Supermarket self service tills are terrible for customer service

self service is a terrible idea, unless of course everything is tagged and you are tagged so you walk in and walk straight out with everything, and it automatically gets deducted from your bank account.

until that happens they will always be full of fail. people taking too long, items needing to be authorised by a member of staff, only 1 staff on making you wait for authorisation before you can continue. they create more problems than they solve currently.

with the self service tills at todays standards. only people with less than 5 items should be allowed to use them.
 
Love them, much easier when you just want to pick up a few things. If I have a lot of stuff I'll go to a real till though.
 
I've had more good than bad experiences with self service and if I've got a small number of items then I prefer it to waiting in a queue.

The best experience I've had with it is when buying one item. Walked straight in to Asda picked up the item, walked straight to the self service till, scanned and walked straight back out again, it took me less than a minute! Great idea imo.
 
support_bae said:
If you worked in retail before you'll also know how annoying and rude customers can be.

Here are a few I noticed over my short time:

-customers that ignore you when you greet them
-customers that 'tut' when you greet them because they think they're better than you
-customers expect you to pack for them when they have less than 5 items (i don't mind this if they are the elderly)
-customers who don't want my help packing but think it's fine to take their time and chatter away when there's a big queue forming
-customers that throw money on the silver (including loose change) even when you have your hands held out or customers that throws their credit card at you and expect you to put it in the chip and pin machine for them
-customers who think it's fine to leave everything in the basket and place it on the belt when everyone else takes it out the basket
-customers that throws the receipt back at the till because they don't want it

And here's a few things some customers have reported me for:

-not shaving (not shaved for a few days)
-i gave back £9 in singles because I had no fivers left in the till
-standing up when serving them
-wearing a bodywarmer during the summer (it was cold)
Click to expand...

You are in a wrong job mate. You work in customer service, it's your job to service customers - saints, sinners, shy, rude, social leaders, loners, nice folks, complete pricks, weirdos, a-holes and occassional genius with more obsessive compulsive quirks and phobias than you could fit on a square root of total on their bill.

Think about it this way - when you go to restaurant, you expect the waiter to be welcoming, polite, efficient, helpful, quick and, hopefully, dressed and groomed to standard of hygiene high enough to handle your food.

As a customer, sitting at the table with ££ in your pocket, choosing items from the menu in front of you, you are not particularly interested in his current mood, problems at home, romantic involvements or internet habbits that may or may not affect their ability to perform up to expected standards at work. You are The Guest. As far as every member of staff in the restaurant is concerned you hold (partially) key element to their business. You pay the bills, you pay their taxes, you pay their wages, you pay for everything on your plate. If anyone in the chain of service is rude, impolite, doesn't do stuff within their job description that you asked for, if anyone handling your food looks like a bum or behaves in a way you don't feel comfortable with, as a person with wallet in hand - person being served and expecting service - YOU SHALL BE SERVED. Or you and you money go elsewhere.

And yet when tables turn, and you are on the other side - you are the server,they pay your wages, you handle their food and they dare to have demands or complaints (rightly or wrongly - doesn't matter), somehow the world is against you and everyone is a of birth lacking legal legitimacy?

Dude - customer service is just not for you.

No wonder they get machines to replace you. (ouch, now, that was rude - even I felt it) ;)
 
I find the self-scans ok to use, but in our local Asda they seem to have differing volume levels. Normal groceries are fine but God forbid if i scan a pack of beer or a bottle of wine. 'APPROVAL NEEDED' it shouts, followed by everyone looking at me like i'm some sort of sicko. :D
 
v0n said:
Dude - customer service is just not for you.

No wonder they get machines to replace you. (ouch, now, that was rude - even I felt it) ;)
Click to expand...

'Dude', I no longer work in supermarket (been doing e.on summer placement) so couldn't care less if the machines replaced me - ouch ;)

Also, just because you are a customer doesn't give you the right to be an ass. For the year or so I worked in Sainsbury my manager never pulled me up for my attitude, just told me to think nothing of them (rude/annoying/snobby customers that is).
 
v0n said:
You are in a wrong job mate. You work in customer service, it's your job to service customers - saints, sinners, shy, rude, social leaders, loners, nice folks, complete pricks, weirdos, a-holes and occassional genius with more obsessive compulsive quirks and phobias than you could fit on a square root of total on their bill.
Click to expand...

That doesn't however mean that it's our job to be subjected to rudeness or abuse, and it certainly doesn't mean that we should just take it. If a customer is particularly rude or abusive to me or a member of my team, I'll ask them to change their attitude otherwise they can simply go elsewhere.
 
Always prefer to use the self serve stuff, just more convenient than a worker on the checkout, imo.

Used to use them all of the time when i went to uni, just quick to scan, and then swipe your card. The only problems i really had/have are when the card doesn't read properly from time to time, or when you need the tags removing from dvd's or games.

Although there does always seem to be ones that are broken or out of order lol. Especially on a Saturday.
 
I hate them. The ones at Morrisons are a right PITA.

*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG
*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG
*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG
*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG

Stop bloody telling me to put the items in the bag woman!!! Where do you think I'll be putting them:mad:

Al :mad:
 
TheVoice said:
That doesn't however mean that it's our job to be subjected to rudeness or abuse
Click to expand...

I feel your pain, but dealing with rudeness and even holding the lines of defence under abuse actually IS part of your job.

Working in customer service (even as part of telephone customer service) and complaining about people being rude, short fused or threatening is a bit like working as a stripper and complaining that men oggle your boobs and try to stuff your underwear with pocket change.

Any low end, one-size-fits-them-all crowd facing customer service job - be it waiting, bartending, retail counter or door to door or phone sales, is by default frontline for all the above. It requires equally thick skinned, strong self esteem wielding, balanced, patient individual with good negotiation skills to remain polite, professional and calm while scanning items all day long for cheesed off housewives on power trip as it does to serve another round of lunchtime spirits with the same Cheshire cat smile and "Here you are, Sir" oneliner to abusive new money yuppies celebrating short sale of someone's life savings and employee retirement plans with their equally sophisticated boiler room mates.

But it is part of the job description. As easy jobs as they are, they require certain level of numbness, nerves and ability to "filter". If you are not prepped for it in your training that's just gross misrepresentation of future work conditions, no?
 
Last edited:
Aliboy said:
I hate them. The ones at Morrisons are a right PITA.

*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG
*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG
*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG
*Scans item*
PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG

Stop bloody telling me to put the items in the bag woman!!! Where do you think I'll be putting them:mad:

Al :mad:
Click to expand...

I can only assume Morrisons got those machines for a fraction of the price of the NCR systems that every other supermarket uses, because they're completely rubbish. The bag area is in a stupid location too, you have to physically move yourself to bag your items rather than being able to just stand in one place like all the rest of them.
 
v0n said:
I feel your pain, but dealing with rudeness and even holding the lines of defence under abuse actually IS part of your job.
Click to expand...

If a customer is a bit rude or abrasive then yes, I'd agree; I'd just continue being polite and friendly (as I always am with anyone) and moan about them afterwards. You always get a few of those each and every day anyway, it's no use being bothered too much by it.

However, if they start swearing, or become verbally abusive towards myself or another member of staff, it certainly isn't part of my or their job to just take it. At that point they'll be asked to stop and calm down and if they don't, I'm no longer prepared to deal with them.

Other places may well differ, but as far as I'm concerned that's not how I or anyone I work with will be treated. I'm more than happy to prove to people that that sort of attitude isn't always going to get you far in life.
 
Aliboy said:
I hate them. The ones at Morrisons are a right PITA.
Click to expand...
Amen. Sometimes I like to play the machine and scan the item and put it in the bag before it can tell me to put the item in the bag. :cool:

The Tesco ones are much better and seem more sensibly designed and laid out. Morrisons seem to have just gone for as cheap as they can get machines off the shelf. :(
 
There are lots of thick people in the world that get in the way and do things slowly, to be expected 'innit. Tesco ones are great, not tried any others.

MarcLister said:
Amen. Sometimes I like to play the machine and scan the item and put it in the bag before it can tell me to put the item in the bag. :cool:
Click to expand...
I do this too, such a rebel! :cool:
 
I only use them when there isn't a pretty checkout girl.

Yeah sue me :p

Self service ones once got me £43 worth of free shopping too, which was nice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom