My newest peeves about customers

[Drakstern]

Just a quick note on the service desk thing.

Having worked service desk for several years during my retail career, I generally didn't mind people coming up to customer service and checking out as long as A.) we weren't busy and B.) cash registers were. Heck, if I wasn't busy and the cash registers weren't and someone came up, I'd do it. However, I'd also only take express orders, nothing that had to be weighed and the like.

I did get annoyed when people would come over to the pharmacy counter and try and check out there without buying anything else, and it would always be at the times when we just got a bunch of scripts and refills dumped on our heads. Thankfully the pharmacy manager had a very strict 'if we're busy, they can just sod off' policy.

What did annoy me at the service desk though? Pepole who couldn't wait their turn. When it was Large Ursine, before being bought out by Humongous Bird(clever nicknames, I know), there was never more than one person at the desk at any given time, and two at MOST that could service the desk, except in very rare occasions. So if someone needs a bunch of money orders or western unions or just has an issue that I need to work on, then a line could stack up very very fast. Sorry, but that's life. Wait your turn, I'll get to you eventually, and then you'll get taken care of.

That said, if someone came up with 'can I check out here, I only have one thing' during a busy moment, it took self-control to not snap at them...

[snugglegirl05]

[QUOTE=joetheman;465517]I made a few top 10 lists a while back but I got some real big issues here.

1. I. Am. Not. Psychic. I am not a magical wizard. I cannot see into the future. I do not have x-ray vision. I cannot read your mind. If Don't look at me and expect I know what you're talking about. Don't start getting pissy.

I get this when someone drives up to the Visitor Parking booth window. Anyone on the event list has to tell me what they are here for, who they are here to see, or their name so I can check the event list to see if they are on it. According to Visitor Parking/Community Relations, the dept. I report to, the dept. reserving a spot or spots for an event has to tell everyone arriving for that event in advance to tell me which event they are here for, who they or here to see, or their name if that information will be included on the event list.

There are times when someone drives up & says "I'm a visitor." I say "are you here for anything in particular?" They say "a meeting, an interview, ect." I say "which dept.? Then they say which dept.

Or someone drives up & says "I have a class here." The Applied Business Technology dept. has Auto Cad classes that they reserve spots for. Since the President of the university allows students to park in the garage, saying "I have a class here" does not give me much to go by. I say "which class?" & the person then tells me which class.

There was a time when Career Services reserved spots for representatives representing a specific company arriving to do interviews on campus for jobs that were available at the company. A guy drives up & says "Is this Visitor Parking?" I said "are you here for anything in particular?" The guy said "I was told I have reserved parking." I said "which dept. are you going to?" They guy said "I do not know." Well.. if you do not know, I do not know. I told the guy that I would need to know which dept. he was going to or the company he was representing so I would know if that particular event was on the event list. He finally gave me the information I needed, but he was pissy about it.

[joetheman]

My current pet peeve is people who say "The cashier rang it up wrong..." or "She didn't put the sale price through." Look, the cashier has three responsibilities: scanning your crap, putting it in a bag, and taking your money. The cashier is not responsible for making sure everything rings up the price you think it should. Nor can the cashier magically make the sale price not come up. If you don't think your shit came up the right price, that's fine, but don't blame the cashier for what is nine times out of ten your error, and is never, ever hers.

oh fuck yes this is another one. seriously what's the deal with this? For the small percentage of the time that customers are actually right, the fault is the computer's. Not the cashier's. Don't blame them.

The other thing that annoys me is our dumb store's rules often make people more annoyed than they need to be. We have this gas rewards thing connected to a rewards card, so if someone doesn't have a card, or forgot it, and they want discounts, we have to get a supervisor to put one in. Customers are always like OK JUST SCAN MINE we can't do that though. Alcohol rules are getting stricter by the day and are annoying more and more people too.

But the reason the customer service checkout thing pissed me off is because it's basically like "i'm the royal king/queen and you will check me out ahead of everyone else because I am so much better". Whenever I've seen it it's like that. They don't encourage it by any means, yet they still allow it for some reason. If I worked at customer service, I'd say GTFO.

Also regarding lanes, I don't understand why people with two items wait behind a customer with a huge order. Yes there's only one customer in front of you, and maybe three in the express lane, but guess what THE EXPRESS LANE WILL BE FASTER. those customers will all take less time. if I don't have a bagger, double your waiting time in my lane, sorry bud. better luck next time.

Also if I'm on express, and you come in here with a big order, sorry, you can GTFO. You aren't coming in here. Ok 20 items is ok maybe, but big full carts, no way. I've never actually had someone try to checkout like that, anyone who has was simply mistaken and didn't see the express sign.

The two things I just cannot comprehend AT ALL because they make zero legitimate sense in anything are why people put stuff they don't want on top of the registers, and why people congregate in the same line. Everyone's in a big fucking hurry. Would it hurt you to look around? I love walking down across the register entrances and see lines everywhere, then see like three self checkouts open with no waiting XD. Sometimes the opposite too.

[depechemodefan]

At places like Aldis where there is only one line and you have to wait your turn regardless I try to let those folks behind me with five or less items go in front. Life is too short to run around being hateful to people.

This reminds me what this c@nt in the express lane in front of me did. Well, first off I get in line and she looks me up and down like I was shit on her shoe. I don't know how many items she had, but around 20. Some fucktard with a hand basket with 5 things then goes up to the c@nt and asked "Can I go ahead?" The c@nt says sure. First, I tought that was nice of her, but then I realized, shit, she let someone cut in front of me. Here I am, waiting in line with 10 items, she sees me and looks at me like I'm shit on her shoe, and 2 min. latter someone comes up and she lets her go ahead. So I'm waiting longer.

So if you (not you personally, calulu) are in line by yourself, that's fine to let someone cut in front. But if there is a long line and your next in line, it's not fair for the other people waiting in line behind you to let someone cut in front.

Another funny thing. I go to the post office and one clerk asks everyone in line, "if you have something to drop off or pick up that doesn't require a money transaction, please come up to this register." Guy goes up to her, "I need to drop this off. I need to get a stamp for it." PO worker says, "that is a money transaction, I can't help you."

[joetheman]

Well yeah, if you wanna let the person behind you (just one spot behind you) cut you, that's fine. One time though I had this woman buying one bottle of wine behind a lady with like a 200 dollar order, who disappeared like some customers do.

So the lady with the wine comes up and says ok I dunno where she went so I'm gonna sneak ahead and I'm like yeah sure ok I just go with the flow. I avoid conflict and let people choose their natural register without moving them or directing them, and in general just let people do whatever as long as no one gets hurt or it's not illegal. Anyway because she has alcohol it took longer and by the time a supervisor comes around to check her out the other lady came back. I was hoping the alcohol lady would be gone by the time she came back, but sadly that didn't happen.
Anyway she leaves, sort of embarassed, and it's finally the other lady's turn, and at one point she's just like "you know, it wasn't very nice of her to cut, and I was just doing you a favor by getting cigarettes ahead of time" (even though you can't get them at customer service, which is what she was trying to do in the middle of a transaction.

Either way she wasn't pissed at me so I don't care.

Also another thing about the customer service checkout. The ONE time I would consider it acceptable is this scenario. A woman with a huge order just checked out and found an avocado in the top part of the cart but she was already done and the next order, equally big, had been started. It was not really fair to make her wait for that order to be done, and there was no line at customer service, so she just paid for the one thing there quickly. That is ok. Cutting the line is just dumb unless they let you go ahead. Once a customer just disappeared for like five minutes to go get a gift card, I was express at the time, so I just kept letting small orders go in front of her, no sweat.

[calulu]

Ha! People sometimes pushily insist on going before you too. One day I was running late for some function and stopped to get five items I needed to whatever function I was running to, a pot luck or something, and some extremely pushy cow came up to me in the rapidly moving express line and asked if I minded if she went first because she was 'in a hurry'. One of the few times I didn't allow someone to do that, I told her I was in a big hurry so yes, I did mind, would not allow her to jump in front of me and that line was moving at a fast clip. Major cat butt face but I didn't really care. She was actually very EW and selfishly, yakking on her cell at full volume waiting to buy her ciggies.

[VComps]

Actually, some places DO do that. Like the place I work at. If you have a few items that don't have to be weighed, you are more then welcome to come check out at the service desk. It helps things run a little bit faster, and keeps a lot of non-sc's happy. So no, Mr. Hero, not every place thinks that it's bad.

I work at one such place. We have two tills at the customer service desk, both of which are capable of processing any and all transactions. Actually, if you want to buy cigarettes, you HAVE to go through customer service.

Also, think about this: if they aren't there to serve customers, why do they call it 'customer service'?

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the supermarket, people are only allowed to check out at CS if they're invited. Otherwise, it's a big no no; invites only happen if the basket tills and kiosk are overflowing.

I hate being supposed to be a psychic too; I get people who come to my till and stand there expectantly, forcing me to ask "What pump are you on?" and then getting the answer in a tone that seems to suggest I asked the most stupid question ever.

[simplyanother]

My current pet peeve is people who say "The cashier rang it up wrong..." or "She didn't put the sale price through." Look, the cashier has three responsibilities: scanning your crap, putting it in a bag, and taking your money. The cashier is not responsible for making sure everything rings up the price you think it should. Nor can the cashier magically make the sale price not come up. If you don't think your shit came up the right price, that's fine, but don't blame the cashier for what is nine times out of ten your error, and is never, ever hers.

Gah, that irritates me immensely. Then again...most things do.

My grandmother is famous for it, and she does with such a horrible tone. "SHE! RANG IT UP WRONG!!!" Gah. No, she didn't.

If there is something more involved than say...passing the item in front of a scanner, then yeah, the cashier can screw it up. I have screwed stuff up at work, because...well, I just have. But normally, na.

Also, think about this: if they aren't there to serve customers, why do they call it 'customer service'?

Maybe that's why they call it Customer Care where I work. (As in, fuck if I care about you).

But it's so confusing to customers, because 99% of the time we call it customer service--but seriously, you'd think they'd get a freakin clue.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Plus I'm sure that a lot of customers think that service = servants. -_-

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Actually, some places DO do that. Like the place I work at. If you have a few items that don't have to be weighed, you are more then welcome to come check out at the service desk. It helps things run a little bit faster, and keeps a lot of non-sc's happy. So no, Mr. Hero, not every place thinks that it's bad.

We did this back at WD when the lines would start backing up like crazy - especially if we didn't have anyone else to pull off the floor to help run registers b/c they were already up there and we had a person in the office to spare.

It did help to an extent with reducing not only the wait time, but also to help cut down on the number of complaints from the masses. There were, however, a couple of occasions where someone still wasn't satisfied and had to show their ass. .

[Becks]

4. The customer service is not the royal checkout lane. I don't give a damn who you are, you don't go check out there. I think I've seen this twice, in which a customer with like 1 or 2 things leaves the checkout line and goes up to customer service, and pays, and leaves with their stuff. Are they really allowed to do this? If I worked in customer service I would say tough shit. Go wait your ass in line where you belong.

Oh, you must HATE me then.

At my old job I'd check out at Customer Service all the time.




No one EVER had a problem with it. EVER.