Cultural Differences or just awkward ?

[mumski]

We own a sweet shop where everything is in glass jars and we weight out the sweets for customers and usually customers ask for example for a 100 grams of pear drops or a mix of 50 grams of this and 50 grams of that.
That's fine . We love our customers and pride our selves on our customer service. However we get customers often from an Asian background who will ask for one sweet from a dozen jars. This isn't a problem when it's quiet but when it's busy such as a Saturday it causes mayhem as you can imagine. . I want to understand, is this a cultural thing and what is the reason?. We also had someone in from Mexico who started taking the lids off jars and eating the sweets until we gently explained she need to pay first. What do people think?

Can you start selling mixed bags for customers with all sorts of varieties in?! Not sure
If it's culture or perhaps just a phase

Cultural or not it is your shop so you get to decide how you serve your goods. If you don't want to do it then don't.

tbh i would put a sign up saying "sweets sold in 25g minimum" so there is no confusion from anyone.

I think you should have actual policies and stop casual racial profiling people.
If you want a min weight order for each type, say so. End of problem.

You could make up a jar of mixed sweets for these occasions and politely refuse to do bespoke bags.

But as to why... I don't know!

The Mexican was taking the proverbial. I don't think stealing is acceptable in Mexico either!

Your shop, your rules.

Struggles to understand how getting one sweet out of a jar, is any harder than getting 2, 3, or 4 sweets out.

Well, I suppose some customers just want to have some variety without having to pay for a large portion of each sweet.
Don't think that's anything to do with culture, though possibly the people wanting to try everything are tourists who don't have a favourite.

Prepare mixed bags in advance, then sell those when it is busy.

I don't think stealing is acceptable in Mexico either!

Yeah, don't think that has anything to do with culture.

Notknown - So you don't think that when it's really busy taking 12 different jars down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, taking the next different jar down from the shelves, unscrewing the lids, taking out one sweet, screwing the lid back on, putting the jar back, asking which they want next, locating the same, is more complicated and time consuming than weighing out a bag from one jar?

Makes me think of Indian sweet shops where you'll get a little box and choose a selection of sweets, one or two of each.

Meant to add, the sweets will in that case be on trays not in jars, and so easier to pick up one at a time.

YABU the customer is always right!

@Notknownatthisaddress of course it's much harder to fill 100g with sweets form lots of different jars than from one jar! It isn't bloody pick and mix!

OP just have a 25g minimum weight and take on board other peoples suggestions that ou make up mixed bags sometimes and sell those.

'A quarter' was always the smallest you could have in the sweet shop near me as a kid!

I'm mostly white British and would be a bit disappointed to find that I couldn't have the mix of sweets that I wanted tbh.

I think a previous poster's idea of prepping mixed assortment bags and charging a set price for them is sound. Also maybe put up a sign saying you can only sell 100g or more of each type on Saturdays.

That was how I bought sweets when I was a child in Australia, one of them ,Two of them, however many of them, but they were not in jars in plastic tubs on display behind glass, it is probably how they are used to buying sweets or you could buy 20 cents or 50 cents of mixed lollies in a milk bar. Really miss that,

Prepped bags are a great idea, but thinking of sweets that come in jars, I reckon they'd be a sticky mess within a short time. I remember my favourite sweet peanuts turning into an unholy stuck together rock very quickly. Saying that, last time I bought any, they came individually wrapped.

Do you mean they are asking for 1 sweet as a free sample, then repeating this so they end up with a lot of free sweets? If this is the case you need to say sorry we don't give free samples.
If you mean they're asking to buy one of each sweet then you could either have made up mixed bags or say minimum is 25g of each sweet?

Fill a jar with an assortment, the tag ends of all your other jars. Offer that as an option instead.

Regarding the mixed sweets they're asking for, do you not have little bowls and tongs on a separate little shelf, for them to make their own mix?

Most sweet shops around here do. They just top the bowls up from the jars.

This is an odd post....just state the minimum weight, and stick to it!

I have NO clue about the answer to your question, but I do know that when I buy things in some of the Indian-Pakistani sweet shops near me, they have piles of them in a display case (kind of like a traditional bakery would display cakes, and they tend to be softer than the hard-boiled sweets in jars) and you are encouraged to mix and match.

maybe they just want to try each sweet once - for flavour so they can say they tried every sweet? Im part asian - and no, i don't do this. I do know people who do though - not asian.

What about no more than 4 types of sweets per bag? I think that's a bit easier to explain than 25g increments.