Spineless Sainsburys and all that is wrong in today's society!

[Meade's Ball]

To be honest, I always scan and shop anyway so can do a whole shop without having to speak to anyone!!!!!

I'm the same in general, but a few years back a psychologist sent me on a mission to go to Tescos and put a series of embarrassing items in my basket, then taking them to the personed checkout to have them not only process them but judge me as the cheap pantyliners and family-sized tins of baked beans went by.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Surely someone can talk on their mobile when they want ? Extraordinary. The World has FINALLY lost the plot.

 

[yxee]

Put it this way. If someone came to the checkout talking on the phone and they were in tears, would you refuse to serve them? If the answer is "no" then you have just made an assumption that the phone call is some very bad news, and that you should probably be helpful and sympathetic towards this unfortunate person.

Now picture the exact same phone call with the same news, but with a different customer who is not crying for whatever reason, maybe they're upset but are hiding it very well. But you'd never be able to make the assumption that the phone call is bad news because they'd be hiding their emptions. Some people do this, some people don't. Would you now refuse to serve them?

This is what I'm getting at. It's far ruder to make an assumption that someone's private phone call is less important than trivial manners when it could be the most important phone call they'll ever get. You simply don't know, and in the customer service industry you can't be taking a stubborn line based on your personal prejudices of the customer.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Where I live I have to wait regularly while the check out girl scans super slow so she can have a lengthy and excruciatingly boring conversation with the shopper, someone she barely knows. My favorite supermarket is the big one in Liverpool opposite the pub where Robbie Fowler used to drink. Lightening fast, mobile phones irrelevant, dither and be damned. Sometimes I'm embarrassed by the preciousness of we southerners . . .

 

[pishhead]

A lot of people now are just plain rude. Phones have played a huge part in this, if it isn't the incident mentioned here it's people listening to their music at silly decibels without any consideration for other people or people walking aimlessly whilst texting. As mentioned earlier what did people do without mobile phones?

 

[pastafarian]

i wonder what the customer Jo Clarke would have thought if during the whole check out process the sainsburys employee had been talking on the phone?

 

[wellquickwoody]

idiot checkout person - if I don't want to talk to you, I don't have to

****.

 

[JCL - the new kid in town]

Put it this way. If someone came to the checkout talking on the phone and they were in tears, would you refuse to serve them? If the answer is "no" then you have just made an assumption that the phone call is some very bad news, and that you should probably be helpful and sympathetic towards this unfortunate person.

Now picture the exact same phone call with the same news, but with a different customer who is not crying for whatever reason, maybe they're upset but are hiding it very well. But you'd never be able to make the assumption that the phone call is bad news because they'd be hiding their emptions. Some people do this, some people don't. Would you now refuse to serve them?

This is what I'm getting at. It's far ruder to make an assumption that someone's private phone call is less important than trivial manners when it could be the most important phone call they'll ever get. You simply don't know, and in the customer service industry you can't be taking a stubborn line based on your personal prejudices of the customer.

I understand what you mean however if the news was that bad I doubt you'd finish your shopping.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Shoulder against the head if not on hands free.

I'm all for stopping people texting at a dinner table, but to force them to hang up at a shopping till is absurd. There's no reason you can't still greet them and pay the money. It seems far ruder to me that they demand you stop talking before they scan your items- a task which requires no conversing anyway.

Rude ignorant arse.

 

[Billy the Fish]

What planet are some of you lot on!!!

It's a bloody supermarket, not a dinner party.

Some jumped up checkout bint (probably some senile old biddy) gives orders to someone who is spending money.

I would've told her to stick my shopping up her arse if she refused to process it.

 

[Nibble]

It is a bit rude but checkout folk must see all sorts, all day long. Shrug your shoulders and get on with your day.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Unbelievable thread.

1. Where does it say she didn't pack her own bags. Many people will cradle the phone on their shoulder whilst doing other things.
2. Many shops offer to pack your bags for you anyway.
3. The check out girl is not there to engage in conversation. If the women arrived at the checkout on the phone then so what.
4. Plenty of checkout employees are happy to engage in conversation with their colleague at the next checkout. Perhaps we should all complain about that.
5. It's a bloody supermarket, not a social centre.
6. The check out girl lied about company policy.

I'm not mad about mobiles but I don't think this is a case to highlight. What is worse is when people sit on a train on the phone and think everyone else deserves to hear their conversation or when you're out and people spend ages texting (I hasten to add that none of my friends are like that but you see plenty in pubs and clubs that do).

Overall, you are wrong, end.

 

[wellquickwoody]

What planet are some of you lot on!!!


It's a bloody supermarket, not a dinner party.


Some jumped up checkout bint (probably some senile old biddy)


I would've told her to stick my shopping up her arse

Which is why you sir, are an arse, and will forever remain an arse.

 

[Diego Napier]

What planet are some of you lot on!!!

It's a bloody supermarket, not a dinner party.

Some jumped up checkout bint (probably some senile old biddy) gives orders to someone who is spending money.

I would've told her to stick my shopping up her arse if she refused to process it.

Courtesy, manners and respect; clearly missing from the vocabulary and behaviour of a number of posters including you.

 

[portlock seagull]

Unbelievable thread.

1. Where does it say she didn't pack her own bags. Many people will cradle the phone on their shoulder whilst doing other things.
2. Many shops offer to pack your bags for you anyway.
3. The check out girl is not there to engage in conversation. If the women arrived at the checkout on the phone then so what.
4. Plenty of checkout employees are happy to engage in conversation with their colleague at the next checkout. Perhaps we should all complain about that.
5. It's a bloody supermarket, not a social centre.
6. The check out girl lied about company policy.

I'm not mad about mobiles but I don't think this is a case to highlight. What is worse is when people sit on a train on the phone and think everyone else deserves to hear their conversation or when you're out and people spend ages texting (I hasten to add that none of my friends are like that but you see plenty in pubs and clubs that do).

It's not an "unbelievable" thread is it? I've seen plenty of similar stories (its classic newspaper comments section in the next 2 days) and knew this would be good for a rant. Anyway, your points 1 and 2 are commentary. But Pt 3 shows a worrying understanding of common courtesy. pt 4 isn't relevant to this story. Nor 5. pt 6 I doubt she "lied" in some sort of evil hatched plan sort of way. She probably just assumed; and similarly that she had some level of support in her assertion.

Anyway, I just think this article is brilliantly polarising, hence why I posted given not a lot on tonight. I belong to a generation that is older than many on here and wouldn't dream of doing this in a shop let alone cry foul to a national newspaper. Younger ones are so in tune with their digital world they're often blind to the real one they actually inhabit. Possible to learn from both but think mine holds the morale high ground in this scenario.

 

[arkan]

What planet are some of you lot on!!!

It's a bloody supermarket, not a dinner party.

Some jumped up checkout bint (probably some senile old biddy) gives orders to someone who is spending money.

I would've told her to stick my shopping up her arse if she refused to process it.

.

Pretty much this.

I am not going into a supermarket for a conversation with the checkout person, if i am on the phone, i will acknowlege the checkout person and say hello, that kind of thing. I will pack my bags with shoulder on ear (its really not difficult). Pay for my items and say thankyou. End of process. When i used to work in retail i never got offended when people were on their phone. For people crying about this really need to get a life.
It really should be the checkout assistants job to have a go at a mobile phone user. If they are holding up the line, it should be the other customers waiting duty to say something. Now thats something i have done and would do again, because they are wasting MY time.

 

[portlock seagull]

Put it this way. If someone came to the checkout talking on the phone and they were in tears, would you refuse to serve them? If the answer is "no" then you have just made an assumption that the phone call is some very bad news, and that you should probably be helpful and sympathetic towards this unfortunate person.

Now picture the exact same phone call with the same news, but with a different customer who is not crying for whatever reason, maybe they're upset but are hiding it very well. But you'd never be able to make the assumption that the phone call is bad news because they'd be hiding their emptions. Some people do this, some people don't. Would you now refuse to serve them?

This is what I'm getting at. It's far ruder to make an assumption that someone's private phone call is less important than trivial manners when it could be the most important phone call they'll ever get. You simply don't know, and in the customer service industry you can't be taking a stubborn line based on your personal prejudices of the customer.

Utter tangent warning! Stop digging or inventing "potential" scenarios to support your conspiracy theories! Just admit its rude to talk on the mobile when a cashier is serving you unless your a doctor in an emergency purchasing blood. And by adding another wrong it doesn't make it right!

 

[portlock seagull]

.

Pretty much this.

I am not going into a supermarket for a conversation with the checkout person, if i am on the phone, i will acknowlege the checkout person and say hello, that kind of thing. I will pack my bags with shoulder on ear (its really not difficult). Pay for my items and say thankyou. End of process. When i used to work in retail i never got offended when people were on their phone. For people crying about this really need to get a life.
It really should be the checkout assistants job to have a go at a mobile phone user. If they are holding up the line, it should be the other customers waiting duty to say something. Now thats something i have done and would do again, because they are wasting MY time.

Er, I don't think anyone's crying. But I recognise an awful lot of people seem to think only about themselves in public situations.

 

[yxee]

Utter tangent warning! Stop digging or inventing "potential" scenarios to support your conspiracy theories! Just admit its rude to talk on the mobile when a cashier is serving you unless your a doctor in an emergency purchasing blood. And by adding another wrong it doesn't make it right!

The only rude part of the story for me is where someone demands you end your (potentially important) conversation so that they can have a natter, and holding up a queue of people behind you until you comply.

 

[portlock seagull]

What planet are some of you lot on!!!

It's a bloody supermarket, not a dinner party.

Some jumped up checkout bint (probably some senile old biddy) gives orders to someone who is spending money.

I would've told her to stick my shopping up her arse if she refused to process it.

Love it! As for dinner parties, clearly this is a social situation where it's acceptable to answer your phone. Or even play games.