UNLOAD YOUR OWN CART *a tiny bit of language*

[Nakajo]

I was pulled from regular duties yesterday on Black Friday to help pack for a bit on the front end. I used to work on front end before I got transfered to my current dept, so I know what I'm doing when I pack. Naturally, a screaming bat came through my line.

She pulls up, with her cart overflowing, and since our lines are very long indeed and we are shorthanded, for the sake of being an SC, she leaves her still-full cart at the end of the belt, and wanders around to the cashier, blabbing on her cell phone the whole time. Not unloading your own stuff on the belt causes a HUGE delay at my work, and yes, we help you unload to get you through the register faster, but it is NOT our job to do it entirely for you.

The cashier is finishing out the person ahead of her, I'm packing this cart still, looks back, sees the overflowing cart, and says, "Ma'am, we're a little busy trying to get everyone through, can you please unload your cart?"

The bat looks straight at him and says, "Since when am I supposed to work here?"

I AM PISSED. I finish the cart I am packing, and go to unload her thousands of items. As I am doing so, I see a hand reach in and grab some stuff. THE GUY BEHIND ME IS HELPING ME UNLOAD HER CART. I could hug him. He says, "I figure someone should help, since she's obviously too busy to." I thank him quietly, and tell him that it's okay and he doesn't need to help me. He then says "Well, someone should." I already love this guy.

Finally, it's done, and I start packing the cart. All of a sudden: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? THAT DOESN'T GO THERE!" I'm packing all her meat together... in cold bags, what's the problem?
She screams, "I WANT IT IN THIS BOX!" and goes back to her convo on the phone, about how stupid I am now. Apparently, according to her, raw chicken belongs with cold fresh vegetables. Ew. She screams at me maybe 3 more times about these same things. Finally, I am fed up. I put down the box and walk away.

I go up to my sup and say, "I am NOT packing for her." My sup says, "I've been watching you, you're fine, just let me take care of this."

My sup approaches her and waits for her to finish on her phone.

"Ma'am, you're welcome to pack your own cart." The woman throws a fit, says I smashed her stuff and how I am a horrible employee. My sup replies, "She's been with us for 2 years and is one of our better employees. If you have a problem, you're welcome to speak with a manager, but they will say the same thing. You are welcome to pack your own cart at any time, but when you are rude to our packers, they have every right not to assist you."

The woman then THROWS her stuff into her cart, I flinch at the sight of her flying eggs, and as the guy behind her sees this, he starts laughing at her. The whole line is giggling by the time she's done, and she runs out embarrassed.

Apparently she's a rather new member that does this about every week, and the managers told most of the front end that if she gives us trouble one more time, the sups are free to confront her or send her to a manager. Ouch. I wonder what else I've missed up here....

[Rine]

I've never had associates help me to unload my cart. I figure...that's my job. I want to buy the items and I put them into the cart, so I can take them back out and put them on the belt. Heck, sometimes I even bag my own items and most of the time I load my own cart. I didn't know there was a place out there where store associates helped customers unload the cart. That's weird to me.

But man, that lady sounded awful. I would have (and have done) the same thing as you: walked away and had a manager take care of her.

[Nakajo]

Bulk store, paid membership, the big C....

[Sliceanddice]

sounded like costco. I like costco. Its big. I have this major need to burrow and hide, i swear i was a mole in a past life. And i can get marinaded mushrooms. I swear to good they are better than sex.

[AmericanZero8503]

Oh customers on cell phones....that's a whole separate post right there.

There is nothing more annoying. And then we have the 'blue-tools' who come in here and look like they are talking to themselves. I hate those stupid headsets.

If you are interacting with a real person...end the conversation on the phone! Its that simple.

[Tito]

Maybe you'll be lucky & that will be the last you see of that bitch. At least the manager & the customer behind her stood up for you, that's a huge plus.

[mattm04]

I once walked away from customer while bagging. the SC had unloaded her cart but was talking to someone on her phone saying things like "Yeah, I have one of the fucking retarded drug addicts bagging, yeah it can't even bag my eggs, yeah that moron just put meat in a plastic bag, etc, etc" Finally I stopped, told her that if you have a problem with they way I am bagging tell me, if you feel you need to tell the manager, feel free to. She responded "oooo what are you going to do now, piss your pants." With that I went upstairs to the managers offices and told the GM. In the middle of our conversation, he gets a phone call. The same SC is not doing the same thing to the cashier, who eventually walked away and called him. All the customers had left the line by the time the GM, FEM, and LP had gotten on scene. They simply told her to leave and to not come back if she wants to act that way. She hasn't been seen since, except the complaint to corp about the "rude treatment by staff."

[allniter]

There's a lesson to be learned here.

Notice at the end of the story it says she ran out embarassed when everyone started laughinbg about her? All it takes is another customer to call her on her stupidity and the SC will fold like a cheap tent. They can handle their crabbiness when it comes to people who can lose their jobs talking back to them but when it's someone they have no control over, like anohter customer, they fold like a cheat suit pretty quickly.

[Rine]

Oh, now I understand what you were talking about, Nakajo. There aren't any Costcos in this area nor any other club places. Still...even if you pay a membership to get into a place doesn't mean you can be lazy and expect everything done for you. Some people are just so lazy.

[bainsidhe]

Vaguely related and slightly off topic - I once had a customer tell me not to scan ANYTHING until she had everything unloaded onto the belt. I've had this before, because some people are anal-retentive like that. But her reason was slightly different. She brought her own tote bags and she was going to bag everything as I scanned. And let me tell you, she was a mean little bagger (in a good way). She bagged as quickly as I scanned, I checked her right out, we said our pleasantry fairwells and off she went. I really enjoyed her and hope to see her again sometime. See, sometimes you do remember the nice ones.

[Seshat]

Hell, I'm partly disabled and I usually unload my stuff. My blind friend also unloads stuff - though we guide her to where the checkout stand's belt is and then unload around her.

Of course, if it's quiet enough, staff who see us struggling will usually try to help. But we don't expect it, and that's the point.

If a customer wants to have everything done for them, they need to go to the expensive, full-service shops. Part of the price of discount or mid-price shops is that you do some of it yourself.

You get what you pay for.

[crazylegs]

I'd never expect anyone to unload my shopping for me, nor load it at the other end, its all art of the deal.