Does the express line really live up to its name?

[iradney]

However, after my items were rung up, this woman still would not move out of the line, and was standing right in front of the card scanner where I needed to swipe my ATM card. I must have said "excuse me!" three times before she finally moved out of the way, and she only moved after all of her bags were loaded into her cart.

This is where the ability to fart silently and smellyly at will would come in handy.

[greensinestro]

This is where the ability to fart silently and smellyly at will would come in handy.

I'm sure, except this woman was another one of those who reeked of something, like she doesn't bathe on a regular basis. You know, with all the posts I've made on this thread, you think I would have learned my lesson by now. But, if I stayed away from the express line, there would be no more stories to write about.

[Jules Of All Trades]

Twice in the last month at my local Kroger I have been waved over to the 10 or less express lane by the cashier. I looked at my 20 something trolley and started to get really nervous. Me? Break the express lane rules? On purpose? The first time I said, "Thanks, but I'm ok, I don't want to hold up the line for someone else." The cashier was really nice and said, "Don't worry, I told you to come over, no one will yell at you." Ummm, ok.... She grabbed the front of the trolley and pulled it her way so I reluctantly followed. I kept looking around to make sure nobody was getting in line behind me. Paranoid much? Luckily I got out of the store with no "Hey, can't you count?" coming from behind me in line, even though I'd thought of 10 different things to say just in case. It was exhausting...

Second time, different cashier, same situation. Again I made it through unscathed. From now on I'm staying far away from the express lanes, as nice as it is that they offer to put me through their register I can't handle the stress.

[Zinjadu]

sigh, cry, scream. . .

OMG, I could tell you sooo many tales of Express lane horrors - I get stuck there all the time

It'd take too long to post it all, so I'll just go with some generalities for now. . .

I was told by one AM that we were NOT allowed to tell customers they had too much stull to come through. I got around that by telling them, "I'll just let you know for next time that this IS an Express lane for 15 items or less."

If we have both Expresses open and it's not busy, I'll take bigger orders from the other tills if they're lined up.

Customers who insist on coming through with a cartful get told that I'm charging them double and that I round the $ amount up, so if their bill is $60, I round it up to $150 or whatever I want. Also, my till my rules.

Since we had the 'lifestyle' remodel, our new Express tills have hardly any space for groceries, so it's cut down on a lot of the problems with over limit.

Sooner or later I'll get around to posting specific horror stories. . .

[angelkirie]

Thank God I'm not a cashier anymore!

I have to say though, I didn't mind express so bad because our store is franchised so there is no corporate to call. I had one particularly nasty man with an overflowing cart insist on using my register. The thing about our express is that there is literally NO ROOM for that many items; so when he got a snotty and told me flat out "You are going to help me now" I closed down my till and left.


Now we have these wonderful things called "line-busters" that allows a cashier to wear a card reader on their belt and walk around with a handheld scanner. That way, if we find someone way in the back that just has one item and is paying with credit, we can do it all right there on the floor. It's really nice.

[greensinestro]

Thank God I'm not a cashier anymore!

I have to say though, I didn't mind express so bad because our store is franchised so there is no corporate to call. I had one particularly nasty man with an overflowing cart insist on using my register. The thing about our express is that there is literally NO ROOM for that many items; so when he got a snotty and told me flat out "You are going to help me now" I closed down my till and left.


.

Good for you. I've seen that in many stores I've been in, meaning express lines don't have room for a shitload of groceries and/or other items. Many don't have a conveyer belt either to slide the stuff through on. It makes you wonder what nasty people like this do when it's overflowing and no bagger has arrived to bag anything.

[myswtghst]

Oy. Y'all have picked up on one of my biggest pet peeves when shopping. I'm the type who'll occasionally be one or two items over. I will admit once or twice, when I was being particularly dense, I've walked in with 15 items when it was a 10 items lane, but that's just me being daft.

Applause to those of you, like zzzaps, who've found ways to call people on it. When it upsets me most is when I'm sick, and have run to the store to buy cold meds and OJ, and I have to stand in line, snotting all over, behind some EW who has twice the allowed items and is having a fit about not being able to write a check.

By the by, has anyone else noticed that at least half the time, the self-check outs end up being slower because they A) confuse certain old people, and B) malfunction so often? I can't count the number of times it'll say I haven't placed my item in the bag, when I have, or when it's refused to scan an item, or the like. And I usually get stuck behind a batch of people who have far too many items, don't know how to work the self-checkout, and can't figure out how to ask the cashier person at the end for help if they need it.

[CrazedClerk]

The term "item" seems to be one a lot of people have an issue with.

For example:

- They consider 4 cases of Coke as "1 item" since it's all the same thing

- They consider two different loaves of bread by different bakeries as "1 item" since it's all bread.

It just SLOWS down everything and negates the Express purpose of the line. I WISH all express lanes were cash only, I saw a bit of this on my trip to the U.S. last week and thought it worked quite well.

[ginlyn32]

I was in a Walmart once and observed several people using the U-Scans with full cartloads.

I told DH I thought that was only for 10 items.

I hate the U-Scan because I always get behind someone who doesn't know how to use it. I always want to go up to them and help them so it'll be faster!

Ginlyn

[Food Lady]

Twice in the last month at my local Kroger I have been waved over to the 10 or less express lane by the cashier. I looked at my 20 something trolley and started to get really nervous. Me? Break the express lane rules? On purpose? The first time I said, "Thanks, but I'm ok, I don't want to hold up the line for someone else." The cashier was really nice and said, "Don't worry, I told you to come over, no one will yell at you." Ummm, ok.... She grabbed the front of the trolley and pulled it her way so I reluctantly followed. I kept looking around to make sure nobody was getting in line behind me. Paranoid much? Luckily I got out of the store with no "Hey, can't you count?" coming from behind me in line, even though I'd thought of 10 different things to say just in case. It was exhausting...

Second time, different cashier, same situation. Again I made it through unscathed. From now on I'm staying far away from the express lanes, as nice as it is that they offer to put me through their register I can't handle the stress.

This is what I do. Seriously, if I have no customers at all and people are waiting in the regular lines, I will call them over--no matter how many items-- because I am very fast, unless there's a check involved or the customer has to dig out change. Actually, I think our express lanes should be cards only. All they have to do is stick it in and put in pin or sign. It's faster than a cash transaction, at least in my experience. And it goes faster if someone has thirty small items than two akward humongous items, which are harder for me to bag.

[Luna]

Well, through the posts we've established that the cashiers believe it's the manager's fault for not defending policies and we all agree customers need to learn how to read.

Managers are not all spineless. It's usually called - I have to do what I can so I don't lose my job/benefits which in turn would put my family out on the street. Not all managers are rolling in mounds of money cackling greedily while watching surveillance tape of cashier being screamed at by customers. Some of us barely make enough to scrape a living.

As DG said, it's get the arshol out of the store, or stick your neck out and have it chopped off by your corporate office for having a customer complaint. You can't win.

The best remedy? You are a customer? You are in line behind someone is Express with double the limit? Say something! As retail workers - you know for a fact the workers CAN'T say diddly...but the customers can! What is that customer going to do? Complain another customer corrected them in a wrong behaviour??? After all, the customer is always right, right?

*dodges rotten fruit and various produce*

[HYHYBT]

Twice in the last month at my local Kroger I have been waved over to the 10 or less express lane by the cashier. I looked at my 20 something trolley and started to get really nervous. Me? Break the express lane rules? On purpose?

If the cashier callls you over, you're not breaking the rules. Just like in a car, if there's a policeman directing traffic and he signals you to go, you don't say, "but the light's red!"

[greensinestro]

I was in a Walmart once and observed several people using the U-Scans with full cartloads.

I told DH I thought that was only for 10 items.

I hate the U-Scan because I always get behind someone who doesn't know how to use it. I always want to go up to them and help them so it'll be faster!

Ginlyn

I should make another post on that one. A while back, I was at the Home Depot behind a guy who was buying play sand for his child's sandbox. The bags were way too large to scan on the normal scanner, and this man should have gone through a normal one and had them scan it with their scanner gun. Instead, he puts the first bag through, which caught on something, causing sand to spill everywhere!

But, we can't gripe on this being there really is no rule on these check out counters. It does not say anything about items too large are not allowed to go through, but they should.

[OfficeSlug]

I am a part-time cashier at said store in the same said area of Florida, and no, the express light and the HUGE express sign over the lane (complete with the reminder of NO CHECKS) mean SHIT to people....

"Oh, I didn't know!" is the usual response! And they have the nerve to look either surprised or pissed if I gently remind them that they're in the *whisper* Express Lane!!!

It's amazing how many of our customers can't read!

[OfficeSlug]

I think the register should stop scanning instantly at TEN ITEMS (beep, electronic voice, "10 item limit reached" Then we could say... "Sorry, sir, ma'm, that's your ten items, you're welcome to check out the last 40 at a regular register!!"