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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Talking on the phone whilst at tills

387 replies

EgyptianSnow · 06/08/2015 21:59

Is this rude? Lady at a store refused to serve me until I got off the phone
I was only buying slippers
I wasn't talking loud or even talking at the counter and my phone rang whilst I was in line
Was I rude? Is this rude?

OP posts:
daisychain01 · 06/08/2015 22:27

I think it's common courtesy to give people your attention, so yes it was rude. It seems so basic but more and more I find I am tripping or people in the middle of the pavement or in a shop or wherever, either staring at their screen or texting or otherwise not 'in the moment'.

Its happening so much it's starting to become the Way to behave. Sad

Only1scoop · 06/08/2015 22:27

Yabu

It's just general manners

mileend2bermondsey · 06/08/2015 22:30

I think the clerk was beyond rude to you, it is not her business/place/right to tell you how to behave! I would have been seriously pissed off being ordered about like a little kid, talk about a power trip!
However yes it is rude to carry on a conversation with someone else while interacting with another person, I'd have thought that was pretty obvious.

whois · 06/08/2015 22:31

I do not think it is rude.

How much interaction do they want? Like someone up thread said its not a fucking date.

You pass items with a smile.
They scan and bag.
You indicate to your card, they press the card ting, you put it in the chip and pin machine.
Take bag and receipt, smile and say thanks.

All can be done whilst on the phone to someone else.

If a sales assistant refused to serve me because I was on the phone, I think I would be emailing in a complaint.

whois · 06/08/2015 22:32

I think it's common courtesy to give people your attention

You can do this via eye contact and a smile. No need to hang up on the phone.

MrsHathaway · 06/08/2015 22:33

She should have waited calmly and politely for you to be ready to pay.

Was there a queue?

"I can't talk now, I'm at the till, I'll call you back. ::click:: I'm sorry about that! Where were we?"

MamaLazarou · 06/08/2015 22:35

Yes, I think it is rude. The person behind the till is a human and deserves common courtesy.

Original poster
EgyptianSnow · 06/08/2015 22:35

I did use my debit card so didn't really need my attention with change but I see some points on here. I honestly didn't think people cared.
She did serve someone who pushed infront of me so I suppose that was my revenge lol

OP posts:
pinktrufflechoc · 06/08/2015 22:36

I would smile apologetically and say thank you but not stop my conversation.

PerspicaciaTick · 06/08/2015 22:36

Thank heavens for self-service tills. May they be rolled out far and wide.

Bagelicious · 06/08/2015 22:38

Not rude in the slightest! If the person behind the till is on the phone then that's rude! In a restaurant it would be rude where it's a longer 'relationship' but not in a shop..

CassieBearRawr · 06/08/2015 22:39

YABU, its very rude.

EatShitDerek · 06/08/2015 22:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pipbin · 06/08/2015 22:42

Yes, very rude.

If the call you were taking was so important then why continue shopping knowing that you would get to the till at some point?
If it wasn't all that important you could say to the person on the phone 'hold on a minute, I'm just at the till' complete the transaction and then continue the call.
If you really really couldn't stop the call (and I honestly can't think of anything that you could be talking about that was that important yet you couldn't put your slipper buying on hold for 5 minutes) then you could make eye contact with the assistant and say 'sorry'.

I worked in retail and I would hate when someone did this. It's like I am not human enough to require them to treat me with 30 seconds of courtesy. Some people honestly seem to think that shop staff are some kind of lesser creature.

Katinkka · 06/08/2015 22:43

Not rude. Their job is to serve you. Doesn't require all your attention while they are swiping stuff. Checkout person needs to get over themselves. Ffs.

If that happened to me I'd walk off and leave all my shopping there.

GarminGirl · 06/08/2015 22:43

This is one way your cards can get cloned.... By being distracted.... But hey, carry on being rude and ignorant

DisgustingNamechange · 06/08/2015 22:43

It's not rude in the slightest. I've worked behind the tills, I provided a service; I got paid to do so, how is it any of my business what my customer is doing? As long as they're packing and can pay at the same time and are nor holding the queue up (as I am perfectly capable of doing whilst on the phone) what is the problem?

alicemalice · 06/08/2015 22:44

Not rude at all.

Dontlaugh · 06/08/2015 22:44

It is rude.
That is a fact, not an opinion. Should a nurse have a mobile convo whilst carrying out a smear? Should your dentist have one whilst cleaning your teeth?
Why should retail staff deserve so much less respect and basic manners?
They shouldn't.
I've had calls at tills I've refused, and apologised to the staff if I've taken them, whilst I was telling caller I would call them back.
It is absolutely rude and ignorant to continue to speak to someone on a mobile whilst carrying out a transaction of any type, retail, personal, health, whatever. Nothing will ever convince me otherwise.
And to those who think it's ok - do you REALLY think so little of your fellow man that they don't deserve your attention for all of 4 minutes?

DisgustingNamechange · 06/08/2015 22:44

Some people really need to get over themselves.

GarminGirl · 06/08/2015 22:45

They do pipbin that's so true. Is this how children are being brought up? Well, dragged up more like

pinktrufflechoc · 06/08/2015 22:45

You're not dragging up children, you're speaking to someone on the phone.

Ilovetorrentialrain · 06/08/2015 22:46

Yes rude I'm afraid. I really dislike the obsession with mobiles. Just interact with people face to face. A ringing phone can usually wait, don't be a slave to it!

Having said that I dint think it was the till lady's place to tell you what to do. Though she was probably disappointed you didn't realise yourself.

DisgustingNamechange · 06/08/2015 22:46

No Dontlaugh, as the nurse and the dentist are the ones providing a service, so their customer/patient should have their attention.

bambooyoohoo · 06/08/2015 22:47

I guess it maybe depends on the shop but I actually don't think it's rude, as long as you can still be polite and say please/thank you, answer questions such as 'do you need a bag' etc. As someone else said, it's a transaction, not a conversation. I wouldn't deliberately make a phone call while I was in the queue in a shop, but if the phone rang and it was a call I needed to take I would answer it and carry on with my shopping.