Guy at Lidl trying to make me use self check out

[Earlynightthen]

I don’t *Have to, do I?

Shopping in Lidl with dd, 6 (very active, all over the place type child)
We had a trolley full, there was one till that seemed to be sort of open..girl on till coming on and off it to do other bits.
The shop was quiet, few other people, with baskets at the self check out.
Guy who works there came over and in a friendly way said would I like to go to the self checkout, I replied politely, no thank you as I had a lot to unpack and trying to watch dd running around etc and continued to the normal check out to put my things on the conveyer belt thing. He continues to me that it was ok, he’d do it with me/show me how to do it. Again, I said it was ok I knew how to do it but it was easier for me to just unpack my things, he carried on and on, until i had to say ‘I dont have to, right?’ He kind of laughed, but looked at me like I was weird.
I managed to gently push past and put my things on and the girl came to pass them through

Was I being weird, or him?!

He was just doing his job, and it's totally fine you didn't want to use the self service thing but he was trying to help and offering to assist. It's not weird, it's just him following instructions.

Bizarre behaviour from him.

No-one was being weird.

I'm sure he is put under pressure to redirect people to the self service tills but he shouldn't carry on trying to make you do it when you've said no.

@Pandasnacks But shouldnt he just accept it as the first ‘No, thank you’ surely I would go there if I wanted to, he did go on a lot, it got weird.

Yes I think that his behavior was pushy snd intrusive.

But it sounds like you were loading your things onto a currently unmanned check out (that the girl was going to come back to) if it went on for several minutes. Yes it would have been better if he read the room sooner, but he was trying to help.

Was the till manned when you went to it?

He was just trying to help you by the sounds of it, it’s what they are there to do and also instructed to do. Also what do you mean by gently pushed past? Did you just push him out the way?

He’s probably under pressure to get people to use the self checkouts, so needs to be seen to ask and keep asking. No one was being weird - give the poor guy a break.

He should have stopped after the first time OP refused to use the self check out.

Once is doing his job, any more is harassment, and his job description most likely doesn’t include harassing the customers.

If the light is on above it, it's a manned checkout. There's always one, even if the person's stepped away briefly. You can't pay in cash at the self-checkout anyway.

It's presumptuous and pushy to continue to try to insist against the customer's declared preference. He shouldn't have even mentioned it: the tills are clearly visible, so clearly OP knew it was an option.

Was it close to closing time?

@pinkpjamas1 No, after lunch, quiet time of the day

@Precipice I'm aware of how check outs work. As OP and I said, the girl wasn't currently on the check out, and from what OP said this went on for several minutes while they waited for her to come back, hence the guy asking more than once. He's suppose to encourage using the self check outs, and was waiting and ready to help OP out. Some of the responses here are pretty OTT about an employee doing their job

@cookiebee Well, I rammed the trolley into him and he fell on the floor 😅

I was just trying to hint quite a bit and politely for him to move out of the way, Dd was running around begging me for sweets, we were in quite a rush, he just wouldnt take no for an answer, so I pushed the trolley around him a bit more insistently.

The girl was on and off the check out, back and to, but it was open (the only one) and I had a trolley full and a young child, by the time i’d unloaded all the stuff, she’d be back, even if not straightaway, i’m happy to wait a bit. I hate self check outs and never use them, this was far too insistent and really annoying

People need to calm down, it wasn’t personal. He was probably doing as ordered and

UK self service checkouts are a PITA. Here in the Netherlands it is a little more civilised, the tills in my local supermarket don’t speak, thus no frantic ‘unexplained items in the bagging area’ commands being barked at you.

So doing his job was to make me feel uncomfortable? I have nothing against people having to do their job, he wasnt some poor guy, he was far too insistent and pushy

Then why bother asking? Just to confidently tell anyone with a different opinion to you that they are wrong? You clearly think he was weird and have made your mind up so what next? Are you looking to complain about him?

I had this a couple of months ago in Matalan. Sunday morning only one lady on the till, 6 emptying self check out stations. I queued behind one other lady to be served by the human being employed to be there. Strongly encouraged to use self check out and i politely declined. Another lady joined the queue and repeated same decline when also strongly offered self check out services including a demonstration on how to navigate the systems. Then another lady, then another, then another and so on. In all there were 7 human beings wanting to be served by another human being.

We all hoped it was actually keeping her job because it seems nowadays that a cost saving for employers is getting rid of the employees.

I am happy to queue every single time than to use the self service.

Lets keep the jobs for humans for as long as possible. Automation is not for everyone.

I hate self checkout

They always go wrong Won't scan. Alarm for staff for help

Much prefer a cashier to do it

He should have accepted the first “no thank you” 100%.

I refuse to use them. And I’ve usually got no kids with me. A cheery “No, thank you” usually is enough.

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