Pet Peeves from V-Day week (long and ranty)

[fireheart]

Having worked a grand total of 32.5 hours this week (I'm part-time and on average, I usually work between 15-20) and having worked on Valentine's Day I now have a biig list of pet peeves.

Backgroundness: From May 4, shops all across my state will no longer be giving out plastic bags, or bags marked compostable/degradable/biodegradable (don't ask me why). We're still allowed to pack them if the customer brings them in, but we aren't allowed to give them out once this rule rolls around. So at this stage, we have a total of eight registers that only offer bags on request. I was on these at least once per shift (2 five hour shifts and three 7.5 hour shifts).

It is also standard-not law-across the country to have stores displaying a sign that says something like this:

"It is a condition of entry that all bags, prams, parcels etc. be presented for inspection upon request as you leave the store."

Basically, bag checking to detain potential thieves. Trust me, it works.

Anyway, onto the pet peeves from working this week. (I work in a supermarket)

Tantruming kids:

Please don't hand me something and ask me to "pretend" scan it. Especially if the kid is under five. Chances are, they may not be able to figure out that beep=bought item, so I can usually get away with just fumbling and dropping it on the floor, then leaving it out of sight. But seriously, please stop making me "pretend" scan items. Be stern once in a while.

Gift cards:

If you are using them, please hand them to me first. This is so I can check the balance, especially if they have been used before. It also stops any potential scammers, EW's etc. from trying to grab freebies because they claim that their card didn't work. (besides the expiry date, yes I can print out a receipt showing the balance left on the gift card when I do a balance check )

Credit/Debit cards and cash out:

This is a gigantic hassle for all of us. We will all ask cash out, we DO not ask "credit or debit?" because there's only one button we need to push for EFTPOS transactions. So WHY must you tell us if it's credit/debit? Is there some secret club that people gain access too by telling us if their card is credit or debit? Oh yes, let me pull out the Holy Hand Grenade of Credit Cards out of my butt and present it to you as a token of membership.

Bag checking:

For the 3,465,248th time, I HONESTLY DO NOT CARE WHAT IS IN YOUR HANDBAG UNLESS IT'S STOLEN GOODS! So whyyyyyyy in the name of Holy Hand Granades do you bother kicking up such a fuss over me checking your bags? Hey, if you don't believe me, great, see that camera up there? It now has your face. We'll be more than happy to mark you down as a suspected shoplifter for next time. (as far as I know, we don't actually do this, we CAN call security if needs be)

Plastic Bags:

For the love of holy hand grenades, STOP BITCHING TO ME ABOUT THE PLASTIC BAGS! I keep getting all the armchair experts who tell me that retailers should be doing this, that or one of these. I think a few times I have been ready to tell them "if you think that you can do a much better job, then I suggest that you go and tell those who can actually make changes that you can do better and hey, they might let you do it."
One guy suggested that he could run the country better. I came very close to telling him "Well sir, run at the next election then." But that's just me

I've now taking to calling the big lane that's plastic bag free....

The Register Of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

and thus ends my very looong rant about V-Day weekend.

[lupo pazzesco]

Awww...I sowies hun. sound like some real winners there. Esp. with bag checking. We don't do it at my store, but we DO ask that all backpacks be checked at the registers. You'd think we were ransacking them for all valuables to sell on the black market, with some of the responses we get to that!!

<snuggles and offers tea and muffins>

[Hobbs]

Awww...I sowies hun. sound like some real winners there. Esp. with bag checking. We don't do it at my store, but we DO ask that all backpacks be checked at the registers. You'd think we were ransacking them for all valuables to sell on the black market, with some of the responses we get to that!!

<snuggles and offers tea and muffins>

Hai, hai, same here fireheart...

I soo hope our state never does that... that's such epic fail...

anyway, [offers fresh-baked empanadas]

[Gerrinson]

Credit/Debit cards and cash out:

This is a gigantic hassle for all of us. We will all ask cash out, we DO not ask "credit or debit?" because there's only one button we need to push for EFTPOS transactions. So WHY must you tell us if it's credit/debit?

In my area all of the local stores require the cashier to push a different button for debit or credit. So, I can understand why they would say that. They are trying to avoid being SCs.

Your newer registers are properly designed to pull the proper function based on the customer input on the pad (presupposing, of course, that the customer can get it right ) but the older registers still can't do that.

[Jester]

Another thing about credit vs. debit: a lot of cards (mine included) can be used as either one. And when used as a debit card, a small transaction fee is invoked. Meaning, of course, I always want it run as a credit card. I am sure there are reasons for people to run their multi-use card as a debit card, but frankly, these have all eluded me to date.

[bainsidhe]

I am sure there are reasons for people to run their multi-use card as a debit card, but frankly, these have all eluded me to date.

Cash back feature. At least around here, you can't use debit cards as credit and expect to get cash back. You have to use it as debit and enter a pin. Some local banks don't charge for using debit as debit, but I have yet to bother figuring out which one. And boy do customers whine about being charged a fee. I tend to point out it's the bank charging the fee, not us. And sometimes the customer will listen.

[Dreamstalker]

Another thing about credit vs. debit: a lot of cards can be used as either one. And when used as a debit card, a small transaction fee is invoked. Meaning, of course, I always want it run as a credit card.

GameStore had some convoluted rules about when to run a card as credit vs. debit (I can't recall what they were, but I do remember that they were completely counter-intuitive). It didn't help that the debit PIN pad thingy didn't work right most of the time.

[Ringtail Z28]

Your newer registers are properly designed to pull the proper function based on the customer input on the pad (presupposing, of course, that the customer can get it right )

That's a whole new level of suck as far as SCs go.

[fireheart]

Most of the larger stores these days don't bother asking because they only have one button for EFTPOS, same as us, but they tend to ask for cash out after person has selected account, not before, like we do. It's the way their systems are set up.
I also have a new one from today:

Fruit/Vegetables:

STOP MIXING THEM IN THE SAME BAGS! I came across the following today:

-Roma/Gourmet tomatos in the same bag (Roma are the ones that are longer than they are wide).
-Plums and Nectarines in the same bag.
-A carrot, capsicum and red onion all in the same bag.
-A few others, usually mixes of plums or grapes.

It is a pain in the butt having to rip them out, weigh them individually and then find a place for them. No, I don't care if they're the same price. We do it for inventory purposes. So STOP DOING IT!

[evileatinggrasshopper]

Another thing about credit vs. debit: a lot of cards (mine included) can be used as either one. And when used as a debit card, a small transaction fee is invoked. Meaning, of course, I always want it run as a credit card. I am sure there are reasons for people to run their multi-use card as a debit card, but frankly, these have all eluded me to date.

I always run my card as debit because I'd don't want to spend more than I have by accident. (My brother got himself into credit card debt and I don't want that to be me) The student checking account I have is awesome. I don't get those fees and if I go to an atm with fees, they reimburse me.