to expect some kind of interaction with checkout staff

[Mammie81]

Dropped DP off at his parents house and on the way back thought Ah! I need some rice!

Weighed up two possible Tescos, one right by his mums which is a great Tesco in theory. Its an extra which means its got clothes, electronics, dvds, books, even a costa but is notorious for rude staff, dirty toilets and long queues (they even have the steaks security tagged... no lie). Or the one by our house which is very nice but very small.

I plumped for the big one because I thought, screw it, DP is out, Ive got all night so I can have a wander round the clothes section.

The woman that served me was just so rude. She practically threw my shopping down after scanning it (Im not so annoyed about that, its what you expect at this place) but the bit that really annoyed me (and I am pregnant so hormones abound) she was chatting to another server two tills away about how she was finishing in half an hour, and then just looked at me once my shopping had gone through. And did not say a word.

I asked her 'So is that £8.98 then?'
A mumble was what she answered with. She then just pointed at the card scanner for me to scan my card, which I did. Then gave me my receipt.
I said then 'You didnt ask me if I had a club card.'
She brusquely said 'Well DO you have one?'
No! I dont! But I want you to bloody well SAY something to me!!! I said, No, I dont but you didnt even ask me, did you?

'Well daaaaaaarling. I knew that if you had one you would give it to me'

Well that excuses your disgraceful manners then, does it?!

AIBU? Or should I have known better than to go in there in the first place? It always pisses me off, as they are all like this in there!

"Yes she was rude but has a crap job in an apparently crap shop. If you worked there 40odd hours a week you may be miserable/rude too. As you said she was 1/2hr from finsihing her shift."

I don't get that, and I've done years of retail in some incredibly shitty jobs. It takes absolutely sod all effort to acknowledge a customer, just a smile and a hello. I absolutely hate it when shop staff just ignore customers, it really riles me up.

FFS I had depression and was self harming in my breaks and I still managed basic courtesy.

There is no excuse, the job of someone on tills is to interact with the customers - it is what they are paid for! It is the only real advantage the stores have over the internet and if they don't make an effort than it's not surprising when they lose out to online competitors.

And actually, how is the customer supposed to know WHEN in the transaction to present the clubcard? If you were new to that practise, you wouldnt have a clue!

They need to be able to say SOMETHING to you or get a new job where they dont have to face the public.

Perhaps BeerTricks IS the woman

Oh no - I go mental with niceness when someone does and the more they look at me aghast the more insanely cheerful I become.

If they don't at least then start to smile and they remain twatty I then exuberantly cheerfully say "Isn't it WONDERFUL when people are so nice and friendly, doesn't it make the world a much better place"

I say all this really loudly and then skip away smiling.

makes me feel better

What really winds me up is that scenario when you're using the self-scanning tills, and inevitably something goes wrong and the wifey bellows "Unexpected item in bagging area!",

IME the member of staff who has to come over and scan their barcode thingy and punch a few numbers in doesn't even raise their eyes to you, let alone enter into any form of verbal communication.

What's worse is I always forget how much this irritates me until it happens!

YANBU tesco staff are trained to - SOS

S- say hello

0 - offer help (bag packing, cash back, advice on a product if appropriate)

S - say goodbye

Well I have complained on their website but I feel a bit of a miserable old woman

I just think this store has been scummy for so long Ive got used to it but my pregnancy tolerance for rudeness is now at an all time low. In the past I have said 'Say please?' in a jokey way after an attendant has asked for the money but hasnt said it. But I didnt even get that chance, she was mute unless I spoke to her!

By the way, its Ponders End in Enfield, North London! Name and shame shame!

I do agree that rudeness is unacceptable and there is no excuse for it.
However............ shoppers it is soooo rude to stand talking on a mobile whilst the check out lady is trying to take your payment and waiting to serve another customer.
As a temp at Christmas (quite enough) in a well loved store, I am always amazed at the rudeness of customers. I guess after a 40hr week one would not be on their best form!

don't get all the "its tesco what do you expect" answers on here??

I like tesco and up here in Glasgow the staff in mine are always nice and chatty

I kick off in the shop big time and wait till a manager comes over ..... its' great to see the arrogant checkout guy shitting his/herself while you rant in front of all the customers and collegues

I just want to say that I went shopping in sainsbury in august as having 50 people to the house for a party - so large shop to start the weekend before geting all the wine and dry goods.

I asked a memeber of staff near the tills for one things - he then spent the next 20 minutes with another two members of staff making sure I had everything I needed and not helping me pack but actually two of them where packing for me and putting everythign in two trolleys and taking it to the car.

They got me frozen stuff I wanted and wine thats was out the back

young lad and girl and then another girl - not older than 22 I wouldn't think

There service was fab and thye really looked after me and i did tell the customer service next time I went in

Be careful what you wish for. Sainsbury's clearly trains its staff to engage in small talk with customers - and I find it really annoying.

'You up to anything the rest of the day?'

'been away this summer?'

'I haven't tried those pizzas/burgers/melons/mangos - are they nice?'

'that's a nice nail varnish - where did you get that from?'

'Off home now are you?'

Just chatting to my friend about why we even go in there.... I just am so hopeful that this time, this time its going to be ok.

And then each time its worse than my last worst Tescos experience!

We have at least 4 big Tesco Extra's in the area and Ive never had this at any of them!

Hmm, the checkout staff at my Tesco extra are always fairly pleasant (no it's not in a really posh area).
They always ask if I have bags, always ask if I need help packing and always ask for my clubcard and occasionally strike up a conversation (although, slightly forced!)
:)

I dont just get this in supermarkets either. Often in Topshop/New Look/Dorothy Perkins, you find the staff are too busy chatting amoungst themselves about the weekend to acknowledge you.

Bitches

I would like some kind of interaction with my local Tesco checkout staff, just not the one I get!

Seriously, they are far more often than not so friendly, I want to say "stop fucking talking and start scanning" because it takes ages.

One guy, lovely chap, comment on every item you have in your trolley.

Every last one

[confusion]

Why, I mean why?

What the fuck does it matter to you if I have 15 types of cheese, 8 large bags of nuts and 6 bottles of wine in my trolley.

He once, even told me the birth dates of all his family members, when he once scanned me buying some birthday cards!

p.s. I can spell, my keyboard is stuck and I get angry having to bash each key so just accept the odd typo

I was just about to post the same thing Nancy, Sainsbury's staff just go so over the top. I'm all for politeness, but I just cannot engage in indepth small talk whilst simeltaneously trying to pack £100 worth of shopping and keep track of a 4 year old.

Just hello, please and thank you is enough for me.

I did feel pretty bad the other day though, I got a voucher giving me £10 off shopping at tesco, so decided to go there instead. Got a nice polite man, who did not ask me the ins and outs of my life and was generally pleasant. Asked me for my clubcard and I said I don't have one at which point he told me I was 'throwing money away' then, and before thinking I said 'well, not really, I don't usually come to Tesco, I prefer Sainsburys and only came because I got this voucher.' I think that was abit too honest.

Agghh I cant stand it when they talk to me! But I'm grumpy.....

YANBU though if she was impolite.

nancy I know exactly what you mean! Every time I go into Sainsburys the checkout person has a good look at the items she's scanning and makes a comment about one of them ("ooo I haven't seen those before" or "oooo that looks lovely"). I always want to respond with a "mind your own fucking business" but am far too polite

I work on the checkouts at a Tesco, and would be in serious trouble if I treated a customer like that! No need at all. Sometimes I wonder how people can go through life with such horrendous manners.

I ask customers about some of the things that they've bought sometimes, but only if I am genuinely interested, such as an amazing deal whizzing through the till. Usually when the Ben and Jerry's has been reduced and I haven't noticed...

our local ASDA has unbelievably pleasant helpful staff which is why I go out of my way to shop there

agree that having had a shitty week at work is not an adequate excuse for consistent rudeness to customers.

Our local Co-op has appalling staff - can barely grunt the final total at you, much less say please and thank you when asking for payment/giving receipt. They clearly all hate their jobs with a passion. Well, I say passion . Not sure they are capable of mustering enough energy for passionate dislike of their work .