Just because I work in a shop...

[LunasOrchid]

... doesn't mean I'm thick! 😡

I had a woman approach me on checkout and demanded (didn't ask) that I convert the size of something for her from mm to inches e.g. 270mm by 540mm.

I get my phone out and use google to convert 27cm and 54cm. I tell customer is x inch by y inches. Customer immediately says I'm wrong? That the box says medium and y inches is this long whilst holding her arms out to show me. I explain it is correct and show her my phone. She says no you can't be right. There's no way it's that big.

At this point, I reiterate what I've typed in, and explain that it is definitely correct. She snatches the box from in front of me and says she's going to ask somebody who actually knows what they're doing

I have to admit I did lose my temper here and told her not to bother coming to my till as I won't be serving her. Luckily my supervisor heard everything and backed me 100%.

I was fuming. Why do people assume that people who work in shops are thick and speak down to them. I have a first class degree and a post graduate degree. I work in a shop because it's stress free (most of the time), flexible hours and I enjoy it. I am not thick

Someone call a waaahhmulance for @Cannotresist**

@PurpleDaisies thank goodness for that

She was bellend OP. Revolting how so many members of the public think it's their God given right to speak to retail staff like scum.

Despite what people think the majority of shop workers are either students funding uni or parents trying to fit in round childcare. Education levels have very little to do with it.

This is so true.

I was working with public between months finishing my degree and starting my masters - my Mum who worked in a supermarket was working with students studying at some of the top univeristies in the country picking up hours in the holidays.

I'm suprised the OP refused to serve though - I used to smile and think you twat and get on to next customer.

I've worked in recruitment and still been treated like I'm a piece of crap. You will get this in any role when you serve the public. Because people are bankers.

Dividing by 2.5 in your head isn’t that easy.

Divide by 10, multiply by 4.

Even if a staff member had no qualifications and had no intention of acquiring any they still wouldn't deserve to be treated badly.

I teach functional skills to hairdressers and they tell me that clients never say how many centimetres they want cut but do say inches. I asked a group only last week how big they thought an inch was and they had wildly differing ideas which could explain some of my bad haircuts over the years.

They also had hazy ideas about cm. Measure is the most difficult topic for my students.

To the person above who thinks Imperial is so old fashioned, does your car not have mph dial which tallies with the signage on British roads and do you use cm at the haidressers? Basically we use a weird mix of both which is probably the main reason there is do much confusion.

Well done OP for helping your rude customer as it was more than you needed to do.

I'm thinking of nominating this thread for Classics. It's certainly entertained me.

Even if a staff member had no qualifications and had no intention of acquiring any they still wouldn't deserve to be treated badly.

Very true and basic manners should mean they are not.

I last worked retail as a student but I’ve also been a flight attendant. I’ve worked in a university library. I now work in an office away from the public.

I couldn’t stand working in a public facing role now! People are largely, awful.

@Cannotresist

Not on a high horse and wasn’t having a go at op or anyone but the education system and then fact that no one is taught mental arithmetic. It seems it’s not about arithmetic, but that it’s not common knowledge and inch is 2.5 cm

‘And then fact’
‘And inch is’

Seems you weren’t taught perfect literacy?

Divide by 10, multiply by 4.

To be fair, 27*4 isn't that easy to do in your head, particularly when you're busy.

1 inch does not equal 2.5 cm, it equals 2.54 cm. To get the correct conversion you need to multiply the inches by 2.54, any of the formulas posted here would lead to the wrong result.

@SaskiaRembrandt that's why you'd use a calculator if you needed an exact measurement

I see my point has already been made - but happy to reiterate it because it is important. For example, if you wanted to be sure your new oven fitted in the allotted space you would need to know the exact measurement, not some haphazard guess.

@SaskiaRembrandt it depends on why you’re doing that conversion. Buying fabric in a shop, fine to do that on a piece of paper. Buying something large that needs to fit accurately, you need the more precise conversation factor.

Cross posted woth you :)

l work part time on a supermarket checkout.
lt tops up my occupational pension. Previously l was with the police for 28 years.
A while ago l was chatting to a lovely couple and they asked where l was from (my accent clearly isn't local to where l live). l told them, and the wife asked what l'd done previously. She wasn't being arsey, she was just making conversation.
When l told them, her husband commented "And now you're reduced to this...."
l don't know if he'd even realised what he'd said. But she did. She turned and gave him a very black look, and l suspect she'd have been having words with him when they got outside.

GiveHerHellFromUs - Exactly!

I'm horrified by imperial culture

Bit of an overreaction. Do you not drive?

YANBU but people have prejudices and assumptions about certain jobs. I was an office cleaner for a bit while I was at uni. The attitude of the occupants changed markedly after one of them saw me with my textbooks out in my break one night and it emerged that I was studying for a degree. Depressing but very common.

Hey, we may all be using inches soon.
I'm 45 and have never used anything but metric, except for bodyweight, height and miles for driving.

Yep, hate this. People genuinely treat you like you're sub human.

Being on the phone while you serve them then being annoyed about not being given a bag (I did ask you). Throwing their money at you rather than actually handing it to you. Holding out their hand with a pile of change and expecting you to count out what they need. When using fuel cards throwing it at you even though the card machine is fixed on their side (so now I refuse to pick it up and tell them to do it themselves. Then you get them not being able to swipe the bloody thing and I still refuse to do it for them because of how rude they were. What did your last slave die off?)

The list is endless.