Cig asshattery and bonus pharmacy suck

[dragon_wings]

Today I had a lady come up to my registers for her cigs.
Now this lady is horribly annoying. Regardless of how long her cigs are at a certain price she always gives me a look of 'what?' when I tell her her total. And she often is short up to a dollar off her total. After an incident previously I won't let cig customers be like 'oh I'll bring you the difference later/tomorrow' I have been burned before.
After telling her her total tonight she spends a good 3 or 4 minutes counting her change and repeating asking how much more she needs. To the point that a line develops behind her and the guy behind her is annoyed enough to offer some money to pay the difference. Of course he doesn't saying anything, just offers a $5 bill. But by that point the cig lady is gathering her change.
After gathering her change she just stands looking lost at my register, just out of the way of the customers there.
She then wanders over to the backup register where my coworker is ringing up customers and... Uses her debit card.

Note: she asked several times if she could just bring the difference tomorrow. But I didn't want her to think it was ok to do that all the time.

Bonus: So since I was paid today I was gonna fill my prescription and pick it up tomorrow after my opening shift. So after clocking out for my 30 I stopped at the pharmacy. As I got in line an older lady stepped up next to me. While the pharmacy tech was talking with her current customer the old lady looks at me (in uniform and name tag) and asks 'are you in line?' I give her a small 'don't mess with me today smile and say 'yes ma'am.'
Then when I was called up to the counter the lady stood not 2 feet behind me. Ugh. Personal space, bitch. Not to mention privacy please.

Help me please! I still have 4 hours of this! *hides*

[Lace Neil Singer]

the old lady looks at me (in uniform and name tag) and asks 'are you in line?' I give her a small 'don't mess with me today smile and say 'yes ma'am.'

And that is why I always change into my regular clothes when I finish work. Not that it works all the time... I've been in different stores to where I work and been wearing my normal clothes, and still had some shit for brains ask me a question about where something is.

I sometimes wonder if I just automatically emanate an aura of retailness.

[dragon_wings]

And that is why I always change into my regular clothes when I finish work. Not that it works all the time... I've been in different stores to where I work and been wearing my normal clothes, and still had some shit for brains ask me a question about where something is.

I sometimes wonder if I just automatically emanate an aura of retailness.

Usually I do change as well but I was on my way from the office punching out to the break room.
A big give away I wasn't on the clock that I forgot to mention was I had my phone out. An offense worthy of a write up if done in the floor on the clock.

[notlovinit]

A big give away I wasn't on the clock that I forgot to mention was I had my phone out.

Every single time I have been mistaken for someone that works at another store I have had my phone out and either texting or talking on it. It's like people expect workers to be on their phone nowadays or something.

Which is weird because at my store I have specific permission (for my position) to be on my cell phone (but only if I'm doing something for work, not personal calls) and every single time I am using my phone at work someone calls the owner's office and complains about me. Note: I am not trying to help customer's at the same time or anything. I am usually standing by our office (which the customers can see if they are paying attention to the back of the store) or out in the lobby (usually if I am in the lobby I am saying things that are obviously work related and not confused with a personal conversation, such as "Well, *boss' name*, someone broke such & such in the lobby. What would you like me to do?" or "Yes, we have been busy today. Sales are at XXX, Labor is XXX, and times are XX.") and yet I am still being complained about for "personal" conversations. How do you know I'm not on my break?!!?1

Sorry.

[bainsidhe]

I'll be honest, if I saw an employee fiddling with a cell phone or talking on it, it would upset me. I've had too many bad experiences with employees (especially cashiers) ignoring their line to fiddle with their phone or talking on their bluetooth while ringing out customers. If the cashier was waiting in line, I'd probably assume they were on break. But if they were just walking through the store, I doubt I'd immediately realize it was a work-related call.

[LillFilly]

Oh, hee! Being in uniform reminds me when I had to go to court, so I was in my 'mall cop' uniform, back when we wore police style hats, and walking to the courthouse there was a tourist group doing a scavenger hunt and asked if they could take a photo with me - they needed a pic with a local 'officer' and even though I told them I was a mall security officer, they decided it still counted

[notlovinit]

I'll be honest, if I saw an employee fiddling with a cell phone or talking on it, it would upset me. I've had too many bad experiences with employees (especially cashiers) ignoring their line to fiddle with their phone or talking on their bluetooth while ringing out customers. If the cashier was waiting in line, I'd probably assume they were on break. But if they were just walking through the store, I doubt I'd immediately realize it was a work-related call.

True enough, but in my case, the situations I have gotten complaints on were ridiculous.
One time I was next to our office in the back of the store ( I work in fast food if this helps visualize it), so the customer couldn't hear what I was saying if it was work related or not, but there was no indication of whether I was on break or not and they just assumed I was doing something bad.
Another time I was in our lobby trying to fix something a customer broke so I called my boss first and then tech support second. I was out where customers could see me, yes, but I had tools out and even if a customer didn't want to eavesdrop to see if I was having a personal conversation or not it was obvious I was fixing something, so it's not like I was ignoring customers to talk on my phone. If I was ignoring customers, it was because I was fixing something. Also, I would have had to be on some sort of phone, whether store phone or cell, to call tech support to fix it and I chose my cell because I can hear better on it and that way I wouldn't tie up the store phone if a customer wanted to call in.
I don't know, it just annoys me when people assume something without having the facts to back it up.
Also, in my store, the employees take their breaks in the lobby, so the customer has no idea whether or not the employee is on break or not, they have to just assume.
If I'm not interfering with a transaction to be on my phone, like what you said with cashiers holding up the line to check their phone (that is super annoying and unnecessary) and it doesn't affect the customer in question, I just don't see the reasoning for complaining about me.
I can see complaining if there is an employee, obviously on the clock and helping customers, that stops helping customers to use their phone.
I don't know, maybe I am coming off wrong, but in my specific cases of being complained on for using my phone, it was really stupid situations and I was completely justified for using it in all the situations by my company. It just annoyed me that the people that complained just assumed I was doing something wrong and took time out of their day to complain about it without any reasoning to back it up.

Oh and another time, I got a customer complaint because they saw me on the STORE phone when another customer had called in to ask about something and they assumed that I was using the store phone to make a personal call. Jerks.

[Merriweather]

Oh and another time, I got a customer complaint because they saw me on the STORE phone when another customer had called in to ask about something and they assumed that I was using the store phone to make a personal call. Jerks.

I hope the manager she complained to had a spine!

SC - And there was your employee, talking on the store phone!!!

Manager - Madam, who the H*ll do you think answers the phone when you call a business, the phone fairies??? Give us your number, if you ever need to call us, we'll check caller ID and make sure no one answers it, since you have a problem with that.

[georgie]

dragon_wings its now time to be sickly sweet passive aggressive :-)

next time ciggie lady comes in and takes ages to get coins out and is then given the money by the person behind her you should put a sweet smile on your face and say to ciggie lady "that people are so sweet aren't they, I mean, this is the 5th time in a row that you havent had money for your smokes but someone behind you has helped pay. it renews my (your) faith in human kind"


you need to gush sweetness and smiles.


what this does is let ciggie lady know you are onto her and it also lets the customer behind her know she's done this before. if theres more than one customer behind her then raise your voice a tiny bit.



and never ever let the customer off paying the last dollar from an item. from now on if the customer doesnt have enough money then they dont get the item.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once had to call the store manager about a spillage on the forecourt to ask him to come over and inspect it, to see whether or not we needed to close. I thought that since we had heavy rain that night, which was blasting in under the canopy and washing the spilled fuel down the drains, that we might be alright, but of course I needed a manager to come and say so.

During the time I was making this call, on the store phone as the one in the office was temporarily out of order, I heard a customer, who was waiting in line as my collegue dealt with the giant queue of customers that always materialises whenever there's an emergency, say in a snide tone, "It's a pity that people don't serve customers and instead make personal calls."

Look, idiot; this is not a personal call. I'm speaking to the fucking manager about something that will affect you; ie, the petrol station being temporarily closed. So you can just shut your passive aggressive mouth and butt out.

[bainsidhe]

Hrmm, I guess that's just something that comes with using a cell phone instead of a cordless landline-type phone. I wouldn't question a cordless, but I've too often seen cell phones abused.

Interesting though, I assumed you worked retail instead of fast food. This adds a different perspective and I'd probably be less likely to be bothered by the phone usage, especially since you wouldn't be holding up my transaction. My sis is a fast food manager and most of her communication is by texting or calling via cell. Not only is cell phone convenient, it's the fastest way to reach her. Instead of calling the store during rush hour, a fellow store will text sis their question.

[sms001]

Then when I was called up to the counter the lady stood not 2 feet behind me. Ugh. Personal space, bitch. Not to mention privacy please.

There's actually a sign and a line on the floor at my pharmacy to encourage some privacy. 'course, if you have to point this kind of etiquette out to someone, what are the chances they'll have the courtesy to follow it....?

[Sleepwalker]

Ha, our register's POS is so terrible, I've taken orders down on paper witha cell phone tot ech support at my ear many times. Customers aren't entitled to monitor every aspect of your behavior, jeezx.