to hate it when cafe workers and shop assistants say....

[burberryqueen]

"are you all right there?" when they mean 'can I help you?'
it makes me feel like shouting 'DON'T I LOOK ALRIGHT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING YOU FUCKWIT? ARE YOU SUGGESTING I LOOK WEIRD OR SOMETHING?'
but of course i don't ......(or else they could have a point!
i often say 'fine thanks and are you all right there too?' which makes them a bit
another one that grates a bit is for example they put a coffee in front of you and you say 'thank you' and they say NO WORRIES!!!
GRRRRRRRR!!!

[Flobbadobs]

Oh, and for what it's worth, when you give a smartarse answer back as you have admitted, be aware that the shop assistant is looking at you and thinking about what an utter Tit you are.
They're trying to help, trying to keep their job safe and ting to get through another day of dealing with the general public.

[Nancy66]

blimey - they're just people doing their job.

I hate the tedious small talk at the Sainsbury's check outs but the staff are told they HAVE to engage with the customers.

I feel sorry for the poor sods having to deal with the miserable public.

[StuntGirl]

And here comes the facetious again...

The actual v.polite answer if you don't require any help would be a simple "Yes thank you"


but if i am standing at a bar and reply 'yes thank you' then??? they walk off!

When you're stood at a bar waiting to be served you do require help don't you? So respond appropriately.

Honestly, use some common sense.

[Greensleeves]

first

world

problem

[ComposHat]

In record shops if i was being pestered id ask the assistant if they had a wilfully obscure Fall or Stereolab record (or some other artist wih a labyrinthine back catalogue) so I'd be left in peace while they thumbed through their stock, when 20 minutes later they found they hadn't I'd finished browsing.

[KittensoftPuppydog]

I wish the companies would stop enforcing this. Sorry for the shop assistants, but I just walk out if they loom over me.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Everything on this site and in all our lives is a 'first world' issue. If you mean 'what trivial tosh' or similar, don't hold back!

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Quite frankly, us humble shop/café staff hate it when we get miserable arsey customers who like to pick holes in everything we do! We don't do these jobs for love you know, we do it to earn a crust. There are a million and one things we would rather be doing than serving annoying nobs!

[dexter73]

It isn't a first world problem though. What if someone in a third world country doesn't like being spoken to like that when they are being served in a shop/cafe?

[lottiegarbanzo]

Back to the question from a slightly different angle. In terms of our social conditioning, 'are you all right?' is essentially the same as 'how are you?', a social nicety, requiring a quick, neutral response, absolutely not a precise, factual answer, before moving on to the main issue.

Using it instead of 'what can I get you?', in contrast, requires a specific, factual answer. Confusing and contradictory!

[usualsuspect]

But it doesn't mean 'What can I get you?'

It means 'do you need any help?'

[StuntGirl]

It's to weed out the ones who are not alright, because they're confused, or looking for something they can't find, or want information, or whatever.

"Are you alright there?"
"Well no, I'm looking for x, y, z..."

Although it's usually more like:

"Are you alright there?"
"Yes thank you"

"Oh actually, I'm looking for..."

I do it myself all the time as a customer and always think "Twat! Why didn't I just say 'No, can you please help me?'

[usualsuspect]

Well that's how I use it anyway.

[ComposHat]

Well greendleeves You & I live in the first world so by definition are going to have first world problems.

I dobt see you putting up a load of comments about how you've been walking 20 miles with a pot on my head or how the civil war has torn apart your village.

[SarahAndFuck]

I hate it when I've paid for something and get my change back with the words "thanking you."

"Thanking you" makes me feel violent. We could have had a perfectly pleasant transaction right up to that point and then they have to ruin it with "thanking you" and I just want them to die.

But what's wrong with just plain old "thank you"?

I think everyone has a word or phrase that annoys them, and no doubt everyone has one they say frequently that annoys someone else.

[SummerRainIsADistantMemory]

To be fair, I'm a mystery shopper and generally take the brief as a rough guideline rather than expecting any staff member to stick to it perfectly.

As long as I get friendly polite service and you know where the bread is you'll get full marks from me, I just tick 'yes' for all the inane questions and phrases the store have asked me to ensure staff say

The only things I'll mark down are are rudeness and sullenness when I approach you, being out of uniform or having dirty/messy uniform, ignoring customers to chat to other staff or your friend who's popped in, gesturing vaguely towards the back of the shop when asked where a product is.... I've never marked a staff member down for not approaching me, nor for not saying the stock phrase.

I can't guarantee you all mystery shoppers work the same but the ones I've chatted to certainly do, we're just people trying to earn a wage too you know!

[sparkle101]

Working in retail we have to ask customers if they're okay, but rather the hard "do you need help" by saying "you okay there?" Let's the customer know you are there but not encroaching too much on their shopping, gives them the opportunity to know you're there if they need a hand but you're not pushing them to make a decision anytime soon.

I don't care how people say it it's nice to be asked but then left alone!

Talking of being left alone, with our last mystery shopping company we were marked on approaching customers, a manager of another store approached this customer asked if they needed a hand and they said no, she was obviously getting her bearings and mentally noting down all she had to mark us on, so he asked her again and she declined again. On the third time of asking and declining he decided she was a shoplifter casing the joint and threw her out of the store. Got a good score for security but not much else!

[Wbdn28]

'are you all right?' is essentially the same as 'how are you?', a social nicety

I think it's rude to ask someone "how are you?" if you've never met them before.

"Can I help you?" is fine

[usualsuspect]

When you have said 'thank you' 100s of times a day, it's nice to have a bit of variety.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Well that's you usual and makes more sense but I often encounter 'are you alright?' in place of 'what can I get you?', as in my cafeteria queue example above and from waitresses in cafes when I'm clearly ready to order and have just actively attracted their attention.

[usualsuspect]

Rude?

I've heard it all now.

[TheOrchardKeeper]

It is annoying but I can guarantee that the person saying it probably hates it even more

One shop I worked in had a rule that meant if you didn't go to a customer and ask if you could help etc within 20 seconds then you could have a disciplinary. (It was Nokia...the bastards).

[Nancy66]

Be thankful you're not in Australia, where they ask:

'How you going?'

..that doesn't even make sense.

[RoooneyMara]

What on earth is wrong with 'No worries'?

OP you're very strange. Are you quite young? You seem to have a limited grasp of 'normal'