Tips From a Cashier/Cashier Rant

xo_morgan

i was a cashier for about 5 years, Waitressed for 2 and i've currently been at my reception job for 3. So pretty much since i could work i was in customer service & i can honestly say not a lot of those things bother me. The main would be to be polite. IMO you have to have the skin to deal with peoples quirks & youre obviously going to have creepy old men hitting on you, rude old ladies expecting you to cater to them, children who are loud and obnoxious, just regular plain out rude people, most of the time you just have to blow it off.

The way i see it is, yes you'll have regulars who are just grumpy all the d@mn time..but if youre going to tell people to "consider youre a person too" then you need to consider that you dont know what THAT person is going through. No, i dont agree they need to take their anger out on a cashier/customer service employee. But just suck it up. for every rude person there are 5 nice ones

The only thing i could say that REALLY bothers me about my job now (as a receptionist) is when people breath loudly in my office, i know, its weird and petty...but i just cant stand hott loud breath in my office. Also, when someone shows up an hour early for an interview. We have no place to put you, so thank you for taking up and hour of my reading time. But usually i just suck it up, start up a conversation, and most of them end up being pretty nice people.

Weathers58

So they build a store with 25 cashier points and it gets really busy. so they put extra staff on and increase the cashier points from 7 to 9 leaving 16 closed.....and wonder why people get upset.

This of course is the stores fault not the cashiers and I always treat people with respect unitl the demonstrate otherwise and then I flick their ears and karate chop their necks gently until they tell me to stop......then I keep doing it and annoy them.

Subtle irritation is much better for the sould than all out confrontation.

I go to work for the latter.

Love and Peace to all cashiers (and karate chops and the hand of calm) xxx

ElizabethRoad

*If you have a cold item that you get to the register and decide you don't want, PLEASE take it back to the freezer, if you don't, no matter how long you've had it out, we HAVE TO THROW IT AWAY. Such a waste of good food.

It's actually not OK to put back a cold item after you've wandered around the store with it for an hour, so I'm going to have to disagree for food safety's sake.

I was a cashier and supervisor for years, and I understand your frustrations. However let me give you a tip from a customer's point of view: respect and courtesy go both ways. When I was doing that job we were expected to greet the customer and focus on them, not continue chatting with our co-workers while ringing up the order. That seems to have gone out the window now, and it's pretty frakking annoying.

catshark209

Many reasonable points, about common courtesy, but let me throw one in from the other side:

Dear cashier: Don't bother me with the inane details of your life at the check out line. We do not talk to the help.

Wow.
:huh:

iuew

i worked two summers as a cashier. i didn't enjoy it, and $4.45 an hour certainly wasn't worth it.

customers believe that you are their punching bag, and are often rude. since becoming a customer, i do not give any cashier / waiter / waitress any crap, ever.

as a customer, i have a couple pet peeves.

1. there should be a separate line for extreme coupons / lottery. not because i have anything against coupons, but because many couponers pick the wrong item and then argue and argue over amounts as little as ten cents. my fantasy is to pull out a dime and slam it down on the counter in front of the person arguing for the ten cents. i have not done this yet, as it would most likely cause an altercation.

2. if you're ordering ten footlong subs for everyone that you know and taking orders over the phone while standing in front of me in line, don't stand in front of me in line. i just want one six inch and a bag of chips, and i know what i want on it. also, if you're in line for fifteen minutes in front of me, take that time to figure out what you want to order.

3. please get off the phone while interacting with the cashier.

4. it's cool to talk to the cashier about nothing, but please don't slow them down, and if there are ten people behind you in line, don't prolong the agony for an additional few minutes by refusing to terminate the conversation.

_binary_jester_

A LOT of rules.

Can't I just leer at her and pay my change out of my dirty sock?

rml_16

Many reasonable points, about common courtesy, but let me throw one in from the other side:

Dear cashier: Don't bother me with the inane details of your life at the check out line. We do not talk to the help.

Wow.
:huh:

I'm choosing to assume that was a joke.

But I have heard people get really angry if a cashier asks them about something they're buying, which I don't understand. I've been asked before, something they hadn't seen or were curious what I do with it. I'm always happy to answer. I even gave my smoothie recipe to one because she commented about all the frozen fruit I bought.

pinkhu13

1. My light is OFF so don't get in my line (I used to get a sick pleasure out of telling people I'm closed).

2. I'm a cashier. Do not ask me where you can find this or that. I do not know every single item that the store sells. How about you stop being lazy and look at the sign.

3. This one's more general: Do not ask me ANYTHING when I am off duty whether it be before I start or after I'm done.

Edit: I am not a cashier anymore. Thank heavens.

amymeenieminymo

bump for later

greeneyes191

I've been on both sides of the fence. Either way, there is no reason to treat people rude. It upsets me when either a customer or a cashier is nasty for no apparent reason. We are all human - we all put our pants on the same way every morning - one leg at a time.
I think my biggest pet peeve is the fact that some cashier's can't make change. My purchase is $0.76. I give the cashier $1.01. I want a quarter back - DUH.
In defense of the cashier - some teacher in school isn't getting the message across.

Eaglesfanintn

I had a lot of jobs in retail - cashier, stock boy, cart coraller, waiter, bartender, manager and so on.
I don't do that anymore, but I try very hard to be as courteous, pleasant and friendly with those that do work in retail/restaurants as I can. It's a tough job and I've always said that everyone should do it for a weekend - just to see what it's like.

dlw13

Thank God for self check out lanes.

NBabi91

I COMPLETELY AGREE with this rant. I am a cashier and a great people person, BUT people need to not be jerks to cashiers. I feel as if I am my towns punching bag. Everyone comes into a food store and takes out their aggression on the cashiers. Now that I am a supervisor it is even worse lol.

MassiveDelta

"What time do you finish, love?" (Always by some old, creepy guy)

I am sooo not telling you that, you'll blatantly be waiting by my car with your favourite murderin' axe!

Favorite murderin' axe! LMAO

FadedFreckles

Thank God for self check out lanes.

Nooooo!

"unscanned item in bagging area!" Arrrggghhh!!!! Lol

EmCarroll1990

No but if I post all the complaints than nobody else will have anything to add. =P I don't know how much it varies. That was just my experience at Target.

Let me suggest, as diplomatically as I can, that you should consider another line of work, if you haven't already. Clearly, you don't have the temperament to work with the public.

Some of the stuff you mention, however, isn't going to go away just because you change jobs. People will always comment on your weight if, as it appears, you're a full-grown woman who weighs less than the average-sized cocker spaniel. I was shocked when I saw your profile and your pictures. I'm sorry to say that, but it's true. So are the people who go through your line.

What you do about that is up to you.

*sighs*

Why did you have to pick on that one thing in the whole of the OP? Needless and rude IMO.

Oh, and I could relate to every single thing on the list, yet my customer service is impeccable. Just because customers irritate us doesn't necessarily mean that we have to lower ourselves to their standards.

There. That feels better.

I'm sorry, but I don't think they were rude in any way. Simply concerned. Her GW is 75 lbs...

beckajw

I used to be a cashier and I understand some of your points. I did have rude customers who spoke to me as if I was ignorant (not knowing that I had a masters degree). I had customers that didn't want the rules to apply to them when it came to pricing and returns. I had long hard days.

However, I also had customers who were just having a bad day. Shopping is therapy for some and MY job was to be NICE to THEM. It was NOT their job to be nice to me.

As a cashier, your JOB is customer service. If you don't like doing it, find another job. There's nothing I hate more than having worked all day and then going to the store to pick up necessary items and getting attitude from the cashier because he/she doesn't want to be there any more. There are a lot of people out there who need a job and are willing to take a little 'crap" from people for a pay check. Let them have your job.

And as much as I appreciate your comment about keeping cold stuff together, I do that, and I'm always getting a cashier that puts cold food items in with non-cold food items instead of packing them together. Maybe, just maybe, that happened one to many times to the *person* you are thinking of and they gave up--why bother??

We all have jobs to do. We all probably have times when we don't like our jobs. But those customers you complain about don't owe anything to you. If it wasn't for them, you wouldn't have a job at all. So, be a little appreciative of people who spend money at your store--whether or not they are nice to you.

maab_connor

oh, this is NOTHING. i worked third shift at a truck stop for three years. ppl think that b/c there's a shower, it's ok if they come into the STORE in a towel. and talk about getting hit on! OMG!! i actually bought a fake ring to wear, and i STILL got hit on. and ppl are NASTY. and we got robbed. and i was on a first-name basis with the local PD. i got screamed at when i would DARE to card someone for cigs. or when i explained that, in this state, you legally cannot sell beer at a fuel stop... apparently that was my fault.

but it had good points too. bands would come in. i got a LOT of autographs. and i could take out my TERRIBLE French when spring break hit in Qubec. and anyone who's gonna work 3rd shift at a truck stop is my kind of crazy. and my regular drivers were a kick.

so yeah, it was a *kitten* job, but it had it's good points.

crazycat80

1. Please don't throw a bunch of T-bone steaks, KC Strips, and everything you need to throw a fabulous party onto the belt, ***** loudly about the expense of food, then hand me your EBT card, which once you are done, still has over $400 in funds on it.

2. Don't request that I put a third of your stuff back after you reach the line because you don't have the money; it's not hard to mentally add up the basic numbers in your head while adding it to your cart.

3. And while doing #2 above, please keep your kids from stealing the candy behind you... yes, I see them putting it in their pockets and I'm going to say something.

4. Find better fake IDs for your booze.

5. I've worked retail for 7 years, understand that I'm going to get suspicious when you attempt to write me a check for over $300 worth of groceries. I understand it can happen, but when I ask for your ID, don't feed me BS that your wallet is in the car. Hand over the stolen checks and leave.

PS. I no longer work in any type of customer service. After this and a call center, I was burned out. I can't even stand talking on the phone to people anymore. Granted, I made a lot of friends and had a lot of customers that I loved, but it's a tough job and it totally changed my attitude in how I deal with people in a public facing position.

greeneyes191

I don't think I've ever been rude to a cashier unless they treated me poorly to begin with. HOWEVER, I have talked back to that canned voice at the self checkout - she is totally rude and pushy!! LOL

EmCarroll1990

2. Don't request that I put a third of your stuff back after you reach the line because you don't have the money; it's not hard to mentally add up the basic numbers in your head while adding it to your cart.

Actually, I've done this. And it's super embarrassing. I cannot mentally add 40 things, just doesn't work in my brain.

Kandy4mel

I can totally relate to you. I work at a small family owned grocery store and currently we are doing a twelve week promotion ( thank God there are only 3 weeks left) and you have to give customers a punch card and when they fill the punch the service desk will scratch the back and most people win a dollar. Ive been in retail 6 years so I admit I'm getting burnt out but this topped the cake the other day. This guy came thrum my line and I asked if he had his card. He said no he forgot it. Then he asked if he could get another one and proceeded to REACH under MY counter pick up a card HAND it to ME while saying " please pretty please can I get a new card" so I snatched the cards up and noticeably moved them closer to where they couldn't be reached and then punched his card.

SoDamnHungry

Anyway, I hate when I turn off my light and check out the last person and the next thing I know I see three more people get in my line. I simply say "I'm closed" and they usually go away.

Amen!

HotCuppaJo

I used to work at Home Depot - men would bring up a loaded flat bed and wouldn't lift a finger to help as I'm trying to lift their 90 pounds of plywood to scan a bar code on the items underneath. It drove me crazy.

I work in an office now. I'm pretty sure the phone directory says if you want to ramble on for hours to someone who has no idea what you're talking about here's who to call and gives my number. After I told someone today I didn't work in the department he needed, I didn't know anything that could possibly help him since I didn't work in that department he still proceeded to talk for 15 minutes. I offered to transfer him to the proper people but he declined and continued telling his story. Okay then.

Still not as wild as the woman who told me her vagina hurts. I may never meet anyone that tops that. I do not work in an office that has anything to do w/vaginas.

LOL....wow, talking about one's vagina?!?! She must have been having a ROUGH DAY!! (Too fricken funny!)

kapeluza

I thought this might be fun, especially for those of you who have worked as a cashier before.
But I thought I'd throw up a post where those of us who have been cashiers, can post things that really irked us, things customers would do.
I use to cashier for Target before I moved across country, us employee's had a running list of our pet peeves.



*Not using a bar to separate orders. I don't read minds, I can't tell where your order starts and stops.

*Don't ask me if I'm 'open'. I'm standing right here, my light is on, I'm looking at you, YES I'M OPEN.

*Don't wait till the last five minutes we're open to try and check out. I realize you probably think "oh but I'm just one person" no, your not, because everybody is thinking that. People like you are the reason that we not only close 20 minutes later than we're supposed to, but also the reason that regardless of the fact that I was supposed to get off at 11:30, I now have to stay until 12am to catch up on zoning.

*If you suddenly decide you don't want something, hand it to me, don't put it on the drink cooler or ontop of the gum display. Would you like somebody doing that to you?

*If you have a cold item that you get to the register and decide you don't want, PLEASE take it back to the freezer, if you don't, no matter how long you've had it out, we HAVE TO THROW IT AWAY. Such a waste of good food.

*If you read a sign wrong, don't expect me to still mark down the item. First of all, it's not even for this item, second of all, It's not our fault you read just what you wanted to see instead of the whole sign.

*Don't talk on your cell phone while we're checking you out, it's rude.

*When we try to sell you something like a store card, don't get an attitude with me, if I don't ask you, I could lose my job.

*Try to keep in mind that all cashiers do, is check people out. We don't control prices, we don't control inventory, we don't control whether or not a product is damaged. If while I'm checking you out, I notice one of your items is damaged and am nice enough to tell you, don't go ape**** on me; I didn't have to tell you.


*Cashiers are people too, you may be having a bad day, but remember that we have our own problems. Taking out your anger on us... It does nobody any good. We have our own problems, not to mention we've been standing for 8+ hours and are tired too but we're still friendly (or at least I was).

*While unloading your products onto my conveyor belt, please let it make sense. Don't give me two things of cleaner than a long line of random food items followed by clothes, more cleaner and other random crap. We have to bag things a certain way, cold food with cold food, cans with cans, cleaners/non-food items separate, not to mention we're scored on our speed, the longer it takes you to unload your belt, the more likely it is I'll get 'talked to' about being to slow.

*If I can't give you proper directions, don't get mad at me. I'm exhausted. Here's a map.


*If you're returning an item and it's past the 90 day return policy, yelling at me won't suddenly turn back time. You missed the 90 day's, the end.


*Yes, I notice when you stare at my boobs. It's rude and it makes me uncomfortable to the point where I want to quit my job.


*I don't know what kids are into these days. Drugs? Don't ask me.


*I truly appreciate customers who are friendly and are willing to hold a conversation with me. I'm more likely to help them out if something goes wrong. I'm also more likely to offer them a discount on an item with an extra coupon I have (yes it's allowed don't worry).

*Being rude to me and expecting me to still want to help you is not how it works. If you're rude to me, I will not go above and beyond to satisfy you, I will do jack **** and let you leave pissed. I'm a human being, not a floor mat.


*I don't mind throwing away your trash for you, I have a trash can, but don't leave it at my register without saying a word. It's extremely disrespectful.


*Don't make comments about my weight, when the hell is that an appropriate thing to do to a stranger?


*Don't hit on me, especially after you've been staring at my boobs. Especially since I look 15 and you're definitely older than thirty.

*If you put an item on my belt that weighs more than 30lbs, don't expect me to lift it. Take note of my size, there is no way in hell I'll do that without breaking my back.


*Extreme coupon'ers.. We hate you. I realize you save a boatload of cash but you don't need thirty things of mayo and I don't want to sit here for an hour reading all your coupons to make sure you're within the coupon rules.
T.T


I realize I probably come off like a ***** but... being a cashier changes you. It shows you how people really are, makes you bitter. =p

Anybody have anything more to add?

Thanks, if I ever lose my job, I'm never working as a cashier. I'm traumatized after reading this. Makes sense and I will be more conscious about my checking out habits but....

Charliesuccess

HA!....I laugh in the face of Target! I manage a Family Dollar store part time and let me tell you Its freaking Jerry Springer LIVE an in color every single moment of the work day!!!!!!!!

Your list aint got NOTHING on a Ghetto *kitten* Family Dollar Store!

SinIsIn

Did you add.. "NO we do not take pesos." to your list? LOL

I had a lot of people (i live by the border) come and try to pay with pesos. Um.. no. I don't even know what the exchange rate is people!

Working at Best Buy for 7 years made me hate people... especially the people that would cross over to shop and expect to be waited on hand and foot because they were paying in .... CASH! Um.. credit card, check.. gift card.. it's all profit people. You don't get special treatment because you pay Cash. At least you didn't at best buy.

xo_morgan

3 words...
Food Stamp Day.

Every cashiers favorite day of the month:glasses:

thegeordielass

I've never worked in a shop but my sister does and tells me some of the things that happen! She works in home shopping but still has to deal with the people who want her to take them to every item on their shopping list when she has 10 minutes to get the next van out on time or someone who decides it's HER fault the shop doesn't have *inset item* in stock, people who run their trolleys into/over her and don't apologise and more.

I'm pleased over here we all pack our own bags - it annoys me when people try to pack my bags for me. I like things a certain way so I know where it is and so it'll fit nicely in my car. It may not make sense to you but it does me.

I don't want to have a conversation with anyone. I'm there to buy food/supplies and you're there to serve me - lets not pretend we're going to be best friends and have a conversation about what we're doing at the weekend. I don't know you - why would I want to tell you about my personal life? That doesn't mean I won't be polite and say 'hi' or thanks' but I want to know about your life as much as you want to know about mine - not at all.

I would use self service checkouts to dodge the conversations but they always involve an error message then having to wait for the 1 poor person who got the job of looking after 12 of the things all beeping at once - all of which mean I'm stood staring/waiting for 10 minutes getting more and more irritated/bored.

On on the subject of self service checkouts. It's "10 items or fewer" not "10 items or less". If supermarkets can't be bothered to get the signs right, don't get upset if I can't be bothered to follow them - especially if there's huge queues everywhere else.

And semi-tying in with the no conversation thing I mentioned. Don't look at me funny/look down on me because of what I'm buying. I realise I sometimes buy strange collections of items (the joys of being a Guide Leader!) which may look like I'm about to kidnap someone/write random notes/eat my weight in food in 1 night but I'm not!

Sp1nGoddess

Having been a cashier I cannot tolerate the slow as crap- give you a dirty look -don't care if I have a job cashier. That being said I will seek out the upbeat, fast cashier or the one I remember was fast. I worked retail during the holidays both as a cashier and as a sales person and I have deep sympathy for dealing with crappy customers but I know the job too and won't tolerate bad service.

Also we used to turn out our lights when our shift ended indicating we were closed. I always avoid the cashier with their light out.

People just need to learn to be more polite in general on both sides of the counter.