Been Cashier For 3 Years... first time got a complaint... OVER NOTHING!!!!!!

[DevilsReject]

This lady totally TOTALLY TICKED ME OFF!!! I'm a cashier at wal-mart... I can not STAND ringing these idiots out for 8 to 9 hours a day!!! All day I hear is complaining anyways... this lady comes up and she wants all of her change back in quarters!!!! I just about died!!! So I was trying to call a CSM to get me more but they didnt hear me so I gave her all my quarters and shes like oh am i going to take all of them and im like "yeah but thats okay" (in an annoyed way) and gave her her change and the lady behind her I guess didn't like to have to wait becuase I grabbed a 10 dollar bill from the drawer really quick and went to the CSM to get more quarters and she didn't like to wait so when I came back I was talking to a friend and she was like excuse me I was in your line and I want you to know that that was really rude of you to walk away like that knowing it was that kind of customer i was all happy and stuff and just said "okay! ) and started talking to my friend again. then she went to a CSM i guess and told them how "rude" i was for going and getting more change LMAO!

[Mango]

first time got a complaint

All day I hear is complaining

im like "yeah but thats okay" (in an annoyed way)

when I came back I was talking to a friend

was like excuse me I was in your line and I want you to know that that was really rude of you to walk away like that

started talking to my friend again.

Based on these points, I honestly would have complained too.

[BowserKoopa1]

As a cashier I have had about 15+ years of experience in that area. Some customers are just dumbasses and they just go around with a chip on their shoulder all the time, like they're just looking for someone they can get into trouble.
I've had many great days ruined because I would get called into the office and told by management that a customer complained on me, and I know I didn't do anything wrong. It has almost caused me to quit a couple of jobs, because I'll be damned if I'm going to get into trouble when I know I didn't do anything wrong.
The lady sounds like she just had no patience, and she expects you to check people out at the speed of light. I'm sure management will tell you to just take it 1 customer at a time and focus on the one in front of you.
Btw, any manager that will write you up because a customer had to wait their turn in line, there's a little section we call "Moron's In Management".
to customerssuck.com btw

[mikoyan29]

Back when I was a cashier, if I didn't have enough quarters I would not give out more than a couple dollars in change. If people wanted quarters they could go to the desk.

[Supermarket Slave Girl]

Could you have asked the lady if she minded that you go get change real quick, most people don't mind, but walking away from your register and just leaving her standing there is kind of rude I doubt I would have appreciated it.

Also try not to talk to your friends when you have customers to serve, save that for when they leave and you have a slow spell.

[Plaidman]

Wow. You were talking to your friend when a customer is there? Not very professional. I do it too, but my focus is on the customers, and my friends know that, and in fact several even try to help if they can.

You could have at the very least told customer that you had to get more quarters, rather then storm off, then act the way you did when she rightfully complained. Seriously not cool at all.

[Kheldarson]

Wow...do you work at my store? Because you sound like a lot of my co-workers. I'm sure if you had apologized to the customer instead of blowing her off to talk to your friend, you wouldn't have gotten the complaint made. Even if she's "that kind of customer" doesn't give you the right to blow her off.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

IMO, shooting the shit with a friend when you have customers in line is a little more than "nothing." I probably would've complained about that myself.

As for leaving the register to get more quarters--I'm not going to blame you much for that. You got wiped out by somebody making an unusual request for their change and nobody got to you the first time, so in that case the situation was more sucky than you were.

Perhaps next time you could just give the customer their change as you normally would and then send them to the service desk to get quarters. At my store a request like that probably wouldn't be handled at the register because of the possibility of fraud.

[underemployeed]

I could have supported you had you said "I'm sorry" you don't have to mean it just say it. Although, I gather she had went to another line by that point because if she was still waiting and you went back to talking I would have complained too. Especially, If I wasn't told you were getting change, personally if this happened and I was next in line, I'm gonna pay credit and there no reason to have me waste time waiting for you to get change that isn't going to affect the transaction. but yeah CSMs do suck, A LOT. I had to wait 15 min for change once and that was only because the department manger in sporting goods flagged down another employee and made them bring her a CSM since they weren't responding. Every request she said i was there waiting they claimed they had no idea a customer was involved or they would have been right back.

I hate our one greeter at wal-mart, I can't wait till next time she stops me because I'm gonna go right to management and complain now that I know how their system works after getting no response from the last time I was profiled. Of course now I got their DMs # in my phone. It was funny, I called another wal-mart since it was black friday to see what they were doing about asking for receipts described my situation in detail and they said no i shouldn't have been stopped and handed me off to memeber from the DMs team that was there and wanted me to personally call him. Alas, should have been writing names down threw whole incident because they won't look at the camera to know what employee was there.

Sometimes you just have to realize, you do work for the idiots as much as nobody wants to admit it. Hopefully, they don't get you fired for being over sensitive or impatient.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I personally would have complained about you talking to your friend. I once had to report a fellow cashier for doing just that; she would spend practically the whole shift yammering away to her friend and ignoring customers.

Basically, talk to your friends when it's slow, not when there's customers waiting to be served. Yes, this lady sounds like a moron, but there's no point in just handing weapons to these people. You gave her an excuse to complain; if all she'd complained about was having to wait in line, management would have blown her off.

[South Texan]

Hi and WELCOME!!!

Please take the comments to your post in the spirit they are intended. Many times, responses are made to help the OP avoid a situation a second time. That may mean the responses point out things that could have been handled differently.

This is a great place to unload, though, and your job has you sitting in SC Central. Please tell us of your next encounter.

[Ree]

Please take the comments to your post in the spirit they are intended. Many times, responses are made to help the OP avoid a situation a second time. That may mean the responses point out things that could have been handled differently.

We also have a policy here at CS that people come here to vent, and calling people out and failing to see the suck is also against the site's policy.

If comment are made in a constructive and positive manner, that's one thing, but there have been several comments made that come off as more of a lecture to the OP than a polite explanation of how the OP contributed to cause the situation.

[tollbaby]

Keeping Ree's previous post in mind, I'm trying to offer my opinion in a positive, constructive tone and not lecture. To be honest, the entire tone of your post suggests that you hate your job and would be happier elsewhere. Viewing your entire customer base as "these idiots" will not make your job any easier.

It's your job to serve "these idiots". The entire reason you're employed is to help them. From what you've said, you consider that to be an inconvenience. I used to have much the same attitude at my first retail job. I got fired. Managers can tell when someone's literally just there for the paycheck at the end of the week, and when someone's actually interested in *working* for that paycheck. Quite understandably, they'd rather have the latter.

I think perhaps you'd enjoy your job more and probably annoy your customers less if you tried to look at it as actually helping people. They need you in order to complete their business in your store. Every last person that comes through your line requires your assistance. That puts you in a position of being able to either be benevolent and help them, or be a crabby jerk and refuse them the assistance they need I started to feel a lot better about customer service once I started looking at it like that. I'm the girl with all the answers, I'm the one with access to the cash register, and they're coming to ME for help

Yes, some of them are idiots and some of them are jerks (otherwise sites like this wouldn't exist). But I think you'll find that if you apply yourself to your job, the vast majority of them are pretty decent folks who just want to finish their shopping and go home Sadly, if you're unable to adopt some version of this attitude, you're always going to hate your job and customers will keep making complaints. Good luck!

[Ree]

I agree with what many are saying here.

The thing is, you claim that you have been working as a cashier for 3 years and this is the first time a customer has complained about you.

That tells me you have either been hiding your contempt for the customers very well, or else nobody has ever noticed or bothered to complain before. (Knowing the retail environment as I do, I find that very hard to believe if this is the normal way that you approach your job.)

Since you haven't posted any other stories about your job, or replied to anyone in this thread, it's unfair to assume this is the norm for your work environment.

Sometimes, we get new members who are so grateful to finally have an outlet to vent, that they will go way over the top describing their hatred of their customers.
The reality is, they don't really hate them as much as they have stated.
They are just frustrated and upset, and in many cases, have been holding it all in for so long that when it does come out, it's pure venom.

It's very difficult to judge based on only one post.

You joined the site, posted this and went offline, all in the space of less than 10 minutes, and you do not appear to have not been back since.

This may well be your only post now that you have it out of your system.

I would hope you will be back to share more with us, though.

As the others have said, in the future, you will make it a lot easier on yourself if you just excuse yourself to the customer and explain that you have to slip away for a second to get some change, and then refrain from visiting with friends when you return, and tend to the customer who has been left waiting.

Again, it's unclear if this "friend" was actually another coworker, or a friend of yours who was loitering in your workplace. If it's another coworker, then you can always talk to them after the customer has been served and has left.
If it's a loitering friend, that is really unprofessional.