To ask the lady at the supermarket checkout to stop 'throwing' my shopping at me?

[Geekster]

While paying for my shopping the checkout lady was scanning it through far too fast and not giving me any chance to pack it. It wasn't even that busy, there was only one person in the que behind me. I politely asked her to slow down, sort of jokingly too saying i was a bit slow this morning, which she did while giving me a funny look. I didn't think I was being unreasonable it's not like I muttered under my breath or gave her a funny look.

Aldi staff have checkout targets. But as Maja says, you are supposed to take the items straight off the checkout and put them back in your trolley. You then pack at your leisure from the packing shelf they provide for this very purpose.

However, if this is any other supermarket that doesn't offer packing shelves then yes, YANBU to expect the shopping to come off the belt at the sort of speed that means you could expect to pack it. If not you politely ask the checkout operator to slow down a little. From my experience it is usually the younger (and most often the part-time evening) staff that send it down the belt at breakneck speed and this tends to combine with their disinterest in the job!

But it is also incredibly frustrating to stand behind people who appear to be in a totally disorganised dream and pack with painful slowness while smiling beatifically at the ever growing queue backing up behind them.

Same thing with asda hokeycokey. If they press 'total' it freezes the timer and the scan time isn't effected. So they should pause if they notice you're struggle to let you catch up, or if they're really helpful, help you pack.

The chains have different offers so I split my shopping between Sainsbury, Morrison and Tesco. I can't say that I've noticed cashiers being pushed to meet scanning targets.

My real gripe is with the fruit bouncers.

I worked on a checkout when I was a student, if we scanned too slow we got our names up on the wall of shame at the end of the month.

I shop at Asda. Every single time the checkout assistant asks "would you like help packing?" (does this let them off the timer if you say yes?) and I say "I'm fine just don't go too fast for me", I've never had a problem. I'm baffled by people who don't demean themselves to talk to the cashier but then blame them for scanning too fast. It would be another thing if they carried on flinging it down after you'd said something.

Here in NL they really do throw it at you, apples go bouncing around and all sorts. Half the items land upside down

I am by nature the 'go, go go! Move it Marine' type so if I were to have a whinge, it would be directed at slow shoppers rather than staff that are too fast.

When I am queuing I get my credit card and loyalty card ready. It really irritates me when the shopper in front stands in the queue for 10 minutes and only rumage for her purse at the last moment. And what is wrong with entering your PIN and THEN finishing off the packing while the machine is processing the transaction? And do you really have to stand there, slowly putting your cards back into your wallet and then the CC receipt and then wallet into purse and then zip up said purse and only then push your trolley away from the checkout?

The only valid reason I can think of to be rushing people would be if you have a transplant organ in your car.

you are paying for the shopping and YANBU. If they are going to fast you are within your rights to ask them to slow down. They are providing a service and if they are told to go at a certain speed then perhaps all the customers who don't like being rushed and flustered (me) should complain to branch manager that their policy is wrong.

the cashiers are not robots.

I've worked for Aldi, the 'items per minute' targets they have are sooo high. At the end of your shift they print off your statistics and have a word with you if you have fallen behind.

I worked there for about 3 months and I think I only managed to hit the target a couple of times. I used to feel so bad about having to keep on scanning things through even if the customer had shopping they still hadn't put in their trolly.

That is the reason all Aldi products have barcodes that run from the front of the packaging to the back, so make the checkout process even speedier.

YANBU, Asda are meant to be very customer focused. She should have slowed down.

I don't mind them doing it very fast, but throwing it down so they damage things is my pet hate. I've never had anyone do this in Aldi, because I think they do actually know how to do it quickly and efficiently. DH is ruder than me and commented to one woman that she'd probably bruised the bag of apples she threw down and could he have another one please. I would not dare to do this but I'm not exactly sorry he does.

I thought this thread would be about my local Lidls. It gets me irate. They chuck it at you even if you haven't got a trolley and the counter is the size of a postage stamp so there is nowhere to put your bag - it's a race of me against them and not a nice shopping experience at all.

Saying that, it's only the female cashiers there that do it - the boys are quite chilled out. When I manage to get a male cashier I thanks them for not throwing my shopping at me

I usually shop at Sainsburys, Tesco and M & S.

Sainsburys and Tesco cashiers can be pretty quick but they are usually so pleasant and help me to pack if they see me getting behind [which can happen as I often shop with a 2yo and 4yo and have to break off ever so often to yell at the kids and stop them taking sweets from the shelves, etc!].

However the cashiers at M & S never help with packing ime. They just sit and wait for you to finish, even if they can see I struggling and a queue has formed waiting patiently. They are very nice about it but offer no extra assistance.

Have any of the cashiers on the thread ever worked for M & S? I'm intrigued whether this is the official policy there.

I lived in East Germany for three years and had the culture shock of my life shopping in the supermarkets there. They do the Aldi / Lidl thing where you have to put everything back in the trolley and then pack it all up on a shelf. And the cashiers were just so rude - they would shout at you if you weren't quick enough. There were no plastic bags (a good thing really) and the whole experience made you feel like they were doing you a massive favour by scanning your items at all! One time I had an item that turned out to be split and they made me go back and get a replacement while everyone else in the queue harrumphed and folded their arms meaningfully, then gave me daggers when I came back. Still love the Germans, though!

OnwardBound I work in M&S, and in my store we will always offer to help you pack and go at the pace of the customer.

I have never had my shopping thrown at me in M&S Cold.

I hate that at lidl as there is a mini shelf to pack on and at high speed with a toddler in tow just doesn't work

ASDA was the one I was on about, where you got disciplined if you scanned too slowly...

MTS, or anyone else who has their cards/cash all ready out of your purse for paying before the shopping is packed, where do you put them while you're putting the shopping in the bags? I see this gripe about getting your money out at the last minute a lot and it always confuses me. Short of stuffing notes into my cleavage before leaving the house, I can't think of anywhere handier than my bag to leave it without leaving it open for someone to pinch. Admittedly, cleavage is probably intimidating enough to put off the casual thief.

I knew someone who worked at Lidi and Aldi, the targets are awful and you have to memorize the price of every product.

I work at asda and the time scan per minute has never been mentioned and we are told to use our discretion about how fast or slow to scan things.
I get into a nice rhythm of getting the stuff scanning it and passing it to the other hand.

I was in Aldi today and had a basket not a trolley, you have to leave your basket at the end when you unload so you can't put the stuff in there :(

omg i HATE this too op

and then at the end when you have paid its really awkward, cos they don't start scanning the next persons stuff until you have walked away (i guess they are told not to). and because this always makes me feel pressured, i always fumble and drop stuff and end up taking ages and i feel like everyone is looking at me