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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

WIBU at the self service checkout?

58 replies

Cooplady · 01/04/2019 17:40

Usual name changed as I will rant about this in RL.

DD and I were in our newly refurbished local CO-OP today and they have just installed self service tills as well as the manned tills. There was only one shop assistant behind the counter and 3 empty self service tills so we opted for a self service one.
It didn't recognise our first item and was repeating "please wait for an assistant". The staff member who had been manning the counter till had by now come to help the gentleman next to us so we stood waiting as she showed him how to work it. She then went back behind the counter to serve without acknowledging us even though our till was flashing and 'speaking' and despite me saying "excuse me" as she turned to walk away.
I lifted our shopping to the next till and started again at which point the assistant called out loudly "You can't move tills once you've started" so I replied that we had been stood for a while, she hadn't helped me after helping another customer and I couldn't wait any longer (until she'd finished serving the queue that had suddenly appeared at the counter) and she replied that she was only showing him how it works? (I now think maybe she didn't have the authority to clear the problem with my till but she never said anything and she was the only staff member around the till area).

Then the same item of shopping wasn't recognised by the new till. Blush
At this point, another member of staff appeared and she shouted to him that he'd have to clear the till we were originally on because "That woman moved till after she started!". Second member of staff came to sort our till (as it was flashing and shouting) and I did apologise that he now had to clear till one as well but he just smiled and walked off without even looking at it so I don't think he listened.
I am not happy at being told off in front of several shoppers when the first staff member could have helped me, or said she couldn't clear it but someone else would be along soon. DD is mortified and thinks I was embarrassing and that I should have just waited patiently even though we were completely ignored.

I have shopped here every week for the last year and this lady has nearly always served me and we've had a chat on a few occasions. I now don't want to go back and DD is completely refusing to go there ever again.
WIBU?

OP posts:
TroysMammy · 01/04/2019 18:38

I've shouted "for God's sake" at a self service till in Tesco and another staff member quickly opened a till for me. I now refuse to use self service tills in supermarkets as it's not my job. I do use the self service till in WH Smith because it doesn't force you to buy chocolate.

Hoppinggreen · 01/04/2019 18:39

The coop self serve tills are the worst. I have literally only been through once with no issue
I epically lost my shit in one last summer. It was hot and I was hungry and something wouldn’t scan so the till kept flagging it but the woman on the tobacco counter just kept pressing the reset . After 4 or 5 times of trying to scan the item, it flagging it and the woman just resetting I pressed help - and the tobacco lady just turned it off again. I tried a few more times and the same thing happened so I shouted across to the tobacco counter “ please stop turning off the help button I need help”
Big sigh and eye roll followed by a call for staff help at the self serve. A few minutes later someone turned up and asked what the problem was
“ The problem is that these self service tills are useless and there’s no point in having a help button if someone just resets it - 5 times!!!”
She said well I’m here now. I just replied not to bother I was going to Tesco and walked out
I have no issue using self service tills usually but I never use them at the co op

SunshineCake · 01/04/2019 18:41

YANBU. There is a woman manning self service in my local supermarket and every time I have to interact with her she is short. I rejected some milk as it leaked all over my bags and she called for someone to take them as "she doesn't want them anymore." I rolled my eyes at the new assistant and said I don't want them because they are leaking.

Chloemol · 01/04/2019 18:46

I won’t use self service tills. Just go to the proper till

Doilooklikeatourist · 01/04/2019 18:50

I use the self service tills in Tesco all the time , and find them quick and easy to use
However
If I’d been treated like that , I would have left my shopping , left the tills shouting and gone and shopped elsewhere

Hiddenaspie1973 · 01/04/2019 18:53

I would have left everything on the till and walked out.
I did this in Lidl once when the workers were being ignorant. Lo and behold, the security guy ran over, asked me what the problem was. I explained, came back and staff came and helped me.
Look, it's bad enough doing an unpaid checkout job as a customer. If I'm not getting assistance, I'll be buggered if I'm standing waiting politely.

Tottie · 01/04/2019 18:56

Oh the irony!!....Self-serve tills at the Co-op(erative) being very UNco-operative Wink
I'll get my coat!

Bluntness100 · 01/04/2019 18:58

I hate self service tills with a vengeance, I always get it wrong. My daughter can't get her head round how confusing I find it and looks at me aghast whilst giving instructions.

You weren't unreasonable to move, to be fair I'd have just stood there waiting like a nugget, but I'd still go back, I might not be able to work self service tills, but I don't embarrass easy z🤣

SteelRiver · 01/04/2019 19:00

I think you were perfectly reasonable to respond the way you did; the cashier was unprofessional and rude. Well done on standing up for yourself.

I had once been stood in a Post Office queue, while the cashier chatted away to customers in front of me, chatting not working much of the time, village gossiping. She got to me and, when she saw I had a few parcels to send, told me to step aside so she could clear the queue! I flatly refused and called her out for chatting instead of serving and told her this had helped the queue to build up. She kept huffing and looking at the queue and I kept saying loudly that she would not make me feel bad for it. I'm usually quite a wimp so I was proud I stood my ground.

ruleofthree · 01/04/2019 19:10

Glad it isn't just me and the bloody Co-op self service tills! At my local the staff just ignore you and nobody EVER comes when it says assistance is coming. Never again! I can feel the rage now.

cuppycakey · 01/04/2019 19:13

Sorry - YABU for ever using a self service till. They rob people of jobs.

GemmeFatale · 01/04/2019 19:21

There’s a particular young woman who often staff’s the self serve tills at my local Tesco. Whenever they flash for assistance she’s chatting with a friend. Not always the same friend, but always chit chat (she’s loud). I wouldn’t care but she doesn’t pause the conversation to actually help the customer, noooooo. Her conversations are important you know. So you can often be waiting for five minutes, stuck unable to continue scanning while she finishes chatting about her neighbour/car/cat/whatever. It drives me bonkers.

lazyarse123 · 01/04/2019 19:24

I find self service tills a nightmare which is ironic as I am a cashier. The coop lady should have called for help she was incredibly rude and you should complain to the manager.

Tachy · 01/04/2019 19:30

Yanbu If the first person couldn't help then they should have called someone who would have helped you.
I had an experience where the person who's assigned to help in the self service area was taking ages. I waited for over five mins with a frustrated toddler and then I just left my stuff and walked out Angry

puppy23 · 01/04/2019 19:36

God forbid if you'd been one of the monthly-ish mystery shoppers they get

LGY1 · 01/04/2019 20:00

Large Asda superstore at 8am, 20+ self service tills totally empty.
I scanned my two items then the card machine wasn’t switched on, I flagged a staff member down & she said “oh it needs resetting” started pressing buttons.
At which point I went to the one next to me, scanned my two items, paid & off I went.
She wasn’t happy! Now she would have to cancel my purchase off bla bla!
Not my problem, I’m going to do what is quickest for me!

Original poster
Cooplady · 01/04/2019 20:02

cuppycakey, I know what you mean but dd prefers Tesco self service tills to avoid social interaction Hmm. Ironically, I have never seen so many staff in that store before today. However only one of them was near the till area.

OP posts:
Hassled · 01/04/2019 20:07

I don't think I've ever used a self-service checkout and thought afterwards "well that was a painfree experience and certainly faster than using a manned till" - I hate the bastard things with a passion.

But now I make it worse for myself by stropping up to them and getting into a rage before I've even begun, which just increases the likelihood of the bagging area getting offended or whatever other insane thing that will go wrong.

badlydrawnperson · 01/04/2019 20:14

YANBU OP Self Service tills are cunts.

SlimGin · 01/04/2019 20:15

Even in the big co ops the self service section is never manned! (In my experience anyway). The lady from the cigarette section always has to run over in between customers if you manage to catch her attention. The employees on the conveyer belt tills seem to think self service is below them but maybe they're not allowed to leave their spinny chairs.

badlydrawnperson · 01/04/2019 20:17

I would have left everything on the till and walked out.
I ...ahem.....may have done this more than once when the fucking till wouldn't play and there was no-one to help.

LoudestRoar · 01/04/2019 20:17

I used one of those scanners that you use as you shop.
When I scanned it at the till, the whole thing crashed. It took the member of staff 10 minutes to admit defeat, and took me over to the customer service till, so they could scan it there. However, they took me shopping, and then said I'd have to queue up at the customer service till (there was easily 10 people in the queue)
I refused, and they had to open a seperate till to put it all through for me

Travis1 · 01/04/2019 20:19

I prefer the self service in Tesco. I hate the forced chit chat. I spend all day having to talk
To people and play nice. I can rattle through the self service there in minutes when it’s only a few things. I get our big shop delivered again to reduce human interaction 🙈

I would’ve walked out in your situation op. Can’t stand the rudeness.

Brilliantidiot · 01/04/2019 20:23

Co-op self service tills are awful. They are slow and tantrum a lot for no apparent reason. In my local one though, they can clear it from a screen behind the counter, which makes life easier for them and me. Think that the assistant probably could have said that she'd call for someone to help you as she had to go back to her till, and maybe asked you not to move as the error would likely be repeated on the next till anyway. Would have been a customer focused thing to do.
Unlike others though, the co-op ones let me actually put my stuff in a bag, the others I use regularly are Sainsbury's and they have a strop if you try and bag it while you scan.

Worried2019 · 01/04/2019 20:27

@gemmefatale You need to put a complaint in about her!!

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