To have said this to a sales assistant..?

[ErikaMaye]

I had to buy some clothes for me and DS today. It was warm, I was tired and stressed. When the buzzer went off to announce which till I was to be served at, I approached. The "salesman" was leaning against the side picking his fingers, and sighed as I handed the basket over. He scanned the items and put them in a bag. Then with his eyes still looking at the screen, he held his hand out and said, "37.50". Not "37 pound fifty". No "please". And when I handed him the money, he held the notes up to the light. No "thank you".

So as I took my bag from him, I said, "Its okay to say 'please' and 'thank you', you know..." and walked off.

When I was working, I always said please and thank you. When I'm the buyer, I say please and thank you. Its just common courtesy, surely?

Was I unreasonable? Or more - AIBU to expect people to be polite when serving, and being served?

they are probably like that at home too!!!!!!!!!

it doesn't matter how grumpy you are, a smile, please and thank you is the minimum you should offer.
and that goes for the customer as well as the shop assistant.

YANBU at all. I manage a customer focussed organisation and whilst I don't accept that the customer is always right they are always entitled to the best service we can provide.

My personal pet hate is when you go into a restuarant or approach a reception and no one acknowledges you. Even if the 'greeter' is on the phone, just a bit of eye contact and an indication that they'll be with you in a minute sets the right tone.

"Personally I hate it when shop assistants are all fake-chummy. I just want to pay for my stuff quickly and get out."

See this gets my goat... Im a sales assistant and have been for almost 10 years. Ive seen comments about how sales assistant are surly and rude and then I see complaints about fake-friendliness. We cant bloody win!!

OP: YANBU. It doesnt kill you too say Hello, Please, Thank you and Goodbye. You were quite right to say something to him.

*to not too. Wouldnt want to reinforce the notion of sales assistants being uneducated and dumb!!

yanbu - but as another ex sales assistant remember all of you it works both ways - if you want people in shops to be nice, you have to be nice too!

YANBU. I always try to be polite to shop staff and it does make me feel dismayed when they are rude or ignore you.

Fake Chummy...

I think shopping on the net was made for you

Usually good with this, but remember being a bit pre-occupied one Sunday morning, going down to the local newsagents to buy a paper.

Now when I'm deep in thought, I can look really miserable, so I can guess my expression was not giving out the most positive vibes.

I get to the counter with the paper and the guy says "that's £5 please". I know the Sunday papers can be pretty hefty, but not to that extent! So I was all ready to blow up ("What??!!!), when I caught the glint in his eye.

Realised I'd been properly had gently wound up, which served as a disarming wake up call. I was still grinning half an hour later...

wemmick!
when i was a child, our local paper shop owner used to say pound instead of pence (deliberately). caught me out on many occasions: "that'll be 23 pounds please!"

Wemmick!! Have had that done to me too, with the same result. Never had the guts to do it myself though!!

YANBU

We have the 'thank you lady' in our local Wilko...

"Thank you" as she scans each item
Then "that's £XX.XX thank you"
Hand over the money - "thank you, thanks"
then "Xp change and your receipt, thank you"
and then a "thank you, bye" at the end

I love going to her till, always puts a on my face

YANBU

We have the 'thank you lady' in our local Wilko...

"Thank you" as she scans each item
Then "that's £XX.XX thank you"
Hand over the money - "thank you, thanks"
then "Xp change and your receipt, thank you"
and then a "thank you, bye" at the end

I love going to her till, always puts a on my face

See, as a SAHM im often starved of adult conversation - so i pity most of the shop keepers around here, they probably hide as i will expect a full conversation!!

YANBU EM. Fortunately most sales-assistants I meet are very pleasant and friendly.

What does most irk me, when you do get bad service, is when two assistants finish their conversation first before reluctantly breaking off to attend to you. Does this irritate anyone else and what do you say?

I hate the supermarket cashiers who ring up your groceries and total it up, and wait for money without saying a word. I have been known to reach over the counter to twist the display so I can see it, read the amount in a loud voice "oh is that TWENTY THREE POUNDS AND FORTY PENCE?" and wait for the startled look and the stammered "oh - uh - yeah" before I hand any money over.

I always make sure to be effusively thankful and cheery after one of those. Leaves the poor cashier thoroughly flustered - and hopefully a bit more polite.

yanbu ,my dd rang epu up and someone answerd the fone and said "what do you want" charming !!

sorry, i never do this - but i can't help myself - ilovesprouts - ITS PHONE!!! not fone

yes i know its phone not, fone

YANBU. There is a very rude assistant at my local co op. When I saw him once he did not say hello, please, thank you, goodbye, nothing. So I just stood there until he eventually asked me if something was wrong. I said "Yes, I'm waiting for you to say something polite, as I have been doing all the please and thank you-ing, and yet you are the one being paid for the service and I am the one doing the paying." He apologised and has always been very polite to me since....but no one else, I notice whilst in the queue

Erika I would have found a manager and complained about poor customer service,