Today

I don"t know about old and grumpy mrsmopp but your post made me chuckle. Before I was blissfully unaware of people popping 'today' into their sentences but now I am sure I too will notice it and it will probably irritate me. I don't understand why people are expected to repeat inane phrases such as 'how are you today' 'is there anything else i can help you with' and the one I hate most 'do you have flybys" if I had flybys would I not tell you. I find myself actually telling them before they start their parrot phrase that no, I don"t have flybys. I find most still ask me if I do have flybys, I guess they don"t really hear what I am saying. Hello would be much nicer!

It is no wonder that by our age we do become quite grumpy after a lifetime of listening to stupidness!

What's a flyby?

It is a reward card and my stomach turns every time a check out person asks me if I have one, I cant help it, maybe it is only me who gets annoyed at trivial things. I think I have no patience sometimes. I think I joined the grumpy old women's club somewhere along the line.

No, I don't get annoyed any more by other people's little conversational foibles. I suppose having a real tragedy in your life puts things into perspective. That said, I am pedantic about the use of English, or about pronunciation, in that I do notice mistakes, but I don't waste my emotional energy on getting annoyed.

Love the poem. The joy of phonics lol.

I get infuriated too in the shops but usually by an assistant enquiring ' Are you alright there?' when they surely should say 'can I help you?'. I usually respond with 'Yes thank you how are you?' Makes them very confused. By the way I am not a guy in restaurants as in ' Hi guys what can I get you TODAY!!!?' I respond'I'm a girl, this is what girls look like', makes husband very annoyed with me.

In my supermarket I am continually asked "what have you got planned for today?"

1) Chances are I haven't got anything special planned and you are making me feel really boring by not having anything interesting to report
2) What makes them think I want to broadcast to all and sundry what my plans are

What would they say if I said I was meeting a lover or was planning to rob the store?

My phonics comment was posted on another thread. No idea how it ended up here lol

How do you feel about our local greetings in supermarkets, greengrocers etc?

'Yes love?' or 'Yes love, how can I help you?'

'Love' can be changed to 'duck', 'pet' 'hun' or any generic term of endearment.

It's how we speak around here so doesn't bother me.

I'm an internet shopper at a supermarket so most of my contact with customers is either via the phone or on line- occasionally I may have to do 5/10 mins on a till when the need arises. Our cashiers have a list of things that HAS to be said to each customer namely: Greet the customer, apologise if they've been kept waiting,ask if they need any shopping bags, ask if they need help with packing said bags,state amount owed and finish with a closing remark. On the shop floor if the customer needs direction to a particular item: ask customer to follow you, engage in conversation on the way, hand customer item required, ask if one can help with anything else [one wag asked if I could do their ironing for her] close with a goodbye. This may seem a bit extreme but the cashiers have to adhere to it. I suppose it's better then some supermarkets where the cashier barely looks at you and the only comment made is the amount owed. I'm sure any of you who have been to the US knows it is even more extreme. I took a friend back with me when I retired as I wanted to visit friends and family there. She found even ordering a coffee exhausting, ie: on ordering food - the waiter said 'Good Evening my name is Wayne and I'm your friendly server this evening' then every item of food required is given the third degree.

Vampire I think if it is a local thing it is fine but not outside that area.

There are 2 which still annoy me: 'PIN number', I always want to thank them when they just say PIN. It is even in the written stuff from my bank. The other is when you say 'thank you' and they answer 'no problem'. Who suggested there was a problem?

On the whole we are verey lucky here as all the service staff seem to be very pleasant and helpful.

Dorset - I love the sound of your supermarket. I am also used to being called 'Love' and use it myself to friends and family.
Here in France things have improved recently - now the cashier will greet you and make eye-contact but there is no question of asking if you need help packing!
It seems to me that most British shops have got it just about right.

I wish I had the confidence of my friend - when the (male) check out operator asked if she had any plans for the day she winked and asked what he had in mind!