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 reckon that they should sort cashiers into personality type so that you can choose who you want each time you go in.

You could have:

Inane Chat belt
Antisocial belt
Quick and Efficient belt
Slow and Languid belt
Happy belt
Miserable belt
Sarcastic belt
Silly belt
and
Ask Silly Questions Belt

You choose according to how you're feeling that day

I love our Aldi cashiers. They chat to each other very happily and loudly and you get to hear about all their personal stuff!

A poster upthread said they are disciplined if they don't chat inanely to customers. I'd be very interested to know how this would work. Would you actually be sacked even if you performed your job efficiently and politely?

TheFarSide this would worry me and I don't think people should be under personal pressure like that. What if they'd just had an argument with their partner one day, or their kid was sick or their mum dying? People aren't machines and shouldn't be treated like that.

My DS once had a Saturday job with Sainsbury and was always having to fill in forms about customer service etc. He had to make it all up, he hated the job, just wanted to earn some money.

I agree with the poster who suggested a compulsory stint working on a check-out for all. Nothing makes you more aware of your own manners

Saying that, I've just complained about the receptionists at ds1's secondary school because they're so miserable and unpleasant. We had Ofsted forms to fill in and I've highlighted that it is a problem and puts me off visiting. ds1 has adhd and I often need to take his PE kit and lunch in because he's forgotten them

(sorry, realise this has nothing to do with supermarket cashiers thread)

lmao hiddenhome love the idea of choosing a cashier based on their personality type!

If I had to work on a checkout, I'd end up by insulting everyone and flinging their food at them

I've had cashiers comment on my tena lady before "Oh, shopping for your Nan?" / YANBU I do try to be polite and chatty with them most of the time though and I find it's the cashiers who are grumpy gits and they can barely even give a hello!

I love a chat with whoever is at the checkout, if they're not busy. There are however, two checkout people (both male funnily enough) who I will avoid at all costs.

The first is in our local Co-op, he is about 19 and very over familiar... calls me 'Love', asks me how my day is going in a loud 'don't really care' voice and then (always) tells me how he'd rather be anywhere else than at work.

The second is in a NW upmarket shop. He examines every item of shopping, comments on the price and tells me that he couldn't afford it on his wages. He also shouts 'Enjoy your wine' as I walk away .

Just for balance, there are members of staff in both shops that I really like too!

Why do school receptionists have to be so arsey? I dread ringing up or going in, as they make you feel like you are asking for the moon on a stick when you just want to know something that you haven't been told.

I have worked on a checkout and I know what it's like. It's boring, but having fake conversations with customers doesn't alleviate the boredom.

hiddenhome I have visited many schools and in a vast majority of cases the school reception staff are rude and unfriendly. In fact, IME they are worse than doctors' receptionists.

Blimey, the school receptionists are more miserable than I am. At least I'm polite and reasonably friendly. They just snarl at you then start complaining that they've got to go off and locate ds1 with his lunch It's not like he does it on purpose. I think they'd be happy to let him starve

I didn't know this TheFarSide It's my first experience with secondary school receptionists. I can't say I've had any problems with primary ones, although I was given short shrift when I phoned up a school one day looking for a place for ds2.

I bought a pregnancy test not so long ago and the lad at the pharmacy desk in Sainsburys was trying hard not to laugh. I must be really old and ugly or something

It seems to be part of the working culture in school receptions. No doubt they get a lot of hassle from kids/parents/teachers, but I have stood in front of a reception desk many times while the staff behind it have studiously ignored me.

hidden if you like a fast cashier I recommend Lidl. I swear they are trying the break the sound barrier when putting stuff through

I did actually crack a joke one time (before I knew what they were like) and was glared at in return

at sound barrier!

Yanu - I worked on a checkout while at university and the snobbery form some people was amazing, like you were not worthy to speak to them!
Also I had a few customers completely break down on me as they obviously had no one else to speak to. Like the little old lady who I asked "how are you today" as I did with most people and she replied not good as her husband had just died then cried at my till while we chatted about him, or the man who told me he blamed himself for his wife having terminal cancer as she had been saying she was feeling unwell and he just thought she was having a moan I doubt be would say that to anyone else. Maybe one day you will bein a situation when your old and alone and hopefully some checkout person will chat to you and make you feel a little less bitter about the world (although of course I would much rather you nor anyone else ever had to have this experience!!)

I sometimes think some MNetters think cashiers are a different species to them.

They are just people earning a living.

Hiddenhome you are the grumpiest arse mumsnetter ive ever come across

sainsbury is huge on customer service they have training on it and as somebody else said upthread have to do evaluation forms and have spot team leader checks , DD hates it but likes the money

I used to love working on a till, we were never made to chat or anything but I did, customers knew my name, would always say hello if I saw them in the street, I always used to tell them if they'd only picked one of a Bogof item up.

I was bloody brilliant at it.

Saying that it was a small supermarket in a Small town and folk were just friendly.

I always talk to the cashier, not because it's their job, or that I feel sorry for them as it must be boring, I do it because it's polite to respond and it's nice to talk to people!!