To think common sense is dead?

[TheRightHonerable]

Today I nipped into M&S to take advantage of a 3 for 2 offer. I only shop there for special treats.

Bought 3 items at £8 each and 3 items at £1 each. So going through the tills I kept the 3 £1 items separate and asked the cashier to pop them through as a separate transaction.

The cashier, a supervisor, questioned why and I explained I’d rather save £9 than £2. I assumed it would be no issue but she wouldn’t drop it and started arguing with me that it made no difference and the till will automatically deduct the cheapest two items.

‘Yes but that will be two £1 items rather than one £8 and one £1’ I said, but she wouldn’t let it drop and refused to do the second transaction. In the end I had to go to the self service. At first I thought she was judging me for being a cheapskate but no she was adamant that she was right and I was wrong.

It just baffles me, surely this is common sense? Surely it’s basic maths? Surely you expect a cashier to understand the offers on or at the very least not get defensive and rude when disagreed with.

And I'm another cashier with a first class degree, btw.

In situations like that I nip through to the food hall and use the self checkout (you can pay for clothes etc in the food hall) or I just queue up twice. I do it in Boots quite a lot if I have vouchers for extra reward points as it's one voucher per transaction.

I've just tried on the M&S web site (not that that has to have the same algorithm as the tills) and with six different items, it seems to have ranked them in descending order of price and given the third and sixth one free. As someone up-thread said it would.

So I agree OP could have let them all go through together.

@Velveteenfruitbowl I work as a cashier - I also have a degree but that doesn't really allow me to work time, being a cashier means I get to spend most of my time with my children which is more important to our family than the money at the moment. Most of my co-workers also have good qualifications and/or are in school or university. Others work there as their 2nd jobs part time due to having other, more highly skilled jobs. Don't judge.

However common sense is lacking across all walks of life OP so your definatley not being unreasonable 😂 my own mother is in a very high skilled job teaching other people and has none what-so-ever, as much as I love her dearly I'm amazed she can function on a day to basis.

I did use the same 3 for 2 offer at M&S last year and put them all through in one transaction. It deducted the two least expensive items and I lost about £7.
I kicked myself at the time and ended up going to the customer service desk to resolve it. In fairness they were lovely about it.
Also once got caught out on their 2 dine in offer as bought some fruit juice and it included that in the offer rather than the wine- £10 difference and another trip to customer services.

It’s entirely possible the tills have been updated since last Christmas though so yes maybe they’re better now. She certainly didn’t explain that though, just told me my math was wrong 😂

I’m always impressed by how helpful the staff in boots are, if your purchase qualifies you for a voucher they suggest you split it so you can then use the voucher for the second lot.

Not relevant but I like them.

I think I once had a Waitrose multi-buy cost more because one of the items was reduced than it would have cost if it weren't reduced...

To be fair, their till did once give me reductions from the full price which ignored that the price was already reduced, so they nearly ended up paying me to take the goods away...

@NotSoRecentHistory I don’t judge cashiers. I’m merely pointing out that it’s nit reasonable to expect someone doing that job to be able to think that through as it’s really not something they’re paid for. I’m sure most can but you shouldn’t expect it.

I am guessing @Velveteenfruitbow doesn't make a living as a proof reader

@Velveteenfruitbowl do shut up dear 🙄

I've had this before and asked if I'd better to put two offers through in two transactions. They said no as it automatically deducts 3rd ithem and then 6th. So that might be what she meant....

I often do stuff in two transactions. In my case it's to keep my claims receipts separate to personal shopping. Never met a cashier with a problem for it. And my claims shopping is often bizarre (Cub leader)

"I don’t judge cashiers. I’m merely pointing out that it’s nit reasonable to expect someone doing that job to be able to think that through as it’s really not something they’re paid for. I’m sure most can but you shouldn’t expect it"

What, you don't expect retail staff to be able to think? Fuck me, no wonder they get treated so badly by certain customers when people have attitudes like this.

You are judging, and ironically making people (as shown in the replies to you!) think you're either a bit thick yourself or just fucking rude. Don't be a dick.

@Zaphodsotherhead It would tally. The till wouldn’t be out. Think about it!

Even if the till was going to deduct as you wanted to give you the best discount, I don't understand why she wouldn't put your items through as you requested. Why did she make you go to the self service? It seems a bit petty. I'm missing something aren't I?

@Crunchymum ha ha - very true! @MrsSiriusBlack1 do you think it’s fair to expect that from cashiers? I don’t. I’d certainly not get annoyed and post on mn if this happened to me in a supermarket.

@WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles I know people who can’t read analogue clocks. Not everyone is good with numbers. Certainly not to this extent. I know some people who just wouldn’t get this. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t good enough to be cashiers.

At least own what you said instead of trying to back-pedal when you're called on it...

"To be fair chasers don’t get paid much. I would really expect any degree of critical reasoning skills."

TheYear it's not so much whether the till would be out, it's accounting for the transaction. We have to put refund receipts in the till, to prove that we aren't 'refunding' to ourselves or our friends and pocketing money. Bit hard to exolain but they like the paperwork (ie the refund slip and the receipt showing what has been refunded) to tally.

If someone is due a refund of 99p, they give you 1 penny and you give them £1, you’ve still refunded them 99p.

@Velveteenfruitbowl I have a maths degree but cannot for the life of me read an analogue clock! And even worse if they don't have numbers, just roman numeral or stupid lines

I'd have assumed it worked like Tesco - the system works out all the offers no matter in what order your items are scanned, and the discounts appear at the bottom of the receipt. Glad to see some M&S staff have confirmed this is correct.

@LochJessMonster that’s interesting, it seems to be a really common problem but everyone I know who has it struggles with numbers generally so I assumed that that was where it comes from. Maybe it’s more of a visual thing then?

it's not so much whether the till would be out, it's accounting for the transaction. We have to put refund receipts in the till, to prove that we aren't 'refunding' to ourselves or our friends and pocketing money. Bit hard to exolain but they like the paperwork (ie the refund slip and the receipt showing what has been refunded) to tally.

There's also a well known con trick (well known to the criminal fraternity anyway) involving giving a few pence in order to get a note back in change. That's why some firms actually train their cashiers not to do it. It's a very clever trick that works on confusing the cashier - almost like a magicians trick. Even the brightest with lots of common sense can get conned when they're busy and someone is deliberately doing/saying things in a pre-rehearsed way to confuse them. Difficult to explain without seeing it in action. So, sometimes, it's not the cashier being "thick" when they don't seem keen on faffing around with change to convert to notes - they may be acutely aware of the con and be deliberately slowing themselves down or trying to refuse to do it, in order to guard against being conned.

velveteen no, we are not paid much (enough rather, but that's another story) but we are actually required to think. It's part of dealing with customers. How do you expect us to function otherwise?