I don't memorize the names and locations of cigarettes

[ADeMartino]

The ones I hated were the off-brand cigs that people would ask for - weird shit that I'd never heard of. And they'd invariably get huffy with me because our store didn't sell their particular brand. "Well, you need to order them!" Ummm, no. Cigarettes are expensive, even the cheapies, and I'm not going to squander money or rack space to have your special brand sit here and gather dust. I'd sooner devote money and rack space to something I can SELL.

[Zaiida]

Due to new laws in Australia, all cigarettes have to be non visible and are mostly behind black plastic covers/drawers now. No advertising allowed. My phone recharge cards are bought at the cig counter and I keep seeing poor employees trying to find specific cigs for customers by flipping each cover until they find it, it can take quite some time. The labelling for cigs is tiny and I don't think they are allowed to make them bigger. Poor guys, thankfully no one has yelled at them that I have heard (small town you fart in the wrong place and everyone would know in 15 minutes)and it's not like they are allowed to change the labelling.

I don't think they are even allowed to put a letter on the flaps. It would be easier if they could put a 'B' for benson and hedges or a 'W' for winfields, that's not advertising it's alphabetising.

[ADeMartino]

Due to new laws in Australia, all cigarettes have to be non visible and are mostly behind black plastic covers/drawers now. No advertising allowed. My phone recharge cards are bought at the cig counter and I keep seeing poor employees trying to find specific cigs for customers by flipping each cover until they find it, it can take quite some time. The labelling for cigs is tiny and I don't think they are allowed to make them bigger. Poor guys, thankfully no one has yelled at them that I have heard (small town you fart in the wrong place and everyone would know in 15 minutes)and it's not like they are allowed to change the labelling.

I don't think they are even allowed to put a letter on the flaps. It would be easier if they could put a 'B' for benson and hedges or a 'W' for winfields, that's not advertising it's alphabetising.

That's....wow. Extreme.

I'd suggest to the employees of that store that they make a chart that can be stored behind the counter somewhere out of sight, that they can refer to when someone asks for a specific brand/product.

Did you ever get the impression that they really, REALLY want to make cigarettes go away? I cannot imagine the governments wanting to do this; the revenue the collect on the taxes for cigs is enormous.b

[blas]

I'd love to smoke ciggs out of a black secret No No pack.

It'd make me feel dangerous and untouchable.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I'd love to smoke ciggs out of a black secret No No pack.

It'd make me feel dangerous and untouchable.

Probably sold beside the Denis Leary-suggested brand, that come in a black box, with a skull-and-crossbones on the front, called "Tumors."

[blas]

I call them my other happy meds.

[MadMike]

She barks 27's at me. I have no clue what that is so I ask which again apologizing. She rolls her eyes and repeats "27's". I am getting irritated at this point.

I'd be irritated too. If you didn't understand what they meant the first time, how the hell would saying the exact same thing a second time make it clear?

[Aislin]

Did you ever get the impression that they really, REALLY want to make cigarettes go away? I cannot imagine the governments wanting to do this; the revenue the collect on the taxes for cigs is enormous.b

But it cost them more to pay for the heath related costs of cigs than they collect in taxes.

[EricKei]

But it cost them more to pay for the heath related costs of cigs than they collect in taxes.

Those two 'buckets' are unconnected as far as the government is concerned, I am afraid.

[dragon_wings]

I actually bought some 27's the other day at work. My coworker didn't know what I was talking about so I just went "no, down, now to your right, the goldish ones's" and when she grabbed them she went "huh, they do say 27's."
Not that hard. But then I've been in her shoes. And I'm not an SC. ^_^

[retailworker7]

It takes time to learn the different types of smokes and the various names that the customers may use. I am generally pretty good at it now although I still get confused with the Virginia Slims sometimes. If I am not sure what the customer is asking for then I ask them what color the pack is. I also train new people at my work and I have mentioned to them to do the same thing with the color of the pack. Most of our smokes customers are really nice and pretty easy to deal with. I have also let the people I have trained know that it is ok to have questions and ask for help if they need to. I also let the new employees call/page me for questions even when I am not scheduled to work front end. Yesterday one of our new employees kept getting clearance items to ring that were not on file. I went and showed her how to ring them up. After that some stupid women gave her a messed up credit card and it locked up the register. She paged the MOD because the customer was being a pain in the ass. I talked to her before I left for the day and made sure she knew that she did not do anything wrong to cause the register to lock-up. We have old equipment and it does this to everyone. I told her if something like that happens again when I am there she can just call me if she has questions since I know how to re-boot the cash registers myself.

Yesterday morning I had a conversation with our SM about the not on file issues with the clearance socks and she took care of the issue. Our SM is really good about fixing stuff I always give stuff that is not on file or has prices issues to her to fix because it gets taken care of right away.

[Aislin]

I actually bought some 27's the other day at work. My coworker didn't know what I was talking about so I just went "no, down, now to your right, the goldish ones's" and when she grabbed them she went "huh, they do say 27's."
Not that hard. But then I've been in her shoes. And I'm not an SC. ^_^

Yeah, I rarely do cigs but most cig customers are helpful when getting their fix.

[blas]

Nitpick: 27s are a bronze colored pack, lights are gold

[pzychobitch]

There are so many different kinds of cigs... And Marlboro 27s aren't all that common. Most everyplace sells them, but not nearly in the same quantities as golds or reds.

True. I work at a gas station and marlboro golds are the most selling cigarette other then special blends and newports.

[dragon_wings]

Nitpick: 27s are a bronze colored pack, lights are gold

Oh I know. I had just worked a ten hour shift though. So I wasn't very coherent. :P