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.

My answer would have been they do tend to bleed when you cut their heads off!

Oh whatever. You are on one just to pick at me and start a fight. I'm not playing. Go and try it on with someone else to bother.

The funniest and saddest I ever had was the drunk older man at 4.45 on Christmas Eve. . He wanted something for his wife . I said we had a few cut flowers left and some large boxes of chocolates etc , “no”. Ok sir some nice gloves ?, a scarf , perfume? “No” then he apparently had a lightbulb moment, “tights” he said , “she wears tights”
ok said I and off we went to tights . I showed him the nicer and more expensive ones first “no” then he spied the multipacks of American Tan …
“them” he shouted in a perfect impression of Father Jack , “them! “ So I got him a pack . Then I tried the flowers and chocolates idea again . “No , she’ll use these “
i kid you not I still thank of that poor wife every Christmas Morning and will always wonder if she retreated to her bedroom to cry or strangled him .

with that context that makes more sense because as you say if they reduce the items to quickly then there would not be much left for the charities. much appricated

With the tights...

I work at Onestop which is owned by Tesco. Our eggs are on an end display…next to the veg 🤨🤔 been at work today & helped customers find-headache tablets,sprouts,baby milk & cough medicine. We are a small store so I usually take them to whatever they’re looking for. Stupidest question I’ve had- Do you work here? (I was behind the till,in full uniform,wearing a name badge) Last week I got told I was ‘fucking useless’ cuz we didn’t have the brand of cigarettes this bloke wanted. Told him to have a splendid day 💀

Worst is M&S and their endless, endless stock rotation. I mean, why? So many of their customers seem to be older people and it's so unfair on them particularly. I don't even work there and I've had little old ladies ask me where things are.

There are five supermarkets where I live. The eggs are in different places in all of them none are with the home baking items.

Staff, especially this time of year are busy stocking out on the shop floor. When a customer asks where an item is we have to take the customer to the product, and then ask if they need help finding anything else. This obviously takes us away from our shelf stacking, we then get into trouble from management for being slow on the shop floor! We can’t win!

I was shopping with a friend who had an enormous list. We could not find some things so I asked a lovely man near the till in uniform. He helped me find things, I asked for clotted cream and he then said “ maybe you best ask someone who works here” I said I thought he did he said “ no love I am a paramedic. I just came in for a sandwich”. I think the paramedic uniform look remarkably like the Asda one😂 My poor friend had to run out wetting herself laughing oops

Perhaps I should start emailing the shop management when the staff have been helpful with steering me to items. To be fair, I've never had a grumpy response.

I used to work in a shop that sold Beatrix Potter stuff. Just Beatrix Potter stuff. Teddies, ceramic models, plates and cups, cards, art prints etc. We used to get about ten people a day (popular tourist destination) asking if we had any Mickey Mouse/Winnie the Pooh/Forever Friends etc. This is in spite of the shop being called a name specifically relating to Beatrix Potter, and clearly only having that on display. It would be like that scene in Notting Hill, over and over again!

Eggs aren’t dairy 🤔

Going back to the bins question, I regularly used to have customers phoning me up between Christmas and New Year to ask me about bin collection, or (more commonly) to complain about their bins not being collected (because they'd put them out on the bank holidays.

Trouble was, I didn't work on the bins. I worked in children's social services, and we were one of the few council departments that took phone calls at that time of year. So people would ring the usual council number, get told that department they wanted was closed, and would just go through the menu options pressing whatever buttons they thought would get them to a human. And it worked, except I had no frigging idea when their bins were due to be collected. I think they thought that the whole council worked in one room together and someone from a different department could just go over and look on the desks of the people who were off or something.

😆😆😆

It's more than nasty, if you meet "many" then it's probably a you problem.

I'll tell you all about my degree and that I'm studying for my Masters.

OMG that’s brilliant!

Not in our Tesco. To bake a cake requires a visit to 3 different aisles none of which are adjacent to each other.

Was it in York?

I started reading this thread because I thought it would be light hearted and entertaining. Turns out it is flat and a bit tedious. Questions about crackers, mince pies on Christmas Eve are not stupid questions. Eggs are notoriously difficult to find in supermarkets. And criticising people for not being organised is so out of touch and unaware.

If they are asking the question on a Facebook page then they have internet access. I've just read the same question on our local FB page.

I don’t know if this is still the case (it was when I worked for Sainsbury’s) but the store doesn’t actually get your online order until the night before it’s delivered. That means you don’t actually preorder anything, it’s just luck whether or not the item has been put on the shelf before the picker gets there. There’s every chance the picker checks, it’s not there, but the shelf is filled 30 minutes later.

That’s news to the people of Leeds…

https://news.leeds.gov.uk/news/bin-change-dates-yule-need-to-know-in-leeds-this-christmas

None of these seem like particularly stupid questions, provided they are asked politely.
There are only the immediate four of us for xmas day so we leave it last minute to shop because we are flexible about whether we get a turkey or a ham, for example. We are still holding out for yellow sticker meat later today!!
We went to Sainsburys last night for everything else though and I have to say, the staff were amazing. Really busy restocking shelves so there were lots of staff on the shop floor, but we did have to ask where a couple of things were as it isn't our usual branch - I think we maybe spoke to three different staff members and honestly they were so polite and helpful considering they are working in retail at such a busy time and trting to restock shelves. I hope they didn't sneer because we didn't know where the crackers were and the in store Argos branch!

Not everyone plans xmas from Sept.

That said I am sure there are lots of customers who are rude and presumptious with staff and other people, and those who have left getting important gifts (for wives / mothers etc) till 4pm on Xmas eve. Retail must be a nightmare at this time of year.

No, much further south. The Past Times I worked in was York though.