Tips From a Cashier/Cashier Rant

SteelySunshine

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.

Nice attitude. So, you are looking for a paid punching bag. And better yet one that is paid by someone else, well paid from customer funds, but really it's a shared cost, I sense you might be a commie or something (probably something as in you are something else, and I don't mean that in the nicest way possible). I gotta tell ya I don't mind so much being a punching bag, but I have a tendency to punch back and I have had customers thrown out. Not even the manager of a store is going to take all the crap all the time.

Grimmerick

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.

This pisses me off to no end. "if it wasn't for us you wouldn't.have as job" mentality. It may be true but just because I work at a job you deem low and unimportant does not mean I should be treated like a second class citizen. Not directed at you btw.

But I work at a bank as a financial service rep. And that comes with its own head aches. All I ask is do not repeatedly overdraw your account every month then yell at me when you get 750 bucks in overdraft fees. And ask me to refund your fees every single time. We have at least 5 different ways to moniter your account. Pick one and look to see if you have the money before you swipe your card or write that check.

Who cares if it pisses you off? It's the truth. The constant whining about your job is the problem with people today. Yes, I think everyone should be treated with respect. I do treat cashiers, and everyone else I deal with with respect. However, the fact that someone walks into your workplace and is having a bad day and treats you badly is not a reason for you to treat them badly, i.e. dropping their change. You are getting paid to treat them well. They are paying you to treat them well.

If you don't want to deal with people, find a non-customer service job.

Absolutely not. You treat me like crap and I am gonna treat you like crap. Simple as that. I couldn't care less that you have had a bad day, I didn't make your day bad.

I agree with you above poster. I get paid to do my job not to be nice to someone that treats me like dirt. I will be civil and direct if I need to be but I refuse to be nice to someone like that, unless I feel like my being nice will make them feel like crap.
Thats like that BS people try to say about respecting your elders, I will give you an initial respect but if you don't return it then my respect for you goes away and you have to earn it back. You don't just get to have it because you are older than me.

moosegt35

You're walking into the store anyway, bring a shopping cart or two along with you from the parking lot.

um, what? no.

(i am conscious of my own cart; i am not about to troll the parking lot looking for ones other people left, because, i don't work there?)

pure laziness. I do this sometimes as I don't want the cart that I parked next to, due to lazy people, hitting my car so I just go ahead and wheel it inside and use it.

moosegt35

I used to be a cashier back in the day when kids could buy smokes for parents with a note supposedly written by a parent.
The only bad thing I can remember are the teenagers who thought they could steal candy bars without even really hiding it because I was a teenager and shouldn't care. I kicked a lot of them after yelling at them and some were banned by the maanger thinking I wouldn't care if they came in on my shift. So glad it was corner store and the manager didn't mind if I yelled at people who deserved it (only shoplifters, I was nice to everyone else).
Cashiers today, please don't act like you're doing me favour by honouring the sale price tag on the shelf for an item. I don't care if your register brought up a higher price, that isn't my problem. Do your job and give me the item for free as stated in the scanning code of practice which your store displays at the register and customer service desk. Hem and haw all you want, but see how you realized that you had no choice? All other cashiers at this store automatically go, ooops, sorry, looks like you get that item for free (or $10 off if it is over $10), not just try to make the price be what it was supposed to be. This lady actually acted all put out because I said "Scanning code of practice? It is free now, right?" and sighed, said "oh... alright..." then had attitude the rest of the transaction. This was today, might actually complain about this one.

Yes, please complain because you got your item at the price you were supposed to get it instead of free. Wow.

moosegt35

*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.

:huh: All I can think about is that you need to start lifting. Seriously.

Yeah, you try reaching across the belt and lifting something heavy that's an odd shape, then trying to turn and place it in someone's cart at another odd angle, or behind you on a table. Then do that 50 times a day.

I have. I also worked at a steakhouse restaurant for 4 years carrying trays well over 30#, bending and twisting and shifting to get around. 30# is definitely workable. Strength training will fix that problem.

Um, the OP barely weighs 100 pounds. Probably a little different for her.

eric_sg61

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

Any service job shows you how people really are.

erulasse

I've actually been called a C**T by a customer for having a closed till.

People are disgusting.

TwinkieDong

I find emails and such like this just whining. Why? If you do not like your job or where you work it is simple....move on. If you are not happy being a cashier, go to college progress in life.

Instead of emails like this I would rather read something like this.... to the last customer in the store when I was at the cash register, THANK YOU. It was you who made me realize what dead end job I had. Since then I moved on to college and now I am a high priced lawyer....

MyChocolateDiet

For me, these are the most divisive threads ever. Worse than the racial ones. May I kindly recommend this idea of a place to rant by cashiers be taken to a private group? Just for my own sanity. As a shopper. Okay as a shopaholic?

Joreanasaurous

I worked a Lowe's when I was younger. My biggest pet peeves were:

Don't come around the register hover directly behind me in my personal space to make sure I scan everything at the correct price.

We ask for ID for all credit card purchases. No, you aren't excluded. If it isn't your credit card you can't use it. No excuses. Threaten to call corporate all you want to have me fired all you want. It is their rules.

At the time I was a 93 pound girl, you really expect me to load a 300 pound item for you in your car while you and your 5 friends watch?

And everything else everyone else said.

MyChocolateDiet

I find emails and such like this just whining. Why? If you do not like your job or where you work it is simple....move on. If you are not happy being a cashier, go to college progress in life.

Instead of emails like this I would rather read something like this.... to the last customer in the store when I was at the cash register, THANK YOU. It was you who made me realize what dead end job I had. Since then I moved on to college and now I am a high priced lawyer....

Or THANK YOU final customer at the cash register, thanks to you shopping at my work I had a job that put me through college and did not have to take my clothes off on a pole to do it.

bregalad5

I find emails and such like this just whining. Why? If you do not like your job or where you work it is simple....move on. If you are not happy being a cashier, go to college progress in life.

Some of us are in school and need a part-time job to help pay our bills... As I said in my post, not all of us are uneducated idiots.

MyChocolateDiet

Oh oh also. If you come to the fast food restaurant I work in and you ask for salt to put on your food, I judge you *so* hard. It's already got a ton in!

Also I hate people who have a massssive wodge of notes (UK, so it's not like they could be $1 bills) that they rifle through trying to find one to pay with. Yes, I've been there before where I happen to have three 20s in my purse and that's all so I have to pay for something that's like £1.99 with one, but why would anyone carry more than £200 just in their regular billfold thing?

What? Now we can't ask for salt or have money? Are. You. Serious?

erulasse

I find emails and such like this just whining. Why? If you do not like your job or where you work it is simple....move on. If you are not happy being a cashier, go to college progress in life.

Instead of emails like this I would rather read something like this.... to the last customer in the store when I was at the cash register, THANK YOU. It was you who made me realize what dead end job I had. Since then I moved on to college and now I am a high priced lawyer....

It's NOT a complaint about our job. I happen to LOVE serving those decent, lovely customers and enjoy meeting them... But some of you need to understand that just because we're serving you, it doesn't make us your SLAVE.
Have a bit of common decency and stop treating us like ****.

Also, I found this thread more humorous than whiny... Because it's all so ridiculous, yet so true.

moosegt35

I find emails and such like this just whining. Why? If you do not like your job or where you work it is simple....move on. If you are not happy being a cashier, go to college progress in life.

Instead of emails like this I would rather read something like this.... to the last customer in the store when I was at the cash register, THANK YOU. It was you who made me realize what dead end job I had. Since then I moved on to college and now I am a high priced lawyer....

First off, this isn't an e-mail. Secondly, a lot of people work these jobe WHILE in college in order to pay for college. Shocking information, I know.

lausa22

I worked as a cashier and on the shop floor. I hated it, but I think as long as you're not actually complaining to the customer and you're getting the job done then what's the harm?
I constantly moaned about my job when I wasn't working, and I advised everyone I spoke to never to work for the particular company I worked for at the time.

It put money in the bank, that's all I was concerned of as a college student!

I actually had people shout abuse at me because they thought an item they gave me was on 'sale' and it wasn't, I proved them wrong by showing them the offer was for a different item and they flipped and complained to my supervisor.
I don't understand what's wrong with some people, what's wrong with being nice to the person that's serving you? I'm always nice to the cashier whenever I'm shopping, and to all the floor staff. It's a hard job to be on the floor.

moosegt35

For me, these are the most divisive threads ever. Worse than the racial ones. May I kindly recommend this idea of a place to rant by cashiers be taken to a private group? Just for my own sanity. As a shopper. Okay as a shopaholic?

you could probably just stay out of the thread

ldrosophila

I barely read the old OP and skimmed the comments.

My take people suck whatever your job is. You could be the most qualified doctor in the world and have a patient yelling at you for not prescribing them perscription pain killers, or be a pure research scientist and have your boss yelling at you for no reason.

It's work people you have a job yeah it can suck at times, but it's the nature of the beast as long as you are working with humans.

Either suck it up buttercup or find a new job, but expect new problems.

welly5

I've never been a cashier, but I worked in retail (high end shoe stores) all through university so I totally empathize with the frustration of having to serve the general public day in and day out.

The most annoying/hilarious request was customers who would hand me a shoe and say "can I have this in my size please?"

"Certainly, what size do you wear?"

"Oh, um. I don't know"

????? How can so many people not know their shoe size? How did the expensive shoes they are currently wearing get into their wardrobe if they have never bought shoes before?

LilRedRooster

*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.

It gets worse when you're a student nurse, trust me. But I totally feel your pain with this one!!

It's even worse when you work as a CNA or nurse in a nursing home, because boundaries disappear, and they don't even bother with hitting on you first. They just go in for the kill and pretend that their eyesight is THAT bad..

Joreanasaurous

Oh. And don't tell me about your herpes. I. Don't. Want. To. Know.

And if you threaten to dismember me, I will refuse to check you out. Same with spitting on me, laying our hands on me and threatening me and telling me you are going to follow me out and either harm me or my car. All because I wouldn't accept an expired coupon or your card was declined.

toaster6

Oh. And don't tell me about your herpes. I. Don't. Want. To. Know.

And if you threaten to dismember me, I will refuse to check you out. Same with spitting on me, laying our hands on me and threatening me and telling me you are going to follow me out and either harm me or my car. All because I wouldn't accept an expired coupon or your card was declined.

Oh my god, this. I'm not sure why customers think a cashier has ANY say over whether their card is accepted or not. It's a big hassle for me as well when your card is declined.

I would also like to add: Please stop trying to give me a tip. I'm glad you appreciate my service, really, but I'm not lying to you when I tell you our company doesn't allow cashiers to be tipped. And no, I can't just put it in the till *wink wink*. Overages in my till mean I get audited >_<

Dame_Venus

I liked cashiering because I got to talk to people. I work a desk job now and it gets lonely at times.

Anyhow, something I always found weird about my former job was how many times I heard the words "I'm entitled to...."

For example, one summer our A/C was out for a day. A woman walked in and got upset about it, she had not even picked up anything to buy but came to my register and said "I'm entitled to a discount because the heat is an inconvenience for me."

Or when people brought me expired coupons they would say "I'm entitled to that money off." Once it was for 2 dollars on a purchase that was over 100 dollars.

Sometimes when things were not in stock they would say "I'm entitled to "product A"" and so on.

I heard the term at least once a day.

lausa22

*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.

It gets worse when you're a student nurse, trust me. But I totally feel your pain with this one!!

It's even worse when you work as a CNA or nurse in a nursing home, because boundaries disappear, and they don't even bother with hitting on you first. They just go in for the kill and pretend that their eyesight is THAT bad..

I'm currently a student nurse! On the wards I get all the old men thinking they can touch me when I'm giving them a wash or making their bed! Some of them are flattering because they compliment you and then others just grab at you! I've had to make complaints against some patients because they were harrassing me and the other nurses were worried.

And then of course you get the really ungrateful ones, who no matter what you do it isn't good enough for them. I'm a very patient person, and I love being a nurse, there has only be one man who got on my nerves so much I refused to go back to him for the rest of the day because of how he acted.

CollegiateGrief

I also sold electronics at Circuit City.

Hey, so did I! Circuit City was definitely way better than Chick-Fil-A or Walmart where I also worked in high school and college *shudder* Thank freaking goodness I finally graduated and got a real job.

lilRicki

I wrote one of these 6 years ago when I was a cashier

might be some swearing

this proves that i had to much time on my hands at work...so i thought up some basic rules and considerations when going through a cashier...

1) Don't be my first customer in the morning. I don't care if you're the ****ing archbishop of the Catholic church, I'm going to hate you.

2) Don't look at me in complete disgust when I ask you for a membership card, it's my ****ing job...I know that there are to many cards in this world, but it's still my ****ing job to ask.

3) If you are a member of the place you're shopping at, I shouldn't have to ask for the card...get it out and ready for me...do you know how many times a day i say "are you a worklife rewards member"...you try it.

4) If you're standing infront of a sign that says "till closed" don't expect service...THE TILL IS CLOSED!!!

5) When asking for your phone number in order for you to gain points, don't give it to me like rapid artillery...go slow damn you!

6) Why the hell would you put your purchase as far away from my reach as possible? Do you think I love straining myself to grab your ****?

7) Take your **** out of the basket!! Don't just plop it on the counter and proceed to pick your nose!

8) Please don't fart at my till. You get to walk away, I don't!

9) I don't make the prices!!! If you get it cheaper somewhere else, by all means **** off and go there!!

10) I don't order the products either. If we're out of stock, sucks to be you.

11) Don't throw your money at me! Hand it to me like a civilized human being. I'm not a stripper, nor am I homeless, therefore I don't deserve to have pennies thrown at me.

12) When I answer the phone, I don't give a **** who you are or who you work for. Tell me what the **** you want, or who you want to talk to as fast as possible.

13) If you're in a huge line, and you hear me ask each and every damn person for their membership card, get yours ready. While you're at it, get your method of payment ready because you're the ****s that are holding up the line while you dig around for change.

14) If you grabbed the wrong product, or forgot something, you automatically forfeit your place in line. I'm not holding everyone else up while you **** around.

15) When a new cashier opens a till and says "I can help the next person in line" that doesn't mean the last person...wait your ****ing turn!! People have been waiting longer then you, just because you're faster doesn't mean you deserve to be served first.

16) Although I am ****ing amazing, I don't know the exact price of every god damn thing in the store.

17) If you see me standing next to a till, and I have THE ONLY LIGHT ON IN THE WHOLE STORE...that means I'm open, you don't have to ask.

18) If you have a complaint, I don't care. Don't come to me and think I can fix everything, I'm just a ****ing cashier!

19) Stop asking me if we're going to open another till, clearly if I could get you ****s away from me and pawn you off on someone else, I would.


*no I'm not a cashier anymore, I was putting myself through University...and a LOT of people have felt the same when I posted this on my facebook, so no I don't care if you think I was cranky, it was just a joke.

thetruthrevealed

(1) When i was a cashier and was working for one of the best supermarkets in America, about 3-4 times a day a customer in my line would tell me that they had forgotten their debit and or credit card needed for the transaction. Whats strange is that majority of them dont even ask me if they could go and get it outside. Alot of them tell me Ohh, i accidentally forgot it, its outside in my car. They tell me that its right around the corner and they will be a minute or two. but the reality is that alot of them take literally 10 minutes. Now, i can easily wait for you if there is no one else in the line, but half the time there are other people that come in my line.
(2) To customers: Do not knock into the payment machine with your cart. i know you do it deliberately because this happens to me at least 3-4 times usually on a daily basis. Sometimes I have to go and get my supervisor to fix the thing while this limits the amount of customers in my line.

treetop57

Note to self: Start knocking over the cars at the supermarket. They're full of credit cards.

slkehl

2) Don't look at me in complete disgust when I ask you for a membership card, it's my ****ing job...I know that there are to many cards in this world, but it's still my ****ing job to ask.

11) Don't throw your money at me! Hand it to me like a civilized human being. I'm not a stripper, nor am I homeless, therefore I don't deserve to have pennies thrown at me.

14) If you grabbed the wrong product, or forgot something, you automatically forfeit your place in line. I'm not holding everyone else up while you **** around.

LOL, been there with these

smantha32

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

I can relate. Being a waitress at any point in your life makes you hate humanity too.