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AIBU?

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Original poster

Checkout tills

134 replies

FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 21:23

I've read lots of threads on here, over the years, complaining about women checking out at supermarkets. The complaint, or question, is often "Why do people seem shocked at the end, as if they're surprised that they're expected to pay?" Why do they have to fumble in their bag to get their purse out? Why don't they have their money or card ready? Why do they wait until the very last minute? Why do they keep everybody else waiting?

Answer: They are not surprised that they are expected to pay.

What I'm hearing is "I've only got one item and I'm paying by contactless, so hurry the fuck up"

Well it's confounding me, because even when you don't have children with you (which makes it even harder) you have to unload onto the belt, then get your bags open in the trolley to receive your purchases, then pack as they are flung down the belt, trying all the time to guesstimate weight of items so that bags are of equal carryableness. put cold stuff altogether to avoid thawing.

Then, as you are tucking the last item in the only available place you can find, the cashier tells you that's £92.50 please. Your back is now a bit achy, you stand up straight, to stretch it out a bit while you open your bag for your cash/card. And somebody behind you who has one item and contactless card in hand is thinking "Why hasn't she got the money ready?? Didn't she realise she'd have to pay!!??"

I've seen this complaint so often.

If you have a lot of shopping to load onto conveyor and then pack into bags, are you supposed to do it purse in hand? What is so irritating to see a fellow human being do a huge family shop single handed, and then take an extra 30 seconds to open bag and locate method of payment?

How can you 'have your money ready' when you are engaged in unloading and packing?

I'd like to hear some opinions.

OP posts:
BenevolentEzza · 04/12/2019 22:25

Ugh. If I had to take a card from someone who had been holding it in their mouth for the duration of packing I would probably vomit. Same if you took it from your bra.

I know that at most shops now the cashier doesn't touch your card, but I still have the odd occasion where they've needed to handle it.

If you're paying with cash, do you keep that in your gob too? Ugh.

Ellisandra · 04/12/2019 22:26

I don’t ever have a purse. Don’t own one. I always have pockets. I get to the point of payment, reach into my jacket pocket, pull out my bank card (loose in my pocket) and I’m done.

Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 22:27

or an easily accessibly but if your bag

OK. Typos there. An easily accessible bit of my bag.
That's what I do. I know where my purse is and it's easily accessible.
It takes less than seconds to get my card out. Maybe people behind me see it as fumbling in my bag, because they are young, and in a hurry and have the intolerance of youth.

Still. I've worked in retail as a volunteer for a charity shop for the past 10 years.
Elderly people often test my patience with their fumbling around for the right money. I've learned to accommodate their shortcomings.

Customers waiting behind them, showing irritation at their slowness, will get short shrift from me.
It's actually taught me a lot about people. The more intelligent and well travelled and well read people are, the more tolerant they are of other people who might not be as swift of mind.

OP posts:
Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 22:30

Where I'm paying by card I hold my card in my mouth so ready to pay as soon as asked

Grin

And in case you're serious. That's no way to live.

OP posts:
Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 22:33

You're doing it all wrong OP that's why

Seems so :)

OP posts:
JasonPollack · 04/12/2019 22:35

When did every second become so important that you're rushing in the supermarket queue? Just chill the fuck out! If you don't stand there scorning the person in front of you for taking 0.02 seconds too long to find their purse, the time will go much quicker anyway and you won't die of a stress induced heart attack.

Take your time OP!

Willow2017 · 04/12/2019 22:38

I recently started work at a major supermarket at the tills and my god the pressure people put themselves under to pack away thier shopping and get themselves tied in knots trying to pay before they are finished packing so as to not hold up the queue!!
Calm down folks it's shopping not Armageddon. Stop letting other people pressure you in to trying to be superwoman.
Nd Stop standing right behind people to show them how important you are so they have to squeeze between you and the card machine/reach the cashier to hand over money. Stop making people feel they have to have packed and paid or thier 50 items before you have put your 3 items on the conveyor belt ffs. You aren't more important and don't need to make people feel they have to do everything at breakneck speed to accomodate you.
It's madness it's really opened my eyes to how people, especially women are subtly pressured like this.

I always let people take thier time and when they apologise for not going fast enough I tell them it's fine it's not a race and so do.my colleagues as I have heard it many times.

If you are in such an all fire hurry go to self service and put your stuff through as fast as you like there.

Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 22:39

take your card out hold it in your mouth while packing

I wouldn't be able to chat to the checkout lady, who happens to be my sister in law. How else can I keep up contact?

OP posts:
TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 · 04/12/2019 22:43

This is why I like the scan as you shop things. Scan as your walking around, straight into carrier bag, so all the fridge stuff is together and so on. Then at the end, just scan a barcode at the till, pay and walk off with everything neatly packed and done.

Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 22:43

Take your time OP!

That's what I'm advocating. Good to see a positive,

OP posts:
Cuddling57 · 04/12/2019 22:44

Is this even a thing? 😂

Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 22:46

If you are in such an all fire hurry go to self service and put your stuff through as fast as you like there

If only :}

OP posts:
Zoeyclash · 04/12/2019 22:50

OP I totally agree with you and I also love the new word you invented - "carryableness".
Genius!

firesong · 04/12/2019 22:53

I stick my payment card in my pocket as I wait in the queue. Then I'm all ready to pay as soon as I'm done putting my purchases in the bag.

YourWinter · 04/12/2019 22:56

I'm a checkout operator.

Some customers pile all their shopping onto the belt any old how, in high and unstable heaps that wobble dangerously as the belt rolls, and sometimes items will fall, despite all my efforts to keep it all safe. Some customers lay their shopping onto the belt with absolute precision. Whatever, I will try to place similar items together at the packing end - raw meat packages not touching anything else, fridge things together, bakery items / flour / sugar etc in paper bags well away from their frozen peas and milk bottles. I don't pack for the customer unless they specifically ask me to. Most customers, in my experience, prefer to pack themselves, as unpacking at home is the worst part and knowing what's in each bag makes it a little easier.

It's pretty frustrating when a customer is ignoring the scanned items building up after I've scanned them, because they are busy going through their coupons, getting their loyalty card and payment methods ready, or worst of all, talking on their phone or waving to their partner who is still wandering up and down the store getting the last bits and pieces.

Don't put your loyalty card, coupons or bank card on the belt that's rolling towards me, it's actually possible they will disappear down the groove when the belt rolls round. Don't even hand them to me until I've scanned the last item. Yes, I can process the coupons and the loyalty card while you get the last things into your trolley. Then you can do your stuff with the card reader, or hand me cash and I will open the till. Rummage to your heart's content for your purse, cards or phone. But leave it until it's time to pay! If the single-item shopper in a hurry doesn't like it, they shouldn't be queueing behing someone with a trolley load - there's a basket-only aisle, and self-service checkouts for just that reason!

StrayWoman · 04/12/2019 22:58

I maintain that anyone doing a big shop in person is mad.

I get my Tesco big shop delivered, it's £2.50 on delivery saver which is less than the petrol it costs to drive there, never mind having to be in a shitey loud busy shop.

What's the reason people are still doing a big shop themselves by going to the supermarket?

YourWinter · 04/12/2019 23:05

Willow2017 I agree about the bullying stance. It's much more likely to be a middle aged male customer who, while the female customer ahead of him is still arranging her bags in the trolley before getting to the stage of paying, will move along and stand directly in front of me, behind my checkout screen, so she has to reach past him with her notes and coins, or swing the card reader away out of his view. I will smile and ask that man to please let my customer have some space to complete her transaction, usually they will step back, though some will glare at the other customer, and I pity the people who have to live or work with men like that. I guess there are women like him too, but I haven't encountered them yet.

Ilikewinter · 04/12/2019 23:05

Scan and pack....best ever invention, no having to fill trolley and unpack it onto conveyor belt only to repack it again, no getting stuck behind the ditherer, or the person who wants to chat for hours, no 'unexpected item in the bagging area'.

Wonder what they will invent next??

OwlinaTree · 04/12/2019 23:06

I do a big shop because I want to pick what I buy myself,I want fresh stuff that looks nice and has a long date on it. I can't believe I'm that unusual!

YourWinter · 04/12/2019 23:11

StrayWoman I have used online supermarket shopping when I've been unable to drive following surgery, but wouldn't otherwise dream of paying for someone else to choose my groceries. Maybe they couldn't go far wrong with tins of tomatoes but I don't want them selecting meat, fish or fresh produce, I want to check the BBE dates myself and if something's out of stock I want to select my own alternatives.

I find it harder to understand making the big shop a family outing. When my family were young I thought the only thing worse than shopping with children in tow, was shopping with their father too.

FlamingoAndJohn · 04/12/2019 23:11

I pay with my watch. No faff involved. I don’t even take my purse.

PepePig · 04/12/2019 23:18

Far too much thought as gone into this.
Get your card out while queuing at the till and put it in an easily accessible pocket. Unpack shopping, scan, bring it out again and pay. Easy.

KellyHall · 04/12/2019 23:24

I work on a checkout and last Saturday a middle aged man made a derogatory comment about the "doddery" (his word) old people that had been before him in the queue, then looked at me as if I was supposed to agree with him. I told him it's great that there are so many elderly people still getting out and getting on with life. He wasn't happy I didn't just tut and roll my eyes with him but bollocks, he was being rude.
Same day, a young teenage, possibly early 20s girl actually shoulder barged an old lady away from the end of the till while she was still putting her change away. I might have been able to say something to her if she hadn't had her headphones in, with music blasting out.
I'm glad I'm only temporarily working in retail until my daughter's nursery is free and I can just do my day job (an accountant).

Daffodil101 · 04/12/2019 23:24

I shop in Sainsbury’s. The veg is at the front and the bread/eggs at the end.

I see the sense in this, it means you put the delicate stuff on top of the rest of the shopping in the trolley.

However, this means the delicate stuff is the first to get packed. It then naturally gravitates to the bottom of the empty trolley. I know you’ll say to delay packing it, but there’s nowhere to put it.

So infuriating.

Original poster
FloraPostalOrder · 04/12/2019 23:34

I do a big shop because I want to pick what I buy myself,I want fresh stuff that looks nice and has a long date on it. I can't believe I'm that unusual!

You are not I want to choose my own stuff, and not have to put up with ridiculous replacement items. Like recently I ordered some yogurt pots.
They sent me a litre pot of yogurt that had to be used within 3 days, It wasn't even the yogurt I asked for. I'd rather go down Asda and buy what I actually want,

It's happened loads of times btw. Getting stuff I don't want.
So I don't shop online any more.

OP posts: