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Bullockist wrote:
I'm not suitist but after about 15-20 years in service I tend to try and avoid serving businessmen (or suits - small business people tend to be ok, it's the guys in big companies that tend to be less than helpful) .
The number of times I've had a table of people embarrassed by drunken suit guy because he decides it's good to take the piss out of the waiter is immense, or treat the service person like crap. It happens too often.

...so you'd hate me just because I am a higher-up in a company?

Thanks, mate :(

 Sigvatr wrote:

Bullockist wrote:
I'm not suitist but after about 15-20 years in service I tend to try and avoid serving businessmen (or suits - small business people tend to be ok, it's the guys in big companies that tend to be less than helpful) .
The number of times I've had a table of people embarrassed by drunken suit guy because he decides it's good to take the piss out of the waiter is immense, or treat the service person like crap. It happens too often.

...so you'd hate me just because I am a higher-up in a company?

Thanks, mate :(

Or because some of us just like to dress up a bit? What if I was in a sportcoat? A blazer?

 rubiksnoob wrote:
Or because some of us just like to dress up a bit? What if I was in a sportcoat? A blazer?

What if its after work and I've removed my tie? Or loosened it? Would that mean I'm still a suit wearer, and worthy of scorn?

Frankly your dress sense denotes you all as scum.

Also, worked retail for six years, no issue with people being on the phone so long as they went through the minimal actions of being a customer, aka, giving stuff, paying, taking stuff.

not everyone sygvatr , and probably not you anyways

Sportscoats seem to be ok it's the full suits that seem to have the attitude adjusting effect on their owners .

Beware the suit in a loosened tie , particularly on Friday nights . Friday nights is when the species of suits decides it's time to rampage

I hope the woman working at the supermarket gets a job with properly gakky customers.

Try credit control, or telephone customer services. Somewhere where you have to put up with people actively being rude and abusive to you, not just someone on the phone. Thats just modern life.

Being on the phone at a checkout is rude. But what is even ruder? Telling someone you are not serving them when the entire interaction you need with them is "That will be £X".

 MrDwhitey wrote:
Frankly your dress sense denotes you all as scum.

Also, worked retail for six years, no issue with people being on the phone so long as they went through the minimal actions of being a customer, aka, giving stuff, paying, taking stuff.

Not sure about the first part, but totally agree with your second comment.

I personally would never approach a checkout while I was on the phone, as I think it's quite rude & disrespectful, but I have had the issue of my phone ringing while at the checkout, and working in IT means I can't really ignore it, but I pay attention to the cashier, and if they say something that I miss, I ask the person on the phone to hold while I deal with the cashier.

I think this type of scenario is OK, and shouldn't cause a problem, but, I can imagine that it must be really frustrating if your working checkout, and some guy/gal is yapping on the phone completely ignoring you & holding up the line - in that case yep, refuse service until they're done.

I have been to some stores (mostly smaller, locally owned places) that have signs up at the register telling you that you will not be "served" so to speak if you are on your phone. I personally have worked in multiple retail establishments, and would back such a rule. People today just have no common courtesy to anyone... and feel like they are more important than anything or anyone else, so why should they stop what they are doing so that you can communicate with them.... We have too much of a superiority complex as individuals...

 Steve steveson wrote:
Try credit control, or telephone customer services. Somewhere where you have to put up with people actively being rude and abusive to you, not just someone on the phone. Thats just modern life.

I've not done credit control, but I've done retail as well as customer services. The former is still worse.

Simply put, a customer who delays their cash register transaction by simultaneously engaging in a phone call is being rude to the shop assistant and to other waiting customers.

I don't accept the idea that because some jobs are worse it means we have to put up with crappy manners. By that logic we should all return to cave man times.

I can swipe my card while on the phone, it's really not that hard...

 d-usa wrote:
I can swipe my card while on the phone, it's really not that hard...

Similarly, it's not hard to put your phone call down and not be a rude jerk to the bottom-feeder bagging your stuff. Is civility that difficult for some people?

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
I can swipe my card while on the phone, it's really not that hard...

Similarly, it's not hard to put your phone call down and not be a rude jerk to the bottom-feeder bagging your stuff. Is civility that difficult for some people?

+1

Just b/c something "isn't that hard" or "is easy" for you, doesn't mean that it doesn't make you a rude human being. Unless the phone call is life or death, then put the phone down long enough to treat the person at the register with some level of respect.... and if it is life or death, put the stuff down and come back after you fix the problem... lol.

 caledoneus wrote:

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
I can swipe my card while on the phone, it's really not that hard...

Similarly, it's not hard to put your phone call down and not be a rude jerk to the bottom-feeder bagging your stuff. Is civility that difficult for some people?

+1

Just b/c something "isn't that hard" or "is easy" for you, doesn't mean that it doesn't make you a rude human being. Unless the phone call is life or death, then put the phone down long enough to treat the person at the register with some level of respect.... and if it is life or death, put the stuff down and come back after you fix the problem... lol.

Please answer me this question honestly then:

How much interaction do any of you have with the cashier?

When I am not on the phone it is:

1) Good [whatever], how are you.
2) Thank you, have a good day.

When I am on the phone it is:

1) Good [whatever], how are you.
2) Thank you, have a good day.

Are people having life changing conversations with the person checking them out?
If you are talking to your buddy/wife/gf/bf/whoever while they are checking you out are you also a rude jerk?

Surprisingly enough I have the mental capacity to do more than one thing at a time and I can be pleasant and polite to the "bottom feeder" while doing something on my phone. Because with or without a phone, checking out at a super market is really not anything that results in a long conversation with the person helping you. If I am doing anything that requires a longer interaction with the clerk that is helping me then I am not on my phone.

Seems like people are just butthurt because they like being butthurt.

 Steve steveson wrote:


Being on the phone at a checkout is rude. But what is even ruder? Telling someone you are not serving them when the entire interaction you need with them is "That will be £X".

That's simply untrue though. There are several points in the transaction where you need to interact with the customer. If they're being an ignorant twerp and not paying attention to ANY of the questions you ask them. then they should get off the fething phone! It's not difficult.

You can really tell who has not worked in retail. This really bears repeating. Sainsburys still operates with mystery shoppers; so the cashier would have to go through the whole spiel. How would you feel if you're asking these questions you are required to do by your company and not getting any response as the div on the other side is chatting to their mate about some banality that can frankly wait 5 minutes. It is just rude. Simple as.

Phones are making such idiots out of people, at work I've seen far too many people have zero spatial awareness when texting or blabbing away on their phone. A few days ago for example I had a girl stop dead in the middle of our frankly super busy produce aisle to update her fething FB page! I was right behind her with a very large dollie full of potatoes. If someone with less strength than I were moving that I'd hate to think what would have happened.

It is really not hard.
PUT
DOWN
THE
PHONE.

 d-usa wrote:

 caledoneus wrote:

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
I can swipe my card while on the phone, it's really not that hard...

Similarly, it's not hard to put your phone call down and not be a rude jerk to the bottom-feeder bagging your stuff. Is civility that difficult for some people?

+1

Just b/c something "isn't that hard" or "is easy" for you, doesn't mean that it doesn't make you a rude human being. Unless the phone call is life or death, then put the phone down long enough to treat the person at the register with some level of respect.... and if it is life or death, put the stuff down and come back after you fix the problem... lol.

Please answer me this question honestly then:

How much interaction do any of you have with the cashier?

When I am not on the phone it is:

1) Good [whatever], how are you.
2) Thank you, have a good day.

When I am on the phone it is:

1) Good [whatever], how are you.
2) Thank you, have a good day.

Are people having life changing conversations with the person checking them out?
If you are talking to your buddy/wife/gf/bf/whoever while they are checking you out are you also a rude jerk?

Surprisingly enough I have the mental capacity to do more than one thing at a time and I can be pleasant and polite to the "bottom feeder" while doing something on my phone. Because with or without a phone, checking out at a super market is really not anything that results in a long conversation with the person helping you. If I am doing anything that requires a longer interaction with the clerk that is helping me then I am not on my phone.

Seems like people are just butthurt because they like being butthurt.

Methinks someone has never been the cashier getting treated like they are just a peice of furniture or equipment to do its job and go away....

As someone who has been the cashier... whether what you say changes while on phone or not, if you say "hey, how you doin?" to me while you are on the phone with someone else, I don't feel like you actually are speaking to me like a person, but rather just hitting the, "checkout now" button on a self checkout.... Its a matter of respect and consideration and manners for the other person (and believe it or not, people who run a cash register/deliver pizza/ whatever other min wage job you can think of that you treat like worthless piles of dung) are in fact, human beings, and should be treated as such, not as furniture.

Seems like some people are just jerks because their parents apparently never taught them any manners, and they are simply "superior" to all of us peons below them...

grrrrr

Bullockist wrote:
I'm not suitist but after about 15-20 years in service I tend to try and avoid serving businessmen (or suits - small business people tend to be ok, it's the guys in big companies that tend to be less than helpful) .
The number of times I've had a table of people embarrassed by drunken suit guy because he decides it's good to take the piss out of the waiter is immense, or treat the service person like crap. It happens too often.

I worked in a night club for 3 years when I was younger. Groups of guys wearing suits almost always came across as arrogant/condescending. As an example, when I worked in the cloakroom, people used to sometimes just throw their coat on the counter and walk out. Then when they came back, they'd try to get out of paying. These were normally guys in suits trying to look good. They'd just throw it on the side and say 'look after that' and then carry on trying to impress girls. It was 50p to put your coat in the cloakroom, the guy is wearing a suit on a night out, which means the guy was trying to look affluent. So then he haggles over 50p.
I think it's cause we were a small town - in cities, I've never seen this come across the same way, cos people wearing suits wear them for work and might have gone out after, not just 5 lads on the dole have got their job interview suits on to go out and try to pull for the night. Our club was a dive too, so I've no idea why you'd want to go there in a suit anyway.
They were nowhere near the worst customers we had though.
Our local Rugby club... They had the mentality of 'I'm out with my 15 biggest mates. I'll give abuse to everyone I see fit. If they say anything, then I'll fight them. After all, I am with my 15 biggest mates...'
That always made for a fun night.

The worst was randy grannies. Gaggles of 40-55 year old women that find it fun to try and molest 18 yr olds working in a night club. If it was guys doing it to a girl, the doormen would throw them out. Apparently the other way round is only funny and not in any way molesty.

AAnyway, more on topic...

When I worked on tills (I've had a few jobs ) I found it polite to be acknowleged by the people I was serving. I didn't mind them being on the phone, as long as there was some sort of recognition that I was doing a job for them. A nod was enough.

Being ignored completly while someone is on the phone, while you're serving them is just rude. I like people to use manners.

 Grimtuff wrote:


Phones are making such idiots out of people, at work I've seen far too many people have zero spatial awareness when texting or blabbing away on their phone. A few days ago for example I had a girl stop dead in the middle of our frankly super busy produce aisle to update her fething FB page! I was right behind her with a very large dollie full of potatoes. If someone with less strength than I were moving that I'd hate to think what would have happened.

It is really not hard.
PUT
DOWN
THE
PHONE.

Shoulda just ran her arse over with it, and done the obligatory, if completely faked "sorry bout that, this cart is really heavy, and I just couldn't stop it since you decided to randomly stop right in front of me" reaction.

I'm glad she kicked off with the customer, I can't stand rudeness, and there is literally no reason for it.

 Grimtuff wrote:

It is really not hard.
PUT
DOWN
THE
PHONE.

Then I really honestly hope that you do not read a magazine in line or that you speak with any of your friends while checking out.

Because anything that you have to say to your friends or family while checking out can obviously wait 5 minutes...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 caledoneus wrote:

 d-usa wrote:

 caledoneus wrote:

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
I can swipe my card while on the phone, it's really not that hard...

Similarly, it's not hard to put your phone call down and not be a rude jerk to the bottom-feeder bagging your stuff. Is civility that difficult for some people?

+1

Just b/c something "isn't that hard" or "is easy" for you, doesn't mean that it doesn't make you a rude human being. Unless the phone call is life or death, then put the phone down long enough to treat the person at the register with some level of respect.... and if it is life or death, put the stuff down and come back after you fix the problem... lol.

Please answer me this question honestly then:

How much interaction do any of you have with the cashier?

When I am not on the phone it is:

1) Good [whatever], how are you.
2) Thank you, have a good day.

When I am on the phone it is:

1) Good [whatever], how are you.
2) Thank you, have a good day.

Are people having life changing conversations with the person checking them out?
If you are talking to your buddy/wife/gf/bf/whoever while they are checking you out are you also a rude jerk?

Surprisingly enough I have the mental capacity to do more than one thing at a time and I can be pleasant and polite to the "bottom feeder" while doing something on my phone. Because with or without a phone, checking out at a super market is really not anything that results in a long conversation with the person helping you. If I am doing anything that requires a longer interaction with the clerk that is helping me then I am not on my phone.

Seems like people are just butthurt because they like being butthurt.

Methinks someone has never been the cashier getting treated like they are just a peice of furniture or equipment to do its job and go away....

As someone who has been the cashier... whether what you say changes while on phone or not, if you say "hey, how you doin?" to me while you are on the phone with someone else, I don't feel like you actually are speaking to me like a person, but rather just hitting the, "checkout now" button on a self checkout.... Its a matter of respect and consideration and manners for the other person (and believe it or not, people who run a cash register/deliver pizza/ whatever other min wage job you can think of that you treat like worthless piles of dung) are in fact, human beings, and should be treated as such, not as furniture.

Seems like some people are just jerks because their parents apparently never taught them any manners, and they are simply "superior" to all of us peons below them...

grrrrr

Spend 5 years as a cashier in various places.

And really, if any of the people complaining about somebody being on the phone while checking out are ever talking to a friend or family while checking out then they should be punched in the throat for complaining in this thread. Because if you are talking to your mate you are being an inconsiderate elitist jerk who thinks that cashiers are beneath them.

Really, the crap people rage about these days...

Nothing like a bit of over-reaction when you see differing opinions to yourself.

Bullockist wrote:
just because i think it doesn't mean i say it. The always is also a gross exaggeration , but hell, I'm on an forum.

Insaniak I always serve a customer, it's just that if they are rude they get basic service, in and out, no questions or offers of help or conversation, just here's your product you wanted, that's my money and bye.

I wish all cashiers did that. I don't want to talk to you, just give me my gak and I pay you. Shopping already takes 99,9% too much time. As for the self service stations, if all the shops had them I would use them.

I think, actually, this comes under the same category as people in shops who get upset when you don't want to talk to them.

Seriously, it is a little rude, yes, but IMO not as rude as refusing to serve someone.

What also amazes me is the complete lack of basic respect for customers coming from people who are in agreement. If you don't treat the customer with respect, what do you expect in return? In my time in C/S and retail it was and is always the people who have the lowest opinion of customers that got the worst problems.

 Steve steveson wrote:
I think, actually, this comes under the same category as people in shops who get upset when you don't want to talk to them.

Seriously, it is a little rude, yes, but IMO not as rude as refusing to serve someone.

What also amazes me is the complete lack of basic respect for customers coming from people who are in agreement. If you don't treat the customer with respect, what do you expect in return? In my time in C/S and retail it was and is always the people who have the lowest opinion of customers that got the worst problems.

But customers ruin things

I did C/S in a diy shop and they were always asking me questions...when I could have just been stood there doing nothing...
Honestly, if it wasn't for customers, customer service would be easy

What do you say to an old lady who offers you jelly babies, then asks for the best way to fix a mirror to a bedroom ceiling?

 d-usa wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:

It is really not hard.
PUT
DOWN
THE
PHONE.

Then I really honestly hope that you do not read a magazine in line or that you speak with any of your friends while checking out.

Because anything that you have to say to your friends or family while checking out can obviously wait 5 minutes..

Thanks for missing the point. In either of your examples I can stop and actually acknowledge the cashier (that's all it takes) as in neither of those activities I am being sucked into a device that for some reason at a point in time when it should not be has my undivided attention. If I'm chatting in line with my mates, I will stop and my attention will divert to the cashier for all of about 30 seconds. It's just politeness. 99% of the time a person who is blathering away on a mobile simply does not do this. It is frankly rude.

Mobiles have made zombies out of certain people. As with my previous post; I can list of scores of examples of the derpy behaviour I have seen with people on their phones either texting or browsing FB in the middle of their shop. These actions can wait, with the exception of a few extenuating circumstances; take the phone off your ear for all of a minute to express some common courtesy to the person serving you.

I do feel that if every single person in the western world has to do at least 6 months compulsory service in retail, then this world would be a much happier place.

 Grimtuff wrote:

 d-usa wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:

It is really not hard.
PUT
DOWN
THE
PHONE.

Then I really honestly hope that you do not read a magazine in line or that you speak with any of your friends while checking out.

Because anything that you have to say to your friends or family while checking out can obviously wait 5 minutes..

Thanks for missing the point. In either of your examples I can stop and actually acknowledge the cashier (that's all it takes) as in neither of those activities I am being sucked into a device that for some reason at a point in time when it should not be has my undivided attention. If I'm chatting in line with my mates, I will stop and my attention will divert to the cashier for all of about 30 seconds. It's just politeness. 99% of the time a person who is blathering away on a mobile simply does not do this. It is frankly rude.

A person that doesn't stop chatting with his mates to pay attention to the clerk is a jerk.
A person on the phone that can say "hold on" and give his attention to the clerk for all of 30 seconds is fine.

Talking on the phone doesn't make you a jerk.

Being a jerk makes you a jerk.

 d-usa wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:

 d-usa wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:

It is really not hard.
PUT
DOWN
THE
PHONE.

Then I really honestly hope that you do not read a magazine in line or that you speak with any of your friends while checking out.

Because anything that you have to say to your friends or family while checking out can obviously wait 5 minutes..

Thanks for missing the point. In either of your examples I can stop and actually acknowledge the cashier (that's all it takes) as in neither of those activities I am being sucked into a device that for some reason at a point in time when it should not be has my undivided attention. If I'm chatting in line with my mates, I will stop and my attention will divert to the cashier for all of about 30 seconds. It's just politeness. 99% of the time a person who is blathering away on a mobile simply does not do this. It is frankly rude.

A person that doesn't stop chatting with his mates to pay attention to the clerk is a jerk.
A person on the phone that can say "hold on" and give his attention to the clerk for all of 30 seconds is fine.

Talking on the phone doesn't make you a jerk.

Being a jerk makes you a jerk.

Agreed. But if we were to make a Venn diagram, don't you agree that there would be a massive crossover point in the circles of "On the phone" and "Not acknowledging your surroundings". It just exacerbates any inherent jerkish behaviour in some people. If you stop to acknowledge me and answer my questions, regardless of what you're doing, then that is fine. You do not need to be on a phone to be a knob head, but in my experience most bellends are the ones who refuse to stop talking on their phone.

Are people so self important these days that they can't end a conversation for the 1 to 2 minutes it takes to give a cashier attention? Who cares if you personally are ok with people using phones, ITS RUDE. I'm with stores and companies that have have no phone policies.

 KingCracker wrote:
Are people so self important these days that they can't end a conversation for the 1 to 2 minutes it takes to give a cashier attention? Who cares if you personally are ok with people using phones, ITS RUDE. I'm with stores and companies that have have no phone policies.

Are people sof important these days that they can't send their friends and family away from the register for the 1 to 2 minutes it takes to give a cashier attention? Who cares if you are personally are ok with people talking to friends, ITS RUDE. I'm with stores and companies that have no companion policies.

Being on the phone isn't in itself enough to be a rude customer. It is when the customer is completely oblivious to everything around them because of it ie don't acknowledge the personnel, toss the merchandise at them, and seem bothered that you asked them for the payment and also just sort of toss that out as well, that it is a problem. In and of itself just being on the phone isn't enough to be rude, at least to me.

I don't get the whole suit tangent.