Was I unreasonable or was she?

[PassingStranger]

I was in a shop.today and there was nobody behind the till. I heard the assistants mention it to each other.
I carried on with shopping and then went to the till.

Nobody was there. I waited and nobody came.
Eventually I went to find an assistant she was coming out of a back room.
I told her the till was unmanned and I could have just walked out with my purchase without paying. Till wasn't too far from the door.

She didn't like it that I told her this and got stroppy and told me it was up to me to come and look for an assistant.
She said they also had cctv so would know if anyone walked out.
She said they were busy as well doing other things.

Surely it's their look out , arent they ecpecting any customers then?

Surely you keep an eye out. Don't know if she was the boss didnt ask.
They obvs seemed to have a problem with the till as I heard them talking about it when I went in. This was before id even bought anything.
Should I just have stood there forever waiting?
What about their security. It's hard enough with shoplifters today, why make it easy for them?

I think she had an issue with you saying you could have walked out without paying, to be honest that would be something I’d think but not say. Of course you don’t wait forever, you find them like you did and say, ‘can I pay for this?’ and leave it at that. It’s frustrating on both sides though!

She was a bit unreasonable for being annoyed you pointed it out. But many shops expect staff to multi task to keep wage costs down and don't think about the ramifications for the shoppers or staff.

Well I think she was being unreasonable because you are a customer and it's not your job to go looking for staff when you want to pay at the till. She should have been apologising to you for your wait.

At one point I worked in a shop and yes we had to multi task and shelf stack etc. But we had to do these tasks with one eye on the till so that as soon as a customer approached it we stopped what we were doing and went to serve them.

Customers should take priority.

She could have handled it better. I expect there aren't enough staff but always good to have someone on the till, they must realise that people in the shop will eventually go to the till.
They must see when people walk in etc.

Was it Boots? Ridiculously understaffed and some stores understocked these days

No.

This is undoubtedly true but the priority should be to sell stuff.

I mean you can ask for someone to help you pay without making the comment about leaving without paying. It was a pointless and unnecessary comment.

She was being unreasonable, not you. I've worked in many shops and the expectations was that even if you're stocking shelves or something, you keep an eye on the tills and go over as soon as someone is waiting. Don't know why she'd get stroppy. Sometimes people are just having a bad day and take it out on a stranger. Not your fault.

People don’t like being called out.
That’s why she got stroppy.
YANBU

It’s annoying that the store was understaffed and you had to wait to get what you wanted. But I I think focusing on the idea of walking out without paying was a bit pointless - you could do that anytime. I doubt they’d run after you, shop assistants are often told not to and if the store is understaffed they’d leave it even more vulnerable.

You could have just said you’d like her to pass on to her manager that, as a customer, you might reconsider shopping there if staffing levels don’t improve Or email/Tweet/etc the company. (Though, unless it’s high end, they’ll probably take that with a pinch of salt as most people want cheaper prices over better service).

Why did you feel the need to tell her something she clearly already knew? Do you tell the bus driver how to do his job as well?

Dosent make sense what tour saying. I don't see what a bus driver has to do with anything.

Telling the shop assistant you could have walked out is weird!

If there is no one on the till just go find someone rather than wait?!

I grew up in a family of shopkeepers and it was drummed into me from an early age that if there is a customer to serve everything else can wait. It’s basic training.

You were both unreasonable I think. The customer service was poor and you would not be unreasonable to point that out. I don't get why you raised the fact that you could walk out without paying though. That's their look out. It seems an unnecessarily combative thing to say.

The thing is shops try and survive on much less staff than they used to. So just standing at the till is not always a good use of your time. I suspect they have to carrying out other tasks while seeing if there is a customer at the till and they were not vigilant enough.

Saying you could have walked out with the stuff, as a PP said, I would think it but not say it.

😂

the Point is why point out the obvious. Just say you’re ready to pay. Nothing more is required.

I think I was just trying to point out the possible consequences of nobody at the till.

Do you think maybe they didn’t know this and needed you to tell them?

But why? That's not your concern. Why approach them with anything other than a 'i need to pay for these please'.

She knows the consequences of nobody at the till.

She got stroppy because she’s frustrated by her job in general, because it’s a shit job to have. You were frustrated because you’re a customer trying to pay for items, and the business can’t even have a staff member on the till. Neither one of you are in charge.

if i have to go looking for staff i sometimes just dump what i was going to get on the counter and leave.

If they can't be bothered to even keep half an eye on the till, i cba to give them my money.

You were being unreasonable for waiting at all and indeed for saying you could have walked out . You could have just found the assistant as soon as you saw it was unmanned and said you were ready to pay.

I am unsure why you waited knowing it was and had been unmanned for a while and didn't just speak up.

I think she knows it.

All you needed to say was 'Hi, please can I pay?" and go about your business.