distracted cashier, would you have said something?

[Ceila]

It was the location of the bag that did it for me. He has a rack that holds the plastic bags. It's actually three set of racks on a revolving pedestal. He's supposed to open a bag while it's on the rack, fill it, place itvon the counter, then rotate the pedestal to get to the next bag. This bag was stilk hanging from the rack, and was likely out of the custimer's sight.

I shop at places with those. Around here, the cashier leaves the bag on the carousel after being filled. Once the cashier rotates it to where there are empty bags, the customer takes the filled ones off and places them into their cart. If the previous customer was doing that, then the cashier might not have realized that the customer had missed a bag.

Anyway, like I said, I wouldn't have cared about either "issue." Like others on here, I don't look for ways to get kids in trouble. They're learning. I guess not everyone feels the same. Thank goodness people didn't run to my boss for every minor thing when I was a teen and learning a job.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Totally agree. In fact I don't think I have EVER asked to speak to a manager to tattle on anyone trying to do their job.

I have raised questions w/a server or whoever on occasion and they've sent a manager over but for the most part I don't have that kind of time on my hands to stop to 'discuss' things with a manager or even to remotely bothered by something like this.

I agree too busy getting from A to B or try to be.

Btw

I don't understand how can she ring up the candy with out it adding to your total.

 

[Ceila]

Btw

I don't understand how can she ring up the candy with out it adding to your total.

The OP had finished paying and was just getting her groceries loaded into bags. When the cashier rang up the candy, it was a new transaction.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

The OP had finished paying and was just getting her groceries loaded into bags. When the cashier rang up the candy, it was a new transaction.

Thanks for the clarification

 

[usd2bmd]

I can see an oversight with the one bag, if this is an inexperienced employee...

But, it is the whole 'turn away from and ignore a paying customer to take care of personal business' (or a co-worker's personal business) that would get me.

Something tells me that there is a problem with management and training etc.... here at this store.

I mistake I can understand.
But, how the whole thing went down, seems to be a bigger issue.

I would have only because around here that sort of "customer Service" isn't acceptable. The chain I shop at spend a lot of time training the employees on how to treat a customer and turning away from a customer before you are done waiting on them is wrong IMO.

 

[msjprincess]

I agree. I am constantly amazed at the stuff people get bothered by and the need to tattletale.

ITA

It wouldn't have been a blip on my radar. I can't imagine going to a manager over something like this.

 

[ILUVALASKA]

I am ready to speak to a store manager...in the old days, baggers used to BAG like items together. Now, I can find toiletries, frozen foods and yogurt in the same bag. Drives me nuts!

 

[anelson81993]

I'm a couple weeks off from 6 years working part time for a grocery store. I started working there in high school, and now work while in college--so I was that teenage cashier (and am that teenage cashier, at least for a little while longer...).

Until I read your description of the bagging setup, I thought "So what?" to the first situation. I don't work front end anymore (thank God!), but when I did work front end, people left purchases on the register all the time. I personally wouldn't have handed off someone else's purchases to a new customer, but that's only because I was pretty anal about where things went on my bagging station. Many of the kids I worked with would have accidentally given you someone else's stuff. In the department that I work in now, it's a lot harder to do that, as all the bags are in front of you and you're expected to take them, so we'd notice if you didn't immediately, but a couple months ago both my coworker and I were ringing up huge orders. Our counter space is very small and not well defined, so it was hard to keep the bags separate. When his customer left, he accidentally grabbed one of my customer's bags--neither of us noticed it because we were both working transactions at the time. When my customer noticed it, we replaced the items immediately--and later on, the customer who took someone else's items returned them. With the bagging setup you described, giving one customer's items to someone else would be a lot harder, but absolutely still possible, especially if customers are expected to take their items off the rotator.

As for the second situation...I'm not sure what I think. I've been the kid behind the big order in line with a 15-minute break and nothing but a candy bar to purchase, so I definitely feel for the coworker he stopped to ring up. But personally, as a longtime cashier, the very least I would have done is asked my customer if they minded me stopping for a second to ring up the coworker, and more likely I would have bagging before doing anything. In a lot of cases, based on the customers I've worked with over the years, the customer will notice the coworker waiting for a small item and tell me to ring it up. Any way, I'm happy--I'm a fast enough cashier/bagger that my coworker won't be waiting very long, and any way my customer ends up happy. But I've also been doing this for a very long time--I have no idea how 14-year-old me would have reacted to this situation.

As for whether or not you should have complained...I do not feel that I am both qualified and unbiased, so I'll simply refrain

 

[disney1990]

NOT OKAY....
They should be prepared for break....
They shouldn't be jumping in, and holding up paying customers....
A worker taking time off their job, while a paying customer is standing there waiting for their business to be completed, talking about or doing personal businesswith a coworker, instead of their job... Just not okay.

At the very least... the OP's order should have been completed.
No question.

Agree to disagree. Nothing was said by Op in her original posting about talking or doing personal business with a coworker instead of doing their job. I only stated that, where I worked, we took two minutes out to ring up coworkers so that did not spend their entire break time standing in a line waiting to purchase their break food. I would have no problem waiting for a minute or two under those circumstances.

 

[poohguys]

I would not complain unless it happens frequently at this store. I too have worked in a grocery store so know what a pain it is when you spend your whole break waiting to buy a snack. I always bag my own groceries unless I go to Wegmans where they bag them as they ring them up. If I pack them then I know where everything is and can put all of my cold/frozen items together and I know that I have all of my items. Heck we once had a customer forget a bag of groceries and demand that someone drive it to her house! Mistakes happen.

 

[iheartdisney]

I would have asked the coworker if she wanted some free Gatorade and peanuts, since they weren't yours anyway.

I could see being upset if he suspended ringing your order to ring hers up, but if your transaction was finished I don't see the problem with ringing up a candy
bar if he is bagging your order. Unless your order was almost bagged and you only had a bag or so to go.

Still wouldn't upset me enough to complain.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

Honestly I feel bad for the kid. I didn't tell the manager because I thought the manager would reprimand the kid rather than teach him how to better focus on the job. But I don't think he'll be working there very long if he doesn't start focusing on what he's doing.

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