Being a moany cow!

Many years ago, DD2 worked on the till at weekends at what was then Finefare. She has never been confident, so wasn't the fastest kid on the tills. Apparently the till timed the operators, and they were told if they were too slow, and that they would have to speed up. I imagine this is still the case, unfortunately, and it must be even more difficult ult if they have to fit their spiel in. DD would never have managed that as well!! I find Lidl the worst for this. Their preference being that you don't pack your bags at the till, but at the counter by the windows instead.

Having worked in a supermarket for 21 years I can assure you there’s a reason...we are told we have to do so many items per min/hour on the till...and trouble follows if you don’t reach the speed required. I wouldn’t have thought that smaller stores would be so hard pressed and surely some laxity is allowed....but believe me these big supermarkets have rules and ‘targets’ that have to be met. We were even told not to talk to each other on shop floor ...and holding long conversations with members of public was frowned on. Speed...speed...speed was the order of every day. So glad I’m retired from it all.

On the other end of the spectrum, I consciously choose to shop at my local Morrison’s. It is a relatively small store and so does not carry everything I need. However, not only are ALL the staff courteous, friendly and helpful, but they also seem to have a policy of employing staff with a disability and there are three till staff with cochlear implants and /or profoundly deaf. One is only able to lip read. I really like their policy so do 80 to 90% of my shopping there and only top up for the things I can’t get there elsewhere

Maybe supermarkets should have a slow till like swimming pools sometimes have a slow lane. There are definitely days when I would use one even if I had to queue a little longer.

I'm sometimes amazed at how patient checkout operators are. In our local Aldi there is a large grocery packing shelf with a sign above it politely asking customers to pack their bags there for everyone's convenience. Some shoppers are still happy to hold the queue up by packing at the till, fumbling for their money etc.

Yes KatyK - there is a shelf in every Aldi store wherever you are in Europe. All the stores are more or less the same layout and the shelf is there with a sign above which, when used, is far better than trying to pack things in a hurry. Even if I have a basket I still just put my items back in the basket and use the shelf - saves upsetting folks around me and makes life easier for the check-out operator. I wouldn't have their job for all the tea in China!!!!!!

Yes jacq I was made aware recently that some people have memory or other problems so I am always patient but as a general rule, have your money ready, bung all your stuff in the trolley and move away.

I've never seen anyone use the convenient shelf in Lidl!
We have bags that open up, stay open and fit in the trolley and put the stuff straight into them.
(from Waitrose, btw, not Lidl!)

"No, you were not - and if you were then you were in the right!The media have called it the "Ukipization" of the Tory party"

I have not seen such a hilarious example of 'blame the Tories' in a long time.

If not the Tories then a rude member of staff in a supermarket could be blamed on Margaret Thatcher. (She's dead so she can't answer back.) Or maybe it's the fault of Brexit?

Lilyflower
I have not seen such a hilarious example of 'blame the Tories' in a long time.
That was, presumably addressed to me - if you read my following post you would have seen that I thought I was copying and pasting something from this thread but a previous cut and paste from another thread appeared by mistake.

oh dear, how did that appear on this thread?
I was pasting it on another thread.
Please ignore

So - nothing to do with the Tories or Margaret Thatcher or even UKIP

At our Co op they are so rude and unfriendly apart from one that is lovely
Had my brother come to visit and I know he likes a beer so went with my son to get some, at that point I was able to use a mobility scooter but to walk round the shop was difficult so I asked my son who was 24 to get it for me while I waited outside. They refused to serve him as didn’t have ID, he had worked in there with the person who refused a couple of years before hand. I went in to get it and she was so rude and refused to serve me as well. Haven’t been back in there since

Why, oh why, do people who can't be pleasant and helpful choose/have jobs that are dealing with the public? I am staggered sometimes and feel like a 'grumpy old woman' when confronted by scenarios as described above.

I would guess Sealover that its because people who arent social butterflies still have to pay their rent and bills....

Generally retail isnt a "choice" so much as a "needs must" job..

Definitely not being a moaney old cow. Sounds like she needs a bit of retraining to provide the service her employers and us as customers expect.

Why the high expectations though.

I expect till staff to accurately ring up my shopping and give me the correct change. Thats it.

If they work for a chain that demands they act faux friendly and follow a script. Fine. Whatever. Just ring up my shopping and give me my change. I wont hold the awful scripts against them.

If they work at a speedy chain. Also fine. Just crack on with that and give me the right change.

I suppose we know most of ours, they have been working there for years.

so it was rather a surprise to go into M&S and be confronted by a grumpy new till person the other week.

I was back in that shop today and had the usual pleasant service. No sign of the checkout speed merchant!