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

[americantrish]

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!!

expat I only want civil manners is all! Just politeness. Sucking up is nasty and inappropriate on these cultural shores imo!

I think the putting it on the counter thing is cultural

that's why they have those dishes on counters and bars in other places like europe ex uk

one other observation - I get the impression americantrish is assuming the manager she complained to will be as nice and reasonable to his staff as he was to her, his customer. She thinks the best of the manager while thinking the worst of the staff.

IME managers in service industries are not always nice to their staff. He could be a two faced snake in the grass. There is no guarantee he won't be horrible to this counter girl - this complaint may have given him just the ammunition he wanted.

Well, if the question is:

Is this woman's behaviour inappropiate?
The answer would be yes

But the question that titles this thread is:
Am I being unreasonable to have complained about the cashier at Sainsbury this afternoon?
The answer is... YES, the behaviour is inapropiate but having such a reaction to such a little offence, is like trying to kill a fly with a cannon.

They are employees, not 17th century service

Yes she is an employee not a servant, however part of her role is customer service, this includes eye contact, smiling and a thank you before moving on to the next customer - with a smile.

I think that on the whole customer service int hsi country is terrible and the more we put up with it the worse it will become.

I would rather someone talked to my manager who then approached me than made a sarcastic comment as that would just make me defensive, but hey thats just me.

A more measured response might have been to speak to the employee herself eg "may I have a receipt please? And have a nice day yourself too", sarcasm being the British form of complaint.

I did read in the local paper this week about a mum who was told by a shop assistant to "get her tits out" which rather puts this offence into proportion. The story was that the mum was miffed when the shop assistant was not sacked, but given an official warning and told to write a letter of apology.