Is it acceptable to be on your mobile while at a check out in a supermarket.

I work in retail and it's irritating and rude when people send texts / take calls etc when your trying to help them.

What I'm going to do next time is just stop what I'm doing for them until I get there attention back. Depending on how this goes I'll then just get my phone out myself.
 
I used to work on the till as a part time job, I thought it was pretty disgusting when someone comes up to the till on the phone without even acknowledging your existence. Wheres the manners? They aren't machines...

I don't work on a till, but I do work in a similarly menial customer service job.

I don't care what a customer is doing while I'm serving them as long as it doesn't hold me up. I'll have other customers to serve or other work to do, so that's rude. If I'm doing something that doesn't require input from the customer (and scanning their stuff through a till does not) then why should I care what they do while they're waiting? I'm their servant, not their friend or coworker or teacher or whatever.

I agree with what many Terminal Boy said (and others have agreed with):

Totally acceptable as long as you're paying attention to the checkout operator when/if they ask you something.

I'd argue that it could reasonably be considered better manners than many other things - you're not obstructing the checkout operator's work by talking to them. They're judged on throughput, so anything that holds them up matters. Good manners in this context is things such as being ready to pay quickly - don't wait until it's finished to start looking in the depths of your bag to find purse that's somewhere in there and then through the 136 compartments of the purse to find your card. If I'm buying a smaller number of items and there's space and they're using a handheld scanner, I'll align my items on the till so that the barcodes are facing the checkout operator. It makes their job a little more convenient - that's the sort of thing that's good manners in that context because it's actually considering them. Unlike standing silently while they scan.
 
why make conversation with a till monkey?
I hate it when they say "hello" and after you answer it's "how are you?"

It's even worse when they start asking about stuff your buying....

Are you not a social retard ? I mean I find it odd you post in stuff like this when you basically said you were special ?

OP is a ignorant pig at the end of the day.
 
why make conversation with a till monkey?
I hate it when they say "hello" and after you answer it's "how are you?"

It's even worse when they start asking about stuff your buying....

Bear in mind that they are almost certainly ordered to do that. It's often annoying for both customer and worker, but the worker can't do anything about it.

Upselling is more of the same, only worse - it's almost guaranteed to be annoying to both customer and worker. I don't see the benefit in annoying customers by trying to manipulate them into spending money they didn't want to spend on things they didn't want, but many businesses require their employees to do it. Even when the business relies on repeat business, which makes it particularly important to not annoy customers.
 
you have interwebs and you go out to shops?

In many cases, a shop is more convenient. You can buy something and have it immediately. You don't need to be at home for whatever the window for delivery might be (which could be a matter of days).

I buy online for items which I don't want now and which will either fit through my letterbox or which can be delivered to a locker for me to collect at my convenience.
 
It's rude. If you really have to take an important call for work or something then take two seconds to explain and apologise before you are served.

It's amusing that the people who don't find it rude here are the ones I'd place in the errr, how would you say "socially challenged" department.
 
Definitely rude, I think it shows zero respect to the person serving you to not even acknowledge them while they scan your stuff. Anecdotal evidence from my trips show it's usually Jeremy Kyle esque pond life that do it so I certainly wouldn't want to be bracketed with them.

I also find it rude when people don't even make eye contact or say hello at the till, how hard is that?
 
It's rude. If you really have to take an important call for work or something then take two seconds to explain and apologise before you are served.

It's amusing that the people who don't find it rude here are the ones I'd place in the errr, how would you say "socially challenged" department.

I don't consider that rude. Rude to me is being nasty towards someone, such as name calling. Outside of a few social graces such as 'Hello' and 'Goodbye' my role in the transaction ends at that.
 
They should just get on with it. You're the one bringing in custom, and without custom she wouldn't have a job. Pretty simple.

Without his custom she still would have a job, so him shopping elsewhere make not one iota of difference.
 
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I would consider it rude. Everybody deserves a level of respect during an interaction unless you happen to be a doc who is on a call that can't be interrupted. Even then I wouldn't visit the checkout until I was off the phone.

It's called common decency.

The checkout girl had targets to meet and it's difficult if the grunt is on the phone.
 
As someone who works on a till it is a little frustrating when people are on the phone. Especially as I have targets for things such as rewards cards and it's impossible to tell them about the positives of having one whilst they're on the phone..
 
So to sum up do you think it's acceptable to use your mobile while at a checkout?

I'm sorry but in that particular environment customers take priority over someones ego/pride, your in that company's retail environment and workers represent that company.



Lot's of jobs have situations workers may not like but unless it's within the company guild-lines to refuse service if someone is on their mobile then surely the person at the till should just accept that as part of thier contract and care of duty to the customer, it's just part of the job.


Why bother asking the question if you have already made up your mind about it even after others have given their opinion.
 
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