To expect the checkout woman at the local Tesco Extra store to help me pack whilst I unload the rest of the trolley instead of her just sitting there like a cat who has just sucked a lemon !!

[CaptainUnderpants]

Ok went to the smaller local Tesco today , couldn't be bothered to drive to a Superstore . Needed stuff which I knew I could get in the smaller store .

Had a small trolley and took my owm Tesco Big Blue bags with me .

Anyway get to the checkout and the conveyer belt is quite samll due to the nature of the store , I start unloading my shopping and the checkout woman reaches for the plastic bags I say to her that I have the reusable ones and put them at the end of the checkout .

She puts a few items through, doesn't pack them in my bags , then sits and wiats as the end of the chekoput is getting full of my unpacked shopping and I am still unloading the trolley.

I stop unloading and say ' I'll pack shall I? hint hint !!

So I start packing , then I go back to the trolley and start unloading again. During pauses of not scanning the woman just sits there !

NO bloody help ! I have been in stores in the past when they offer to start packing whilst you unload the rest of the trolley then leave you to do the rest . Fine , no problem with that but when they jsut sit there and you are back and for packing , unloading , it is tiny bit annoying !.

Anyway got a bit pissed off and when I paid for the shopping I went over the fill in a customer 'satifaction' card and found none there !
Was I being unreasonable to expect some initally help in packing the bags ? especailly when I am in the throws of PMT !

If I had used the plastic bags she would have done it !

[becklespookle]

Eddas is right, we have questions we have to ask each customer ie "would you like any help packing?" "Do you have a clubcard?"
I do find that customers with only 1 or 2 items get a bit annoyed with this but we are told to offer help to every customer.
If a customer wants some help I always try to pack their stuff how I would pack mine (bag for veg, one for frozen, one for cleaning stuff etc). I confess that when I go shopping I always go to a checkout with a queue so I can unload my stuff before they start scanning it. I don't like someone else packing for me - they don't do it properly!

[ProfYaffle]

I love the packing system in Lidl, I view it as a sport, trying to keep up with the checkout person. The key to it is to put all the heavy stuff at one end of the trolley as you shop, then unpack that first, followed by the light stuff. Anal? Moi?

Interested to see Expat's store does couscous, I was looking for it in Attleborough yesterday and they didn't stock it.

[milkshake]

my bro works at tesco, they are supposed to ask if you want help packing!! id deffo complain

[CaptainUnderpants]

No PMS face , she couldn't see it properly anyway as my head was always in the bottom of the trolley getting stuff out

[hunkermunker]

CU, is there any chance you had a scowly PMS face? She might've been scared of you.

[AhhChewww]

The same happens in my corner shop.

They will ALWAYS pack for you if you're using their plastic bags and just dump stuff on the counter if you come with your own reusable bag.

I got so annoyed last time (when tried to console screaming dd and pack my shopping whilst they just sat there and stared at me) that from now on I sweared to use as many of their plastic bags as possible to rise their cost of running a shop..

And then I'll donate bags to local health shop to be reused.

[CaptainUnderpants]

Found it , in her defence she did put the green points on and she gave me school vouchers . All is forgiven

[Lubyloo]

They always forget to put the green points on! I can't remember the last time I used plastic bags but I still only have about 15 green points.

[CaptainUnderpants]

More points , come to think about it I dont think she put green points on the receipt , now where is it .....

[Spiderhammer]

Well done for bringing your own bags btw. Good for you. I still forget to do that and kick myself every time.

[CaptainUnderpants]

Buts its not rocket science is it when you see someone juggling between trolley and packing to help pack , not just sit there just looking at the conveyer belt.

I thought at one momnet she was going to do a Little Britain on me and say 'the till says NO !

[Spiderhammer]

I totally see your point but let me just relate to you my experience if I may.

I too went to the local Tesco Express and there I saw a mum who I often see on the school run. She moved here from Indonesia four years ago with her three kids and husband, 'Because they are chopping all the trees down there'. When I saw her (about 20 minutes ago in fact) I said, 'You're woring here now too? Wow you work a lot' I also found her working as a cleaner at another friends house last week. She has just told me she also works five nights a week in MacDonalds.

I've come home feeoling really sad for her. Too much work but she says she needs to just to pay the bills and I can understand that. It's so expensive down here.

Anyway, I was just musing that if she didn't help me pack my stuff I wouldn't mind one bit.

[Rachmumoftwo]

I think the slogan is 'very little help', not 'every little helps' as they would have us believe!

[FrannyandZooey]

LOL, I see

seriously though, there is no harm in asking

I reckon she thought you wanted to do it yourself as you had brought your own bags (probably high correlation between people who do both, I am one of them )

you could have just said "could you pack while I unload, please?" and saved yourself all this aggro

[ScaryFacedPumpkin]

Tesco "Every little helps" my ass!

[CaptainUnderpants]

Because I have PMT and she should have known that as well as helped me pack

[FrannyandZooey]

Why?

[CaptainUnderpants]

No .

[FrannyandZooey]

Would it not have been easier to say "Could you help me pack, please?" instead of going to find the complaints form and all that?

[Lubyloo]

I'm in the anal corner to I like to do my own packing and put things on the conveyor belt in the right order. I never go to a checkout that is waiting for customers. I always choose one that has a small queue so I have enough time to get all my stuff on the belt before they start scanning

[OMGhelp]

With all this talk about Aldi and Lidl I thought I would put my tuppence worth in. You can sign up for their weekly news letters which give you the bargains to be had for 2 weeks in advance (one week sooner than the leaflets), so that you dont have to go to the shops to get the leaflets. At the moment one of them is doing some pretty nice power tools for the bloke in your life or Xmas pressies. And both will be doing fireworks from next week.

[Eddas]

oh and they have to ask if you want help even if there's only 2 items because you could be a mystery shopper and they have set questions they are supposed to ask so they should ask everytime. But it is a bit silly

[Eddas]

Hav eonly read op(i know should read whole thread first but hey ho!)

It is deathly dull working on a checkout, she'd probably had a long day. But she should've asked if you wanted help and helped. Maybe she'd just had a shitty customer and didn't feel like being nice

I often find that the older ladies are far far more helpful than the younger ones too. A generalisation but true IME.

NExt time just ask for help, much easier than getting het up

But in answer to you question YANBU to expect help

[expatinscotland]

like louii, if I have to go a supermarket, i wait till i'm finished packing before i pay if they don't ask to help.

Lidl: fab wines, coffee, sausages, parm cheese, snacks, cloudy fizzy lemonade without friggin' artificial sweetners, sweet roasted peppers, jellies, olives, nuts, couscous, bags of rice, sunflower oil, creme liqueur, cans of mixed pulses, juices, tinned meats