Cashier in Waitrose

It would have annoyed me.

That’s why I use the self scan. I can check everything as I go along and therefore don’t overspend and I know straight away if there is an error.
The only thing I find irritating at Waitrose is the new loyalty discounts a very clunky system. Needs sorting.

I would have stood there letting her wait for my money and possibly taken my mobile phone out and made a personal call. See how she likes it!

Bodach, that is so funny! First laugh of the day. Thanks! You should write a script for television. Maybe you do.

Shops should be aware that buying something in a shop is also a social encounter and many people look to shopping, including food shopping , as something that's fun to do.

I have noticed the check out people in M and S food are particularly aware of this and it's obviously part of their training, and M and S policy.

I would have filmed her and shown it to the information desk on the way out

Gawd, no wonder there's a dire shortage of staff in service industries!

This thread seems to be cursed with an autocorrective jinx. "Draft" above should read "staff" and that apostrophe in "cashier's" was Most Definitely Not Mine!

I enjoy a short, friendly exchange at the till. It’s the only ‘conversation’ some people have in their day.

I would have filmed her and shown it to the information desk on the way out. Mind you the draft on the info desk are probably in cahoots with the cashier's so you should perhaps ask for an e-mail address where you could send it to. That sounds pretty extreme but it is more a threat than to be actually carried out. The simple fact of you filming her would have probably been enough to stop the cashier doing what she was doing.

I say I would have done this. In reality I probably wouldn't have thought of it or would have been too embarrassed to do it!

Wouldn’t bother me as I can’t stand it if they start trying to engage in conversation or comment on what you’re buying.

as long as the prices are correct, i couldn't care less.
it a commercial transaction not a social visit.

Slightly off-piste here, but the other day I came across a letter of complaint I addressed to Stuart Rose many years ago, when he was running M&S. Such epistles are known in our family as "Snottagrams", and I thought it might amuse you to read it. Certain details have been redacted to protect the guilty..

Dear Mr Rose,
I write to you, I suppose, as a grumpy old so-and-so, as I see an institution that I and my family have patronised for many years appearing to be on an inexorable slide towards mediocrity . This was brought home to me some days ago, when I visited your XXXXX branch after work.
About 7 pm I entered the store, some two hours before closing time. The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of litter strewn around the floor near the entrance: empty crisp packets, Burger King wrappers, styrofoam cups etc, lying unheeded below the clothes racks. Two members of staff and a security guard were happily going about their business amongst this debris. It would have taken them only a moment to tidy the place up, but they appeared quite oblivious to the poor impression being presented.
I went upstairs to look at the clothing. I was surprised to hear pop music playing; not something I associate with M&S, and not something I particularly like in shops. The source was a portable CD player, plugged into the mains but sitting on the floor. Is this a new trend? I hope not. As usual, not a single item from your new ranges appealed...

Downstairs to buy some food. I chose a mixed salad, and went to get a plastic fork. There were three large baskets: two overflowing with plastic knives and teaspoons respectively; the "fork" basket bare – as it always is by 7 pm. I asked an assistant if there were any more forks available. "Don't know – but they'll be filled up overnight". Not a lot of help to me. There were three checkouts open, three young men at the tills, but only one pen amongst them for those not paying cash, and none of them with the gumption to get some more. I was eventually served by a cheerful lad – no namebadge – whose lack of fillings to his lower set of decaying molars I was able to admire as he chewed his gum open-mouthed, switching it from one side to another on the tip of his tongue, with a pause in the middle when he projected it right out of his mouth for my inspection…..

Please, please, please get a grip.

Yours sincerely,

Bodach

Incidentally, you can cut out the cashier by using Quick Check, just scan your own shopping as you go round the store and pack it straight into your bags, there’s always someone at the Quick Check tills to help if you’re unsure. You can’t pay cash, age-restricted items still need the assistant to confirm you’re old enough to buy them, and VERY occasionally there is a completely random check, asking for a full or partial manual rescan, but it’s almost always much faster than loading your trolley once, handling everything again to unload it onto the checkout, and handling it a third time packing it into your bags!

That’s very surprising. We have headsets as it’s much quicker than summoning the Customer Service Adviser to ask if an item needs replacing, eg a broken egg, or if the cashier has any other query. Any conversation via the headset can be heard by every other partner wearing one, so they’re usually short sentences. There is a button on the ear piece that has to be pressed to talk, and a blue light shows it’s active.

Partners have been allowed to have personal mobile phones in a pocket (instead of having to leave them in a locker) since the spate of terrorist incidents a few years ago. They should not be used other than during breaks and off the shop floor, though the teenagers are particularly bad about remembering.

If you have the till receipt I would recommend emailing customer services, or mentioning it at the Welcome Desk. If the cashier was really speaking on their own mobile phone while serving a customer it’s completely unacceptable. If they were using the staff headset but having a personal conversation whilst serving then it was still dreadfully rude and whilst it may not lead to disciplinary action, they’d still be reminded that customer service means having impeccable manners. Nobody on GN can ensure this cashier doesn’t take the mickey again, but the OP actually could report their experience and I’m sure it would be taken seriously.

If it happens again, just say something at the time, to the cashier, or ask to speak to the floor manager, or go to the Welcome Desk before you leave the store. No point seething about it but saying nothing.

Casdon

It’s down to the store manager. My nearest Waitrose is excellent in every respect. Many of the staff are older, quite a few are men, and they are unfailingly polite and helpful. It’s a little oasis.

Ours is too and if we have a home delivery the drivers are unfailingly cheerful and helpful.

Yes it would! It’s extremely bad manners and I can’t imagine Waitrose would be happy.

It’s down to the store manager. My nearest Waitrose is excellent in every respect. Many of the staff are older, quite a few are men, and they are unfailingly polite and helpful. It’s a little oasis.

Waitrose seems to gone downhill. The staff in the Sandbach store are often rude and unhelpful.

I should've said that many staff in supermarkets are equipped with headsets so they can communicate with colleagues.

It is possible she was on her headset talking to a work colleague about something work related and they asked her how her holiday went or something? I would actually prefer the cashier to ignore me rather than try to engage me in a conversation about what I'm doing that day, or how I'm feeling. I just want my shopping scanning so I can get out! I certainly wouldn't report them, its hardly a hanging offence is it?

I would have been irritated but would not complain! I hate the idea of getting an already low paid employee into any formal reprimands

I would have gone to customer services and put in a complaint if I was that way out which is rare, I would rather engage in conversation with the cashier to have a laugh about whatever, cheers her up, cheers me up.

Typing not my strong point.??‍♀️

I'm not offended at all howdigetthisold. I hope you didn't mind us all having a joke about it.

Volver I am so sorry I got your name wrong. It was a typo I didn’t notice and I had logged out before you flagged it. Many apologies I hope you are not offended

I’d have expected an apology when she’d finished but perhaps it was an essential call? All sorts of things are going on with holiday bookings at the moment - could it have been about flight alterations or telling her her passport wouldn’t be arriving in time? We weren’t allowed our mobiles at my place of work but got an exemption if we were expecting an important call - perhaps that’s what’s happened here?

If she was just chatting about her sunburn and the price of cocktails though - yes, I’d be cross!