Supermarket cashier chit chat

Seh1985

My worst one was valentines day this year in morrisons I asked if the girl got a card, she burst into tears her boyfriend had dumped her on the way to work! Note to me don't make conversation!

Person_one

It must be a really boring job, I bet there are times when they just want to get their head down and push on and times when they'd love a bit of a chat to help the time pass. I just see how it goes on a case by case basis unless I'm in a mad rush.

It was slightly awkward when I was at a little co-op once and asked about the membership cards, the woman on the (only) checkout suddenly got up, disappeared into a back office to get me a leaflet and was gone about five minutes while an angry queue built up behind me!

bluebeary

working in retail were actually told to chit chat and strike up conversations with the customers at the moment, out of about 100 i can manage one ?

and for that im being penalised when actually the customer just wants to be served as quickly and efficiently as possible, i actually told one customer the other day that i used to work in a factory and this was just like a conveyor belt of bodies that i had to get through to get the queue down quickly

Edwardia

meritaten wrote: »

yes, what is it about Adsa that the cashiers feel they have to impart details of thier life to you?
Go to Aldi - you are through that till so fast you barely get beyond Hi, how are you?

I visited a huge ASDA store and the ability to read upside down came in handy. Till asst had left printed page on view which gave suggestions on engaging customers eg that's a nice colour, what sort of plant is that..

If assts want to chat fine, but it shouldn't be a requirement on them. I do most of my shopping via Ocado and Abel & Cole now but I get dragged to Waitrose and Sainsbury's by my mother.

I'd say Waitrose staff are most helpful, Sainsbury's friendliest and Lidl worst.

January20

Till assistant can't win can they? If they don't chat to the customers, they're accused of being unfriendly and if they do chat, they're accused of not being genuine!

I much prefer a till assistant who will talk to me and, as I use the same Asda most of the time, I know which till to use. If I don't feel like talking, I'll go to one of the others, or to a self-serve tills (although the recorded voice shouting instructions at me would make me even more unsociable)

As for the example given in the OP, I personally don't think I would have been bothered at all, but then I'll talk to anybody about virtually anything! A bit surprised perhaps, but then I would have decided that if the woman wanted to talk about her disability with a complete stranger, who was I to be squeamish or embarrassed about it?

amus

I must admit I have noticed a few times in Asda that the cashiers seem to be 'forced' to do it. Its quite obvious who are natural chatters and who are not so was quite clear to me they were being told to do it by the powers that be.

Not being very good at chit chat myself, I found it quite uncomfortable with the cashiers who also wernt.

Having said that, when I visit Aldi I find it quite uncomfortabe the way they throw items through the till in the fastest time possible so I end up scrambling to get them in the bag or trolley so as not to hold up the queue!

Rockporkchop

I've just remembered something else that used to really annoy me about supermarkets. I have triplets and I used to be utterly amazed at how many cashiers and other customers thought it was OK to say to me "are they triplets? Natural or IVF?" or some variation on that question. Why would they even want to know?!

motherofstudents

I went to M & S this morning and thought I would treat myself to a coffee (not very MSE !) and I sat near to the checkout. It was lovely to hear the different conversations as people paid for their drinks. I think the nice thing about it was that it seemed natural, not scripted and most of the customers seemed to enjoy chatting.
A few weeks ago in Morrisons I was behind a yound man who was being relentlessly chatted up by the checkout girl. He looked so uncomfortable. When it was my turn she chatted non stop to me too so I think she was just a talker....

Wickedkitten

I don't mind it but then again I like having chats with anyone

JimmyTheWig

Errata wrote: »

Although TBH on a bad day if a checkout operator started out of the blue telling me about their artificial leg I'd be really interested and ask them how they manged to have sex!

What?
I may have been doing it wrong all these years, but I didn't think you _had_ to do it standing up??