Our Life

Post solutions to well known problems in this thread…I will start with the only thing i can think of at the moment…

You forget to put the green clubcard points on.

Solution Croissant/Or round roll etc….Void it….Enter…Green Clubcard Points…Scan Clubcard…Done!

Void? I thought only team leaders and section managers could do voids lol.

anyone if its under £1, the stores i've worked at anyway

Tracy的帖子#4被标记为无关。显示帖子帖子#4Tracy回复了 Owen的贴子NO NO NO OWEN IT IS MENT TO BE T/L OR D/MS SORRY TO CORRECT U BUT WHERE THERES A WILL THERES A WAY LOV

nope anyone can do a void under a quid. and its not just d/m's and t/l's that can void, I have supervisor privilages cos i do the occasional shift in PI. and you can put the green points on by themselves anyway, dont need anything in the transaction…

nah you can only put the points on at the total screen so that u dont just 'guess' at the start of the transaction how many of the customer's bags they will use. Pathetic really. But, as has been proved, theres a way around everything P

fair enuf, used to work that way anyway. not been checkouts for a while.

yeah i remember back when life on checkouts was easy !

in all stores, list department opening times. so counters will have 88weekdays and 104 sunday 103 fish.

and alcohol will have the licenced hours in massive letters where it is in the store. same with electrical.

that way they cant moan because when most see it in the day, they wont come in at 10 expecting the deli to be open.

also, they need to do mini tesco style appraisals. so you can slate your manager in confidence if they do no work or if they dont give you uniforms, cardinal cards, pay slips or dont sort stuff like pay out for you. they are here to manage as well as look after the welfare of their staff (and do ordinary work in between.

when it is raining and it is busy, they need to close the entrance of the main carpark and direct cars to overflow so people dont drive round and round looking for a close space and banging into cars/trolleys/people.

(only works for extras with massive carparks

shelter for smoking area. people will hang around in front of the parent and child spaces if fag pit is being rained on and probably flooded

which brings me on to…

flooding drains in car parks, so spaces arnt 4 inches deep in water

if staff have nothing to do, don't find them something to do. a customer will be along in a minute or two, let them injoy this mini break. customers will get s better service because staff dont drag it out to avoid a higer workload.

One of my biggest pet peeves is customers that smell bad. Like really bad. I work at a liquour store and I swear to god some people smell like they haven't showered in weeks. One day I'm going to crack and say "no I can't help you until I feel like I'm not going to pass out from the toxic fumes you emit take a fucking shower!" Their stink always lingers too, once they've left your cash or something. For chris sakes. And these people still want to be treated like flippin' royalty. AHHHHH.

We have LOADS of dirty people, especially the homeless who like to buy their mouthwash on a daily basis…but the worst is Stinky.

He was a Dal prof who went crazy and hasn't showered since the Trudeau years. I REFUSE to touch his money, i'll have him dump it on the belt,a nd when he leaves, I'll take the spray to wash down the belts and hose it down…and then stick it under my tray wrapping it in receipt paper. On Saturday,his ten dollar bills, weren't even purple anymore they were black! Then I use about a bottle of purell on my hands….

I was in fitting rooms one day and this lady came in with a baby so we let her into the family changeroom and then everything really started to smell like BO. So the lady opens the door and we got this huge whiff of some disgusting smell. She puts the clothes down on the counter(even though we ask customers to hang them back up says she doesn't want them and hurries out. I go to shut the family changeroom and i couldnt get close it stunk so bad! And so we put the fan near it to try and get out the smell, but even the clothes she tried on smell like BO…it was nasty

I was working one day and this guy got really close to me. Like I can see all the pores on your face close. So he's asking me questions and his breath smelled like a small rodent climed into his mouth durring the nite and died while he slept. It was literally the worst breath I have ever smelled in my life. Everytime I would take a step back he would come forward. I had to sit down for a few minutes after that the fumes had me nasueas

I feel your pain man. I have had that problem, except I WORK with someone like that. Its so bad they can be 6 feet away and you can smell it and it lingers. And we work with the public. And its sad cuz the guy is a super nice guy, so no one wants to hurt his feelings and say "yo man you stink"

2007年8月13日 2106删除了帖子
Haha. Yeah, some customers smell. There's one guy who comes in all the time, and I think he's got like 10 years worth of dirt under his fingernails.

And what gets me is when customers come in at like 10 a.m. reeking for alcohol. I mean, really?

Just today someone was shoving a key down his ear to itch it…while shouting at me about 'my' ridiculous policy. Im sure I saw the key come out his other ear, I hope.

there is nothing worse then BO and bad breath and women who dont wash their hair,i served a lady with these 3 problems one day and after it i had to go to the bathroom to throw up, i felt like saying,"i swear soap isnt expensive…please use it."

Unfortunately, I had the misfortune of having a customer who had a palpable aura of stink surrounding them as they stood before me in line, and me cashiering their order as fast as possible to get them out quickly. This person, however, decided to linger and would not LEAVE! My god, the stench was all powerful and would make your nose hairs curl. He looked like he hadn't bathed in a year, his clothes were covered in stains, and hair was greased like he dunked his head in a barrel of oil. Truly stomachchurning.

so does anyone else have this problem?

I work in a toy store, in a mall with a pretty big "soccer mom" client base. Apparently these people think that a toy store is a wonderful place to ditch their children while they shop elsewhere/get their hair done/ eat/ sit on their fat ass…

me (to child do yo have a mom/dad/grown up/adult in the store with you

child *shakes head no* or "they're in the mall"

me well you can't be in there alone, you need an adult in the store with you

child runs out of store to find said adult

"Adult" well i've never heard of a child getting kicked out a toy store

me We are not kicking them out, they are welcome to stay and play in the store, but all children need to be supervised for their protection.

what I'd love to say Look Bitch, they don't pay me enough to babysit your snot nosed little brat who's tearing my store apart and taking things out of the packaging. I hope some creep comes and kidnaps your child or they fall and crack their head open. If your child hurts them self you're not gonna be suing my ass.

and after leaving their child alone in the store unsupervised for over an hour, they leave without buying anything, or leave with buying a $2 item.

We recently got TVs in our store and we have recently been showing the Simpsons Movie.

I stood with a boy who was about 11 [so not a child, but still] and watched almost the whole movie [it was early morning so I only had to serve a few customers during those 90 or so minutes] while his dad was doing copying with us.

He never once checked on the child.

Used to get this all the time. I worked for years at this outlet mall just off the main highway. All sorts of people used to come through from retired wrestlers to people dumping dead bodies in our dumpsters (yeah, that really happened. One store I worked in had a wall dividing the woman's section from the misses section. Well, one day, this woman came in and shopped for a really long time in the woman's section while her children went over to the mises section to play. She could not see them at all with the divider, she might as well have been in a different store. After being in there for a half hour or so without looking for her kids, one of my coworkers went over to her and was like "Um, ma'am, you might want to keep your kids with you. We don't want to be responsible for them if something were to happen, like a stranger walking off with them." She left soon afterwards, thank god.

My fiance used to work in a shoe store in the same mall. One evening a woman came in and let her child have free reign in the store. Because it was a quiet week day evening, the manager was having my fiance stock shoes. Well, he had to leave the area where he was stocking shoes to help another customer and here comes the little kid running down the aisles like it was a race track. Of course he wasn't watching where he was going and tripped over some stock my fiance was putting out. Of course he fell down and cut his knee pretty badly. And OF COURSE the mother complained that it was the store's fault because they left stock out on the floor and threatened to sue them over it. She insisted that they should have been watching him and warned him away from that area if it was so hazardous with the stock out. My fiance and his manager just kind of looked at eachother and thought "Why weren't YOU watching him, though?"

Seriously, I am a store associate, not a babysitter. If you want me to watch your children for you, my fee starts at $10/hour. Period.

we have this issue all the time. people leave their kids int he toy section. i work at a thrift store, so they let them play with USED toys, which we dont wash. next to the aisle with all the glassware in it (not a great idea on the management part for floor layout but still. and kids will be left there for a goodly amount of time.

Its not my job to watch these kids, so i dont watch them. i mean, if i saw them being kidnapped or something, i would jump in and help, of course. but bring a book or something for your kid, and keep them with you.

AND they always leave a mess. No one ever cleans it up. "MY little ANGEL would NEVER do THAT!"

the only thing worse than these snot nose brats and their genetically defective parents…is the snot nose brats on wheelies!
I work in a store with lots of glassware and general breakable junk.
I had a kid in who's mom was at the opposite end of the store while he was wheeling around the store and bumping into displays and customers. I told the mother her son either had to WALK in my store…or walk the hell out of my store… she looked at me and said "why there's no rule posted against wheelies"
I informed her it was unsafe for him, the customers and me he could severely hurt us. and even though the rule wasnt posted it didnt matter…there's no rule posted against blowing your nose in the linens…but its still a rule!
I also hate when they expect me to take their kid to the washroom or let them use our employee facilities …I'm like NO! we aint insured for your child to go through our storage room and into our bathroom and NO I'm not leaving my store to take YOUR kid to the bathroom and i aint wiping his ass either!
i feel like telling them that if you dont want to deal with kids when you shop hire a babysitter! i hate kids if i wanted one i'd have one i dont want yours!

I work in a book store,where parents also seem to like to drop off their kids, or let them "browse around" (make a mess. The manager took it upon herself to have a sign printed up "Your children are valuable to us. Please don't leave them unattended." And we enforce it, too! No kids allowed unattended, period. Uphill battle, though.

I like alot of signs that are cropping up in stores now. "Unattended children will be fed lots of sugar." or "Unattended children will be given a puppy." Not that it helps much but it does get the message across that you need to be responsible for your own brats!

I worked in a showroom that had a big boardroom right in the middle. I was a round room and all the walls were glass panels with a big round table in the middle, which was made from a product we sold, so we often left the doors open so people could go in and have a closer look.

Being quite an upmarket place, all the mums would bring their bratty kids in who never listened to instructions, and said kids would love to go and play in this boardroom while mum walked around assuming we'd look after them.

Now the glass obviously had those little stickers on them at adult eye height, so you dont run into it, but theres nothing at kid eye height, and we keep the glass very clean. So when you have a screaming 5 year old running laps around the boardroom (which echoes so loudly…., they tend to forget where the open panel is and try and exit through a solid glass sheet…..

It took all my strength not to laugh out loud at the little shits when you hear this almighty BANG, the 5 second time delay while they try to figure out what just happened, then the inevitable crying. Call me sadistic, but its just too funny, worth the angry looks from the parents every time

When the parents scowl at us and blame us for not having a creche, I tell them the following

"We aren't ikea and do not employ qualified child carers. Its also an occupational health issue if we were to have a toy box, because the children and parents never clean up after their kids, and if someone was to trip on one and hurt themselves, we'd be liable."

They usually get the hint after that.

Oh yeah, I once had a woman whose 3 year old insisted on climbing the stairs into our stock room (clearly marked staff only of course. I told her its not safe up there, lots of little things he could choke on or screws and nails he could hurt himself on.

She just informed me he would touch anything and walked away!

I emphasised the point that it was STAFF ONLY and she didn't care, kept asking me questions about our products, while junior is getting higher and higher.

I ended up telling her that I was not going to help her until she removes her child from the stairs and supervises him. She got him, and walked out of the store in a huff. Keep your $20 bitch, better than a thousand dollar lawsuit when the little shit cuts himself on something.

You chose to have kids YOU look after them

I work in a bookstore, that for some silly reason has a Thomas the Train set in the children's section. So many times parents leave their child(ren unattended and go browse books or get a coffee. I was so proud of a coworker when one day she told a parent, who left their toddler unattended at the train set, "if your child is young enough to play with Thomas, they're too young to be left alone".

Start telling them
Mam, we also have many convicted/paroled paedophiles who also like to shop in our store without supervision, just thought you'd like to know!

tvs are not babysitters,we have this problem all the time,"parents" who see our electrical dept and drop their kids in front of the biggest plasma and say stay here while mummy and daddy shop,then complain about the dvd we have playing on it.

I recently went into a Best Buys and saw something akin to this, especially about the previous post concerning dumping kids in front of the store advertised televisions. There was actually a whole family sitting on the couch prop, in front of a big screen, just laughing and having the time of their lives like they were in an actual movie theater. Everyone was staring at the obnoxious group and when they finally got up, they left without even buying anything. It's like those folks who go to Costco or something just to get a "free lunch" by eating all the samples.

It would seem that claiming "victory" now is more akin to waving a white flag if the goal was for Facebook to stop invading our privacy. Nothing in Facebook's new announcement changes or promises changes to the fact that Facebook _still_ collects information from "partner" web sites about each of us in an unprecedented way _regardless_ of whather your "opt out" or email them or join this group. If you'd like the current situation succinctly ananlyzed, see CA Security Advisor Research blog post "Facebook's Misrepresentation of Beacon's Threat to Privacy Tracking users who opt out or are not logged in" (http//community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2007/11/29/facebooksmisrepresentationofbeaconsthreattoprivacytrackinguserswhooptoutorarenotloggedin.aspx or do a web search on the for "facebook beacon tracking."

In the way it created and enabled Beacon, Facebook showed us complete disregard for our privacy. Facebook should have asked before enabling the Beacon. They must let us opt out _completely_ before we can say Mission Accomplished.

I agree. Facebook needs to provide a global opt out.

http//www.ideashower.com/blog/facebookimstillwatchingyouwatchme/

I completely agree…we can't forget this, and this campaign isn't over!

Another source referencing it

http//news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20071201/tc_pcworld/140182

Claiming victory at this point is rather naive.

agreed

Facebook's Beacon More Intrusive Than Previously Thought

A Computer Associates security researcher is sounding the alarm that Facebook's controversial Beacon online ad system goes much further than anyone has imagined in tracking people's Web activities outside the popular social networking site.

Beacon will report back to Facebook on members' activities on thirdparty sites that participate in Beacon even if the users are logged off from Facebook and have declined having their activities broadcast to their Facebook friends. [...]

If a user has ever checked the option for Facebook to "remember me" which saves the user from having to log on to the site upon every return to it Facebook can tie his activities on thirdparty Beacon sites directly to him, even if he's logged off and has opted out of the broadcast. If he has never chosen this option, the information still flows back to Facebook, although without it being tied to his Facebook ID, according to Berteau.

http//www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,140182/printable.html

Facebook collects info, Google collects info, advertisers collect info, everyone collect info about you.

As long as it's only robots reading it, and it's not published anywhere, and the only way for the robots to use it is to make the advertising more targeted, what does it matter?

(UNLESS it causes advertising to be directed at some of your secrets, for example if you bought porn, then you log in to FB at work and get porn ads. But come on, it won't really happen

After reading the PC World article at
http//www.pcworld.com/article/id,140182c,onlineprivacy/article.html
I am still angry about this. What a boneheaded move by facebook

Here's the key quote for me "Beacon will report back to Facebook on members' activities on thirdparty sites that participate in Beacon even if the users are logged off from Facebook and have declined having their activities broadcast to their Facebook friends."

So a small concession from facebook on optin vs. optouit is NOT enough in my book. Facebook needs to come clean on exactly what information is being collected and sent to facebook, and where that information goes.

I want a GLOBAL optout.

Where is the best place to invest in a market like this?
Which are your top 10 stock picks picks?

It's a very good time to buy blue chip technology stocks and industrial multinationals at bargain basement prices not seen since the 90s.

Hewlett Packard, Dell, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Apple and Google represents compelling bargains. Also General Electric, United Technologies, IngersollRand, Siemens, ABB Ltd, Eaton Corp just to name a few.

These are companies that are not affected day to day by the credit crisis, have plenty of cash on their balance sheet and will benefit from the continue global growth, which just took a breather this year.

Shot term investment.
post $700 billion bail out plan.
WM, PMI, RDN, C
(AIG,LEH,FNM the walking death 'maybe '

NGD, DAL

BRK.A , GOOG, APPL (nice but lil bit high for investment

for long term I like most of penny stock
XSNX, HKBV

Cash
Gold
Oil

==
http//chrispycrunch.blogspot.com/

Commodity is a solid long time investment.
Cash will evaporate as inflation goes.
Oil might struggle as its dependence would replace by others source of Energy.

For now, just stick with the GSE's.
we might benefit the bailout program.

I would rather hold depreciating cash than depreciating bonds or stocks.
That said, commodities will rally if a perception of a solid bailout for US financials is in place. Buy Oil and gold.

A good place to look to invest is Canadian Banks, they have fallen in share price because of market and not because of performance. and they pay good div..

BMO BMO
Royal Bank of Canada RY

keep your $ under your pillow!

I agree with you John concerning the blue chip technology stocks but also pharmaceuticals (Teva, Pfizer…

Inflation is no longer a threat…the infernal circle of higher oil, higher infation, higher gold have been broken by this financial crisis
I beleive buying a house in some specific areas of the US is today a wise long term investement…
I have oil and I have gold and I hope they will reach their previous levels again but I don't beleive it in the near term.

start shorting tech and car manufacturing companies such as RIMM, F, and GM.

overall, the general trend is going down, so don't count in any company. It is a bad time for ventures. I suggest you go with General Mills, Kellog, or any company that deals with necessities needs.

MO, VZ, ED, PG…go with the high dividend plays with low betas. I am not saying this is going to be a great strategy to maximize returns over the next few months, but it will be a better investment than sitting on a pile of cash. If you are really adventurous and have a longer horizon, buy citi.

Shot sale is banned now.
Down trend market is a good moment to pay on bargain price.
since no more trust from the investor, we are the one left as a witness for this depression.
btw now NIKKEI down 7%

At what point when a irate customer is tearing you a new one and not listening to you as you try and explain policies (ex clearance items are FINAL sale and you cannot exchange them because you are an idiot and didnt' read the package can you retaliate and raise your voice back?

Pfff hell no, you wait till managment comes, they explain to the idiot the poilcy and the customer will either
A Walk out
B Kick and scream some more
C Will get said refund or exchange because your manager is a push over and wants to keep everyone happy.

I wish I could talk back to some of my customers….frick.

I was the manager…. one particular instance I waited until the customer told me she wasnt going to leave my store until I gave her what she wanted, which by the way was physically impossible, of course!
I explained and reexplained the situation(she wanted the LAST desk on sale and because she walked in talking on her phone another customer got in first and she was trying to tell me that because she wanted it, it didnt matter that she was on her phone, she should still get it about 5 times and by the 5th time my voice was raised and just I stood my ground and basically told her to leave, she cracked the shits so badly and was waving her phone and yelling and screaming, stupid bitch didnt ger her anywhere, she left. The other customers were all on my side….

I have a very firm line drawn. The second a customer starts making personal insults at me, "Why are you so stupid" starts calling me names "You are being a bitch" or just swearing at me in general, I no longer will stand for it and I'll start yelling back.

Same with me. If they are going to start getting personal then they have crossed the line and I will serve it right back to them. We're not slaves, after all and we do have the right to be treated with respect. Unfortunately giving it back to them doesn't really get you anywhere, but it does make you feel better!

personally i have found raising my voice ultimately never does a lot of good it only lets ppl know you have lost control of the situation. working at a petrol station i basically want to call every customer who complains about the price an idiot! but when im in line somewhere and a customer is going of at a waitress etc im always inclined to tell the customer to pull there head in.

on the other hand ive been called a gaylord (im straight but not homophobic by any means by a customer because i asked him to turn his phone of when on the forecourt , i basically told him he knows nothing about me and to leave.

I will never raise my voice either. I would get in so much trouble, and besides, pretty much the only people I have to yell at are middle aged men, and everything you say to them just bounces off. They will use everything they can against you, and if you just keep your cool, eventually they will either back down, or realize their defeat and yell even more, which is just amusing.

the problem is when you start yelling you kind of proving that you are as stupid as them! and ive also found that nothing annoys ppl more than a perfectly calm retail worker when they are being yelled at! ppl can handle being yelled at, but just calm politeness? they dont know how to deal with it!

I agree. Calmness always throws them for a loop. It's so funny to see them get all flustered.

I don't know about you but thats one of the rudest things someone can do. I was training another cashier when this women comes up to the cash and asks about the price for something. so I go and show her where it came from and the right price. so she thinks about wich hair mousse she wants and finally picks one and we head back to the cash. As soon as we get there she pulls out her cell phone and starts chatting away to someone. the cashier I was training asked her for her points card and she just kept talking and ignoring us. Fine. so she put down her credit card we ring that through and then she puts down her ponts card. I tell her its too late. and she takes a moment to say Well he never asked me. And we both say at the same time he did but you were on the phone. And then she says well I picked up the phone after he rang everything in. and then the cashier apoligised but she was on the phone. Lady Well I'm not mad but he didn't ask me I'm just saying. then she left. Oh!and she left her car keys behind because she was too busy to pick thoes up as well. she had to go alllllllll the way to her car and then come alllllllllll the way back.

I usually don't say anything to people on the phone. I'll ring them through, but I won't speak unless it's absolutely necessary. It's not as bad on a register though try taking orders at a drive thru while the customers are on the phone.

God. I always feel the urge to hit people over the head when they they talk on their phone when I'm trying to ring them through. I find it even more annoying when they say "I'm sorry…I hate it when people do that," THEN WHY THE HELL DO YOU DO IT!? xp

I refuse to serve them. I just call the next person in the queue.

A lot of people at my work come to the register on a phone. Not sure why maybe they are just that busy [cause it is usually soem suit yelling aout the price of Yen or whatever]. Usually I just ring them through and process the transaction without saying much.

It's ok in a way sometimes I mean, you don't have to preted to be nice to them, or care about what they're talking about. Just do the transaction and they leave.

There are some though who will be talking and wander as they talk. And it's like "SIR, Can you sign now please"………."SIR?"……. Oh right. Ugh.

I would have tossed the keys in the garbage and told her she didn't leave them behind at the cash.

I know it was soooo tempting!

This woman was yakking onher phone and trying to hand me a credit card at the same time. In a very cheery polite voice I told her, "Oh no, that's OK. I can wait 'til you're done".
IT FELT SOOO GOOD

OMG, I hate this! It's so rude! I would never do that! I've seen signs in stores banning cell phones. Of course I have no doubt there are people who ignore this, but I still applaud the effort of the stores that do that.

i tend to just nodd and wait, with there credit card in my hand, and when they start gesturing at there car (i work at a servo i just nod again. then when they finally get of the phone i pretend as if nothing happened and continue on with the sale, its hard to get pump number, account type etc out of them while they are on the phone apart from being rude so i just wait untill they are finished, or i put the card down and serve the person behind them.

I know, in a lot of customer service positions communication is needed to complete transactions. I work in DVD rental store, so I need to ask for membership cards, passwords, how they intend to pay, if on card I need to know which account, if credit I need to know if they wish to enter their pin or sign for it.

Bloody hard when they are on the phone. I've tried once, asked the questions and was berated by this woman for interrupting her and being so rude. GAH!

yeah its rude basically do your job in a way that will not get you fired, how obnoxious of you!

I hate this soooo much! At first I was kinda ok with it but now I'm leaving them to help people that have enough respect to talk to me. It's different If I'm showing them a product on the floor and they say "excuse me" or "this is an important call" but if they carry on a conversation and especially at the till I'm onto the next person

I like to think that I'm a fairly pleasant person to deal with from a customer's prospective. I'm decently polite [unless you're just an utter bitch] and if you're super nice and spend over $500 I'll give you a discount.

But man … some retail workers just give us a bad rep. I was at Kernels today and stood for like 5 minutes as the worker continued to clean. She actually looked up at me and then went back to work. I smiled and was looking at her waiting. Finally she's like "Hi." I understand that people need to do their cleaning but common that's just ridiculous.

Halfway through telling her my order she ANSWERS her cell phone. It rings and she looks at me and goes "hold on" and then ANSWERS the cell phone and goes "yeah hold on I'm at work" and then doesn't even apologise to me. Like the fuck! It's people like you who give us a bad name!

I'm known for having my cell phone out at work but seriously to actually ANSWER the phone while dealing with a customer is just plain and utterly rude.

Anybody else have a situation where they run into the retail workers who fuck it up for the rest of us?

I should also mention she continued to talk on her cell phone while dealing with the transaction.

I'm glad you started this topic I 100% agree! I am a people person and when i'm at work i'm happy, polite, courteous and a good worker because after all I did choose to work in retail and that's what i'm paid for. I continually go into stores where it looks like the workers are having the worst day of their lives, and somehow manage to take it out on the customers. Don't get me wrong if i get an asshole customer i will bite back; but i would never be rude to a customer who didn't deserve it. The other day i walked into a homewares store and the shop assistant looked me up and down and started whispering about me to her co worker Who does that At a music store recently the guy behind the counter started telling me how shit his job and life were, and how he hates everything. Mehehehehehe. They give us all a bad bloody name!

Ostentatious grumpiness really does cross the line. You don't go NEAR your fucking phone when you're on floor. Now most of us in retail haven't chosen it as our profession we're just trying to get through school or whatever. I'm not a people person at all virtually a hermit, but I have to do what I do and I do my very best. We're allowed to be a little bit less than totally enthusiastic at some periods of time, especially at Christmas or when you've got a really big study workload… But never can we be total shits without reason. Quite often I complain when there's REALLY unacceptable service you're right, they do ruin it for the rest of us.

Yes, there are people like that out there. I may not be super happy with my job, but I still do my best to be nice to the costumers, to keep smiling, and not yell at people, which I'm pretty good at doing since I have a pretty even temper. But there are some people at to store I work at who are just bad..most are around my age…This one kid when working the self scan kept on bumping into a woman who was trying to bag her groceries, and he didn't apologize or anything to do. Then she turns and started giving him a hard time, and asks him to help her bad. He responds with "Well, No one ever told you to get so many f******g groceries," *Sigh* some people

Jesus on the hot coals, he SWORE at a customer? Oooh… naughty! Can't say I've ever seen that. Even when the customer deserved it… I hope like hell he got disciplined for that.

I NEVER go out without a hat on… it's just what I do… and I go to the same supermarket all the time. and I had some checkout girl ask a while back if I belonged to a cult, lol. Not that that was rude although some people may have found it to have been so but honestly, what a question to ask!

I've had people just be short and grumpy towards me. I'm usually cheery and polite because it's jut the decent thing to do, but when people start sneering or snapping at me I do get quite pissed off.

I've only had my phone go off on the floor twice, usually I keep it out the back but the first time I wasnt helping anyone. The second time it was my mum and she couldn't understand why I kept rejecting the call, when I did pick up it went something like this "Icanttalkimhelpingacustomercallmebackintenminutes!"
There was much apologising but the customer found it quite funny.

Staff should never have their cell phones on the floor. Period.

I have to agree with Elizabeth, and I almost replied directly to Liz about it, if you are working, you should not, ever, in any circumstance, have you phone with you or on you. Period. No excuses. It's unprofessional, it rude, and should be punishable by being written up, and for repeated offences, cost you your job.

It depends on the store's policy about cell phones. Some places don't have rules about them. If you have it with you, it should be on vibrate or silent and under no circumstances should it be answered or used while you're in view of the customer, but to be written up for using it is a little extreme. I have my phone in my pocket while I'm at work on silent and it's never been a problem.

However I agree that to answer your phone while on the floor is unprofessional.

yeah, im being paid to work, if my phone rings when serving a customer, i ignore it, i have messagebank (voicemail if messagebank doesnt translate outside aus and someone calling me will leave a message if its important and ill call them back. it bugs me when i see servo staff, even at my own work taking phone calls in front of customers.

I'd say being written up for it is appropriate. Perhaps just a verbal warning the first time, but anything after that deserves something more severe.

Some places don't have formal rules about cell phones, but it's common sense and courtesy that you don't have it with you at work. Leave it in your locker, your car, wherever. You CAN get by without it for a few hours.

We're not even supposed to answer the STORE's phone when we are serving a customer.

man today i was at work and i had just got back from my picking up my lunch so i went back to my store ( which happens to be inside a walmart and sat on the floor under the counter so the customers didnt know i was there so i could have 5 minutes to eat before opening up again ( i worked for 8 hours today and htis was the only 10 minute break i got anyways i guess my feet were sticking out cause this walmart employee comes up to the counter ( mind you i had 3 closed signs out as well as a sign that said i would be back at 1230 and it was 1210 and she goes excuse me so i was like who is she talking to and then she goes "I CAN SEE YOUR FEET" so i looked up and she was leaning over the counter and she goes "BUS TICKETS" so I was like im sorry im trying ot eat my lunch i will be open for buisness again at 1230 and she was like well i need to buy some bus tickets so I was like well I am trying to eat i will be open again at 1230 and I have not opened the safe yet to sell stuff ( cause we lock all merchandise in the safe when we leave for a few minutes so it doesnt get stolen and since I was trying to eat I had left it inside the safe locked so she goes "YOU BITCH" i was shocked I mean this coming from an in uniform walmart employee who probably knows what it is liked to be bothered on your lunch break and is doing this to someone arghhh makes me want to tear out my hair sometimes

Where I work, if we are caught with a phone on us when we are on the clock, our first offense gets us written up. The second offense gets us fired. That's just what I've heard…nobody has ever dared to try it For awhile we couldn't even have our phones on our break, or talk to them when we were still in the store either before or after we punched in/out. That was a little extreme.

I work in a telco store, so we are actually EXPECTED to have our phones out during shift (it's also expected that we will have an uptodate phone. It's all part of the scene, we need to have it out and we normally have some of our accessories attached to show off to customers. However I would never answer it while I was talking to a customer. That's just stupid and I almost fired a staff member on the spot for doing that in front of me. The shop phone I have to answer, my boss insists that even if I'm in the middle of a sale I excuse myself to answer the shop phone if it rings. His store, his rules!

The store I was at said we weren't supposed to answer the phone (store phone while with a customer because chances are there's someone else that can get it, but i have a few times when it's been really busy and i'm on the first cash (the only one with a phone and i like always say "sorry" or ask if they mind if i answer it, i've actually had a customer say, without me asking "if you need to answer that, go ahead, i don't mind" that was awesome, tohugh i didn't answer it because we weren't that busy

And now back to the original topic, there's a grocery store near my apartment where the staff made me not want to go back because the whole time they were on cash they were chit chatting with their work friends or just totally acting as though they weren't dealing with another human being. like i understand being a high school student working at a grocery store isn't the most glamorous job in the world, but honestly… have some respect for your customers. i noticed recently that they must have hired some new staff or something because i actually had a GOOD experience with a cashier there. she was nice, talking to US and joking with us. I was impressed

Well, yes, of course, in that kind of case it's totally different, I agree.
I think what it is that at least what I was getting at, is a job where a phone not only would not be needed, but would be completely out of place. A personal cell phone on your person while you are working just isn't right.
Using it and answering it while working is just wrong.

The only exception to this rule, is someone who also works say, as an on call/volunteer fireman/paramedic. We had a cashier years ago who was one or the other, it's been ages, so I can't remember, but she had a pager on her at all times, and if it went off, she had to go. No questions asked.

I do agree with you. It is rude and unprofessional IF it goes off and you chat away while on the floor or the till.

However I always carry my phone on me in case of emergency. Every employer has told me that as long as it's on silent, its cool as long as the customer comes first.

I don't even carry it on me in case of emergency. I've always wanted to, but even if it did go off I couldn't answer it. I figure that if there's an emergency whoever needs to get a hold of me can call the store number

Anybody out there, who normally, keeps mum, smiles and nods, and is usually polite and demure with the public, finding themselves saying what they actually want to say, instead of not?
I'm not talking of being rude, either, just answering a customer's idiotic questions in such a way that makes them realize they just asked a dumb question?
The other day, the typical situation of the customer trying to swipe their debit card wrong, and I said to them, it's the other way, and they turned their card around, and asked, "this way?".. to which I replied, without even thinking about it, "that would be the other way around, ma'am"… I wasn't rude, or even sarcastic, it just popped out before I realized it.
another one, a guy was furiously swiping his debit card while I WAS STILL RINGING IN HIS ORDER….. he asked me why it wasn't working.. I said something to the effect of.. "It won't work until I'm done, and it asks you to swipe card!"… again, not rude, just exasperated… and i didn't hide it either.
Standing in front of my lane, (cause that's what we have to do when we have no customers.. and some person looking lost looks at me, looks at my light, looks back at me, and asks… "are you open"……..I smiled, said yes, that is why my light is on!"…

In none of these situations, did the customer say anything back, it's like I didn't say anything at all… I'm finding it harder and harder to bite my tongue… anyone else?

Yeah.

A man came through my till buying a leather jacket (good quaility, but it is a used clothing store, so it was a little worn. $60 CAN. Good price, it was a Danier jacket and worth over $200 new. He sets it on my till and complains, "This is so expense. It is worn, and a little rip here. I mean, you can get them new for cheaper,"

So I grab the jacket and say "Then go buy it new" and I hang it up on the rack behind me. He just stares a moment, then buys his stuff and leaves.

Also, a story from my boss. Him and I are great freinds, and his wife. And him and his wife are very….. open? shall we say, in most parts of their life.
Anyway, this chick comes in wearing one of those tiny shirts with her boobs popping out. He checks her out. (He's a guy. He will admit to this
She goes 'Did you just look at me?"
He goes, "Yes. When you wear a shirt like that, you must be expecting to get looked at. WHy would you wear it otherwise?" (or something to that effect
She just bought her stuff and left.
But it is so true. And so funny.

i know what you mean, i work at a petrol station, and people keep asking me why fuel is so expensive, and when im at the end of my tether i say "because people complain about the price, but still buy fuel at !60 cpl, thus justifying the price" tends to annoy people but its 100% true.

and i agree with jessica's boss, if you were something like that, us guys are going to look, its kind of impossible not to.

this is a great topic!
I had one guy want to buy two USB hubs that were on for $10 but we only had one in stock, so he looks at one that wasn't on sale priced at $20 and asked me if I could give it to him for the sale price of the other product.

The words "If I were running a garage sale I would but I'm not so I can't" slipped out before I could stop them. I surprised myself more than the customer LOL

I know what everyone is talking about!

At my work ( a supermarket when we're really busy, you get so many people coming through going "wow, ur really busy"… talk about stating the obvious! my now typical response is to look at them and ask "what exactly was it that tipped you off?"

like i hadn't noticed the thousands of people in the line!

I like to come up with different replies to the wonderful "do you work here?" question. Some I have used are

"No, I'm just a really brazen theif"
"No, I just broke into the store and I'm dusting the cabinets to piss them off"
"I hope so, or else I'm not getting paid for this"

or just "no, I don't. What can I get you?"

I work in a lottery booth and in this province we make customers sign thier tickets before we check them ( for fraud, so we cant steal thier money anyways customers are always asking if i want them to sign thier tickets ( it says sign your ticket at least twice on the ticket so i just say " only if you want me to check them" they look at me funny most of the time for that one LOL

Love the topic. I usually only say it as it is when people are really rude and arrogant. I like customers who get all defensive when you tell them that you require them to provide ID for certain purchases, like mobile phones.
"Its not like im a criminal" well how the hell am i supposed to know that… or even care, and its the Law that i get your details… and I need them or else im breaking the law.

And love the surname Ahna.

"By all means I'll rent this R18 DVD to you 14yr olds, if, and only if you pay the $5000 fine i get, the $10,000 fine my manager gets and the $50,000 fine the owners of this Video Store recieve by my doing so. So that'll be $65,002.50, tell you what, I'll even throw this rental in for free, so that'll be $65,000 thankyou".

I don't know what it's like in other countries, but here we have a Fly Buys card, like a reward card (shop at this store and you get reward points… and so many people confuse it with actually flying!

"I don't trust aeroplanes/ they won't let me leave the country/ cars are safer than flying!" you get the idea… you've heard one, you've heard them all, any they were NEVER funny. Oh the temptation to just whack them over the back of the head…

And thanks Ben, I'm quite attached to it.

Haha as soon as I saw the topic I was stoked! I was just saying to a work mate the other day that i'm at the end of my line with rude people. I must say I can still handle the stupid comments and questions they provide good entertainment and good stories to share with my work mates. It's the rude people i really can't stand anymore.

I don't know if I can be polite to the next asshole who walks into my shop and ignores me, grunts at me, throws their money on the counter like I am a slave, barks questions at me, doesn't say please or thankyou, tells me i'm wrong when I know i'm not, chats on thier phone whilst i'm providing customer service to them, raises their voice at me because we don't stock a product that they're after, whistles at me to get my attention or leaves their kids in the store because they're too stupid and selfish to be proper parents. I just don't think I can physically fakesmile anymore. One day 10 years of workinginretailanger is going to explode

Had a guy tonight who was a bit of a tight ass. The shoes cost $129.95, he was whinging. At one point he said "I would have thought it would be around $29.95."
To which I replied, "well you were close, only one extra digit…"
He did not see the humour. P

Heh.

One time I let something stupid slip.

I'm trying to fill a specials display with 24pack Coke. Some woman comes through with 1 trolley of stock, but insists on having 2 when it's packed. Now that's fine, I don't mind, until she asks me to push one out to her car. Now normally I wouldn't have an issue with this, but I'm at the end of a long day and not in the mood for customers.

She says "I think my car is over here" to which I quietly reply "oh you think do you?" Man… she blew her top. I told her to get lost and brought my manager down. He was a bit disappointed in me but I think deep down he knew… customers suck.

I hear you It's the same for me, the day to day stuff, as you say, I can deal with, you get used to it, I too, have been at my job as a cashier for 10 years.
What I'm finding harder to tolerate, aside from the stuff I stated in my opening remark on this topic, (cause again, that's the stuff that makes things funny, is rude people, just basic, human decency manners.
Please and Thank you.
Pardon me, instead of a grunt, huh, eh, or WHAT?
and chewing with your mouth closed, which, btw,, includes gum.
and the best one, dumping money on the counter, right IN FRONT of your outstretched hand.

I don't understand why people just dump their money in front of me either. I mean, I can understand if they have a large amount that they need to count out on the counter, but come on, if it's $17.49, why can't you just hand me the twenty or whatever? Even better is when customers just dump their money on the belt (while it's moving then acts like they didn't know it was moving and steps back so I can scramble to get it before it gets sucked under.

yeah its us saying "hello" and the customer grunting, and we think, your dressed normally, your not dragging your knuckles, so whats the story?

I have almost refused to serve customers who are chewing gum with their mouths open so loud that I can hardly hear them talk. I HATE gum…

We have to ask customers if they want any bags, because we charge for them. A lot of people bring in their own bags.
Anyway, you always get the smartass dude saying something like,

"No, I don't need any, brought mine with me"

but he's referring to his wife, girlfriend, daughter, whatever.

They think they are SOOO original. I hate that joke. Haven't been able to think of a original response yet though. I usually just ignore it.

Gotta love those customers who think they're original…xP

I swear, the next time someone either complains about our stores prices, or says how one of our competitors has lower prices I will snap. Yes, I know Stop and Shop's prices are higher than Market Basket's or Shaw's. Last night this one dude went on this long annoying rant that went something along the lines of "It's kind of stupid that you guys have a store card. I mean you charge like twice the price an item should be then get people to sign up or a Stop and Shop card so they can get the item at the price it should be. Where does that really save me any money? The only reason I come here instead of Market Basket is because I'm too lazy to drive there." Being the goody goody I am I just quietly listened and nodded and said "I see you're point there," I was one second away from starting my own rant.
Yes, I know our prices are high, deal with it! There is NOTHING I can do to change that (at least in a way that wouldn't get me fired. If you hate our prices so much than stop being so freakin' lazy and go to Market Basket Our prices may suck, but we have friendly customer service. (No offense to any Market Basket or Shaws employees was meant while typing this rant

Last night I had a person come to buy something and the cashier and I werent sure if there was a minimum you had to buy for this particular thing (sometimes there is and so we were like "Well, we'll do it like this tonight and find out from the manager so if we can't do it next time that's why". And then she goes "Jesus why are all you halls different" and I just blurted out "Uh, maybe cuz all us halls ARE different. Its a house rule, don't like it, don't come back". The customer behind her bust out laughing so hard. I had to not laugh but it was hard to keep it in.

i over heard this one last week…

customer "careful ink is still wet"
cashier *blank stare"
customer "it was a joke"
cashier "oh i know"
customer "apparently not a funny one"
cashier "not when you hear it a hundred times a day"

i was trying so hard not to laugh

Retail is seven days a week and long hours, what is the longest that you have had to work without any days off?

in my current job, I think my record was 17 days straight, mind you, I'm only parttime, but some days were long days, so my shifts ranged from 4 hours to 8.5 hours in that stretch.
In my first job, a McDonald's, when I was working full time, my longest stretch was 31 or 33 days, I can't remember, my boss wrangled me into working my first day off in a month, and I tried to say no, using the reasoning of "i've worked like 30 days in a row, I really need a day off". he came back with, well, you'll have worked x amount of days in a row.. If I remember right, he bribed me with free meal coupons and a movie pass or something like that. I was only 18 at the time, so my energy levels were much higher. and I was full time, so my shifts were a constant 7.5 hours long.

I'd have to say 4 or 5 days in a row for me…keep in mind I am still a minor, and the law here in Massachusetts is that 16 and 17 year olds can only work 5 days a week…

My longest was 6 weeks without a break, and those are 65 hour weeks with about 18 hours travel time all up. I was seeing things and hearing things by the end and I was bursting into tears over nothing every hour or so. We were just really short staffed at the time and there was no other choice apart from closing the store which we couldn't do… I would never, ever do it again, I now DEMAND my one day off a week, no matter what, as I need it for my sanity. If I can wrangle a second day, I'll do that too..

I demand at least 3 days off a week. At least they give them to me most of the time. My longest time working without a day off would have to be about two weeks back when I was working my two jobs over the summer. Whenever I had a day off of one, I'd go work at the other. It was crazy.

a few weeks ago I had Wednesday off … then i wasn't off untill the next Wednesday … I work at Walmart, in customer service, halfway through my shift on Tuesday, i snapped, went over to the CSM podium, told them i quit and started crying … they told me they wouldn't schedule me like that again … guess what i'm working this week?

Don't know about my record in days but i did work 16 hours in one shift when I was 16, over the christmas period. I was a goddamn mall food court cleaner and that was the worst time of my whole life

My worst was 13 days straight.That's 8.74 hours everyday.By the end it was a good thing I could do my job in my sleep cause that's what i was doing. The longest shift I ever had was from 4pm till 4am. That was the night before inventory and we had to go through the entire store(which is a little bit smaller than walmart about 3 times to make sure nothing was missing tickets.Once again i was sleeping by the end of that shift. It's a good thing my job is so easy(at least when there's no customers it's easy you can do it while asleep.

13 days,8 hours a day over christmas cause the casuals couldn't or wouldn't work.by the end of it,i was dead on my feet.

60 days, 7am to 6pm, everyone had to have surgery all at once, and after the first month my boss was wondering why he was getting customer complaints about me being cranky, i was 18 at the time and i would never even go 2 weeks straight now. they can fire my arse if they dont like it.

24 days in a row, i thought my 22 was good but then i topped myself

my longest shift was 15 hrs( not within those 24 days

it was thirteen days in a row. Couple of years back, all the union stores were on strike. WalMart was the only other place to shop, apparently.

13 days, 9 hour shifts. I was working in a supermarket for two different departments. I got scheduled X days on the checkouts and then the deli manager scheduled me for X days. I got asked to work on my day off too but I refused, because if I'd done that it would have ended up being about 20 days straight otherwise.

24 days straight, inc 2 9ammidnight shifts, otherwise 8306, on my feet serving stupid customers. by the end of it i was so run down id become ill and had to take 6 days off worth it? my boss thought so…lol

I averaged 1 day off a month for 6 months usually working 12.5 hr days with a full month between days off (due to the fact that they were stat holidays and had to take them off

My current jobs gives us the odd 10day shift, starting on a monday, till the next wed, then 4 days off (sweet.

I once had 2 jobs, one in retail, one as a receptionist. It was Xmas at my retail job, and I was temping for a sick lady at the other. I went from the end of november to the end of february with only Xmas day and new years day off, and that was only because my places of work were closed. Both jobs in one day meant 11 hours of work and 2 hours of commuting by car, and it was usually 25hrs at the reception desk a week and 3540/45 at the retail.

I will NEVER do something like that again.

21 days in a row. 2 fullttime jobs.

I then had to wake up at 630 on my one day off (before another 21 day stint so I could go to a hair appointment. balls.

uh…9 days?

infact, it was suppose to be 10 (to make matters worse/funnier, i'm suppose to be at work now, ..for 15 more minutes, shh, but my car broke. And instead of running around finding people to give me a lift to work (I dont know anyone that would give me a lift at 330am.., get a cab (25 bucks later? No., or something, i've just called in sick..i dont think i'd be able to handle it.

10 days. It was around Christmas last year and it was the only way my boss could tweak the roster to allow me to have Dec 2426 off (we're not supposed to take leave from like Dec 15 to Jan 15 or something like that. We're only supposed to work 5 days on each roster week, but the two weeks ended up with my 2 days off being at the start of one week and the end of the second one so I worked 10 days straight.

errgh..im now just pondering..if my longest amount of days that i've worked is 9, in the middle of september…how long shall i go without a break in december?

ahh!

14 days 9 am to 7pm with two 7 am to 11 pm shifts smack in the middle; stuck in a local hotel at at trade show with meals brought to the booth (usually when it was too busy to eat and would the boss spring for a room? Nope. Had to spend an hour on the bus to get home.

if i can remember, i think it was 2 weeks and they were 8 hour shifts. I was doing holiday help for gottshalks in December….in the end my paycheck was big and nice. I just got a 2nd job, and already next week im working all week…so fun