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I'm sure that no matter how long I make this list, there will still be stuff I forget.
Bags
We have a "grab your own bags" policy in which they lie out in the open for people to take, but they still aren't free. We are aware that we'll never be able to charge for all of them, but we try to catch as many as we can, especially with the current economy.
So that is why it is very annoying when customers conveniently forget to take any bags until after they've paid. I just tell them it's fine. It annoys me, but not enough to make a big issue out of. What's worse is those who go grab bags from another register and say "I brought my own". Geeze, those look awfully like fresh, unused bags to me...
On a different note, if you stand at the end and wait for the bags to come to pack your stuff, it would have helped if you didn't put them at the end of your stuff. I'm not Reed Richards. If you want them right away, you damn well better put them in my reach, or you'll just have to wait.
Signs
Please people, learn to read. I don't care if you saw an "On Sale" sign somewhere within eyeshot of the product you wanted to buy. If the sign clearly states it is not for that product, that is not "misleading", that is just you failing.
And if a sign says "Discount deducted on sticker", that doesn't mean you get 40% off what it says on the sticker, that means what it says on the sticker is 40% less than regular price. So don't give me that "but it said the discount would be deducted at the register" crap. Either you misread, or you're lying. I'm not sure which is worse.
Mess!
I am so tired of people just leaving stuff they've picked up in a different place. Especially if it's supposed to be refrigerated, and they drop in a freezer, or set it in room temp somewhere. Or if they take a normal product, and then find a sale for a similar product, decide they want that instead, put the normal product under the sale sign, grab the for sale product, and then another customer will find the wrongly placed product and start complaining "but it was under the sale sign!". I have to wonder the state of people's homes...
Trolleys
We have trolleys that have a locking system where you can chain them together. This requires a coin or a certain token to release. Now lately we've started an experiment where we unlock all the trolleys to encourage more people to take one instead of a basket and hopefully shop more. Some customers still lock them. Annoying, but fair enough, it's still a fairly new system. The really bad thing is that people think this means they don't have to put them back where they found them any longer, so there are trolleys EVERYWHERE in the way and taking up room because people are bloody lazy dregs.
Maybe we'll abandon this new system and go back to the one where people keep nagging us for coins or tokens to unlock them. Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Coworkers
Some of you, heck, most of you are great, don't get me wrong. But some of you really make my job a lot harder than it's supposed to be. Especially those of you who flee from the registers at the slightest sign of a lull, forcing me to stay even though I have other work to do as well, and you just wanted to sneak away for a bit.
And you who like to go for smoke breaks every damn hour, and hopefully bring another couple of coworkers with you to make us even more short-handed and drag what was supposed to be a 5-min break into a 15-min one. And forgetting to take one of the work phones with you, so we have to call the poor guy in the fruit department to run out and fetch you.
And don't leave the register for no good reason when you have a line, even if "someone is coming to take over". If that someone doesn't have an ETA of 10 seconds, you just have to sit and wait for them to take over for you.
I'd also like to say to you other managers... stop stealing my workers away from tasks I've assigned them. And then don't give them back when I ask. It makes me seethe. Especially when I see that all you're doing is chatting with the people behind the fresh food counter. Did you really need help for that?
Conveyors!
Whatever you might think, dear customer, they do not run on magic. It's really rather simple technology. A sensor up by me checks if anything is in the way. If something is in the way, it stops. If the beam has a clear pass, it goes. Which is the reason why the conveyor will not stop if you are physically holding your goods back and getting them crushed and mixed with the goods of those behind you. If you're so scared of me accidentally taking them as I accept payment from the customer in front of you, just put one of the dividers down. It's what they're there for. It's their job. They love being used. Believe me.
Also kids, sticking your fingers down in the hole where the belt goes means your fingers can get stuck in there, and that tends to be painful. I know moving things are fascinating, but for your own good, please listen.
Register woes
Please dont:
- start giving me instructions before I'm done with the customer in front of you.
- start loading your goods onto the conveyor before the customer in front of you is finished.
- tell me anything important to pass on. I can have a thousand customers to service a day, and I often can't get away from the register easily, so most likely anything you tell me will be forgotten.
Chip/card reader
This is also not magic. The instructions are actually pretty clear if only you just read. It is however a buggy piece of shit, which doesn't like to cooperate in any manner, sort or fashion, and gives very cryptic error messages whenever something goes awry. Yes, it does in fact take credit cards. However, they are for pay only. You need a Norwegian debit card to withdraw money from us.
And while it seems to be common sense to wipe off your stripe if it won't read, why don't anyone do that with their chips? I often have to do it for them. Simple logic, or so I thought. I contemplate spreading a rumour that chip cards require a DNA sample or thumbscan with regular intervals to keep working, just so people wipe it regularly.
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Okay, that was overly long, and overly ranty. I probably still missed heaps. Maybe I'll add more later.
~Wulf
Bags
We have a "grab your own bags" policy in which they lie out in the open for people to take, but they still aren't free. We are aware that we'll never be able to charge for all of them, but we try to catch as many as we can, especially with the current economy.
So that is why it is very annoying when customers conveniently forget to take any bags until after they've paid. I just tell them it's fine. It annoys me, but not enough to make a big issue out of. What's worse is those who go grab bags from another register and say "I brought my own". Geeze, those look awfully like fresh, unused bags to me...
On a different note, if you stand at the end and wait for the bags to come to pack your stuff, it would have helped if you didn't put them at the end of your stuff. I'm not Reed Richards. If you want them right away, you damn well better put them in my reach, or you'll just have to wait.
Signs
Please people, learn to read. I don't care if you saw an "On Sale" sign somewhere within eyeshot of the product you wanted to buy. If the sign clearly states it is not for that product, that is not "misleading", that is just you failing.
And if a sign says "Discount deducted on sticker", that doesn't mean you get 40% off what it says on the sticker, that means what it says on the sticker is 40% less than regular price. So don't give me that "but it said the discount would be deducted at the register" crap. Either you misread, or you're lying. I'm not sure which is worse.
Mess!
I am so tired of people just leaving stuff they've picked up in a different place. Especially if it's supposed to be refrigerated, and they drop in a freezer, or set it in room temp somewhere. Or if they take a normal product, and then find a sale for a similar product, decide they want that instead, put the normal product under the sale sign, grab the for sale product, and then another customer will find the wrongly placed product and start complaining "but it was under the sale sign!". I have to wonder the state of people's homes...
Trolleys
We have trolleys that have a locking system where you can chain them together. This requires a coin or a certain token to release. Now lately we've started an experiment where we unlock all the trolleys to encourage more people to take one instead of a basket and hopefully shop more. Some customers still lock them. Annoying, but fair enough, it's still a fairly new system. The really bad thing is that people think this means they don't have to put them back where they found them any longer, so there are trolleys EVERYWHERE in the way and taking up room because people are bloody lazy dregs.
Maybe we'll abandon this new system and go back to the one where people keep nagging us for coins or tokens to unlock them. Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Coworkers
Some of you, heck, most of you are great, don't get me wrong. But some of you really make my job a lot harder than it's supposed to be. Especially those of you who flee from the registers at the slightest sign of a lull, forcing me to stay even though I have other work to do as well, and you just wanted to sneak away for a bit.
And you who like to go for smoke breaks every damn hour, and hopefully bring another couple of coworkers with you to make us even more short-handed and drag what was supposed to be a 5-min break into a 15-min one. And forgetting to take one of the work phones with you, so we have to call the poor guy in the fruit department to run out and fetch you.
And don't leave the register for no good reason when you have a line, even if "someone is coming to take over". If that someone doesn't have an ETA of 10 seconds, you just have to sit and wait for them to take over for you.
I'd also like to say to you other managers... stop stealing my workers away from tasks I've assigned them. And then don't give them back when I ask. It makes me seethe. Especially when I see that all you're doing is chatting with the people behind the fresh food counter. Did you really need help for that?
Conveyors!
Whatever you might think, dear customer, they do not run on magic. It's really rather simple technology. A sensor up by me checks if anything is in the way. If something is in the way, it stops. If the beam has a clear pass, it goes. Which is the reason why the conveyor will not stop if you are physically holding your goods back and getting them crushed and mixed with the goods of those behind you. If you're so scared of me accidentally taking them as I accept payment from the customer in front of you, just put one of the dividers down. It's what they're there for. It's their job. They love being used. Believe me.
Also kids, sticking your fingers down in the hole where the belt goes means your fingers can get stuck in there, and that tends to be painful. I know moving things are fascinating, but for your own good, please listen.
Register woes
Please dont:
- start giving me instructions before I'm done with the customer in front of you.
- start loading your goods onto the conveyor before the customer in front of you is finished.
- tell me anything important to pass on. I can have a thousand customers to service a day, and I often can't get away from the register easily, so most likely anything you tell me will be forgotten.
Chip/card reader
This is also not magic. The instructions are actually pretty clear if only you just read. It is however a buggy piece of shit, which doesn't like to cooperate in any manner, sort or fashion, and gives very cryptic error messages whenever something goes awry. Yes, it does in fact take credit cards. However, they are for pay only. You need a Norwegian debit card to withdraw money from us.
And while it seems to be common sense to wipe off your stripe if it won't read, why don't anyone do that with their chips? I often have to do it for them. Simple logic, or so I thought. I contemplate spreading a rumour that chip cards require a DNA sample or thumbscan with regular intervals to keep working, just so people wipe it regularly.
----------------------
Okay, that was overly long, and overly ranty. I probably still missed heaps. Maybe I'll add more later.
~Wulf
I'd be pretty depressed if it were...
It's probably because I keep cards in my wallet instead of my pocket or bottom of my bag. So many women here toss cards into their bottomless pits full of trash.
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