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  • Well, that escalated fast

    One of our sister stores is apparently trying out a "cash-free lanes" setup. One (or perhaps two) registers do accept cash; the rest are debit or credit (or store points) only.

    So we started the same thing a day or two ago. Yes, there were signs at each register but AFAIK each cashier was also careful to inquire of each approaching customer whether they were paying by cash or plastic (because we do know how often customers read signs ....) During the times we had "traffic coordinators," they also checked before sending a customer to any given register. Most customers were fine with this, even the few who had come up when the traffic coordinator was called away, and then had to move to the "cash" lane.

    And then there were these two ...

    First was my customer. She was paying with plastic, so I don't know what got her knickers in a twist. She informed me that it was not only illegal to refuse cash but it was also (pause for dramatic drumroll) TREASON.

    I managed not to laugh in her face (or ask at what prestigious university she'd gotten her legal degree), merely saying politely that I was pretty sure a company the size of Giant Grocery Store MegaCompany would have looked into the legalities before instituting such a policy. She kept yammering on about illegal and treason and so on. I don't know whether she expected me to clap my hand to my mouth in horror, and fall to my knees to beg for forgiveness, or what.

    I had largely tuned her out at this point but I think she also went on about not doing any electronic banking or payments or anything of that sort, adding "I don't want to live in a cash-free world!!"

    Well, Susie Q, here's a newsflash: the rest of the world doesn't actually care what you want.

    I finally told her she would have to take it up with [Corporate Big Cheese]. She nodded portentously and said she planned to do that and marched off, banners flying.

    ********************

    The second customer was not mine; he was at Coworker's till. He too started yelling about illegal, and threw in "discriminatory" (I don't think that word means what you seem to think it does), although AFAIK he left out "treason." He did, however, escalate it to the point of demanding to talk to the manager on duty. MOD handled it well, although he said later that is why he never wants to be a store manager or assistant manager ... having to deal with these idiots on an ongoing basis is apparently not something he looks forward to.

    This guy was also paying by plastic, so another "WTF?!?" situation. To add to the irony, he was wearing scrubs. You would think that anybody working in any area of the medical field would be aware of the teeming families of germs and bacteria on the average bill or coin.
    Last edited by Pixelated; 06-01-2020, 05:15 AM.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    I wonder

    What would these people do if you agreed with them and said all payments should be in cash, and then cut up their debit/cards? It would be funny watching people who demand you must take cash then try to make their car/house/vacation and other large payments using cash only.

    I don't want to live in a world that is cash-only!
    Last edited by earl colby pottinger; 06-01-2020, 09:10 PM.

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    • #3
      Now you're being all logical again.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

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      • #4
        Oddly enough, the COINS aren't so good of conveyors of malady that bills are. Those lovely pennies that everyone likes to get upset about for various reasons for/against/just yammering... tend to be harsher on certain things than others. (Yes, Virginia, the penny drops... infection)

        Cards and their terminals get to be our new common point of contact with our fellow plague-bearers...

        "Wash yer damn hands" huh, what?

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        • #5
          Roughly 30 to 40 per cent of the customers coming through my lines have gloves on ... at least it protects their hands from the contaminants left behind by those who don't wear gloves. And at least some of those who don't wear gloves whip out a small bottle of sanitizer and use it immediately upon completing their checkout.

          I think a lot of people who didn't used to use the "tap" procedure are going to rethink that. It cuts way WAY down on the contact you have to have with the keypad.

          I personally also like paying by phone because I don't have to touch the phone at all; I just use the scan gun. This is a particularly attractive option when I get a customer like the one I had the other day ... who pulled her phone out of her bra.

          Don't know what American (or other) bills are made of, but Canada's are, I swear, mostly plastic. It makes me want to ask management to provide us with a big dish of disinfectant at each register so we can toss each bill (and coins, because why not) into it as we get them.

          Insert "money laundering" joke here.
          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
          ~ Mr Hero

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          • #6
            US bill are made of linen, I think.

            I'm not a glove person, but some of my friends are in professions in which gloves are worn a lot. (dentist, cleaner) I guess worn all day, they do a number on your hands, and especially your manicure.

            The virus doesn't burrow through the skin, so I don't know what customers think is being protected. The gloves are exactly as clean as your hands would be. I guess wearing them shopping and pulling them off and then using sanitizer...but one could just use the sanitizer leaving the store, anyway. Hopefully at this point, people realize it's gross to pull off one's gloves and just drop them anywhere in the parking lot. Hopefully.

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            • #7
              There is an argument that not taking cash does discriminate against the very poor who often don't have bank accounts because the fees associated with accounts with low balances eats up their money. Some places have forbidden cashless businesses for this reason. I've worked with families in that situation because I was a teacher in a 100% Title I school. I expect that is why you had some lanes that were taking cash. I doubt these two were worried about the homeless or very poor families and their argument was garbage because you did have lanes for those needing to pay in cash.

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              • #8
                Quoth Pixelated View Post
                You would think that anybody working in any area of the medical field would be aware of the teeming families of germs and bacteria on the average bill or coin.
                "He left the sweet thang who waited his table a dollar tip that was crawling with death."

                -Stephen King, The Stand.

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                • #9
                  Quoth workerbee222 View Post
                  The virus doesn't burrow through the skin, so I don't know what customers think is being protected.
                  The virus doesn't burrow through your skin but there is also the issue of DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE ... but of course that applies regardless of whether you are wearing gloves.

                  Yeah, gloves definitely do a number on your nails. I've noticed that even though I've never been one for manicures (at home or elsewhere). But hand sanitizer, because of the high alcohol content, does quite a number on your skin. Six of one and half a dozen of the other, I guess. Does anybody know whether it negates the sanitizer to immediately whip out a small container of hand lotion and apply that?

                  And yes, I want to kick, very hard, those buggers who drop their gloves on the ground because they can't move their lazy arses 10 feet to drop them in a garbage can.

                  Quoth kaherbert View Post
                  There is an argument that not taking cash does discriminate against the very poor ...
                  Some interesting points there. I don't know how bad Canadian bank fees are -- yes, I do bank with a Big Bank. I don't find their fees onerous but there are neither privately-owned nor even state-owned banks here. All banks are chartered and regulated under the Bank Act, which is federal. So it might be that it's a bit harder for them to gouge their customers ... just a bit, mind you ...

                  We do have customers who prefer to use cash. I was going to say "mostly the elderly" but even that isn't accurate. I've had people in their 30s and 40s hand over cash, sometimes large quantities of it (yeah, thanks for the $100 bill for your $7 worth of groceries ... ) and you also get young people buying a bottle of pop and a bag of chips who are paying with cash. I doubt very much the store will ever go totally cash-free, nor is there any reason for them to do so.

                  And yeah, I doubt very much these banner-carriers are worried about the very poor. Heaven knows what their actual motivations are.
                  Last edited by EricKei; 06-04-2020, 04:41 AM. Reason: snip
                  Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                  ~ Mr Hero

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                  • #10
                    I prefer using cash for small, day-to-day transactions, but that's just me...

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Pixelated View Post
                      ... Heaven knows what their actual motivations are.
                      Really? They just want to yell at some helpless clerk that can't yell back. It doesn't matter the reason. They want to get their jollies.
                      "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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                      • #12
                        What IA said.

                        Especially when it could be pointed out 'The company is not refusing cash. They're just asking you to use it at specific tills.'
                        The Case of the Missing Mandrake; A Jude Derry, Sorceress Sleuth Mystery Available on Amazon.

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                        • #13
                          Had another one today, through my line (lucky me).

                          Got the usual rant about how it's "not fair" that we have only one line for cash and then he brought up something new ... it's particularly "not fair" when people are allowed into this line who are *GASP* paying with plastic!

                          SC: "THE WOMAN AHEAD OF ME, SHE WAS PAYING WITH HER DEBIT CARD! I'M PAYING CASH! WHY IS SHE ALLOWED TO PAY WITH DEBIT?! WHAARRRRRGARBLE!!"

                          Me:

                          Okay, I didn't -- at least not in front of him. He told me I should tell the manager this isn't fair and I promised to pass the message along. (I wasn't going to actually put out a call for anybody in authority for this level of bullshit.) And off he stomped.

                          I looked at the next customer in line, who appeared to be trying not to laugh.

                          Me: "So, sir, are you paying cash or do I have to have you dragged out of my line?"

                          Customer: "I'm paying cash."

                          Me: "Thank heavens for that!"

                          At the end of my shift, I walked up to the shift supervisor and told him about the complaint (talk about First World problems ...) and that I'd promise to pass it along, so he could now consider it passed.

                          Shift Supervisor:
                          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                          ~ Mr Hero

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                          • #14
                            Actually, according to the letter of the law in USA and Canada. It’s illegal to deny *payment* not cash. So you can legally deny them the “right” to pay with cash but you cannot refuse payment altogether. So long as you are providing some means to pay then it is perfectly legal even if that means is the most backward should be left in the past cheque. And yes, I have been to law school but had to dropout due to the ridiculous costs of education here.
                            Don’t worry about what I’m up to. Worry about why you are worried about what I’m up to.

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                            • #15
                              From the US Federal Reserve
                              Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
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