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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think most people wouldn't carry on speaking on their mobile while being served in a shop?

255 replies

angelos02 · 03/07/2013 09:14

On Lorraine (sorry) this morning they were talking about a case in which a cashier refused to serve someone until they finished their mobile phone conversation. What kind of person would carry on speaking on their mobile while being served. I've never seen it happen but clearly it does. Manners? Anyone?

OP posts:
rottentomatoes · 03/07/2013 13:54

Schoolgovernor

Please don't belittle me. I struggle financially and the calls I get make or break my budget.

rottentomatoes · 03/07/2013 13:56

"Still no answer re the inevitable delay caused to others by only having one hand left to sort out packing and paying with"

Surely if it's an emergency or a situation such as mine where it makes or breaks my budget you would worry about the possible delay of say a few seconds, or would you?

I am not talking idle chit chat here

thebody · 03/07/2013 14:00

School governor.., phone calls in the car= hands free. Been around a long time you know.

Check out assistants, clearly you are in work and have secure jobs. Lucky you.

Perhaps the mobile call the shopper takes is valuable business to those of us who are self employed and not as lucky as you.

LadyBryan · 03/07/2013 14:00

The thing is rottentomatoes, who knows why you're on the phone? The people behind you in the queue certainly don't.

And maybe they need to get to a shift where if they're late it makes/breaks their budget?

OTTMummA · 03/07/2013 14:00

A lot of it is idle chit chat, I feel responsible for these customers and end up apologising for the wait!

There is a lot of rudeness around and it causes bad feeling.

LadyBryan · 03/07/2013 14:01

Fair enough thebody, hands free kit. But I don't take work calls in teh car. Or if I do its a "excuse me I'm just driving, can I call you back" because whilst I'm driving I don't have access to the materials I may need for the call and therefore waste their time and mine!

BrianTheMole · 03/07/2013 14:06

Still no answer re the inevitable delay caused to others by only having one hand left to sort out packing and paying with

no inevitable delay here. I can balance the phone between ear and shoulder and use both hands to fling the shopping in the bag as quick as the next person.

EvieanneVolvic · 03/07/2013 14:06

I bow to no-one is my hatred of the ubiquitous mobile phone (and yes I have got one but I regard speaking on it a bit like picking my nose: great fun, immensely satisfying, but I try not to do it in public) but I would just like to make my own position clear.

Where it is a matter of emergency/domestic crisis/important business then of course I just suck it up whether it's someone ahead of me in a checkout queue/sitting next to me on a train/ doctor's waiting room etc etc. But for every one of those by which I have been inconvenienced/irriated there must be fifty others which have been what I can only describe as inane, toe curling chit chat

Any of you old enough to remember Sybil Fawlty on the phone (landline obvs) just continuously saying 'ooooh I know.....oooh I KNOW....ooh I know.....' Grin

EvieanneVolvic · 03/07/2013 14:08

I can balance the phone between ear and shoulder and use both hands to fling the shopping in the bag as quick as the next person.

I'm sorry I seriously doubt that...quite apart from possibly doing huge damage to your neck muscles/nerves.

LucilleBluth · 03/07/2013 14:10

I was in a cafe recently having lunch with my toddler DD, on the next table there was a middle aged lady and a girl of around 18, because I was with DD I could earwig :) turns out the lady was her aunt and had travelled to see her niece at uni specifically to take her shopping and out to lunch.......now I'm not exaggerating when I say that the girl had the phone in her hand and her head down for the entire time I was there, I actually felt like telling her not to be so fecking rude.

I have answered calls from school etc at the checkout but I would always acknowledge the cashier and apologise.

BrianTheMole · 03/07/2013 14:13

I'm sorry I seriously doubt that...quite apart from possibly doing huge damage to your neck muscles/nerves.

it doesn't matter if you doubt it when I know it to be true. Yes, its possible that damage could be caused to the neck muscles, but the cashier or anyone else don't really need to worry about someone elses neck muscles.

LittleBoxes · 03/07/2013 14:15

If the phone rings while I'm driving, it's dangerous (and illegal) to answer the phone. So I don't. This doesn't apply in the supermarket.

choceyes · 03/07/2013 14:16

As long as you smile and mouth an apology I think it's fine to be on the phone when at the till, especially if it's a quick and straightforward transaction.
I was a cashier a long time ago in my student days. People did do this and it never bothered me. I never took it personally, never thought that they were being disrespectful towards me. It's a simple thing, a you scan the stuff, they pay you. I'm not there to make idle chit chat with customers and I understand that they don't want to befriend me either. A smile to acknowlege the person in front of you is important though. If they didn't do that, then that is certainly rude.

I have been at the till countless times when the cashier has completely ignored me whilst chatting with collegues. I have never done that while I was a cashier.

EvieanneVolvic · 03/07/2013 14:19

it doesn't matter if you doubt it when I know it to be true. Yes, its possible that damage could be caused to the neck muscles, but the cashier or anyone else don't really need to worry about someone elses neck muscles.

Oh but I do worry Brian!! And I should clarify that I don't for one minute think you were telling porky pies but from the perspective of someone standing behind you, you may not be going nearly as quickly as you think!

Still we're wandering into the realms of philosophy here...

rottentomatoes · 03/07/2013 14:19

LadyBryan
"And maybe they need to get to a shift where if they're late it makes/breaks their budget?"

Honestly I am a demon packer whilst on the phone and I manage to make eye contact and apologise whilst doing it.

I just think the zero tolerance attitude to being on the phone is very naive to how some people who are self employed need to work.

Sometimes there is cause to take a call you know. And the call taker is quite able to speedily put things away and make eye contact and smile at the cashier you know.

IMO nothing is ever black and white and just as I am aware as to how it might leave the cashier feeling and attempt to smile and apologise some posters on here would do well to see things from those who do have a legitimate reason to take a call.

BrianTheMole · 03/07/2013 14:26

I disagree Evie. My test is that I have got my bags packed and in the trolley and my card ready for when the cashier is ready to say 'have you got a club card, and that will be £245667 please."
If theres no delay, no pauses, then this is a true test right?

samandi · 03/07/2013 14:32

Check out assistants, clearly you are in work and have secure jobs. Lucky you.

Who is to say their job is secure? Confused They could be on zero hour contracts, temporary contracts or a back to work scheme for all you know.

JRmumma · 03/07/2013 14:42

I know a bus driver who gets p*ssed off if a passenger doesnt shout 'thank you driver' from the back doors of the bus as they get off as they think this is rude. I would never dream of shouting this out as I would get embarrassed but I always say good morning and thanks to the driver when i get on. He thinks this is not sufficient and as a result is a very bitter bus driver and im sure that his passengers must pick up on this and is possibly projected as rudeness to them when they get on.

What im trying to say is that different levels of courtesy/etiquette are acceptable to different people and someones best, might not be enough for someone else. Doesnt mean they are being rude necessarily.

BubaMarra · 03/07/2013 14:49

I think it is exceptionally rude to discuss what is or what is not an emergency call for someone and to actually discuss whether a customer is entitled to taking it. People cannot put their lives on hold for the sake of chit chat with cashier about clubcards, etc. You nod, smile, say sorry, thank you, goodbuy. What more do you expect from a random stranger that happens to be a customer?

thebody · 03/07/2013 15:24

BubaMarra, exactly well put.

Samandi, its paid work so you are lucky.

Cheeseatmidnight · 03/07/2013 15:56

Lucille - I have a niece who does this but she has aspergers and finds social situations hellish. I'm not excusing it but the aunt if it was a problem should say something.

Imagine if you did and there was an underlying issue you knew nothing about.

OTTMummA · 03/07/2013 15:59

You quite often don't even get a nod or a smile because they are too engrossed in their conversation.
Only on Saturday a middle aged woman and her teenage daughter came into my shop and were ordering a lot of things when she then phoned someone to ask if they wanted anything!? She was queuing for at least 5 mins before hand as it was busy and we were short staffed why on earth she couldn't phone before hand I have no idea?

The phone call lasted quite a while both of them going back and forth over the phone and as people behind her started getting the rage her daughter went bright red and stared apologising for her.

After the mammoth task of deciding the one extra thing that was needed she then took an age to find her card whilst muttering about maybe paying with cash or not.

Of course I was very proffesional and remained polite and said it's no problem, take your time etc but she still didn't even acknowledge how rude she had been to all the other customers!

Original poster
angelos02 · 03/07/2013 16:12

Lucille that is such a sad story. I feel so sorry when you see 2 people sat together and one of them is constantly checking their mobile. Happens all the time and it is such a shame. I would seriously doubt my friendship with someone if they did it to me as I would feel I was boring them.

OP posts:
badguider · 03/07/2013 16:18

I've answered the phone in shops many times as i'm self employed and calls on my mobile are likely to be work calls.
I would ALWAYS make eye contact with the casheir and cover the mouthpeice and apologise.. and I also would try to end the call and call them back if I had lots of shopping to pack.. and I wouldn't chitchat to a friend or dh while shopping.
But many calls can be the result of hours or even days of voicemail-tennis and when I finally get the person I've been chasing or has been chasing me I can't afford to just not answer because i've nipped out to buy a sandwich or whatever.

rottentomatoes · 03/07/2013 16:24

What I would like to know is what is so important for cashiers to say.

Products put on belt, products scanned. Customer picks them up, looks at brightly lit total, puts card in machine, reads instructions. Takes card says thank and goes.

What important discussion is to be missed from the cashier? Nothing oh except some sales patter.