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Gonna report this to the Geneva Convention ... (long)

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  • Gonna report this to the Geneva Convention ... (long)

    As most stores do, we offer rainchecks when we run out of advertised items. When redeeming those, it's usually straightforward for the cashier: type in the sale price, hit the 'alt price' key, scan the item, and then hit the number 2 key (because the system will ask WHY the price was altered and 2 is the 'rain check' explanation).

    Then there's rainchecks for meat ...

    If it's a package of baloney or bacon -- or any pre-packaged meat -- it's the same process as above.

    If it's meat sold by the pound or kilogram and it's more than $100 worth ... hooboy.

    I can't even begin to explain the process (because I've never EVER done it and plan to keep that record unsullied) but I do know the first step is ... hunt up a calculator.

    Then you have to do the math -- hmm, it was $17.95/kilogram, now it's $7.95 per pound, so what does that translate into per kilogram ...

    Then you have a series of arcane codes that you have to type in, including the new price per pound or kilogram or whatever, and ... eventually, the now-several-decades-older customer gets to pack up their meat and stagger off home.

    Had a gentleman come through my line yesterday with two giant cuts of meat, definitely more than $100 worth. I asked a shift supervisor to do the checkout and off she went to dig up a calculator.

    Meanwhile, the person 'running the line' had sent another customer to my till. I went over and explained what was going on, and said she was welcome to wait, or we would get her to another register if she wished.

    She just laughed and said she was in no hurry.

    Good thing, that, since, by my rough approximation, it took at least 15 minutes for the shift supervisor to go through the process of checking the (yes, by now mildly irritated) customer out. He was polite enough about it all, but you could tell he was wondering WTF was going on to make a simple transaction this complicated.

    I should add that a coworker had come over and said "Just type in the new price and hit 'alt price' and scan the item." Good idea ... except the meat department, for reasons known only to them, had not put any barcodes on the meat.

    And the woman behind him was indeed cheerful throughout the whole process. We apologized a couple of times for the delay and she kept assuring us it was no problem. And no, there was no "But suddenly she turned into Cruella deVil" ending to this. We chatted as I rang her through and she left, still cheerful.

    Which was more than I could say for myself by that point.

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

    Oh, AND the belt on register #3 malfunctioned AGAIN. This time they brought in a repair guy to fix it during working hours. I walked over and said, "Can we just set it on fire?"

    Repair guy: "Fine by me!"
    Last edited by Pixelated; 08-29-2020, 07:56 PM.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    Wait...they have sales that shift from $X per kilo to $Y per pound...WHYYYYY?!? O_O

    An approximate value for lbs to kilos is: divide by 2 then take off 1/10th of your answer.


    E.g. 100 pounds… Divide by two = 50 Kg. Take off 1/10th = (50 – 5) = 45Kg.

    If you need to be really precise, 1 lb = 0.453592 kilos

    For kilos to lbs, just multiply by 2.2

    E.g. 10 kilos = 22 lbs

    And yes, the meat dept. not barcoding their products is incredibly stupid.
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
    "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
    "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
    "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
    "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
    "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
    Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
    "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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    • #3
      This use of both metric AND imperial is a constant problem with anything that is priced by weight. I have no idea why they use both systems. All it does is cause mass confusion. I get people coming up with produce and when I ring it in, they say "Is that the sale price?" Said sale price is listed on the flyer in price per pound but of course when I ring it up it shows price per kilogram.

      Thank you for those equations; I'll write them down and take them to work. I have no doubt I'll need them.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

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      • #4
        Glad to help ^_^ If they're gonna use both, they really should advertise both at once. Not your fault!
        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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        • #5
          I think by law the actual sale has to be in kg. I know ads kept showing lbs as people were slow to adjust to using metric, but you would think that forty-odd years of adjustment is a bit much!
          There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

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          • #6
            Quoth Pixelated View Post
            Then you have to do the math -- hmm, it was $17.95/kilogram, now it's $7.95 per pound, so what does that translate into per kilogram ...
            $17.52/kilogram

            If the actual selling price is per kilogram, what's the reason they can't include that on the ad (with either the pound price or the kg price in parentheses) AND on the rain check?

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            • #7
              Quoth Argus View Post
              $17.52/kilogram

              If the actual selling price is per kilogram, what's the reason they can't include that on the ad (with either the pound price or the kg price in parentheses) AND on the rain check?
              Wellnow ...

              I actually picked up a flyer and looked at it ... very closely ... and guess what? The prices ARE on there in both metric and imperial!

              However ... the imperial prices ($2.88lb) is in something like 40-point type? 46? 48? And it's usually in stark white on a black background. The metric is in something closer to ...maybe 10-point type. AND it's often in black with a white 'shadow' behind it, which makes it even more fun to read.

              Pretty sure I've got a magnifying glass around here somewhere ... apparently I need to start bringing it to work.

              Thank you for that question. Between you and EricKei I might actually find my job getting a bit easier in future ...
              Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
              ~ Mr Hero

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              • #8
                Also, Google can do such conversions directly. In the search box, I can type

                $2.88/lb in $/kg
                And the result is
                6.34931315 US$ / kg

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                • #9
                  I guess that is one benefit for being in a "too stubborn to change to a sensible system" country. Only one set of weights, etc., instead of two.

                  Of course, we'd have that same advantage if we just actually switched, and we'd finally agree with the rest of the world...
                  “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
                  One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
                  The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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