff on the counter when the person in front of you is still unloading theirs. This Will not make them or the cashier go faster. It's just really really rude and childish. Respect personal space.

I've had this happen to me as a customer several times. My internal crap meter has been fairly calm the last two times, but the next person who does it will be getting an extreme dressing down from me, coupled with a condescending line thrown in for good measure. (This is at the self serve checkouts by the way...unlike most people, I know how to use them correctly!)

As a side note, the ones that do it tend to be at least 20+ years older than me. The teenagers (and we get several) and kids actually wait.

[JustShootMe]

When I am looking at your large bills, don't tell me to "just swipe it with the counterfeit pen." The pens can be defeated & I am REQUIRED to look at them. It's not personal.

Also, how many times a day do you think I hear the corny line, "I just made it last night." Or, "if it's phony, call the bank." NO... If it's phony, I'm calling the police.

Don't tell me what to look for on bills, Numbnuts. We can't stay ahead of crooks if they know what we're looking for...

[thatcrazyredhead]

16. For the love of Pete, have your payment ready when I give you the total.

Hubs and I are guilty of this one fairly often, I'm afraid. Usually it's because I'm so tired, my brain has shut off just about everything except for breathing and walking. Or Hubs thought I was going to pay, and I thought he was going to pay. Once we realize that this is the part where we pay, though, we're quick about it. Plastic makes it possible. I only write checks for the rent and the money we send to my parents each month.

When I am looking at your large bills, don't tell me to "just swipe it with the counterfeit pen." The pens can be defeated & I am REQUIRED to look at them. It's not personal.

I caught a counterfeit hundred dollar bill once, and the pen said it was just fine. But I could tell by the way it felt it wasn't right. I was totally vindicated when management brought out another one for comparison, and sure enough, it was fake!

[XCashier]

Don't tell me what to look for on bills, Numbnuts. We can't stay ahead of crooks if they know what we're looking for...

It's public information, anyway. I personally think that every person who works handling money should know what to look for to see if a note is genuine.

Oh, and don't forget: new $100s are coming very soon, if they're not in circulation already.

[Sunshine]

Xcashier....they're already out...we've had several at mystore. They're pretty...lol

[Desk clerk knows all]

I like the new Canadian see through $100 bill, it's pretty!

[Kit-Ginevra]

I want something Canadian,see through and pretty. It won't be a $100 bill though...

[sms001]

Also, how many times a day do you think I hear the corny line, "I just made it last night."

EVERY time?
Why do they think that's funny? Even without the repetition, it's pretty lame.

Don't tell me what to look for on bills, Numbnuts. We can't stay ahead of crooks if they know what we're looking for...

The crooks know. They're hoping you don't.

As far as the "taking it personal" thing is concerned, you're right, they do. And they should, as it IS insulting. What we're doing is (rightfully) assuming that THEY didn't check the bill properly when they took possession of it. Which they usually haven't. So someone with a little situational awareness (ie., a non-SC) doesn't care if you check, 'cause they already have; SCs, not so much, so they deflect.