Stupid things customers ask on Xmas Eve Eve

[Mokel]

I have done enough years in supermarkets at Christmas.

I remember one question raised by a few customers when putting out bread.
”do you have any bread dated after 28th”
I said if you go to a supermarket on any other 23rd, the latest date on loaves is 28th. As the bakeries always put the date as X days ahead, regardless of the time of year. I remember seeing one of these customers on Jan 23rd and asked them could they find a date longer than 28th. They couldn’t. Retail worker 1 customer 0.

”Is it possible to collect my turkey on Xmas Day?” Erm no.

Bloody eggs. Locally to me:

Tesco has them in with the bread and cakes.
Sainsbury's opposite the milk and next to the Free From stuff.
Morrisons by the sugar, tea and coffee.
Lidl between the baking ingredients and the jams.
Asda no bloody clue. Can't remember.
Aldi between the freezers and the bread.
M&S on the end of an aisle near the biscuits.

No consistency.

Every supermarket however will have the fruit and veg near the entrance and the booze at the back/near the end by the tills. Bread and fridges will be separated by dried/tinned goods and usually followed by the freezers. Easy to predict and navigate.

She's ENTITLED to BENEFITS because she's a SINGLE MOTHER, ffs

😉😉😉

My corner shop has Cadbury Mini Eggs in.

I haven't checked whether they're last Easter's stock or next Easter's...

Waitrose eggs are opposite baking ingredients, round the other side from flour and in a general baked goods and bread double aisle, at least where I am.

They mean people are thick and cannot get anything other than a supermarket job.

WRT the bread...does anyone actually pay attention to the best before date. I just keep using it until there is mould 😂

I worked in a clothes store when I was 16. On Christmas Eve about 15 minutes from clothing a woman came in wanting chenille (it was 1996!) jumper in a specific colour and size. I said we only had what was out so she threw some at me, told me I had ruined Christmas and to go and fuck myself.

Good luck to anyone working in retail and hospitality the next few days. I wish norovirus on the horrors!

Honestly, the main issue with Xmas shopping is people tend to fall into category a or b.

a) people who have a very particular Christmas menu and want x, y and z every year

b) people who want a Christmas dinner but are willing to be flexible regarding what they have

You cannot be person a and wait until the last minute to do your shopping. You can be person b.

This is when the rudeness arises and staff end up getting berated- the person is annoyed but instead of taking on the responsibility for missing out (didn’t shop earlier, didn’t order in advance etc) they take it out on someone who has no control over what comes into store and when it sells out.

Also, most Christmas line volumes are decided by HO- for most stores there is very little they can order in themselves. There’s also shortages (not being delivered despite being on the order invoice, so errors occurring in the warehouse), manufacturing issues so some lines might not be available at all, or available in lower quantities, order delays due to driver sickness etc.

It’s also generally quite difficult to accurately predict stock levels of every line because all you can really base it on is last year’s sales. Retailers want a clean sell through by the end of Christmas Eve, they don’t want hundreds of turkeys sat to be reduced on Boxing Day.

It’s a difficult balance to get right.

Quite. Our local M and S food hallf is open from 0600-2200. If it was 0700-2000 people would just adapt. We have become massively entitled.

Unless I’m much mistaken, OP would regularly post about us terrible customers when she worked in a supermarket. You’d think, having left retail, she’d have moved on but we seem to live rent-free in her head.

(Yes, I’ve worked in a supermarket and an off-licence. Yes, it makes me a better customer. Yes, I’ve got my crackers and I know where the eggs are.)

Catch 22 isn't it. People want to keep Christmas on December but then are led by the supermarkets to start in September as that suits the supermarkets. If everyone didn't shop until December it would take a?couple of years but supermarkets would eventually react. We are the target of supermarkets. We think they are led by us - we are marketed to a huge extent. Hence so many store loyalty cards. They will tell us what we want. Ho hum

Bikergran Your mother really understood the nature of a retail business. Not just the antiques business, but retail. Hats off to her.

So many people in retail don't understand the psychology behind consumer sales, or even remember the basic bottom line that is every sale is valuable, whether it's 20p or £200 or £2000. If a customer walks in at almost closing time looking for a gift card or a last minute present, or asks if there's anything of such and so left, YOU BET I would sell it to them, or make a genuine effort to find one, or suggest an alternative if possible, and make them feel valued not an inconvenience.

When I worked in a supermarket many moons ago, I had a lady come in mid afternoon on christmas eve looking for quail's eggs. We didn't have any and she had an absolute meltdown for about 5 minutes shouting that her christmas was ruined. I think about her every christmas eve now, wondering if she's got her annual quail's eggs.

I think this probably says more about the difference between owning a shop and so directly benefiting from staying late to make the big sale, going the extra mile, etc. and working in a shop where no matter how extraordinary your customer service you will still get the same hourly wage as if you do the minimum.

Lots of people leave it so late because of discounts.

Eggs and coleslaw, two things that seems to be in completely different places in every supermarket

In the Asda i go to they are kept next to the fridges that house the milk and cream etc. Seems a good place to keep them to me

This is a very reasonable question. Supermarkets always hide the eggs.

Never moved in the 15 years I was there. Yet customers said we always moved the eggs

Asking if they could collect their turkey on Christmas Day is a pretty stupid question, but the bread thing isn’t stupid - just something people aren’t necessarily aware of. Most of the time I just pick up whatever won’t be out of date within the next couple of days; it’ll be used by then anyway so there’s no need to make a mental note of the average maximum shelf life, and before reading this thread I had no idea that 5 days is the upper limit.

I remember seeing one of these customers on Jan 23rd and asked them could they find a date longer than 28th. They couldn’t. Retail worker 1 customer 0.
I doubt they even remembered the earlier interaction after a month. It’s unlikely they felt stupid - more likely that they went away with a story about that odd woman who works in the supermarket who approached them being very strange about bread.

I used to work retail in my late teens and I never once thought anybody was stupid for asking where things were, either. It’s more ‘stupid’ to continue wandering around searching for the item you need, when you could quickly ask a staff member and be directed straight to it, surely? Customers who take their stress out on retail staff, especially at this time of the year, can get in the bin though.

Yeah, use your words, Ellie... 😄

More like poor planning

I'd put any money on it the book she was looking for is The Housemaid. It's blue and crime/thriller type!

That's Ellie's fault

On Xmas eve- "What time will you be reducing the turkeys" 👀