I've had it with Wal-Mart!

[Bright_Star]

Yesterday I quit! I couldn't take it anymore. I got fed up with all the crap I've had to deal with by being a cashier.
The assistant manager who runs the front told me she had several complaints about me not greeting customers or thanking anyone that I rang up. More than once I told her I've had a nasty cold for the past week or so & wasn't feeling too well. Then she told me..."Well, in that case you can go home for the rest of the day". I was pissed! I didn't call off because I wasn't "throwing up sick" So I thought I'd endure it. So I told her this..."You know what? Customers complain about the stupidest things & what you just told me tops it all. Forget going home early....I'm tired of the bullshit...I QUIT!!!!". She was like---->
I was doing the best I could under the circumstances & I DID greet & thank customers, despite what she said. I was in no mood for lengthy conversations.
So IF I'm in a store, I don't care if the cashier says hello or whatever-just ring my stuff up!
So I walked out of the office, went to the back, got my stuff & went home. I'm not jobless cause I have a temp job that starts on Monday for the next several months.
There are a LOT of cashiers that have been quitting in droves simply because they're tired of being treated like crap.
I worked there for over 2 years. The hell with them.

[customersruinmylife]

Congrats, at least you've got another job to go to, so you're not left high and dry.

It is unbelieveably petty of customers to complain about pissy little things like that, especially when you are ill.

[greensinestro]

So, customers actually have the time to complain because someone does not say "hello" to them? In my area, West Palm Beach, the Wal-Mart near me has some of the rudest and most impolite cashiers around (not all of them are, however). Much of the time, when I go in there, it's not a matter of them greeting me. They'll do it, but then they have to hold a conversation with the cashier next to them, talking about their boyfriend, what they're doing after work, and so on.

Good for you for standing up for yourself there. Even if you could not greet them the normal way, I'm sure you still put on a smile.

[bigjimaz]

There are a LOT of cashiers that have been quitting in droves simply because they're tired of being treated like crap.

I know what you mean. I go to Wally World about once a month to food shop. I don't think I've seen the same cashier twice. Good on ya for getting out. Hopefully you will find your new job more to your liking.

[Andara Bledin]

I've read so many, many horror stories about how different WalMarts treat their employees ranging from breaking child labor laws to locking employees in the store and making them work off the clock.

One of my current co-workers is another WM refugee. She was a manager, then had to get shorter hours to work around her school schedule, then they wanted her back at her full schedule with all the same responsibilities, only with a notable pay cut. She let them know what they could do with their pay cut.

I won't shop there at all. I don't care if their prices are lower, I will end up paying for it in the long run once they've run the local competition out of business.

^-.-^

[Reyneth]

I really can't believe several customers complained about you not being chatty. I think she was just trying to have more to chastise you for.

I was at WM's competitor today and couldn't find something - the main thing I went for. I didn't see any employees while I was looking, but maybe they were busy. I had covered the primary suspect areas and then finally found an employee up front. So I stood a few feet away, waiting for her to notice me. I stood there for about 3-4 minutes while she was holding a *personal* conversation with someone who wasn't an employee but didn't look like a customer either IYKWIM. She never once acknowledged me, even though she knew I was there.

I found someone else who directed me right where I needed to go. Then I got the first one for my cashier - I don't think she said one word to me. Did I complain? I thought about it - but I didn't.

So she outright snubbed me and was obviously rude but I let her get away with it. I doubt many customers would care enough and take the time to complain if you weren't chatty enough for them - or they just need lives.

Good luck with your new job, and congrats for getting out of there!

[georgiab]

I hear ya...I am so sick and damn tired of customers..I work I don't always feel good and I have customers rudely interrupting me all the time..but i grit and bare it...This woman brings in a donation and I was busy with a customer We always ask anyone bringing in donations to set them beside the register because we are usually busy and that's where were sort through them especially if the other employee is on lunch..This bitch complained on me because it was rude that I asked her to put them there..I was with a customer..This makes me mad because I am up for management..people don't understand that their stupid little complaints ruin chances for people..i work hard damn'it...get a life people

[Food Lady]

My customers are always trying to go ahead of my other customers. Happens all the time. It's actually one of the reasons our former team lead was so annoyed that she asked to go to a different dept.

[LabCat]

Rock On Bright Star---Hope the new job is cool!!

[chainedbarista]

ugh, that's the stupidest requirement any company could have: expecting their staff to always be cheery and thankful.

god forbid we should be human; service workers are supposed to be whipping boys/girls and be damned grateful for it, by their way of thinking.

congratulations on escaping wm hell!

i prefer the red bull's eye, but they're all getting to be the same: profit before people.

[GayleShy]

Man, I know when I left Wal-Mart I couldn't get out of there quick enough. I was so fed up with their rules, the newest one being that the cashiers weren't allowed to talk to each other while standing on the &@$%ing red line. But they aren't allowed to leave their regixster, either. it's like that are robots who check their souls at the door when they clock on and leave a little bit of it behind as collateral.

And I know that customers can be the cruelest things in the world. They have no clue what's going through a cashier's mind when he or she doesn't greet them. maybe it's something as common as they had a really bad day or the last customer was a bitch to them, or maybe their grandparent just died. That actually happened to a cashier my mother saw. She said at first she was annoyed that the girl didn't greet her, but when she looked at her she saw tears were in her eyes and she was really struggling. As my mother was leaving she heard the girl tell her supervisor that she had to leave because it was just too hard to work right then. My mother swore from then on she would never get annoyed at a cashier for not saying hi again because you just don't know what's going on.

[draggar]

It is unbelieveably petty of customers to complain about pissy little things like that, especially when you are ill.

I had similar complaints when I ran a seafood dept in a grocerey store. The days that I racked up the complaints were also the busiest days of the year.

Good Friday.
Christmas season.
4th of July.
Annual $2.99 / pound lobster sale...

Sorry, I was dealing with 6 customers at once, I'm sorry I forgot to say 'have a good day' to one of them.

Another customer complained because when they asked "I'll take a pound of shrimp" my response was "Which shrimp would you like?" Mind you, I had 6 kinds of cooked shrimp and 11 kinds of raw shrimp. I'm not psychic.

To the OP: Good luck with the new job, hopefully it will become temp to perm!

[ditchdj]

It was like that when I worked at Wendy's. The one I worked at was a "franchise training store" for managers and the store manager there breathes fire down everyone's neck to follow literally everything "by the book" and micromanage the living shit out of everyone. It was so bad that her co-manager would come it at opening and watch the tapes from the cameras and listen to the employees talking on it. I was promoted to a crew leader and I always got bitched at and threatened to be demoted. One day I got pulled into a meeting for my second write up for "using the f-word" because I was BS'ing with someone and it was "unprofessional" so I just decided that I'd quit Wednesday without notice. I'm not putting up with that kind of shit for only seven bucks an hour.

[Jester]

I don't know about you folks, but I don't go to the store for conversation. I may get INTO a conversation at a store with an employee from time, if they are slow or we just happen to start talking about something. (I am, after all, a chatty fellow. Big surprise, I know.) But I don't go to my local K-Mart (we don't have a Wal-Mart here--yay!) looking for such a thing. And I certainly wouldn't COMPLAIN about a cashier not conversing with me. Being rude? Being nasty? Ignoring me when I am trying to cash out? Charging me too much? Being an asshole? Yes, I would consider complaining about someone being an asshat to me, sure. But just not being chatty? That is just stupid and petty.

Me, I want a conversation, I'll go to a bar. Or call my girlfriend. Or one of my friends. Or my mom. (She can talk!) Or any of the other of dozens of people in my life.

Oh, wait. I think I found the problem. The people complaining about cashiers not saying hi or not smiling or not being chatty? They don't have lives. That is the only reason *I* could see for that kind of complaint!

By the way, Bright Star, congratulations on quitting! Woo hoo!

[Broomjockey]

I'm starting to think I'm weird. When I'm at the check-out, I try to do the little polite social chit-chat thing, as I figure a little nicieties might help counter-balance the effects of that previous jack-@$$ they delt with. However, I'm usually good at picking up when the cashier just wants to be left alone and just leave it at "Hi," and I would never think of complaining about their lack of conversation.