"I'm multitasking..."

[staticradio]

I wonder if anyone else got this when doing someone's order, and was disrespectful with a cell phone.

thank god for pay as you go...

[AFpheonix]

I don't think I've ever had anyone try to justify their rudeness to me, but my little pet peeve is when I interrupt them to do their transaction or tell them something about their prescription, they tell the other person on the line "sorry". Now, why on earth are you apologizing to them and not to me, the person that you were patently rude to?

[Cyanocobalamin]

I really hate standing around looking like an idiot while someone is yapping away on their cell phone. So all I do is walk away, go back to whatever I was doing, then check back with them when they are done on the phone. Actually the other day the guy walked away from me, toward the checkout line, so I figured he didn't REALLY want me to help him, but came back when he was done with his convo.

[Hicksey]

In a local convenience store I heard a guy ask the annoying cell phone user to come back when he was ready. Amazingly, he just stepped aside.

Then I said this to the counter-jockey

"There's one good thing about them making cell phones so small these days ... when people annoy you with a cell phone they are small enough that you can shove it up their ass without too much trouble."

I think he thought I was just making a joke, but I really hate cell phones.

[powerboy]

Where I work, it is a small store, so whenever someone has a call on their cell, they take it outside.

[Jester]

One of my favorite breakfast places down here flat out bans cell phone conversations, with little table tent signs on each of the tables. You have to take the call? Take it outside. Period. Which is cool, as this is a small but awesome place.

The other day, when I was doing breakfast there, I noticed that someone had called me and left a voice mail, which I had not noticed. I checked the voice mail, NOT TALKING, and as I was doing so, the owner (sweet lady) came up to me to make sure I was not doing the cell phone thing. I told her I was just checking my voice mail, I knew and respected the policy, and that was cool. Sadly, I am guessing I am in the minority.

[georgiab]

My absolute favorite is when they come into your line to check out and give you the just one minute finger while others wait behind them....Uh WTF....If that call is so damn important take it elsewhere!

[Lace Neil Singer]

If someone answers their phone at the checkout and carries on a full convo, then simple. I wait til they are done... however long it takes.

[batmoody]

When someone comes through my line on a cell phone, I just completely ignore them. I don't say hi. I dont ask for their club card. I don't give them a total. I just ring them up, bag their stuff, step back two feet away from my register, and wait. They usually do the debit/credit thing, fumbling the whole time, yakking away, completely oblivious to the fact that they would have saved like $10.00 if they would have remember to use their club card. And I just stand there. Staring at them, the customer behind them and back at them again....waiting.

It would be rude to interupt right?

[Lace Neil Singer]

I always subtly indicate to any other customers that it's the yacking customer who's holding the line up, not me.

[Kika]

We usually give out coupons for a free item on your next visit. If someone's yakking on their phone while I try to ring them out, they don't get one.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

If I was running the counter at Kinko's, someone couldn't be bothered to take their turn when it came up because they didn't have enough brains to hang up, they lost their place in line. I'd simply go on to the next person.

I had people get visibly upset when I did this, but not a single one had the grapes to confront me about it.

They knew they were in the wrong.

[friendofjimmyk]

Yeah, now with those Bluetooths (Blueteeth?), I'll be in a store and people will approach the counter and I see the sales person start to talk to them and you THINK they are answering the sales person - but they are on their phone - if their head is turned away from you and you don't see the little earpiece permanently afixed to their ear - the sales person will stand there trying to talk to them thinking they're answering.

I have yet to breakdown and get an earpiece for my Bluetooth phone, I just can't bring myself to that yet.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

When A Stranger Talks...

In my retail days, I had many instances where customers just chatted away on their phones without ever once acknowledging that I was alive.
I don't have a problem with someone chatting while they shop (though such conversations should be approached with a smidge of humility...oh, the things I've heard!).
But when you get to the counter, hang it up.
Drag out those old-fashioned manners that your mama hopefully taught you (if I hear one more person go on about 'cell phone etiquette', I'll scream; good manners don't need to be invented for cell phone usage; the old ones just need to be APPLIED).
I've heard tales of customers who were just outraged that a salesperson was talking on their cell phone while on the job.
I certainly don't advocate that behavior, but, hey, tit for tat, right?
You get what you give.

[Crow The Robot]

i saw a sign in a local pizza joint that said:" Do not talk on your cell phone while ordering. If you do not put them on hold we will put YOU on hold. " I wish we all could have that sign.