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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

mileend2bermondsey · 07/08/2015 00:06

usualsuspect

Guest: Thank you
Server: Youre welcome

That's what I expect.

Guest: Thank you
Server: Silence

Thats just fucking rudeness.

Sometimes I respond to thank you with thank you. If you are serving someone over 2-3 hours saying 'youre welcome' gets a bit repetative so I mix it up?

FrameyMcFrame · 07/08/2015 00:07

What about all those shop keepers who chat on the phone while serving customers. Everyone must've experienced that!

GarminGirl · 07/08/2015 00:10

No framey I havent

ScorpioMermaid · 07/08/2015 00:11

Its Rude. I used to hate it when I worked in retail and I don't do it if im going to be served when I buy something.

WorraLiberty · 07/08/2015 00:19

What about all those shop keepers who chat on the phone while serving customers. Everyone must've experienced that!

No I haven't but that's rude too.

I did take my son to a new Barbers once and the guy must've taken 3 phone calls (one resulted in a 5 minute convo with his girlfriend). Then he stopped to read a text. The other barber also spent his whole time glued to his phone.

I ended up asking him to turn it off and pointed out that we'd already waited half an hour before my son sat in the chair.

He sheepishly turned it off but needless to say, the shop didn't last long as I'd heard others (school parents) moaning about the same thing.

WorraLiberty · 07/08/2015 00:20

I should add they were personal phone calls on his mobile - not on the shop phone.

maggieryan · 07/08/2015 00:21

Eatshifderek all I can is wah?

maggieryan · 07/08/2015 00:22

Disgusting name change I'm off to join you!!

PiperChapstick · 07/08/2015 00:24

See I just don't think it's enough for anyone to get in a tizzy about. It's pretty low on the Rude Spectrum IMO. refusing to serve you is just petulant and time wasting. Yet it seems to enrage some people. I think not along ago there was a Daily Mail Sad Face about the same thing

PiperChapstick · 07/08/2015 00:25

We aren't going to the supermarket for YOU but to buy things! I would never, ever be rude to somebody in a shop but just as I would chat to a friend/DH/DC at the checkout, I'd also chat on the phone should I be mid-call.

Oh and this.

verystressedmum · 07/08/2015 00:25

What does it matter if you're on the phone? The person behind the till scans an item tells you how much it is you give them money or use a card and that's it. It doesn't need undivided attention and full concentration.
Most times this is done in silence anyway. Most people are quite capable of saying thank you when they are in the phone. I would have walked out of the shop had she spoken to me like that.

EatShitDerek · 07/08/2015 00:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

usualsuspect333 · 07/08/2015 00:32

It's all a bit 'look at me on my fancy phone'

Now that's sad.

100butterflies · 07/08/2015 00:40

mileeand2 can you really not give staff their service charges for a week? Surely that is for service people had appreciated?

I do see your point about politeness though.

SofiaAmes · 07/08/2015 00:43

What's bizarre to me are those who can't imagine something so important that the phone call has to be made right then and there. I have a very sick child and spend many hours a day on the phone with doctors, agencies, the school etc. etc. My child's health and life depends on my taking these calls and completing them when convenient for the medical etc. professionals. I have already had to stop working because this was not conducive to getting a job done. I guess I should be grateful that I no longer live in England because I would have in addition had to stop leaving my house to do my grocery shopping or clothing shopping. In any case, it's absurd to compare the attention required for an interaction with the person ringing up a pair of slippers to the attention required by the doctor when have a doctor's visit. Is no one on this thread able to manage doing two things at once? I suppose you all would think it was rude to talk to the person next to you while being rung up at the till.....oh well guess you can't drag people into the 21st century.

lem73 · 07/08/2015 00:45

I often get served by retail assistants who carry on conversations with colleagues or who force me to wait far too long while they talk to their mate in front of me. The worst offenders by far are the staff at my local M and S simply food. They chat away about kids, grandkids, cruises, the Hampton court flower show etc but glare at me if I answer the phone when they can spare the time to serve me.

ThisIsClemFandango · 07/08/2015 00:46

Its rude. No question about it. If the person behind the till was on their phone chatting away whilst serving, would that not be rude?

I've worked in a shop and had people bring their item to the till, while on the phone, not look up or acknowledge me in any way, despite my attempts to ask the questions I need to ask as part of the transaction (we charge for bags in our shop and need to inform the customer beforehand) then throw the money at me - literally just fling a £20 note across the counter, hold their hand out for their change (still not even looking in my direction) and leave without even saying thank you. That is fucking unbelievably, breathtakingly rude, however you want to dress it up.

As a customer myself, if I am on the phone I wait to finish the call before going to the till.
If my phone rings mid-transaction I either:
A. Don't answer it. And ring the person back after I've left the shop.
Or B. Answer it and say "sorry I'm in a shop paying for something - I'll be a few seconds" and quickly put the phone in my pocket or on the counter til I've finished paying.

Not hard really.

Original poster

EgyptianSnow · 07/08/2015 01:19

Nobody was in the shop and it was Matalan. I said hi and she ignored me and asked if I had a matalan card and I said no then she asked me to get off the phone, I was like

OP posts:

Original poster

EgyptianSnow · 07/08/2015 01:20

I mean nobody behind me.

OP posts:

PiperChapstick · 07/08/2015 01:32

Lol at people saying "it would be rude if the assistant was on the phone, so yes you were rude" - they are providing a customer service as opposed to handing over money, the two don't have the same bloody rules! It would be rude of me to stick my hands in the till just because the assistant does it.

OP she sounds like a misery guts, I'd have put the slippers back. I'm more amazed Matalan was queue-less,at my local the queues are so long the clothes are last-season by the time you get to the till

And some phone calls are too important to ignore or cut people off. OP was buying a pair of slippers not meeting the Queen. Honestly some people just look for things to go all cats bum mouth about.

dingdongditch · 07/08/2015 01:33

It would have never occurred to me that a shop assistant would be offended by someone being on the phone. As long as the person is responding and not holding anyone up I don't see the issue.

I travel quite a bit for my work and am often on conference calls so hanging up really wouldn't be an option. If I'm hosting the call of 12 people and I hang up everyone has to dial back in. I smile mouth hello and hand over my items and pay. This often happens at a cafe and it's never been a problem.

AnotherGirlsParadise · 07/08/2015 02:20

It drives me fucking nuts - as PPs have said, it's incredibly dismissive and rude. I work in a tattoo shop and I've had people answer calls as I'm trying to pierce them! Really fucks me off.

ZazieSiddharta · 07/08/2015 02:29

Love this

mommyof23kids · 07/08/2015 02:43

My local newsagents has a sign up letting customers know they won't serve you if you're on the phone. They however seem to have no problem being on the phone while serving a customer though. They do it all the time.

googoodolly · 07/08/2015 05:18

I work on the counters and I won't serve people on the phone. It is really rude and dismissive - most of the people on their phones don't stop talking - they wave me over and point at what they want like I'm some kind of trained monkey!

I think it'a really disrespectful - you wouldn't expect to have a doctors appt or a parent/teacher meeting while on the phone to someone else, so why is it okay to ignore a retail worker?

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