Just something that I found quite unbelievably rude yesterday in a store. I go up to the cashier, and she's yapping on her phone, she must of had one of those bluetooth things in her ear, you couldn't see it, since it was underneath her hair I guess, and it looked like she was talking to herself. What got me is not even a hello, how are you, nothing. Like I was invisible. She didn't even tell me how much I owed her, I had to look at the screen myself. I thought usually cashiers will actually "talk" and say what your total is. She was talking very loud, and it was not even related to work. She shouldn't of even been on her phone while waiting on people, I mean where's the decency. Something or another about how someone didn't call in or showed up for work. But that's beside the point. Like I really care about what she's saying. It's not like the place was on fire or something. But the fact here is that I wasn't even acknowledged as a customer. Not even a thank you. She just went about and rang up the next person. Hello, I am a human being, you know, I just won't go back to that place anymore. I just wanted to see if anyone ever experienced something similar like this, I'd like to hear your story.

Deborah

[splitimage]

How totally rude and unprofessional. If it were me, I'd complain to the manager.

--splitimage

[VickiesPath]

Don't get me started.

[ADHD1956]

I would have spoken to manager...RUDENESS Sucks!!!

Why Vicki? Now I'm going to hit it where it hurts... the wallet, they won't be getting my business anymore.

[ECHOES]

So many times I think it is not knowing any better or being intimidated by people and I feel sad for the person. I can't imagine someone wanting to be this way on purpose. It's too bad someone doesn't tell them directly so they can learn from the experience. I know I would rather learn what I'm doing is not acceptable and not remain ignorant.

But I suppose you never know. It could be that it's on purpose.

[lisasays]

I've worked in quite a few shops, and in all of them I would have got a written warning if seen doing that. I doubt it's in keeping with the stores policy, most shops really drill customer service into you, even supermarkets. You could boycott the store, but seeing as the problem is with the individual cashier, complaining would serve more of a purpose. The store will do something about it, if they don't then I would go somewhere else.

[Hope]

I've worked as a cashier and never treated a customer like that even at Christmas time.

If it was me i'd never treat a customer the way I was treated. I'm sure it's drilled into them in their training on how to portray good customer service. I don't think a manager was even present, but who knows. I mean, without people like me, they wouldn't be getting a paycheck. I guess the girl didn't care that I was even there.

[ECHOES]

Well in truth you don't know what kind of training (if any) she received. Some employers offer very little training besides how to use the machines. Also, you can't know what her thoughts were about caring if you were there or not.

It is sure a very exasperating experience to be ignored by a store clerk.
In this economy stores need to be competing for shoppers, not alienating them. I agree the store manager would appreciate your frustrating experience and would be glad to know what happened.

[jbug]

If I get rude cashiers I usually do comment to the manager over the front end because how is that person going to learn that their behavior isn't acceptable.

I also comment if the cashier is over the top good also. Cashiers have a hard job it isn't just ringing up your purchases, it is listening to your complaints, trying to resolve conflicts with the store, etc. I was a cashier at Walmart for 4 years and have decided that everyone in life should have to work in the service industry at least once in their life.

Jan

[modelcarguy]

I agree with jbug. Everyone should spend some time working in the service sector. I worked in retail for around 10 years and know how things can go. This cashier should have been reported to the store manager. Every place I worked was strict no phones. If she was talking on a cell phone it could have been the store phone. Some places give store phones to the employees to keep in touch with each other. But still are supposed to treat customers with respect.

[ECHOES]

I also comment if the cashier is over the top good also. Cashiers have a hard job it isn't just ringing up your purchases, it is listening to your complaints, trying to resolve conflicts with the store, etc.

jbug, thank you for reminding us to speak up when we receive good service that we appreciate.

[ECHOES]

Some places give store phones to the employees to keep in touch with each other. But still are supposed to treat customers with respect.

modelcarguy, this is a good point. What if the manager was actually impeding and interfering with the cashier's service to her customer by communicating with her and forcing her to choose between interacting with the manager versus the customer. What a position to be in. And further reason to report this incident to the store--if their practice is communicating with employees while they are trying to serve the customer, it appears no one wins, so the feedback may change the practice.

I see what you're saying about they use store phones sometimes, but this clearly wasn't one. Aren't store phones right up at the registers. I've only seen store phones used for price checks, not to call managers to the front of the store because there's a complaint. You're right this kind of behavior should not be acceptable. I definitely should have spoken to the manager, but I just wanted to get out of there.