To wonder who decided that customers want small talk at the till in a shop?

[YouWonJayne]

Seriously I want to know their names. Which suits sat in a boardroom and said “Do you know what customers really want? When they’re stressed and frazzled trying the find a plain black shirt and black skirt for a 9 year old’s school play, which BTW are nigh-on impossible to find, when they get to the till they want the assistant to ask what they’re up to this morning and if they’re busy? That will keep customers happy!”

The poor girl on the checkout was trying her best not to look bored as she asked the woman in front of me “Have you got much planned this morning? Do you have a busy day” especially when the woman have details of all the wedding outfits she needed to buy for her grandchildren.

I hope the assistant was relieved when I just gave a “No” when she asked me the same. I really couldn’t be arsed.

I noticed this everywhere now. Is it just me who doesn’t actually want small talk, who just wants to buy my stuff and get on with me day without being a conversationalist extraordinaire? Don’t get me started on upselling! Or the people in Lush who pounce when you’re through the door. It’s completely insufferable.

The worst part is these poor people (probably on minimum wage) get bollocked if they don’t behave this way. I can’t imagine any of them want to behave this way.

I feel like it needs a serious platform, a campaign called Leave Shoppers Alone (half joking) 😂

I live on my own so small talk in shops is fine for me and might be the only interaction I have in a day.

Dont mind the usual oh weather is fab etc conversations smile and be gone, but hate the fakery and asking questions you can tell they are reaming off a script and are not really listening to you. Also to the upselling. I hae being pounced in to in the shop, Went into rituals the other day, 1s t girl said can i g=help you ? Politely with a smile said no thanks am just browsing, two seconds later andothe girl ( who heard me tell the other girl i was just browsing) said is this your 1st time in our store, can show you around? I was like no its my 1st time and am well capable of walking around my self( i didn't say that to her) just politely smiled no and no thanks then walked out, bought what i wanted online instead. i love going in for a browsed and have been in a few shops that have been excellent help and not pushy at all, but they know when to approach me and if i need help . I hope all the COE's of these companies that force upselling and implement disciplinary for the perceived bad customer service are reading this

I'm a very chatty person so don't mind it really. My DH can talk for England so I expect the cashiers wish they hadn't asked about his day 😂

Blimey - a world where we need to train people to talk to each other when they are interacting.
You can usually tell if someone wants to chat or not.

I must admit I'm not a fan of 'till small talk',but then I'm an introvert. I understand that a lot of people do like it though,and for some people it may the only interaction with a human that they have all day.

This is why I no longer ship in the body shop.

Teh last time I was in, I was accosted a total of six times between 3 different people
”How are you today?”
”Do you need any help?”
”I want to draw you to our nectarine mousse scrub which actually has 5p off today only”
”How are you getting on?”
”Is there anything particular you are looking for?”
Then an upsell at the till.

I did actually say something that day to the girl on the till, I said I know it’s not your fault it’s your job but I won’t be coming in here again because it’s too intense. I was trying to listen to a podcast as well so kept having to rewind it!

*shop

😂 I hope you said no need, your DH was at home doing the ironing!

Who are these big bosses who think that everybody just wants to stay for a chat every time? They're probably surrounded by assistants and schmoozers at every corner, who do all the mundane stuff and take all of their stress away - and will NEVER tell them to ODFOD (however much they'd like to) - that they simply cannot fathom how much ordinary folk have on their minds and how much to fit into a limited time.

They're also probably mainly people in their 40s-60s - and extroverted with it - who have had decades for the confidence to make natural communication with strangers to develop, in a way that many young people (on minimum wage in their shops) haven't. I remember as a child and teen being mortified when my DM would make small-talk with strangers at the bus stop or in shops; now I'm middle-aged, I do exactly the same.

I'm astonished how tone deaf these managers are, though, who somehow don't understand that harassing and harrying customers in your shops - when they just want to browse, find what they want, pay for their purchases and get out - will cause them to actively avoid your shops altogether. Nobody wants to waste time in a shop where, instead of selecting the goods you DO want and bringing them to the till to pay for, they go through a list of everything they sell and force you to say No to dozens of goods that you DON'T want.

They even do it on their online shops too, with multiple needy pop-ups that come the instant you enter the site, then so much 'noise' that seems purpose-designed to drive you to a competitor.

I agree that Currys has become an absolute last resort for tech shopping now. Nobody wants to be forced to put up an emotional iron wall to be able to just buy the goods they came in for, without all of the endless upsells, and then leave a visibly upset young assistant in their wake, knowing that they will probably be punished for your decision to give Currys several hundred pounds' worth of custom.

I like this idea!

I find it more awkward not talking lol fs

In my local Waterstones, not that I shop there any more, I always used to try to avoid getting served by one bloke who would insist on giving his opinion on whatever book I was buying. “Oh yes, that’s about…” or “What I liked about it was…”

Even when I said “Please don’t tell me, I want to find out for myself” he insisted.

That must be Clarks. The upsell was quite annoying to say the least

Because your reward is not having to make small talk with the cashier

I also think we should have some kind of badge system for if we want to shop in silence or have a chat.

I am often rushing, frazzled and on a time limit when shopping. If I'm shopping with the toddler in tow I am even more frazzled then usual. I want to be in, out and done as quickly and incident free as possible.

Other times (when I escape to the shop for "urgent shopping" where I am not followed by a mini me and subjected to what doing? why? 300000 times) I like the adult conversation and a bit of small talk with an adult is a relief. I really appreciated the small talk during the pandemic. It was so nice to talk to someone who didn't live in the same 4 walls, even if it was dull small talk.

I imagine the small talk thing is from customer feedback (ime customer feedback is usually collected between 10am-2pm Monday- Friday when the pensioners are out in force). I know my 86 yr old widowed grandmother really appreciates the small talk and so do many of her friends. She has a daily short visit from someone in the family and regular phone calls from other members of the family and sometimes meets a friend in town but she spends hours a day not talking to anyone. Her company is Holly and Phil, the Loose Women and whatever else is on daytime tv. In Covid she was very very lonely despite the phone calls.

When I worked in a supermarket there were elderly people whose only social contact was the shop assistant. It would be cruel to say shopping should be done in silence for them.

I do think we need to do away with the targets and let shop assistants use their best judgement when it comes to chatting to customers.

They have to sell 2% shoecare of overall shoe sales during the shift; if they don't, that's another bollocking.

Do these managers have any concept of personal agency on behalf of the customers? What happens if people - even only 2% of them - don't actually want to (or can't afford to) buy the shoe polish?

Are they arrogantly assuming that people don't actually buy anything; they just wait to be sold it?

I’d prefer separate tills. Then you don’t get held up by all the people who do want a chat. It would be interesting, wouldn’t it, to see if people would forgo the wait for efficiency? (I realise there are some talented till staff who manage to judge how much chat people want and keep chat limited to the time it takes to put the shopping through efficiently, but they aren’t the majority).

It could be because many live in a noisy household and/or it is the only time they get to be on their own.

What about when it's the other way round? I manage a small shop and we do get a lot of very chatty customers... some are clearly lonely and pop in most days and want to chat, I always make polite conversation but it's awkward.. I am busy, I have lots of things to do and other customers to serve (only one till point) ... it's hard to politely end the conversation and move on to serve the next customer...

@Blossomtoes I totally agree. People are becoming so miserable in this country that having a simple exchange of words seems alien to them. Very sad.

There’s a multitude of places to be on your own. Shops aren’t one of them.

I’d prefer separate tills. Then you don’t get held up by all the people who do want a chat.

Isn't that kind of what we already have with the robot tills? Assuming there are both sorts available to choose from, of course.

I agree but what I hate even more is when I have to phone a customer service department and before I can explain what I want I have to put up with a pointless exchange of "How are you today? Fine thanks. I'm so glad to hear it" Why??? It's not like anyone is ever going to answer that question asked by a stranger with anything other than "fine thanks" so what is the point of asking it?

I would much rather have genuine helpfulness from customer service people than fake small talk.

It seems to me that there is a very simple solution to this issue.
Allow the customer to start a conversation if they choose to and keep on the topic of the customers choice.
This way, no one is lured into a conversation they don't wish to have.

Till person: Do you need any help with your packing?
Customer replies accordingly.

After that, it is up to the shopper to initiate a conversation which the member of staff follows.

I have no desire to chat to staff at all, let alone about my life, my purchases, my weekend, however, I appreciate some people like to chat. This seems the best way to accommodate the majority of customers, rather than the staff member initiating possibly unwanted conversation and risk alienating some of their customer base.

I popped into a chain pet shop the other day to grab some Hamster food. I left with considerably more knowledge on hissing cockroaches than I had arrived with. That'll teach me to peer into the cage.