Everyone should work in retail at some point in their life. It gives you an appreciation and an understanding for those who serve you in a retail position. Now that being said, it’s becoming EXTREMELY clear that most customers don’t realize the true power, or lack-there-of that a cashier posses. In general, we can’t change the price of something, offer discounts on the spot, fix the many flaws you’ve found within the store, choose the product that reaches the shelves- we can merely pass the word on. Heck, if a cashier had that power, then whoa baby, fun times!
But no, we don’t. So, before you yell at me and the large cashier population, stop and realize that I really just point you to the product your looking for and then ring it in for you.
This being said, I’m not an idiot. And I’m certianly not undeserving of respect. So, for anyone who EVER treats a cashier like they’re below them…back -up buddy!
Which brings me to my biggest pet peeve. When I’m ringing through a customer, normally I tend to ask if you’d like a bag right before I scan everything. Sometimes, I don’t. At these times I usually a) have looked at your ONE items and figured you didnt need it and if you did you would ask b) I am going to ask you once the transaction has been put through c) I have forgotten. By no means does that give you the right to reach over the counter and down to the bags and try to yank the bag out yourself. NEVER. You are now invading MY workspace. Would you reach behind someones desk? , No. Look, if I’ve forgotten and you ASK for a bag because I’ve forgotten…I’ll give it to you. I just plain ol’ forgot. But it’s rude and frankly REALLY uncomfortable to have someone encroach on my personal/work space.
And what’s with all these sour grape routines. If I’m nice to you, you can be nice back. If I was a jerk to you, then you can be a jerk back!
So, next time you’re the customer, keep in mind that the people that are ringing you through are there doing their job and they aren’t there trying to screw you over.
PS.
Most customers are kind, but it’s shocking to see the numbers that aren’t and for what reasons.
—Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places!
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.
Everyone should work at a nuclear power plant at one point in their life, you know, just to learn the appreciation that ions and plutonium deserve.
Just saying…
You don’t need an education to be a cashier, but to understand the intricacies of nuclear fission, one needs an education. It’s a valid bitch, I think everyone should either have to spend at least a year in retail cash or in food service.
It is an excellent idea that we all shuffle jobs like musical chairs. The variety would be so refreshing! Who’s up for a job swap?
The longer you do that shit the more apathetic you get.
Talk to some of the “lifers” as we’d call them…most don’t give two shits about anything.
Egad! That’s too bad, so sad.
They don’t sound like they got much ‘life’ left in ’em to be calling ’em “lifers”.
I agree with you kinda. If someone can get a great job and avoid cashier/food service jobs then I highly recommend it, but only for those who are empathetic and understanding and respectful….otherwise painful customers should have to endure jobs like that since they have no capacity to put themselves in other peoples shoes.
I have worked retail for some time now
Everyone should work in an out bound call center… its crap i did it for 2 years but i will never be rude to a call center agian!
I think “customer service departments” and department stores in general turned what was once a standard retail environment of haggling for price and terms into a clinical and cold environment for the buyer. It is still your right to haggle for price but these modern methods of commerce (and in-store security) have clouded what you’re really doing when parting with your cash… you’re making a deal. OP, you’re just caught in weird time where most of the people have an old fashion expectation when it comes to making deals with their money. The new generation, it wouldn’t even dawn on them to approach a store owner to make a proposal nor that it used to be a “normal” way of doing business. OP, you’ll find love in the faces of our youth but not so much in a resentful elder population.
That’s like saying everyone should be a rail ridin’ hobo for at least 2 years so they really get to know what it’s like to be poor.
Erroneous!
Hover a mile in my shoes as the saying goes.
I’ve worked my share of mind-numbing close-to-minimum-wage jobs, and I have to agree with the sentiment that everyone should work at one for a year or so for a number of reasons. One, they’d realize why we have food banks. Two, they’d realize why it’s so tough to break out of that cycle. Three, they’d realize that a lot of these crap “no education” jobs actually require some skill to do.
One lousy job that I have never worked at is retail. I simply couldn’t do it – the first disrespectful customer and I’d lose it. My hat’s off to the cashiers who can survive all the assholes. Although I know from experience that a lot of cashiers pay the price in peace of mind.
My youngest sister works as a cashier at the Dartmouth Crossing Costco. When shopping there if she’s on shift I make a point of going through her till or one next to it – if I ever see her getting disrespect from some dirtbag customer I’m tracking the fucker down in the parking lot.
I’m pretty sure your sister isn’t supposed to serve you, Realist. Most stores have policies against cashiers serving family/friends…but whatever.
You guys DO realize customer service is just the biggest PR stunt in history, right?
PK, you may be right…in theory. I’m just a customer myself, so I’ve never heard of anything like that, but that’s not to say that it isn’t true in any number of stores.
Having said that, I have no idea how it could be enforced anyway. Store staff aren’t typically going to know who everyone else’s relatives are. What if your sister the cashier has the shortest lineup by far…are you supposed to suffer in a long lineup? What if things are slow at a Sobey’s at 3 AM and your relative is the *only* cashier handy because the other one is in the washroom? It doesn’t seem like a practical policy.
Oppie, I enjoyed reading your post….I am a pleasant person but if I get a cashier or CSR who is oozing tude then I absorb it and it is on….. I think it never hurts to give folks a reminder that we all have a role to do and we all deserve respect until further notice…..sometimes we leave our manners in kindergarten