Get off your phone

Marky said:
This is why robots are taking over... You don't get attitude from the self-serve checkouts...
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This is true, but you do get a lot of BS. Today, I was at my local Sainsbury's using the self service checkouts. I placed my shopping on the left of the checkout and peeled off two bags on the right and opened them up ready to receive my goods. I hit the START button on the screen and was immediately told to 'Please remove items from the bagging area'

WTF ?

I then had to wait for a 'human' assistant to the reset the damn thing, which took a few minutes because she was busy resetting other checkouts that had gone full retard.

Sometimes I'd rather have an impolite checkout girl than an incompetent robot. :rolleyes:
 
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I've had this the other way round. I was in Basel airport at 6am or something stupid last month and wanted to grab some mints (travel breath) and a red bull, so popped in to the shop right next to the gate.
Went to the till and the woman was on her phone to a family member (long enough for me to glean this!) I sort of lifted a finger slightly as to get her attention, not in a rude way, but to signal I was ready to pay. She responded with a loud sigh and said to the other party she would have to go as someone was hassling her.
I asked to pay by card, she said no. I was like, err OK, why? As she offered no explanation and I could see the card machine, like most shops in the world. She snapped back "It's broken, are you calling me a liar?!" I was like, no I was just curious as it's on, no errors etc. can you use the one from the other till? (I really didn't want to spend my cash)
She went nuts at me and said that she was refusing to serve me as I was challenging her?! I was proper calm up until this point, when I pointed out the fact that she was on the phone when I came in, obviously not a work call, and that she had been rude from the outset.
She then picked up the phone shouting at me; "COMPLAIN THEN? CALL MY MANAGER!!!"

I couldn't be chewed at that time of the morning, went round to the cafe and bought a beer. Airport morning beers ftw.

Cool story bro etc.
 
I think its good manners not to be on the phone whilst being served but its depends on the call i'm making/taking.

Slowing people down behind? no no no, if your going to be on the phone get them to pack! hell hand over your wallet so they can get the cash out themselves. :D
 
Hardly think it's rude to be on the phone. Certainly beats the vacant stare and vapid gestures of the checkout drones.

It's more amusing than anything that somebody actually cared enough to make a big deal out of it. But I suppose that is to be expected from someone like that.
 
Morba said:
Because she is forcing a customer to wait instead of providing the service that she is paid to.
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Civility and good manners should not be determined by which side of a transactions you're on. A major pillar of civilization is treating each other with common courtesy and respect. The person on the phone was not doing that. There was nothing stupid about the cashier challenging this impoliteness.

Personally I think the cashier acted rather bravely. Sadly they will not be rewarded for their efforts.
 
randomshenans said:
I've had this the other way round. I was in Basel airport at 6am or something stupid last month and wanted to grab some mints (travel breath) and a red bull, so popped in to the shop right next to the gate.
Went to the till and the woman was on her phone to a family member (long enough for me to glean this!) I sort of lifted a finger slightly as to get her attention, not in a rude way, but to signal I was ready to pay. She responded with a loud sigh and said to the other party she would have to go as someone was hassling her.
I asked to pay by card, she said no. I was like, err OK, why? As she offered no explanation and I could see the card machine, like most shops in the world. She snapped back "It's broken, are you calling me a liar?!" I was like, no I was just curious as it's on, no errors etc. can you use the one from the other till? (I really didn't want to spend my cash)
She went nuts at me and said that she was refusing to serve me as I was challenging her?! I was proper calm up until this point, when I pointed out the fact that she was on the phone when I came in, obviously not a work call, and that she had been rude from the outset.
She then picked up the phone shouting at me; "COMPLAIN THEN? CALL MY MANAGER!!!"

I couldn't be chewed at that time of the morning, went round to the cafe and bought a beer. Airport morning beers ftw.

Cool story bro etc.
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Cool story bro.
 
randomshenans said:
I've had this the other way round. I was in Basel airport at 6am or something stupid last month and wanted to grab some mints (travel breath) and a red bull, so popped in to the shop right next to the gate.
Went to the till and the woman was on her phone to a family member (long enough for me to glean this!) I sort of lifted a finger slightly as to get her attention, not in a rude way, but to signal I was ready to pay. She responded with a loud sigh and said to the other party she would have to go as someone was hassling her.
I asked to pay by card, she said no. I was like, err OK, why? As she offered no explanation and I could see the card machine, like most shops in the world. She snapped back "It's broken, are you calling me a liar?!" I was like, no I was just curious as it's on, no errors etc. can you use the one from the other till? (I really didn't want to spend my cash)
She went nuts at me and said that she was refusing to serve me as I was challenging her?! I was proper calm up until this point, when I pointed out the fact that she was on the phone when I came in, obviously not a work call, and that she had been rude from the outset.
She then picked up the phone shouting at me; "COMPLAIN THEN? CALL MY MANAGER!!!"

I couldn't be chewed at that time of the morning, went round to the cafe and bought a beer. Airport morning beers ftw.

Cool story bro etc.
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Was she French? If so, that was actually pretty polite :)
 
Morba said:
That causes problems at both tesco and sainsburys locally. No idea why but if you try and bag it as you go it throws the "too many items in bagging area, please check" warning. Bloody annoying!
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you have to keep the bags as centred as possible and put them down before you press start
 
Its very rude, the checkout person may wish to ask you something, or ask you to pay but don't want to interrupt your phone call, thus making other people in the cue wait longer. I wouldn't dream or using a phone whilst using the checkout unless it was very urgent.
 
Westyfield2 said:
Good on the checkout worker, bad on Sainsbury's for apologising.
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This. Expecting someone to do a job for you while you can't even be bothered to talk to them is enormously rude. It's not the -ing Middle Ages, and the checkout person is not your -ing serf. And if nothing else, it almost certainly means the customer concerned is moving more slowly than usual as their concentration is elsewhere - and are thus holding up other people. Sainbury's are essentially saying that they don't care how rude their customers are, as long as they pay. Which, while probably true for most shops, is hardly a sign of an improving culture. Or encouraging for their work force.
 
Here in Belgium it's usually the other way round.
I've had a checkout woman talking to her colleague the entire time while scanning my items and taking payment, without once making eye contact, saying hello or thank you.
 
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Meridian said:
This. Expecting someone to do a job for you while you can't even be bothered to talk to them is enormously rude. It's not the -ing Middle Ages, and the checkout person is not your -ing serf.
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Exactly. I fail to see why you should be rude to someone by being on the phone. They are human, so treat them with respect.
 
I shop online so I don't have to mix with people. I often do this in my pants and I know the checkout girl at Waitrose thinks that is rude.
 
Morba said:
I think the woman should have just got on with her bloody job tbh. She has no right to refuse custom, there is no need for any interaction other than an acknowledgement and payment.

Do the bloody job you stupid woman.
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This. But also, why didn't the bloody woman on the phone just shrug it off and get in with her life? The sad little woman, going to customer services because someone wasn't perfectly nice to her. Life, get one.
 
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