Yes, 100% yes. Although probably not the regular customers but almost certainly the 'odd' ones they'll inevitably get.
No.
Supermarket abuse of pricing?
- Thread starter NickK
- Start date
Yes, 100% yes. Although probably not the regular customers but almost certainly the 'odd' ones they'll inevitably get.
No.
Soldato
It’s just a walkie talkie system.
One thing I miss from call centre days was when I had control over customers’ behaviour. If they swore, continued to shout after three warnings, the operator (ie us) could terminate the call. We said something like “Mr/Mrs/Ms (surname) you have been warned three times about your language and three times you ignored them. I am going to terminate the the call. Only call back when you have calmed down. Goodbye.” Then press the terminate call button on console. Make note on account that call was terminated due to language issues.
Now working in retail, only the management and security have the rights to escort the rude and disrespectful customers out.
Customers need to stop being rude, disrespectful and impatient towards shop staff. They don’t realise that saying deliberately hurtful things is bullying.
Retail staff as a whole, are leaving because of the rudeness of customers.
Then there’s the impatience. Almost 4 years ago- hardly anyone kicked up a fuss queuing outside the supermarkets and essential retail for 30 mins. Now hear them tut, sigh if they have to wait 30 seconds. As I’m dyslexic, I’m more sensitive to these noises. I was in another shop a few miles from where I live and work. The woman behind me was tutting and sighing almost immediately after queuing. I turned round and said tutting and sighing isn’t going to make the queue quicker.
Then last month I had a couple shouting “we have been queuing for 20 mins” They weren’t as I started my shift 10 mins earlier and went into work 5 mins before that. They weren’t queuing then. No you haven’t” I said. Then the woman started screaming. I set off the panic alarm. Security asked them to leave.
About 5 minutes later, a manager reviewed the CCTV footage of the couple. He showed it to me and said look at the time counter on the screen. The time between couple entered the store and the woman shouting at me was just 50 seconds.
Soldato
Colleagues on checkouts, self scan and kiosk plus a manager wear a camera on a lanyard. It only records if we press button hard enough. This is to record rude, aggressive and shoplifters. One thing that these colleague warn cameras have over CCTV is that they record sound. So if a customer shouts racist or sexist comments- they will be picked up.
I have pressed this button on the camera about 6 times - 6 times too many.
I have pressed this button on the camera about 6 times - 6 times too many.
Soldato
@cheesefest - as a shopper myself, I have noticed that the general public have become more selfish and inpatient since the lockdowns. There is the tutting at checkouts that you mentioned, isle-blocking with sideways trolleys, general shelf/goods-blocking. This extends to outside of the shops as well e.g. e-scooters going faster than the cyclists in cycle lanes and the arrogance of people queuing up for the bus etc.
Soldato
The shops brought on the rude impatient customers themselves and it's their fault we have these customer attitudes now. I worked in retail from 2001 to 2019 and for the most part customer service was the No1 priority and keeping customers waiting and queues were seen as a bad thing. Customers have come to expect this. Now that is all out the window in the race to the bottom. Staff not being replaced when they leave, staffed checkouts removed for self service, all part of the race to the bottom for maximum profits.
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I actually talk to some of the
Soldato
Also the retail union (USDAW) are as much use as a chocolate fireguard.
Soldato
The number of self service tills is down to the average transaction which some customers bring down themselves. We get customers, mainly elderly who queue at the kiosk to buy their newspapers and ask for a receipt as doing their main shopping. We mention that other customers pay for their papers with their shopping to those who buy papers separately and get a blank look from them. Why queue twice? Obviously got nothing better to do.
Staff are leaving for various reasons and not fully replaced. Think for every 100 hours we lose in colleagues leave, we only get 16 hours back. Plus on checkouts/customer service - the new staff take months to get fully trained on all areas. Don't like leaving a colleague on the kiosk/CSD on their own if they are not fully adapt to everything there.
My colleagues and myself say the rudeness from customers has increased overall from the lockdowns. from both working and when shopping at other places. Before the lockdowns, we probably got about 2-3 rude customers per day. Now its 6 per hour.
My colleagues and myself are refusing to serve rude customers. Managers back us up.
Problem is there’s need to be more powers in the law for prosecuting customers and needs laws for people not to abuse retail workers.
Supermarket workers and essential retail workers are the forgotten heroes of the pandemic. Most other key workers have gone on some strike.
In the lockdowns customers thanked us for doing a fantastic job. Now they have no respect for us.
We get moaned at because their paper has gone up by 10p. That has nothing to do with us and it’s 10p more regardless of where they buy it.
Soldato
Also customers please don’t have your chin wags with friends you bumped into in front of the bananas or milk!
Soldato
This drives me crazy when people decide to have a mothers meeting blocking the whole damn aisle.
Soldato
Plus another thing. Get groups of 4-6 mums with pushchairs coming in together and just two buy a single item each. They clog up the store!
Only go in if you need to buy something
Can you get them to stop moving the products around.. I want to come in, do the stop because I know precisely where bits I want are.. and then go
I don't want someone deciding to play hide and seek with isles of products just to make you go looking at different products. It's not going to make me buy anything different.. in fact it makes me want to go to another store..
My mum has worked for a well known supermarket for years on the checkouts, over 25 years now. She's on an old school contract that allows her to opt out of Sundays (Which she does) and says she has to work a min of 30 hours a week of shifts of her choosing.
The management hate it, constantly trying to get her to sign a 'new/improved contract' which she keeps refusing. As the new contract only offers her 1 shift a week when required and then topped up when needed by the section management.
The way shes seen the whole checkout thing evolve over that time always gets her going, they've cut back a lot of the normal checkouts and installed loads more self/trolley self checkouts over the summer which have these fancy gates that open when you want to leave the area.
How do they open? Cameras and facial recognition. Those pretty cameras with the screen on the self checkout staring at your face saying 'cctv' check you out and then when you leave the camera at the gate lets you out if you've paid.
If you cut through without buying anything/not paying then the gates won't slide open and flash red. The operator manning the area can override the gate with a remote which 99.9% of the time they just do to let you out. They are supposed ask/see/check if you've bought anything and paid, but they never do.
Blew my mind when she told me that, tested it out shortly after a few times and she was right
The management hate it, constantly trying to get her to sign a 'new/improved contract' which she keeps refusing. As the new contract only offers her 1 shift a week when required and then topped up when needed by the section management.
The way shes seen the whole checkout thing evolve over that time always gets her going, they've cut back a lot of the normal checkouts and installed loads more self/trolley self checkouts over the summer which have these fancy gates that open when you want to leave the area.
How do they open? Cameras and facial recognition. Those pretty cameras with the screen on the self checkout staring at your face saying 'cctv' check you out and then when you leave the camera at the gate lets you out if you've paid.
If you cut through without buying anything/not paying then the gates won't slide open and flash red. The operator manning the area can override the gate with a remote which 99.9% of the time they just do to let you out. They are supposed ask/see/check if you've bought anything and paid, but they never do.
Blew my mind when she told me that, tested it out shortly after a few times and she was right
Soldato
We don’t move our stuff much - unlike Iceland! They are always moving stuff. For example the front of the store’s freezers now are vegan stuff and Slimming World ready meals. Summer - lollies and bbq stuffCan you get them to stop moving the products around.. I want to come in, do the stop because I know precisely where bits I want are.. and then go
We get customers who claim we keep moving the eggs. I say to them - they have been in the same place for 12 years!
Soldato
Do I take it that the new contract only pays the employee just one shift's pay per week when on the sick or on annual leave?My mum has worked for a well known supermarket for years on the checkouts, over 25 years now. She's on an old school contract that allows her to opt out of Sundays (Which she does) and says she has to work a min of 30 hours a week of shifts of her choosing.
The management hate it, constantly trying to get her to sign a 'new/improved contract' which she keeps refusing. As the new contract only offers her 1 shift a week when required and then topped up when needed by the section management.
The way shes seen the whole checkout thing evolve over that time always gets her going, they've cut back a lot of the normal checkouts and installed loads more self/trolley self checkouts over the summer which have these fancy gates that open when you want to leave the area.
How do they open? Cameras and facial recognition. Those pretty cameras with the screen on the self checkout staring at your face saying 'cctv' check you out and then when you leave the camera at the gate lets you out if you've paid.
If you cut through without buying anything/not paying then the gates won't slide open and flash red. The operator manning the area can override the gate with a remote which 99.9% of the time they just do to let you out. They are supposed ask/see/check if you've bought anything and paid, but they never do.
Blew my mind when she told me that, tested it out shortly after a few times and she was right
Another thing which annoys myself, colleagues and working age customers are elderly customers who still shop on Saturday mornings. These elderly have the cheek to say its 'busy' well durr - if you are stubborn to refuse to change your shopping time and still insist shopping on Saturday mornings. Had working aged customers coming up to me and say "what are the elderly doing shopping now?. They have almost all week to shop". Then seen/heard customers telling elderly customers "Saturdays are for customers who work all week, not for the retired".
My parents retired 11/13 years ago and they changed their shopping time once Mum retired. My parents have common sense and consideration which the Saturday morning elderly shoppers clearly don't.
Soldato
Bloody hell you've never mentioned that. Saturdays! Old people! Oh my!
Just to add in, I wouldn't point the finger at poor management, but rather poor absence policy that the management are tied to adhere to.
That's funny, just observed something like that this weekend while at my dad's. On one hand, in a nice part of the country outside London it's mostly just families and people are generally pleasant (big contrast with London where the security guard at my local tesco is regularly having to deal with smackheads/hobos etc..) but on the other hand, while at the self-service tills, some family man type marches up to the girl who was stood there ready to help and immediately demands to speak to a manager "there should be a manager here, please can you get one and request more tills be opened... there's usually a manager" he looked quite stressed about it all and she's like "yes, just bear with me sir". I looked across at the tills and WTF... there's maybe one till with three people queuing and the others only have a couple of customers at them. I'd have never even thought to go and chase a manager over that, like how impatient does someone need to be.
I do think there is an obvious and quite technically feasible solution to some of the worse behaviour *if* there is the will to do it without political blowback and that's to have a membership linked to your ID to even enter the store, can do that under the guise of automatic checkout/efficiency - don't even need self-checkouts just pick up off the shelves and walk out/get auto billed. Amazon already have that running and others are experimenting with it.
The additional effect of something like that is that people can't easily steal in a system where you're supposed to pick stuff up and walk out, at most they can somehow go into debt with that sort of system/payment rejected and then stopped at the exit or barred from returning. Suddenly the various smackheads and regular shoplifters just don't have a chance at stores with such a system and as an additional benefit, it would be super easy to simply ban anyone who is abusive towards staff. Drawbacks could, of course, be stuff like headlines in The Guardian about how "black people are 3 times more likely to be barred from Tesco stores in London" etc.. or "unhoused people can't shop at supermarkets anymore" (in reality people who steal repeatedly can't).
Soldato
Anyone in retail can opt out of Sunday working but if your contract includes working on a Sunday then the shop has no obligation to give you replacement hours on another day.
I had a 7 day contract at a major supermarket, hated the current department manager so I opted out just to **** him off as I hardly ever got rota'd in on a Sunday until he started, then opted back in when he moved to another store.
I had a 7 day contract at a major supermarket, hated the current department manager so I opted out just to **** him off as I hardly ever got rota'd in on a Sunday until he started, then opted back in when he moved to another store.
Soldato
I remember doing a 6am-2pm shift last year. The first hour was helping to put new tickets out. Been to supermarkets in Europe where the tickets are LCDs and probably change via head office, remotely at a computer at the supermarket or via handset (barcode/QR Code on the ticket) like this https://www.pricer.com/about/the-pricer-story
At 2pm - as I was going home. I had a customer asking me where I was going. I said to him “I’ve been up since 4:50am and been at work just before 6am. Let me guess at those times you were in bed, asleep?” He did a slight nod and walked away.
Love ending a customer’s moan.
The thing is if we have staff on holiday or on the sick - which was the case that day, hence why I did an earlier shift, manned tills get less priority. Plus it takes ages to sign into a till as old hardware and new software don’t compute well.
One customer said that those on days off should be on call and come in when short staffed. You can forget this pipe dream! Problem is customers come in all together at once. A manic ten minutes on checkouts and then it subsides back to normal. A few colleagues call this “coach tour” as it’s like when visiting a service station, wanting the loo, at the same time as a coach with all the people wanting to go to use the loos!
Anyway if a manager rings me up asking to come in on my day off - I would say no thanks!
At 2pm - as I was going home. I had a customer asking me where I was going. I said to him “I’ve been up since 4:50am and been at work just before 6am. Let me guess at those times you were in bed, asleep?” He did a slight nod and walked away.
Love ending a customer’s moan.
The thing is if we have staff on holiday or on the sick - which was the case that day, hence why I did an earlier shift, manned tills get less priority. Plus it takes ages to sign into a till as old hardware and new software don’t compute well.
One customer said that those on days off should be on call and come in when short staffed. You can forget this pipe dream! Problem is customers come in all together at once. A manic ten minutes on checkouts and then it subsides back to normal. A few colleagues call this “coach tour” as it’s like when visiting a service station, wanting the loo, at the same time as a coach with all the people wanting to go to use the loos!
Anyway if a manager rings me up asking to come in on my day off - I would say no thanks!