When Cashiers in supermarkets comment on your shopping when it goes through the till?

[crypes]

The other day at one of the biggee Supermarkets i had a running commentary on the items i had bought. I was in no mood to talk and i was starting to cringe a bit about 'that loaf looks nice and healthy' and 'your going to be doing alot of gardening this week'. Sometimes i have even had a cashier read the front of my paper and i thought 'gods sake havent you got a tea break coming up?' I just read in another thread sometimes you may want your shopping items to be private and stay private.

I work at Asda on the checkouts. We have to "fill the gap with a chat" and if we don't we get disciplined. We look for anything to start a conversation with. I really don't give a toss about how many cats you have, where you go on holiday or what a bargain loo roll is. But I have choice to pretend.

I also don't care if you've had to wait. I need to thank you for doing so though.

No one has ever commented on my shopping but I've learned to avoid one of the assistants in T as the conversations always involved hearing about her cystitis, thrush or irritable bowel.

YABU. I don't like it either but am aware they can't win. It is either:

AIBU for thinking the woman at the checkout was a mardy cow for not smiling at me and saying hello

or

AIBU to not want to be talked to while I do my shopping.

May I recommend self-service tills (though not at B&Q or Morrisons apparently)

I used to work on checkouts too - Sainsburys.

Truly - although it is nice to be friendly to customers- not all want to talk - therefore you would just say hello and bye etc.

I quite like making conversation as a customer - and it depends what the cashier is talking about. My worst one was the one who dissed a large amount of my shopping - saying she didn't like courgette - and what was this ? (aubergine) and that she didn't cook, ever - just heated up ready meals.

Not the correct conversation eh.

We also have to ask if you need any help with your packing. Even if its for a can of pop, and its clear that you are going to drink it straight away.

Ok i will try and get over myself especially if its likely the cashier wants to ram my loaf up my arse.

YABU and sound rather unpleasant. They probably don't want to talk to you either. They don't have much choice.

Good grief, they're just trying to be sociable. They don't become automatons as soon as they put the tabard on. It's very hard not to comment on what's in front of you when you have absolutely nothing else to go on when wanting to speak to a stranger.

A cashier fell asleep mid scan when I was in Morrison's recently. Actually nodded off. I waited a few seconds and asked a gentle 'are you ok?'.

My groceries must have been extremely dull!

YABU

I don't mind at all if a shop assistant or cashier chats to me or comments on what I'm buying.

I often buy magazines in our local shop and am always chatting to the till staff about the celeb gossip on the front of the magazine or they say things like 'Have you run out of bread AGAIN Hex' when I'm in there for bread for the 4th day running!

Would far rather that than a stoney silence!

Squoosh, I have just laughed loudly at that! Fell asleep?? FELL ASLEEP??

God YABU and incredibly uptight IMO

YABU and incredibly uptight IMO

Yeah she was asleep! I wasn't sure what the correct etiquette was, screech 'wake up, get scanning and gimme some small talk' or give her a few moments rest. It must be a dull job! Or she had necked a couple of valium.

ha hah . I love the cashier that fell asleep.

Although - it is very boring - and when I was pregnant I was put on the tills - and that overwhelming tiredness... What I wouldn't have given to just put my head down for 30 seconds...

I don't mind a bit of chit chat. Much better than having a grumpy assistant.

However, I do cringe a bit when buying hair dye and their eyes go from the box - to my roots - and back to the box again. I always wonder whether they are thinking "don't bother love - it ain't working".

How dare those check out people speak to you

Another excuse to show

I quite like it most of the time. There was a lad of about 16 who used to be constantly fascinated with things ('what this onion-thing then? Fennel? What's this and how do you cook it? What's passata for?). It was quite sweet TBH.

However, I do notice that if you ever buy dealcoholized wine, almost every cashier will notice it (and it's age-restricted, which is odd), and ask why you're buying it.

One day, I will stop smiling nicely and saying because it tastes good and I will say 'because I'm an alcoholic', just to see the reaction.

I love www.notalwaysright.com

Put what those serving customers day to day have to put up with. :o

I felt really good today when the check out man commented on how tasty my shopping looked. I'm having a dinner party tomorrow and I don't like to cook and I'm not particularly good at it.

Nice to know it looked good raw! Will see what guests say after I've cooked it.

We had a stupid, ditzy little girl put our shopping through this morning. I think she must have been on Es or something because she was totally wired and whittered on and on and on and on. I even told her to STFU at one point, but she didn't hear me because of her inane whittering

She then made a large mistake with my change then couldn't work out the right change to dh had to do it for her (I was in too much of a bad mood by then and was still telling her to STFU).

I want a checkout person who's competent and accurate, not someone who's main aim in life is to whitter inanely about purchases or anything else.

Can I suggest that you either shop online or go through the self service tills if you are feeling unsociable. Putting groceries through a scanner for 8 hours must be so boring. I always chat to the person on the till, but I am sociable and like talking to people.

But we can't always do that Bunbaker. You're there to do a job, not amuse yourself. What if you were all happy and chatty to someone who's squirrel had just died or someone who'd just been given six months to live? Can't people understand that those who are out shopping are probably bored rigid themselves and just want the experience to be over with asap?

Hidden home, I hope you didn't tell her to stfu, that's unbelievebly rude!