Talking to people in shops

Blethering....'twas the iPad that did it!

Now there's a word I've missed hearing Agus thoigh I did accuse my 4-year old GS of blathering last week.

Blethering is a national pastime here. Wherever you go, if you are in the mood for a blether, there is always someone willing to join in. Nothing better to cheer you up if you are having a fed up day.

Something DD2 in Australia misses.

A child started chatting to me when I was paddling in the sea in NQ a couple of years ago, telling me that he had arrived on a 'big aeroplane and been to his aunty's wedding'. His daddy then wandered up and carried on the conversation. Turned out that he lived just round the corner from where I was brought up in the Midlands and a few doors down from my aunt's house - small world.

Well, he obviously does not take any notice of his mum already. Feel sorry for his teachers in a few years time.

I talk to strangers in supermarkets, well, anywhere really! I do make an exception to speaking to toddlers sitting in trolleys whilst waiting in the checkout queue though. I was told off in no uncertain terms by a young mum for engaging her son in conversation about the Thomas the Tank Engine he was showing me. The mum turned to me and said 'please do not speak to my child, we are bringing him up not to speak to strangers' I was speechless for once and didn't reply. All I could think was...well, he started it!

pompa I am laughing so hard about your Purina story I am going to have a coughing fit!!

I was chatting to an elderly lady on the sea-front the other day, she told me all about the care home "they" had put her in and how "they" would not let her swim in the sea as she was too old. I sympathised and said the water is probably too cold this time of year. Then she turned to me and said "Which care home are you in?".
Note to self - must buy anti-wrinkle cream and refrain from talking to elderly ladies, not good for morale!!

It all depends on the people I meet. Sometimes I can be out for a whole day and not talk to anyone, another day somebody will say something and it will start off a whole conversation.

I don't go out of my way to hold conversations with strangers, they seem to seek me out. My family all laugh about it, my DD says I have 'one of those faces' - whatever that means. People are very nice and kind and helpful and interesting, I find. If I popped into town and didn't hold some kind of conversation with someone at some point, I think I would feel there was something missing from my day.

Exactly, Pompa, but not the sort of conversation you want.
The way I found out how self service tills work was to go through one with a Guardian and a 50p off voucher. I occasionally do it just to find out if the system has improved. It does not appear to have done so.
However, the assistant helping usually has to go away quickly and help the next unfortunate.
Much prefer real people to bagging areas.

Self service tills are great conversationalists.
"Unexpected item in bagging area" can start a whole conversation, usually involving an array of expletives and ending up with chatting to the nice lady (men are available) that sorts me out.

What they don't do is chat to their mates whilst serving me, that really gets my goat.

I would always prefer a live checkout, makes work for the working man to do.

Anno, I will have to go to Dundee and meet that little sister. In our family, I am the chatter to every one every where person- a big joke with our girls. But they do people talk to me always- and not necessarily me seek them out.

I don't use them either. I prefer to deal with another human being, not a machine, and I never moan about customers in front of me carrying on a conversation with the checkout person.

The OP was about whether one is 'chatty' or more reserved, and I'm perfectly happy to be one of the latter group. I don't really see it being a problem NanKate when we are old(er) and possibly lonely. It must be even worse to be desperate to have someone to talk to when you've been used to it, but can't get out any more.

No, I wasn't criticising, Ana, just being practical.
People who want to chat can use the staffed tills; those who do not want to chat can use the self-service tills. It just makes sense to me. Why use a till with staff and then moan about chatting customers in front of you?
I mentioned staff jobs being saved because in the supermarket I use where there are both sorts of tills, there is one member of staff to cover six tills, whereas before there would have been three tills in the same space with three members of staff.
That's why supermarkets brought in self-service tills, and why I never use them. If the supervisor comes over and tells me there is a self-service till to use, I explain why I would rather not and tell her I know how to use self-service. They usually assume that someone standing in a queue of two does not know how to use self-service.

In our family, my younger sister takes the prize for getting other people's life stories in a train, a bus, a queue or a hospital waiting room. I've never seen anything like it, so if you are ever in Dundee - beware!

It seems to me that you were criticising those who didn't particularly want to strike up conversations willy-nilly, durhamjen.

Suggesting that people like me should use the self-service tills certainly isn't helpful, or indeed friendly.

Will using self-service tills keep staff in jobs, Ana?
I am not telling you what to do. I am telling you what I do.
I like talking to staff, so I use staffed tills. If you do not want to talk to staff, use self-service tills. That's easy.
Do you always have to criticise everything I say?
Where's your Christmas spirit?

Quite - so shouldn't we all be using the staffed tills? I expect they're quite relieved to have a break from having to make conversation with every single customer.

I am a chatter and a smiler- nought wrong with that I'd say. If we all opt for the staff free booth- yes, the cashier's jobs will go.

Thanks Ana at least I am not alone in my conservative chatting.

I do speak to a very nice young girl who works in Boots who is so natural and does not ask me the set questions that other staff use such as, 'are you doing anything nice today?', 'have you done all your Christmas shopping yet?'. You get my drift.

However, there may come a time in my life when I would only be too grateful for a chat with anyone, so I think I will up my interaction by about 10% so that I don't lose the knack of light hearted chat. However, if I see Pompa in the queue I may just duck down below the counter and creep out of the shop.

I don't how chatting with the till staff will keep them in a job!

And I rather resent being told which checkout I should use...

If you do not want to chat, go into a supermarket and use the selfservice tills. If you want to chat and keep someone in a job, go to the tills with staff.
I live in a village and when we go to the post office or the newsagents, or even the small supermarket, we chat. My grandson tells everyone he is going to have a good day, then asks if they are, too. Wrong way round, but they do not care, and if there is a queue, everyone joins in.
What I know is that, if I were taken ill when in the village and he was on his own, his worst nightmare, that there would always be someone who would help him.
One day last week, I went into the M&S cafe for my lunch. A man at the next table started chatting and when his wife came with their lunch, we continued the conversation and discovered that we all came from Humberside.
I admit, I live on my own, so when my grandson is taken home during the week, I have no adult conversation until the next day. But I have always been like this. It's not because I live alone. I had a cafe and a guest house, and before that I was a teacher. You learn to talk to strangers.

I am constantly entering into conversation with total strangers. DH is always saying "who was that?" Me: "I've no idea". Him: "but you were talking to her as if you'd known her for years!" Me: "So?" He finds it most odd.