...to hate Sainsburys checkout staff asking "and what have you been up to today?"

[goodbyegirl]

...as if I was 10 years old and they were my auntie? I know it is part of their training to engage with customers but not all of us want to discuss our activities - feels a bit intrusive to me. I'd rather a harmless chat about the weather!

I just sometimes say "not very much!" and grin . It makes them smile!

oh god. shop assistants in America are like this, only more. I really don't want to chat to sales assistants, unless it is about the clothes or the shop. I usually give a monosyllabic answer and avoid eye contact. When will they realise that it isn't good customer service to bombard people with inane chit chat, it's just bloody annoying?
I have stayed with the same hairdresser for the past 10 years precisely because she doesn't talk to me very much, despite knowing quite a lot about me through my mum (who doesn't care if she's listening or not will just natter on). And that's the way I like it!

I used to work in M&S and we were trained to make polite small talk, even though it was clear that most customers didn't want it. Our mystery shop results were based on customer service and you would score really low if you hadn't engaged with the customer on a friendly level.

Don't blame the checkout assistants, they're only doing their job!

fryonefatmanic (prays it's spelt right) looking at your profile we are in a similar neck of the woods. Could we be talking about the same person, working in a sky blue city?
She's famous round these parts for the, er, "quality" of service, so much so that on more than one occasion I have considered writing an anonymous blog solely about her antics.

Don't blame the checkout assistants, they're only doing their job!

Of course not. It's partly for making their employees' life pointlessly difficult that I detest the management.

I think like Findo. I think that it us the management and they should leave it to the checkout person as to what they do and be genuine.

When my son had a job at the checkout he had endless questionnaires to fill in about job satisfaction, customer experience etc. he just had to make it up. He didn't enjoy it, but did it for the money- and did it quite adequately.

Many years ago my sister was working in a local pub.
When she served a G&T or a V&T she had to say "ice and a slice to make it nice?!"
She didnt stay there long!!

I had no idea this was management diktat! I don't engage much as I'm usually deep in my own thoughts or looking after the kids. I did initiate conversation with a poor bugger who was on the till during England's first match in the WC last week.

I can't stand this, had one locally who was relentlessly cheerful and asked all sorts of personal questions!
She would also comment on every bit of shopping she put through, it made me want to wrestle her to the ground and riverdance on her head

You know what I hate? In wilkinsons they ask "would you like any mobile phone top ups or any stamps?" No.
If I wanted them I'd have fucking asked you for them.

Snort @ "ice and a slice to make it nice?!"

Today i would have answered...

'well today I have been on 2 long bus journeys with 2 children, 2 hospital appointments, then I locked us out, and had to deal with ds having done an enormous poo and trying to take his shorts down to get the poo out in the middle of the front garden....how about you,done anything nice?'

When I worked in Pizzaland we were taught how to 'sizzle', which seemed to involve bending down on one knee to take an order and offer things that customers would not want, '...would you like a fresh crispy salad with that?....would you like to add an icy cold drink to your order?.....maybe some partially defrosted garlic bread?'

And bingo (on the America reference).

Odd choice of NN, maggie if you don't like idle chatter. And no, shop assistants in the US are not "like this only more," whatever that means. In my experience, they are usually just human beings engaging with other human beings in a pleasant manner.

Aldi is your friend if you don't want to engage! I love it for that reason

And the ridiculous pantomime of asking your name to put on your coffee in starbucks! !! I always refuse

groupie it's so your order doesn't get mixed up. They might be making 8 different coffees at once at a busy time, and they all look the same in the same cups etc. so they put your name on to avoid having to write 'bento soy caramel latte with cream no sauce' or whatever.

Dd works at a indie coffee shop the system is the same there

In quiet periods they may not ask your name. If you really don't want to give your actual name, just say 'Dave' or 'J-Lo'
Not sure why you wouldn't want them to know your name though??

Venti, not bento, in my above post.

I hope you guys who hate the small talk or 'would you like stamps' etc etc aren't actually rude to the checkout staff. It's a bit of a thankless task and a lot more stressful than people think. Yes it's not brain surgery but someone has to do it, unless you'd rather everything was automated and all those jobs were lost??

Often it's all down to the mystery shopper element. Where I worked once we had 8 a year, the managers were so stressed and worried about it all the time that it wasn't worth it to mess up. You're marked on everything and they have to stick to a set of criteria. If you don't say 'would you like a nectar card?' Or 'did you find everything you needed?' You might lose 5% of your score. Our store lost money on our Xmas bonus and night-out fund and managers got a bollocking if scores less than about 85% came through. Which leads to managers being twats with the cashiers and general bad feeling etc. Checkout staff just don't know when they're being watched or whatever. In some stores they might have a more relaxed manager or be a bit of a 'lost cause' so might not be arsed to make an effort. So they might not ask questions or have a 'script'.

No gingee never rude, not their fault they have to ask daft questions!!!!

I'm a bit disappointed that M&S staff are told to find something positive to say about your purchase. I thought they were genuinely commending my impeccable taste!

If you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear.

Hmm?

I did weekend stints on a supermarket checkout as a student. Made me realise I would never want a job dealing with the general public. It's not that fecking difficult to just say ok or smile when asked if you're having a good day. To be completely ignored or given that incredulous 'you talkin' to me?' look was bloody soul destroying. Bastards.

I can go all day without having a conversation with another adult, so I'm generally up for a bit of a chat. A pleasant, unexpected conversation with a stranger can really cheer me up if I'm having a meh day. However if my only conversation is with someone paid to ask me trivia even though they aren't actually interested in the answer - well, that is depressing beyond belief.

I am getting paranoid as every time I buy clothes in John Lewis they say 'that looks comfortable and easy to wear'

Cringe...I am obviously clearly fat and value comfort over style, is how it makes me feel.

Bad sales technique.

However..everyone is just doing their job as best they can, smalltalk is hard sometimes

On the flip side: I was a part time checkout girl for waitrose, had many a posh weirdo person tell me their forT world probs - plus they would always call me by my name, always threw me! I would forget I had a name badge on. Haha.

First world *