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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:
FindoGask · 07/08/2015 05:28

I don't think I've ever been on the phone at a till but if I had to take a call for some reason, I would still acknowledge and talk to the cashier whilst they were serving me. No-one likes to feel invisible.

Mia1415 · 07/08/2015 05:35

It's incredibly rude! Take your phone call & then go & be served.

StealthPolarBear · 07/08/2015 06:27

all the discussion about providing / receiving a service, whether it is possible to manage while you're on the phone, mouthing "thank you" etc doesn't change the fact that it is rude. And I think it is a fact, it's very basic manners to give someone you're interacting with your attention. Not saying I always do it but I can't believe there are people who don't say it's rude. Is farting loudly in public rude, or is that a matter of opinion?

londonrach · 07/08/2015 06:35

Its rude sorry.

StealthPolarBear · 07/08/2015 06:48

What, farting loudly in public? ;)

ThisIsClemFandango · 07/08/2015 07:09

I'm imagining someone going into a GPs surgery while on the phone, and mouthing 'Hello' and 'Sorry' at the doctor with a smile but carrying on the chit chat on the phone. And when the doctor tries to ask what's wrong the patient just points to their leg but doesn't drop the call or put it on hold.

Sounds ridiculous but I wouldn't be surprised if some of you actually do this, after reading the thread.

Firstly it's rude and ignorant.

Secondly, as I said before I would need to actually talk to the customer during the transaction.
I once had a lady on the phone before she even got to the till, during the sale I tried to ask if she needed a bag, as we charged 10p for bags. She completely ignored me so I said it again. She waved her arm out for me to hurry up Hmm so I just charged her for one and gave her her stuff in a bag.
Surprise surprise she came back in half an hour later to complain that her receipt said she'd been charged for a bag.

It started to get on my nerves so much after a few years in retail.
By the time I left if a customer came to the till on the phone I would ring their stuff in then stand, smile and wait. Once they finished their call I would resume the sale.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 07/08/2015 07:14

It's one of my 5 irritants in life; people on a mobile when at the check out.

It's rude for the check out person and for anybody stood behind having to listen to the call. If it's not a swift ' I'm at the till, I'll call you back' it's a right pain in the arse.

doublepotions · 07/08/2015 07:27

I work on a counter, for all the people saying they can easily interact with the till operator while on the phone, its just not true.

I get many people coming to my counter whilst on the phone, some do smile and say please/thankyou, others ignore you completely. But they all will need to be asked certain questions repeatedly because they are not listening.

So yes it does hold the queue up and it is rude. I wouldn't dream of doing it in any shop.

StarsInTheNightSky · 07/08/2015 07:43

For everyone saying they wouldn't dream of answering their phone, or that nothing could be that important, sometimes it can. A few months ago I got a phone call whilst in a shop (we live in extremely remote South America, so it was a tiny shop in the nearest tiny town, five hours drive from us).
It was DH, our foreman had been gored badly and was losing a lot of blood, I'm the only known blood match for him with "clean" blood, but I have cancer so DH needed to double check whether my blood would be safe (and if it was safe for me to donate). He needed to know whether to fly the foreman to the clinic in the town I was in (a short light aircraft flight) or whether he would have to risk flying him to the main hospital (a long flight by light aircraft).

Had I not answered the phone, our foreman might not have made it. Every time my phone rings, it could be something like that, I never know, so I will answer the phone every single time, regardless of where I am. Admittedly we reserve mobiles for important or emergency situations, so anyone calling me isn't going to be looking for a casual chat. Where we live, thankfully everyone is sensible and realises that a phone call might be an emergency.

StealthPolarBear · 07/08/2015 07:46

Bloody hell was he ok?
My calls tend not to get more serious than "do you want rice or noodles, oh and don't forget to get fuel on the way home"

EekBarbaraitsaDalek · 07/08/2015 07:48

I think taking a call at the checkout is a bit rude but I don't think there is a lot of politeness around in shops. I do as much as I can online now, but buy a sandwich from a supermarket on my way to work every day. The customer service is dreadful, shelf stackers refusing to move out of the way to let me reach the things I want to buy, and the checkout assistant is always chatting when I get to the till and leaves me waiting until she has finished her conversation. I use the self checkouts all the time now.

doublepotions · 07/08/2015 07:48

Hi, do you need anything else?

Customer chats on phone

That's £6.99 please, would you like a bag?

Customer chats on phone and waves card

Press no bag.

Would you like cash back?

Customer chats on phone

Any cash back?

Customer chats on phone

Press no cash back

Please could you remove your card

Customer puts phone down, oh I wanted £20.00 cash back, a bag and a lottery ticket.

I get variations of this conversation at least five times every shift.

StealthPolarBear · 07/08/2015 07:48

Presumably in a situation that serious you'd be dumping your shopping and running anyway?
And it's still rude? In some situations, such as yours, rudeness is completely understandable and justifiable. Anyone who got what was going on and complained could safely be ignored. But it's still rude iyswim.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/08/2015 07:51

In the not very distant past if you wanted to phone someone you had to go to a phone - landline at home or work, phone kiosk when you were out and about. If you were at a fixed phone you couldn't do anything much else while you were on the phone so there was an incentive to keep the conversation short in most cases.

Changed times now. Obviously some people do need to keep the phone on for really, really important messages - but most phone calls are not about important subjects that can't wait a few minutes. What is it about a phone ringing that makes it OK to ignore the human beings you are with and transfer most of your attention to the person on the phone?

Pepperonipeteczar · 07/08/2015 07:56

I know it's rude but I still do it, the same as its rude when supermarket staff chat with the next checkout girl and scan my stuff Iincorrectly as a result or take twice as long processing my shopping.

If I have an important call to take which I often do consoling upset relatives or friends, they come first I'm afraid.

Pepperonipeteczar · 07/08/2015 07:58

If I'm on the phone when I arrive at the checkout I do always make sure I apologise for being on the phone and listen to them if they ask me anything and answer, sometimes this isn't good enough and in those cases i accept that the staff member is rude anyway and I don't feel much guilt

StampyMum · 07/08/2015 07:59

I think there are ways of doing things...
I would continue a call while at the till if it was important-ish, but I always make eye contact with the cashier, give them a big smile and apologise for being on the phone. I've worked in retail, I don't see what the problem is. I don't know why you get so offended by someone being on the phone - some people seem to need an awful of attention... The cashier is not your friend, it's not a date, they're just selling you something, and they frequently ignore you when you're trying to get served. Shops telling you to get off the phone while you get served?? FFS, they need to get over themselves.

StarsInTheNightSky · 07/08/2015 08:00

stealth yes, he was, took while to heal and gve us all a scare, but he's ok now thanks, and I was in the pharmacy picking up some of my medicine, so I did just apologize and run - nobody minded, but things are different out here, that sort of thing isn't unusual so all the shopkeepers understand.

StarsInTheNightSky · 07/08/2015 08:00

Though he has a rather dramatic hole scar!

angelos02 · 07/08/2015 08:01

It is such a needy character trait to be so addicted to your mobile phone.

pinktrufflechoc · 07/08/2015 08:02

It's very rare I talk on my phone at the tills; I can think of possibly twice in my life I've done it.

I think the point isn't that we always talk on the phone at the till, but do not see it as rude on the odd occasion we do (with smiles and pleases and thank yous of course.)

Kvetch15 · 07/08/2015 08:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sandgrown · 07/08/2015 08:14

Well said Catsize. I love that response Pipbin I will store for future use.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/08/2015 08:15

I love the way all the people who go on with a phone call a the till give the cashier a 'big' smile. If they gave them a little smile the cashier would know they were just a breathing version of the self-service till but a big smile is quite different!

The British used to have a reputation for being very private people. Not any more. The other day on the bus I had the misfortune to be sitting near a young man carrying on a loud and angry conversation with someone at work who was letting him down. Then he made an equally loud call to a friend about social arrangements for the weekend. That call was peppered with fuck this and fucking that. So, so rude and inconsiderate to everyone else on the bus. As fas as I could see, both calls could have waited till he was in private.

Pepperonipeteczar · 07/08/2015 08:16

Kvetch just mention me directly surely?

My family are going through a difficult time at the moment and as a counsellor they come to me for support, I'm happy to play that role for my family.