supermarket express tills

loracan1

I work on a till for one of the supermarket chains, today I spent a couple of hours on the 9 items or under. Now, you always get the customers who try to sneak 25 items through and thats just outright cheeky especially if there's a queue a mile long, but if someones got 10-15 and there's no queue I'll happily serve them. Prefer that to sitting there daydreaming anyday. Unfortunately some poor bloke today came along to my till with his trolley as the other express operator was turning round, she starts telling him off at top volume and told him there was no way he could come to my till cos there was nowhere to put his goods. I think he must have been a bit too startled to reply and went off muttering to another till. Thing is, we both sat there doing nothing for the next 5 minutes - don't think anyone dared to come over. One or two customers in different queues caught my eye and smiled. (I'd sat through this exchange gobsmacked and then put my head in my hands - laughing/fuming/plain disbelieving).

Later on, another customer plonked down a bottle of milk. 'I have to pay for that here cos she won't accept it on there' pointing to the cigarette kiosk. Store policy is that you can't pay for store items at the kiosk. So she'd bought her cigarettes from there but had to pay separately on the express for her milk. Nobody else waiting over there, mind!

In both those cases I'd like to think if it'd been me that I'd have kicked up a stink, because whilst company policy may state one thing, you do have to use common sense too.

Poppy9

Nice to hear from a normal sensible checkout operator

Funny that the mouthy ones never pick on people with 25 items when there is a queue only when its quite.

I had a lovely assistant on the till in Tescos today. One of the more mature ladies who didn't ask if I need help with my packing but just packed as she scanned. This was great as the tills were quiet and I was still unloading my trolley. I made sure I thanked her specifically for helping to pack. She looked a bit surprised. Some lazy sods sit with folded arms as you struggle to pack cos they have finished their bit.

IvanOpinion

My MIL used to be a checkout operator (only found that out recently) and she hated being on the express checkout. From her point of view the problem was during busy times where you rang one person through calculated the money, help them pack, take their cash, sort out money off vouchers, sort out computers for school vouchers, pack the bags, give them the change ... the next person comes through and you still have all the information from the previous customer in your head .. mistakes happen.

The question however that man has pondered over at many a checkout is .......

Does a BOGOF count as one or two items?

Ivan

Allexie

IvanOpinion wrote:

The question however that man has pondered over at many a checkout is .......

Does a BOGOF count as one or two items?

Ivan

Oooooh...never thought of that..

hey ho...another philosophical debate I will have in my head all day now!!

littlemisscheap

I suppose once you've worked out the dilemma man faces, perhaps you can tell me (as woman has to be a little more complicated) how do yoghurts get counted if 5 for 99p?

loracan1

You still have to scan two items to get one free, and you'd get x amount knocked off when you scan the last of 5 yoghurts.

I quite like being on the express when its really busy. No time for getting bored and customers seem to appreciate you being quick.

I guarantee the checkout operator will appreciate it if you say/do
1) Thought this was an express till?
2) They'd have stop scanning at 9 items in America (on previous customers 12 items)
3) You look bored, thought I'd give you something to do
4) "Oh, I've got the 73p in here", starts rustling through pockets/purse after the transaction's been put through and change half counted. This is obligatory when there are 17 people behind you.
5) "The staff at Bettabuys are so pleasant, they always ask you how you are. Will you be like that in here when they take over?" ?????
6) Hold your card or £10 in your mouth before you hand it over.
7) Do all of this whilst using your mobile without pausing to acknowledge cashier.

Of course doing all seven in one go will make their day

buses7675

Hi All,

According to the reciepts in M&S, if you buy any loose items (say bread rolls etc) and put them together in a bag, each single piece counts as one item, as they is how they are charged! Thats said, no cashier has ever, ever even mentioned this to me, let along complained!

Cheers

Steve

Poppy9

If BOGOF items are counted as one or two items depends on your position in the queue. If you are being served of course the BOGOF items count as one. If you are behind the person with the BOGOF items then they count as two and so they should !!!!!! off out of the Express queue.:p

IvanOpinion

Poppy9 wrote:

If BOGOF items are counted as one or two items depends on your position in the queue. If you are being served of course the BOGOF items count as one. If you are behind the person with the BOGOF items then they count as two and so they should !!!!!! off out of the Express queue.:p

i.e they should take their BOGOFs and BOGOFF

ivan

boofy_2

Loracan 1: don't you have staff council meetings where you can bring up the stupidity of this rule? Me checkout girl too. Wot about those who blatantly transfer their whole trolley into basket in front of you. Do they think we are truly stupid? Problem is, the minute you take a trolley if you're doing nothing, sods law you'll then get about 5 people with baskets queuing behind tutting!

zodiac

Im on the Checkouts too, i hate being on the express lane. I dont mind serving people with 12 items even tho it is a 9 items or less. Its when someone starts to load a big trolly and I tell them thats its 9 or less and they get rude. "Oh well I can't see the sign/Well you let me start to load it and you see me doing it....etc etc".
I had a customer give £21 (a note and pond coin) for a £3 bill. As it was coming to the end of the day on Sunday I didn't have any notes (as thos who work on a checkout will understand) so I had to give her change to her in pounds. She got really nasty and started to complain that she wanted a note and not coins otherwise she would have paid for it in coins. I wasn't feeing very good by this time (checkout head pains) so i snaped, a loged off my till so it would open and showed her the content (or lack of it) and told her it wasn't my faught. She then wanted to know if the girl on the till behind me could give her money (which she can't store policy not to swap money) so i told her to go to customer services if she wanted anything done. Stupid customer.
But im leaving in a week or two so im looking forward to that hehe