To be fed up of checkout assistants commenting on the products i buy?!

[MsBrown]

It doesn't happen every time i go to the supermarket, but happens enough to be making me annoyed.

Today i have a day off from work. After dropping dd at school, i nipped to the local Tesco for a magazine and big bar of chocolate. As the lady scanned them through, she said "Oh, you'll regret this tomorrow!" and then laughed as if expecting me to join in.

Last time i was in, a different checkout lady was scanning my things and then stopped after she'd scanned my packet of wraps. She was reading the back for about a minute, i shit you not, and when i asked what was wrong (i thought maybe she'd noticed they were out of date or something), she said, "Do you know how many calories are in these? I'm doing WW and it's really made me look at calorie content. You'd think these would be healthy since they're wholemeal". I said they are healthy and me and dd loves them (might have gotten a bit snappy, don't like calories etc being discussed like that in front of impressionable dd).

Around Christmas time, i was in buying wine for pressies (i don't drink) and the checkout lady said something about wishing she was young again to be able to drink as much as me (again laughed, as if expecting me to join in).

I was buying towels and tampons one other time, and i went to self scan with them, but the queue-buster lady directed me to a till instead. The checkout lady made a big deal after scanning them, leaned forward and whispered, "I'll double bag these for you, sweetheart." I showed no hint before that of being the slightest bit embarrased by buying them.

It's not just Tesco. it's other supermarkets in other areas i've visited too.

I was buying a range of exotic fruits one time at Asda (for a tasting session in class) and the checkout lady stopped and scrutinised each one before scanning (i realise she had to do this so she'd know what buttons to press on her screen), but then she started asking "Why are you getting all this?" and invited her colleague over for a look too! Again, acting as if i'd be okay with this, and i should join in with their giggles.

It feels like a total invasion of privacy.

I realise they're just trying to make small talk, but i doubt very much they'd like it if i went rooting round their shopping trolley/cupboards commenting on every little thing i saw there.

AIBU/over-sensitive eejit?

[BrandonFlowersHoHoHo]

It doesn't bother me at all. Some days I'm not in the mood for small talk and they tend to pick up on that.

Although the "that's a big cucumber" comment accompanied with a cheeky wink still haunts me years later.

[Catchingmockingbirds]

Yanbu, it really annoys me too. I've worked as a checkout assistant in a few places though, and management have told us all we need to chat to customers about what they're buying which is equally really annoying.

Perhaps I'm just really anti-social? :o

[MsBrown]

Maybe they should just know their place eh? Sit there silently and miserably and wait till they are spoken to. God forbid they reveal their personalities in friendly chit chat. If you'd ever worked with the public you would know it's the little interractions like this that help keep people sane

I have worked with the public. I used to work in a sandwich shop among other places. I wouldn't imagine potentially embarrassing someone by saying, "Oh, you'll regret eating that tomorrow" or "Oh, you want tuna on your sandwich?" and them making a disapproving face.

Instead i chatted to them about other things, not about what they were buying.

[Nancy66]

it can be annoying - but they're told to do it, poor sods.

Imagine having to find daily small talk about carrots and bread.

[MrsMeeple]

It is very annoying, but think of it from their point of view. All day every day scanning others' groceries. I worked on checkouts while at uni, and occasionally made a comment on something, just trying to make small talk. Some people totally went off about it! I really meant no harm...

Calling in others to comment on items is really OTT. (Gossiping about "this woman I served today who bought XYZ" in the lunch room is some thing else ).

Now though, it would probably annoy me too. Like everyone, I just want to get out of there as quickly and anonymously as possible.

[Crinkle77]

YAB a little U. I think they are just trying to be friendly and make conversation. I would rather that than the checkout operator ignore me or chat to their mate on the next till

[TomDudgeon]

It's not jut being talked to though is it. It's the implied judgements
Op would you have minded so much if she had looked at them and said 'Wish this was my shopping' or something like that?

[mrsgregorypeck]

I don't get these annoyingly intrusive questions anymore because I nip in first and ask them how long until the end of their shift, comment upon how busy/empty the shop is or any other bollocks idle chitchat.

Yes, they are told to chat with customers to keep their jobs and I suppose commenting upon what you have bought must be an easy option. It can feel like an invasion of privacy, though, so I hope someone in supermarket management reads this thread and changes their policy.

[MsBrown]

Absolutely not!

I'm not some snob who thinks checkout assistants are on some lower level(they probably make more money than me! )

I enjoy small talk, and i enjoy chatting to them. And i understand they're constantly being watched by supervisors/managers. But to comment on things i am buying makes me feel as if my privacy is being invaded and that i'm being judged. Surely they're only required to make small talk, not specifically discuss the products they're scanning with the customer? If it's the latter, then my gripe is with the managers instead.

When i said about the Quorn stuff, it's more the tone of voice and the face that gets pulled when they're scanning it through (again, doesn't happen all the time). They'll have a look at the back of almost everything and then start questioning why i eat it, why i'm a veggie etc.

[JustGiveMeFiveMinutes]

Good god. All this talk of implied judgement and having your privacy invaded. Some people are frankly pathetic.

[Mumsyblouse]

I don't mind it at all, I frequently make conversation with people when I'm shopping anyway.

But, as someone else said, if it really bugs you, go to Lidl where there's no small talk, not even a proper bagging area and all your stuff gets thrown in the trolly. You also save as much as 50% of your budget, I regularly spent £120 on a Sainsbury's shop, but about £60 in Lidl for the week. So, save money, and you are also spared the small talk.

[JustGiveMeFiveMinutes]

And if you want to get really upset about something, complain about assistants who lick their fingers to open bags then handle all your lovely food.

[Sneezingwakesthebaby]

YANBU. Checkout staff do have to make small talk but it doesn't have to be comments about the products you are buying. I was buying a birthday card for my sister once and it was quite rudey inside about waxing. I chose it because my sister had just learned to do bikini waxes on her course and she was still a bit mortified that shed had to practise on her classmates. The checkout lady opened it, read the joke and laughed loudly. Then she interrupted the lady scanning next to her "OMG you have to read this!" Then they were both laughing over it while the customers in my queue and the ones the other woman was meant to be serving were glaring at me as if I had chosen to have them hold up the queue. She should have scanned it, bagged it and I would have paid and been gone. Instead I had to stand there like a pleb waiting for her to get over the card and actually serve me.

[fedupwithdeployment]

Years ago I was in Safeways in Gosport (still remember that, not sure why) and the friendly check out girl had to ask what some of the things I was buying were - celeriac was one, can't remember the others. And then she said, "You buy some wierd stuff."

[LadyBeagleEyes]

So you bought a jokey card and the checkout lady laughed at it?
How dare she.

[MsBrown]

So you bought a jokey card and the checkout lady laughed at it? How dare she

She read inside it. I'd feel exactly the same actually. I've bought a few jokey cards before, which are quite dirty inside. I'd definitely not want anyone else reading it except the recipient.

Would it be okay for a checkout assistant to open up a customer's sympathy card and read the message inside? And then comment?

But because it's a jokey one, it's all right?

Maybe some people are just more reserved/private than others then.

[Sneezingwakesthebaby]

Don't try and make me feel bad for being annoyed. I nipped in to get a card. I shouldn't have to wait while she and her colleague stop working to piss themselves laughing at it while I get mucky looks from everybody else being held up. She had no reason to even open it apart from being nosy.

[somebloke123]

It can be irritating but it's wrong to take it out on the checkout staff who are just doing what the're told.

"Checkout chatting technique" - what a load of management bollox. As if this can be controlled and managed.

It reminds me of the emotionally buttoned-up butler in "Remains of the Day" who can to the conclusion that "I should improve my bantering skills".

The one that really annoys me is the standard M&S checkout greeting, "Thank you for waiting".

[PeerieMootsMum]

Probably YABU based on pp about them being made to chat more as part of their job however it does remind me of the time I was doing my big weekly shop and the young guy who was serving me held my pregnancy test aloft and declared loudly "ooo, are you hoping its positive or negative?"...

What on earth do you say to that!?!

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

somebloke why does that annoy you?

[ddubsgirl]

we have to make small talk,you tend to know who you can have a laugh with tho and altho im not on the tills often i would never comment on what someone is buying,maybe is it nice or something like that,just the checkout persons clumsy way of trying to chat,some shouldnt be allowed on tills tho :D

[weeblueberry]

Won't be long til every single checkout is self service

[SpicyPear]

justgiveme I have suffered from a serious eating disorder. A comment like the one made to the OP about her buying chocolate would have, at my worst points, triggered me to starve myself for several weeks. I guess that makes me "pathetic" in your view, but I still don't think it's appropriate chat.

I worked on tills for years and love chatting at the till about other things so it has absolutely nothing to do with being superior.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

I know it's annoying but there was a thread from a lady who had terrible pressure from her employer to make small talk at the tills all the time. It was awful :(

In truth, no one wants it.

[MsBrown]

Spicy Pear - i, too, am quite 'sensitive' about things like that, which is perhaps why i get more annoyed by the comments than others.

But i get really angry when they make these comments in front of my dd. My mum was obsessed with calories/dieting when i was little (she still is!) and it really has affected my relationship with food. So to hear a checkout lady say that my wholemeal wraps were unhealthy and laden with calories, was a bit disconcerting for me as it was in earshot of my dd.

Why couldn't she have asked dd about school, or talked about the weather instead of focussing on my products?