Tips From a Cashier/Cashier Rant

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  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I was a cashier back in college, so I tend to be a very good customer. But I've had some very bad cashiers.

    I use reusable bags when I grocery shop. Since I know what a PITA they are to pack and I want my stuff a certain way, I ALWAYS pack my own groceries. I also put them on the conveyor belt in the order I want them rung up so I can bag them the way I like. 99.9% of the time (and this is not an exaggeration), the cashier will reach WAY over what's right up front for something in the back so I have to either ask them to please ring up the thing that's up front (I feel like a jerk) or let things pile up until she does so that I can bag them right. And I'm talking about there will be two things of heavy juice up front and she'll reach over them and grab bread or eggs or a bunch of tiny things that should be on top of the bigger things.

    I totally empathize with a lot of the complaints and try not to be guilty (I NEVER lift heavy things onto the belt, and if I'm behind someone who does it, I'll often tell the person it isn't necessary and that the cashier has a scanning gun -- one jerk actually told me that wasn't true -- but sometimes cashiers make their jobs harder on their own.

    Also, if I want to put my bananas on top of my eggs, let me. I know what I'm doing. Haven't lost an egg yet and I don't need a lecture.
  • sunkisses
    sunkisses Posts: 2,365 Member
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    I was a cashier as my first job and a few others down the road. It definitely helped to solidify my desire to get out of retail.

    - Put your money in the cashier's hands. Cashiers don't make you scrape your change off the counter, so don't make them scrape your payment from there either.
    I use to accidentally on purpose drop a few coins which makes them scramble to pick it up. Only if they put the money on the counter instead of in my waiting hand.

    I used to do the same thing.
  • kayleesays
    kayleesays Posts: 564 Member
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    Cashiering is the worst job I've ever had. I agree wholeheartedly. The worst complaint I had, though, was the horrible amount of standing still. I'm much happier now that I stock/work on the floor. Forced smalltalk with people who want to give me attitude because their day sucked is awful :(
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
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    *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.
    I can't tell you how many times your light ISN'T on. I respect it and go wait in a longer line. There are people who pay NO attention to the light and walk right up and start putting their items on the belt. You (generic cashier you) are open but just never bothered to turn on the light. Bugs me when I follow the "rules" when no one else does.

    So if you're gonna get snarky when I try to ask politely if you're open, I'm gonna give attitude, as well.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
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    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.
  • StrengthIDidntKnow
    StrengthIDidntKnow Posts: 568 Member
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    *Not using a bar to separate orders. I don't read minds, I can't tell where your order starts and stops.

    *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?

    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).

    *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.


    I have never been a cashier, mostly because I couldn't deal with other people all day. But as a customer, standing behind or in front of people that do some of things drives me crazy. My biggest pet peeve when shopping is - getting behind someone in the 20 items or less with a full shopping cart.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    I was a cashier as my first job and a few others down the road. It definitely helped to solidify my desire to get out of retail.

    - Put your money in the cashier's hands. Cashiers don't make you scrape your change off the counter, so don't make them scrape your payment from there either.

    When I worked in the grocery store my only pet peeve was when people would hand me the bills first and then the changes, on top of the bills. When done in this order 50% of the time the change ended up on the floor, on their side, with me looking at them like "well, are you going to pick that up?" Change first, then bills.
  • shanlynt
    shanlynt Posts: 754 Member
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    Been there done that, but some of the things were a bit much. It's not my job to sort out my groceries for you.
  • VioletBeauregarde
    VioletBeauregarde Posts: 20
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    I hated it when I had a "closed" sign up and you could see the person look a it yet still empty their trolley !!
    God forbid if you pointed to the sign and said I am closed ,the same response everytime I didnt see that hahahahah ,but I still loved it .
  • Bahet
    Bahet Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Stay in school or that's likely the sort of job you will always have.

    I worked retail in college. It sucked. Some customers were great. Others - not so much. I found that a smile goes a long way towards getting a better response from people. If I acted like I didn't want to be there, the customer was interrupting me, etc then I got negativity back. Treat the customer like a human being and you'll get treated like one in return most of the time. Oh sure, there are the idiot jerks out there who "don't talk with the help" and don't care if their apples are laying next to rat poison but most people have at least basic manners and common sense.
  • xo_morgan
    xo_morgan Posts: 298
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    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
    Weathers58 Posts: 246 Member
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    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
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    *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
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    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
    iuew Posts: 624 Member
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    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_
    _binary_jester_ Posts: 2,132 Member
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    A LOT of rules.

    Can't I just leer at her and pay my change out of my dirty sock?
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    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
    pinkhu13 Posts: 133
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    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
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
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    bump for later
  • greeneyes191
    greeneyes191 Posts: 78 Member
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    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.

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