Was I thinking like an SC?

[Peppergirl]

Granted, I didn't act upon it, but I find myself looking back and wondering if I was having entitled, SC-type thoughts with this little mishap.

I was at the local Meijer grocery picking up a few things. They tend to put their specials in the center aisle of the store, stacked on pallets with signs reflecting the sale prices.

I was digging for a certain kind of pop tart, and managed to knock an ENTIRE case of them (24 at least) onto the floor.

Now, the store wasn't crowded, but not being an SC, I didn't scurry away and leave it for a worker to pick up. I knocked it down, so I was cleaning up after myself. I was picking them up and another shopper stopped and was helping me, which was very nice of her.

The thing that annoyed me was that about 2 displays down, there was a Meijer worker stocking and looked over and saw us picking up all these boxes of pop-tarts. I'd say he was probably about 25 feet away from me. He just glanced up, looked at us, and continued his stocking.

I picked the rest of them up, thanked the lady who stopped to help, then walked away seething. I really feel like he could have come over and told me 'that's ok, I'll get it', to which I would have refused, but an offer should have been made. I know when I worked at Kroger a hundred years ago, we'd always shoo the customer and clean it up, although we appreciated when the customer attempted to clean up whatever they did.

So, was I wrong for thinking he should have offered to help me?

[Jadedcarguy]

So, was I wrong for thinking he should have offered to help me?

No. I'm surprised you have to ask.

[Pagan]

Not at all. I think you're right. And, hey, you actually picked up the little messy you made! The guy/gal stocking was just being a jerk, too.

[Peppergirl]

Thanks. I wasn't sure if my past grocery experience was clouding my judgement or not.

[Saydrah]

Giving the employee the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was just so that customers were tidying up after themselves that he lost the ability to speak!

[marasbaras]

I don't give the benefit of the doubt anymore. People have proven themselves to suck so badly that it never works.

I would've walked past the employee and said "thanks a lot, PAL" with a heavy side of sarcasm.

Before someone flames me for this, I also would've insisted on picking up or helping to pick up my entire mess ... PLUS purchase any that I would've made unsalable.

[myswtghst]

I think giving the employee a hard time would have bordered on sucky, but I definitely agree that him not offering any help is very sucky. I would prolly have given him a look, on my way past, but not said anything.

And besides, any suck that would have come, you karmically earned, IMO, Peppergirl, by cleaning up your own mess, instead of walking off and leaving it there.

[Ree]

You were not in SC mode.

The employee should have offered to clean it up. That's part of his job.

He was probably busy and didn't even think about it.
There are a lot of people working in customer service who don't think, and have a poor work ethic.
It probably never occurred to him that it would have been good customer service to help you pick them up, even if it was you who knocked them over.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, it would have been gracious and good service to help you, and since you were clearly willing to pick up after yourself, they guy should have been even more willing to help out. I mean, had you not picked up, he would have groused about it later, I'm sure.

However, that you said nothing was decidedly NOT sucky at all. In fact, it makes HIS suckiness even worse.

This is a case where letting the other guy be the sucky one was the right thing to do.

Just because you thought, rightly, that the guy should probably help does not make you sucky.

[Becks]

Not SCish at all.

Now, if you hadn't picked up the knocked over items, that would be something else entirely.

[Spiffy McMoron]

1) Who cares if you think like an SC? The big thing I think most people would be worried about is if you act like an SC. (For the record, I don't think you acted or thought like an SC)

2) Yes, it would have been great if the employee down the aisle would have helped you out. I'm pretty sure I'd do the same in the same situation. However, if you don't know his story, you can't really judge him. Maybe he saw you just as you were finishing cleaning up and didn't see the point in coming over after the fact. Maybe he was behind on his work and had to finish the promo pallets by X o'clock. Maybe he saw the mess and thought he'd clean it up after he'd finished on the pallet he was working on. Or yes, maybe he was a dick--you can almost never rule that one out!