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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

..to have complained about the cashier at sainsbury's this afternoon...?

184 replies

americantrish · 27/03/2007 17:43

i got two bottles of soda at the cigarette counter and after paying her (exact change), she just turned her back, didn't offer a receipt, a thank you. NOTHING. seriously f**ked me off. so i went to customer services and then spoke to the cashier manager person who was apologetic (sp?) and said she'd have a word with her.

i felt a BIT bad after, but if she treats most of her customers like that....(and i've worked in customer service (albeit in the US) for 10+ years...) being decent is being decent. a thank you or have a nice day would have been nice.

meh!!

OP posts:
glassslipper · 27/03/2007 21:32

you are not being unreasonable. a receipt and a thankyou costs nothing and turning your back on a customer is rude

FrannyandZooey · 27/03/2007 21:36

Have not read whole thread, but if you want staff to be polite and happy and treat you like a human being, I suggest going to real shops, that sell real food ,and employ real people who will get to know you and will greet you with genuine feeling, rather than huge great hangars of shops, where the only thing they care about is squeezing the extra couple of pennies off their prices, by screwing their suppliers, the environment, their customers and, oh yeah, their staff

working in a supermarket is a fkn horrible experience

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:11

i was polite to her...
turning your back without a word is rude.

OP posts:
Aloha · 27/03/2007 22:11

I'm afraid I think you were really mean.

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:13

will go thru the comments tomorrow, no time tonight. yes, i am american and have lived here 4 years and am quite aware of the customer service standard in the 2 countries are different. but its not the first time i've received rude service from this store.. and i made mention of that too. i also did say to the CS manager that maybe she (the cashier whom was rude to me) was having a bad day... (it happens, but you dont take it out on your customers.)

OP posts:
tinkerbellhadpiles · 27/03/2007 22:15

Life in supermarkets is hell on both sides. She probably has a note on her till which exhorts her to 'smile at customer, make eye contact, offer cashback, offer to lick her bum' and she's a bit fed up.

Perhaps her dog died or something, you never know what's going on in other people's lives. If she'd have told you to bugger off, that's different, being dismissive and rude are not the same IMHO.

I've spent a lot of time in the states and the insincere niceness used to hack me off even more than the apathy you get over here!

berolina · 27/03/2007 22:15

She wasn't polite, and I think I'd have felt put out, but I wouldn't have complained. It's a shitty job she has to do, and I don't have the right to make it harder - the lack of a thank you won't kill me.

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:17

i doubt i cost her her job. i was polite and sympathic to the manager i spoke to, explaining i have worked in customer service. the manager agreed with me that she was not polite to me. if you have a bad day, sometimes you need to grin and bear it (i had to many days, as do people across the country/world)

and yes, i've been told 'have a nice day' quite a few times in british stores by british people

i did say to her, quite loudly, thank you

bottom line, dont be rude to customers. a simple thank you is NOT hard to manage.

OP posts:
Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:20

the manager from sainsbury's explained how the head office has 'undercover' people come into their store to check on standards, especially customer relations.
if your job requires you to be polite to the customer, well, so be it. and yes i know she might have been having a bad day, we all have them. but still no excuse for doing your job. i should have asked for a receipt, perhaps none of this would have happened. lesson learned, next time; i ask.

OP posts:
Sossy · 27/03/2007 22:20

I think it's hilarious that not only did you complain about it but came home and made a thread on the internet about it. Says it all, really.

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:21

oh i agree, insincere gratefulness is worse than none at all. but a simple thank you has never hurt anyone. luckily, i've not ever found insincere gratefulness in the UK. yet. ;)

OP posts:
Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:22

how so, sossy? (not that i have time/energy to get into this) just interested. i was wondering other peoples opinions on it.
nothing wrong with that!!

OP posts:
Rantum · 27/03/2007 22:26

Us British - we never complain face to face - instead we write letters or bitch and moan to folk who can't do a damn thing about it.

Some people think this unchallenging behaviour is a sign of great fortitude. Personally I think that it is cowardly and is WHY things don't change.

I probably would not have complained to the shop because that would have required effort and I am British about these things , but I don't think Americantrish did ANYTHING wrong.

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:29

i have a very good friend, who is british, and makes no bones about complaining about service, to someone's face (i.e.-to a manager) or thru letters, phone calls, etc. and she's gotten a lot of result that way. but yes Rantum, cultural differances here. i did try to make the manager see that it was not the person, but the service that i was bothered with. but i doubt anyone got sacked. that would be over the top! (unless the cashier has a history of being complained about!!)

OP posts:
Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:32

ps: tigermoth> i've lived in the uk four years. this isnt a strange or new place to me anymore

at least the manager was understanding. managers don't know there is a problem unless they are told and more people need to speak up, otherwise nothing will change when it may need to.

OP posts:
fransmom · 27/03/2007 22:34

i work in a supermarket and have worked in retail for years. it's true that manners don't cost anything but it's sadly also true that not many people remember theirs. there are so many customers who don't that tbh, i also say thank you a little loudly

you are right in complaining to the csm, this type of attitude relects really badly on the company - i would be really embarrassed if i were stood next to her on the till.

tigermoth · 27/03/2007 22:34

Why do you say you don't think your complaint cost this person her job? Did the manager say this and do you believe him?

I am not saying one customer complaint always equals the sack, but it could have been the excuse they were looking for.

If you feel this strongly about customer service, how about writing a general letter to the branch, outlining your complaint but naming no names?

fransmom · 27/03/2007 22:34

reflects

Rantum · 27/03/2007 22:35

I don't want to overplay the differences Americantrish - as I said in an earlier post.

DH is American (has lived here for 12 years though) so I have a little bit of insight into some of the differences, but also into the many similarities of culture which many people with an Anti-American agenda like to ignore...

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:36

a minor complaint is unlikely to cost someone their job, unless of course, there is prior reason to want to sack them.

perhaps i will follow up on it..

OP posts:
Rantum · 27/03/2007 22:38

Well tigermouth if they were looking for an excuse to sack a rude person it can not have been the first time that the person did their job badly .

tinkerbellhadpiles · 27/03/2007 22:39

AmericanTrish write: " luckily, i've not ever found insincere gratefulness in the UK. yet. ;) "

Oh but I bet you have....if you've eaten in restaurants and complained about service you may have experienced a sputum special (grim but true!)

Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:39

when i say follow up on it, i mean to see how it was handled.. the manager i spoke to was very nice about...

oh yes cultural differences indeed, but basic niceness is global. i dont know why she turned her back, i couldnt see as there were boxes in the way.

shrug..bed for me. people can always agree to disagree. i always do makes for fun threads

night everyone. thanks for your input and opinions

OP posts:
Original poster
americantrish · 27/03/2007 22:41

last one from me > tinkerbell > that's why i make a habit of NOT complaining about food. i've worked in food service, i know what people do and put in food that's been sent back and complained about ;) luckily, we dont go to eat places where bad service occurs and should it, we find someplace new..

night again everyone. thanks again

OP posts:
redclover79 · 27/03/2007 22:56

Hmmm, have been pondering this while in the bath! As a customer you have the right to complain, 'hello thankyou goodbye' is supposed to be standard sainsburys! However, having been on the receiving end of some horrid customers I have barely been able to compose myself for the next hour, go through the protocol and turn my back to start blubbing at what some awful customer said to me 20 minutes ago! Cashiers do not get the chance to take ten minutes to compose themselves after a verbal attack (or worse), especially with the ever more profit driven policies which mean that staff are overstretched meaning that there is no one to relieve you if you need a breather!
IME, I am not a supervisor but I have been expected to carry out a supervisors job, while simultaneously running to get products for customers at tills, answer telephones, run 'self scan' (don't ask!) and man the customer service desk. Up until I left on maternity leave (8 months pg). These companies are appallingly bad to work for in all respects if my experience is anything to go by!
Oh, and IME 'ringing in sick' is an awful experience! You get treated like a liar over the phone, and when you drag yourself in (still ill but able to maintain an upright position and therefore able to earn your pittance again!) you get threatened with a verbal warning if you do it again and you definitely don't get paid!
I hate my job, can you tell?!
So, in conclusion, there was probably more to it than just poor customer service!

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