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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:
handlemecarefully · 27/03/2007 23:01

You were there Americantrish - you had the interaction with her, observed her body language, etc. You felt she was rude - so she probably was. Good on you for complaining.

I complained once at Sainsbury's when I went to the fish counter and there was nobody there. A member of staff nearby went through the plastic partition to find the chap who was meant to be serving and I heard her say "There's a customer needs serving"

His reply was "Tell 'er to sling 'er hook. I'm off 'ome"

powder28 · 27/03/2007 23:09

Lol Handle

mishw · 27/03/2007 23:26

I think you did exactly the right thing. I don;t think we complain enough in this country! However I also don;t think we tell managers etc when they have a good member of staff on their team enough either (something I usually do do by the way!)

Quite frankly I really don;t care what kind of day she might have had - I've had really shitty days when I've had to put a smile on my face and deal with some really rude and aggressive clients, tough shit, deal with it.

'I am not saying one customer complaint always equals the sack, but it could have been the excuse they were looking for.' What like she was regularly rude to customers!!!!!

BigEggLittleEgg · 28/03/2007 07:36

Think americantrish is getting a hard time from some people... The AIBU threads are not really all that serious, and to ridicule her for mentioning something that happened to her in the day that she felt was a bit unreasonable (surely the whole point of these threads) is a bit harsh.

tigermoth · 28/03/2007 08:01

It's the naming of names that gets me. Complain about service by all means, but when you write in you can easily do so without getting specific - don't give the time, day or counter it happenend on for instance.

If the assistant had actually done or said something downright rude, fair enough, but I think to name names over someone merely turning their back is OTT.

I stand by my last message "I am not saying one customer complaint always equals the sack, but it could have been the excuse they were looking for" Even if this assistant had been rude to customers before and was on a warning, this was not the occasion to get her into more trouble IMO.

MellowMa · 28/03/2007 08:03

Message withdrawn

kimiTheEasterBunny · 28/03/2007 08:12

In one of our local supermarket one of the check out women was a down right rude cow.
I complained about her on several occasions, and in the end she was sacked for pushing someone's child, (not mine or I would have belted her).
She really had no social skills no inter personal skills and one of the other women that worked there said she was given the job as they had to employ a token "ming mong ". Not a nice thing to say at all, but even her work mates hated her, she really was in the wrong job as she really seemed to think it was putting her out if you used her till.

Nbg · 28/03/2007 08:26

I'd have complained too.
Bad customer service is one of my very few pet hates.
Shes paid to do a job and part of that is to serve customers and offer good service. That is not so therefore she isnt doing her job IMO. Not only that, alot of it is basic good manners.

We bought a carpet last week and Iif it wasnt for dh I really would have walked out and not bothered purely because the staff were all so miserable and were not friendly at all.

Tortington · 28/03/2007 10:11

we all have a bad day - and i usually think that but there for the grace of god go i.

i hope i have the grace to give people a little leeway before i try and get them sacked and ruin their lives.

zippitippitoes · 28/03/2007 10:18

if she was actually rude I could maybe understand it, but only if it was a refusal to give you the assistance needed along side that which meant that you ended up with the wrong purchase or no refund etcetc and actual insults

this is so slight I think the op really has gone ott

I hate the well she's paid to serve me attitude

powder28 · 28/03/2007 10:27

The only time shop assistants are really nice to you is when they are on commission!

nickytwotimes · 28/03/2007 10:29

i was a shop assistant for years and was always polite to my customers thank you. i never worked on commission btw

Caligula · 28/03/2007 10:38

I don't know why people think it's all right for the cashier to possibly ruin someone else's day. It's a two way thing - a cashier being rude to you when you've just heard your dog's died can ruin your day and set you off feeling life's not worth living anymore, just as effectively as you can ruin her day by being a stroppy old bat. I think customers have as much of a right to be having an off-day, as cashiers do.

As for F&Z's post about going to local shops because they treat you better - gawdon bennet, you haven't been round here! The local shops people are about as friendly as the local shop owners in Royston Vasey. Except the butcher, who unnervingly gives every woman who goes in the glad eye and insists you take 10 kilos of steak with you whether you want it or not.

Tortington · 28/03/2007 10:47

i am by no means excusing rudeness. but i wouldnt jeapordise someones job over what could have been a pants day. becuase i too have pants days.

ScummyMummy · 28/03/2007 10:49

I like rudeness. It makes the day more interesting. So fuck off all of you.

donnie · 28/03/2007 10:50

agree with custy. Keep things in perpective - it's not like she told you to piss off or anything!

donnie · 28/03/2007 10:51

or maybe the cashier had also been having a crap day ?

zippitippitoes · 28/03/2007 10:51

in perspective she didn't give a receipt and she didn't speak

then she turned away

this is hardly gobbing on your shoes

FioFio · 28/03/2007 10:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

ratclare · 28/03/2007 11:34

i think you would of been better in the first instance saying loudly " thankyou so much for all your help" and seeing what her reaction was before going to the manager about her .

Nbg · 28/03/2007 11:36

lol at zippi "hardly gobbing on your shoes"

But even if you think ok, shes having a bad day or even she cant be arsed, what about common courtesy?

Tortington · 28/03/2007 11:45

again, no excusing her behaviour but think there may be extenuating circumstances i am unaware of - becuase i like to think the best of peole

and you lot are just mean and internally wrinkled

oxocube · 28/03/2007 11:52

well I have done shop work - loads of it - esp as a student. I've done the kiosks, stacked shelves, worked on Pick and Mix in Woolies, customer service desk etc and I have always been polite, even to the wankers and miserable gits. It gave me a lot of satisfaction to know that even though the pay and conditions were crap, I still kept a smile on my face and was never rude. Smug bastard? Moi?

berolina · 28/03/2007 11:57

I agree that she should have been professional enough to be polite and said thank you. But somehow it's a bit of a feudal attitude - 'she is paid to be nice to me and if I don't get nice I'll complain to her superior [instead of addressing it with her]'.

BigEggLittleEgg · 28/03/2007 12:07

One good thing about this thread is that I am being EVEN MORE friendly than normal to people who serve me / move aside to let me and DS past / hold doors etc, and everyone is being soooo nice back. Promise I always said please and thank you but am smiling at people left right and centre and everyone is lovely! Might be the sunny weather though .

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