AIBU to think that a cashier shouldn't comment on personal items you're buying?

[catlover1987]

Just home from the weekly shop at Asda. The cashier gave a running commentary on all of my shopping. Oh that looks nice, oh aren't those ready meals handy, oh what is that, I'll need to try that. Mildly annoying but I'm sure she was just trying to be friendly. However, where I think she really crossed the line was when she seen my pregnancy test and said, oh I hope it's a yes! I didn't know what to say!

When I was pregnant, I was asked at the checkout if the pregnancy was planned . That was in Sainsburys, I make sure I avoid that staff member now incase she comments on my parenting rather than the type of bread/milk I'm buying.

I once was served in waitrose for example by back to back cashiers discussing whether or not they'd have an abortion
I was served by someone in Tesco who told me her boss was a rugmuncher and in kfc a cashier called the bloke who'd just been served, a prick

These people need adequate training or dismissal

Yes totally about boundaries. Some people just don't seem to have them do they. Nothing wrong with an anodyne 'how are you today' or 'is it still raining' if the shopping items are inappropriate for comment.

I was once told i must be bloody stupid for not having a Nectar card too. me too- I explained it was because I don't like supermarkets invading my privacy by tracking my shopping habits. My choice.

Go through the self serve.
As BibbidiBobbidi and Manumission have also said, where i once worked everyone had to talk about purchases, for EVERY customer, (queue or not) if you didn't you were in trouble. disciplinary and reviews.
CharlieSierra do you think cashiers enjoy this?
I did it because surprisingly i needed my monthly cheque

I used to work as a cashier at Sainsbury's . You are told in training to talk to the customers and if they are not responsive then you are told to respect that and just put the shopping through with a random comment here and there sort of thing. In reality unless you are constantly tacking to the customer (even when they don't want you to) then you get picked up it by section leaders, managers etc who are stood around spying I. You with their bloody clipboards and failure to do so results in more training that you don't bloody need. God I hated that job.

Owllady really? I have yet to be served in a shop that does not too it.
Marks, waitrose, tesco and morrisons all adopts the talk aout purchases.

I bought some newborn size nappies from Sainsbury's to take to the hospital for my prem baby.

The girl on the checkout congratulated me on the birth (fair enough), but went on to tell me that the girl on till number X was pregnant but it was unplanned and she hadn't decided whether to keep it yet or not...

A man once asked me to scan my own tampons because he didn't want to touch the box

I'm weak at kungfupanda s story- sorry I know it wasn't the intention and it sounds all sort of inappropriate but I'm

Of course YANBU.

It would be nice if retail assistants were trained to take the customer's lead: if they seem up for small talk, then by all means chat away. If customers are quiet, take the hint.

I was once buying lots of bread rolls/ sandwich fillings.

Cashier: Ooooo, having a party are we?

They were for my dad's wake.

Similar thing happened when my DH was buying a black suit, white shirt and black tie. 'Off somewhere flash are we?'

I worked at a Tesco when I was a student. I remember one lad (who eventually got fired because he was so weird) saying as he scanned a woman's sanitary towels, "I wouldn't have thought you'd have needed this any more because of the menopause". What a champ.

Not as personal as some of the remarks encountered up thread - I was buying a scented "jellybean" candle and the cashier said, "I like to smell these", took a huge sniff and then said, "ugh, that's vile" and then went beetroot to which I replied, "it's a good thing that it's not for you then" and paid.

Some comments can be easily seen as foot in mouth and the cashier is probably cringing at what they just said. I don't think anyone sets out to upset or piss customers off but I'm sure that sitting on a checkout for hours must be tedious and I'm usually happy to cut a little slack as it's not the cashier who wants to make conversation; the ruling usually comes from head office.

Metal midget! 😂😂😂

The cashier has to make inane chit-chat as it's part of their job and one of the criteria they are tested on and there is normally a team leader lurking nearby to tell them off if they don't. I used to find this so frustrating when I worked in retail because I hated it and was sure most customers felt the same and would prefer a polite, efficient service with less chatter but we're not allowed to think for ourselves. And sometimes it's hard to come up with something to discuss with someone we've never met before, hence debating the relative merits of ready meals. But having said that, commenting on the pregnancy test was totally crossing a line and unacceptable since it's a sensitive subject. How does she know a total stranger even wants a yes on a pregnancy test! YANBU.

When I worked in retail we were encouraged by management to comment positively on the customers selections. It was also a requirement on the mystery shopper reports however it was department store not a supermarket.

Someone who has had the training can you tell me what sort of things you're expected to say to, say, a customers buying a bottle of own brand water?

stealth nothing. You are supposed to tread on how are you/have a good day sort of thing. And to take the customer's lead wrt engaging in conversation and even then it should be banal chit chat.

On the subject of pregnancy tests, they sell them in Poundland, and in my experience, their checkout staff aren't required to comment on customers' purchases, so they can be bought there without fear of interrogation or embarrasment .

Of course you're not unreasonable. It takes the smallest amount of common sense to realise, even if you are instructed to make small talk with the customer, that personal items are a no go.

They sell lube in sainsburys. I can't imaging a sales assistant asking if you're looking forward to a bit of anal this evening!

I had a morrisons cashier comment on my pregnancy test. Then asked if I had kids. I said I have 2 boys to which she said oh so you want a girl then. I replied I will be happy either way, she then replied that no I definitely want a girl. As though she knew it was best for me!!

Didn't Caroline Ahern do sketches about this on The Fast Show?

(Apologies if this has already been mentioned. I've not read the whole thread so please don't castigate me.)

Also, FWIW, cashiers have absolutely no right to comment on anything you are buying, especially pregnancy tests!

I think the issue is that the supermarkets are trying to personalise a very impersonal service, so it's a bit incongruous. We chat away to people who are selling to us typically, not people we're buying from iyswim. By the time you get to the supermarket checkout, the deal is done, the role of the cashier is nothing more than to process the payment.

I could almost understand it if they had folks lurking in the aisles trying to influence the customer's decision-making, but nobody ever got to the checkout in the supermarket and changed their mind based on whether the cashier commented positively or not.

I find it intrusive, awkward and pointless - and I'm pretty socially-skilled.

Very true, carabos.

Maybe we can all club together and let the managers of big chains know we don't want this... I'm fed up with my knicker and tights or other choices being commented on in M&S. I guessed it was a directive, so no hard feelings to the sales staff, but honestly I don't need them to 'comment positively'. Just be grumpy and refuse to take credit cards like back in the 1980s