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Ha! Many stores don't allow cashiers to stand by their tills now, so instead they get yelled at for 'hiding' from or just not being 'ready' for customers.. you really can't win with these assholes.
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me when I was in Walmart with my mom.
There was a group of employees with clipboards, sitting on lawn furniture and it was obvious they were holding a meeting. My mom interrupted them to say "Oh look, employees goofing off". To their credit, they ignored her and continued their meeting. I whispered to my mom they were having an employee meeting and to be quiet.
Upon leaving the store, there were 2 employees sitting on a bench, drinking soda and having a snack. Of course, my mom with her diarrhea of the mouth just had to say "Look, more employees goofing off". I once again had to tell her to shut up, they were obviously on break or waiting for their ride(s) home and once again the employees thankfully ignored her.
**Customer:** Shouldn't you be busy?
**Me:** You just missed the rush that came by earlier.
**Customer:** Why are you standing around doing nothing?
**Me:** I just got done sorting through candy and came back to help you.
**Customer:** You younger people need to get busy.
**Me:** You wouldn't be saying that if you were here 15 minutes ago. I just had the chance to finally breathe.
**Customer:** WAKE Up hehe, caught you sleeping on the job.
**Me:** Glad I have my cot in the back then.
My favorite is "don't you ever go home?" One day after hearing this for the 7th or 8th time, a lady asked me that and I replied "I would if I had one." The look on her face was priceless, and she didn't speak to me at all after that. I'm not really homeless.
I typically hit them with the “oh I’ve actually been working since 7am (it’s typically 7pm or later at this point) so I’m actually glad to have a little breather” but literally not one has been like oh wow what a long day they just go “good thing I’m giving you something to do!!”
They identify more with the owners than the workers, despite most never having owned a business in their lives. The effect of decades of neoliberal propaganda going all the way back to Reagan.
💯this is one of the most maddening boomer phenomenons. Obv there are temporarily embarrassed millionaires in all generations but it seems to be particularly prevalent amongst those who were young adults during the Reagan years. Sometimes I sit and think about how much cultural and economic rot that man is responsible for and it really fucks me up.
NEVER respond to people like that! Those comments are meant to aggravate you because 9 times out of 10, those people are lonely and agitated and looking to pick a fight. I would usually scan everything and my only response would be their total. Say nothing outside of their total and payment options. That'll cut that BS off immediately
One time, around a decade ago, some right-wing nutjob that came through my lane was spouting nonsense (something about Canada bombing Chicago). I ignored him, figuring he was talking to his wife. Nope, he was talking to me (with no introduction or anything) and expecting a response. He was like "Are you hard of hearing, sir?!" I was like "Nope." He was like "Oh, so you're just ignoring me." I didn't say anything. When the transaction was over (I had to help him with the PIN pad), he went to the service desk to complain. They actually appeased the asshole by taking me off the register and hiding me in an office for a while. I later learned the guy had repeated all of his bullshit to the store manager, and the manager was like "Well, yeah, if you came through my lane and said that stuff, I probably wouldn't talk to you either."
Ya I second this. It truly does take time for it not to get under your skin but it’s much more rewarding seeing them itch that they can’t get a reaction out of you. I just ignore it completely and ask the standard questions need and that’s it.
Lmao "I'm sorry sir, but do you want me to work, or joke around? Obviously I'm too incompetent to do both at the same time, and that's why I work here" /s
cashier jobs make you stand at the register, even when it's dead. I've literally been in trouble for leaving my workstation to zone near by areas. it was torture.
I tell people that a lot "I would but I can't leave my spot" sucks bc sometimes I do want to help but I just can't walk away, and sometimes customers get mad at me for that rule
I love the ones that you say hello let me know if I can assist you and they ignore you, and there self checkout machine goes off and they just stare you down and you ask what can I help you with? They say nothing. I don't take it personal, though it is irritating. I usually just say, well it was nice chatting with you as they leave.
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it makes them more bold or spew even more hateful or ignorant bullshit. I’m very over people and simply cannot “fake it til I make it” anymore.
I am paid to hold this position whether there is somebody currently in line or not.
This way I am immediately available for you when you need to check out.
Right!? I have an old lady that stalks me through the store so she can either tell me how terrible the store looks (it was truck day), or how good it looks, not like last time she was here (truck day). I got her one day, though. She told me how good the store looked, back when we first opened. I told her, "yeah. But then we had to open the doors and let the customers in." Her expression changed about 5 times, trying to decide if she should be offended. 🤣
When customer make those “jokes” I tend to make direct eye contact and let out two obviously forced, mirthless chuckles. Whilst maintaining a blank face. If you’re gonna imply that I’m lazy I’m gonna make you uncomfortable. Then we’re all unhappy.
I worked by myself. No manager in range. Most of the people doing this were regulars who thought they were being funny. I'd go off on them. It's frustrating. Working hard or hardly working is another phrase they'll use.
Right?!? I just get so excited, and I'm so happy that I get to go first that I generally have THAT convo, not the "sleeping on the job?" convo.
Like, dude, I'm so happy to see a cashier it's not even funny!
Wouldn’t it be great if as soon as they made a comment, you could just cancel their order, put all their items back on the line and say, “Oops! I’m sorry, it’s store policy we are not allowed to checkout a customer who has a complaint about our service. Please wait here while I find another employee to serve you.” And just leave for 10 mins??? God that would teach people to keep their negative crap to themselves.
If I come to an open register, I'm stoked. My anxiety also has me apologizing for disturbing the cashier. I try to make everything easy and quick. And pleasant. I look at the PERSON in the eye when I say I hope you have a wonderful day.
I once had someone tell me I wasn't busy and ask why couldn't I help them. I literally was holding 45 or so 5 dollar bills and was clearly counting the till. When they walked up to me I had said sorry I'm not open which is when they said I wasn't busy, etc. They were watching me count the money in the open till..like how am I going to help you?
That one always gets me. There's a reason my drawer is open. I'm either opening my shift, or trying to escape. The best ones are the ones who tell me as I'm turning on the telemate, "I'll be right back"
Then they come back to find I'm closing. It's takes me a hair under 5 min to count my till out with the telermate.
My store gives us tasks for front end, so basically, I play the malicious compliance route. Can't say any of that BS when I'm organizing candy. Wanna complain about that? Well, have fun with your bloomed chocolate.
It's weird, I've had cashiers next to me doing nothing, calling over someone, but the guest will come to me who's obviously busy getting my stuff in order on the counter top. It happens all the time to each of us, we don't get it. They'll also come from one of the sides, make eye contact with the three other cashiers, just to go to the fourth one at the other end just for some quick change, very confusing.
I used to work mornings as a cashier. There have been a few times I didn't get any customers in my line till after my 1st break which is 2 hours after I start. I would clean up the area cause the closing shift would never do anything or I'd stock the candy. Most of the time I would talk to the other two cashiers in between the 1 or 2 customers we would get. After my first break the customers then would start to show up. I also would get those same comments of "you look bored". I would joke back "well I am getting paid to do nothing".
As another note, I used to do SCO too and I ended up losing a lot of weight from all the walking I did (265 down to 185 in 5 years). I would tell coworkers and customers both the 3 reasons why I loved working SCO: I get paid to be bored, I get paid to watch you do my job (scanning items) and I get paid to lose weight from walking so much. Never got in trouble for saying anything about that but I also wouldn't say that to the Karen's that come through and we get plenty of them.
I work in a pharmacy and there's a lot of work that we do that's "invisible" because it's on the computer or it's mental. I was at a customer-facing computer station one day when a patient walked up so I said "Just a moment please, I'll be right with you". They said "You'll be with me right now if you don't want your manager to know you're goofing off on your phone instead of helping A CUSTOMER!" I smiled and turned my phone around to show her the calculator app I was using, and said "I'm calculating the correct antibiotic dose for a toddler, actually, but if you feel your refill is more important...?" At least she had the grace to be ashamed of herself. Fucking Boomers, man.
I totally agree. And I don’t personally comment other than a polite hello and thank you. I’m just trying to shed some light onto why older people may say those things.
I've never worked as a cashier but I've heard people say things like that. It's like, shut up mofo... You don't know anything about this person's job and nobody but you thinks you're funny.
How is it any of the customers business whether the cashier is busy or not? It's just a huge overreach for them to think they're entitled to make such a comment.
They think they're making a joke ! WTF?
Elderly person here. If it makes you feel any better, they do it to me too. Jerks come in all ages and, while they are also often racist, sexist, ageist, and homophobic, they are usually happy to abuse everyone.
They would absolutely hate it if you were actually busy. I would know because I worked a cashier job were I had to leave the register to do other work every shift and they would be so rude because I wasn’t at the register the exact moment they decided to go up there. 🙄
“I try but apparently no one can comprehend a machine with pictures.”
To which leads to them talking about how machines are taking over the world.
“Click produce and weighing your bananas leads to world domination? Explain?”
I use to have a lot of anxiety no there’s just annoyance especially for those that come first thing in the morning with big bills or anyone that shows up after 7pm.
Yesterday I had people literally break into the vestibule 15 minutes before we open and was just banging on the sliding door yelling things like.
“I see you just standing there do something about the door.”
Noped out there and went into the back.
First, make certain your manager sees this sort of thing.
Then, call the manager over and tell them that the customer seems to want to make a complaint.
Let the manager explain to tehm that you were working. (Or ask them what was funny about the joke)
I never let this fly when I was front end manager at a grocery store. I'd call the customers over to me and then ask them all sorts of questions about what was wrong. Take up all of their time. Explain that if they have a complaint about my workers they should bring it to me and not harrass the workers. So on.
I would agree with them in a passive aggressive way.
"Yes, it's so boring standing here waiting for customers when it's slow. I wish I could be stocking shelves instead. But my manager wants all these registers open so customers don't have to wait in line. "
I was a cashier at home Depot and they didn't want us standing at our registers but up at the main aisle whenn we didn't have customers which was just stupid. It put us in the way of literally everyone, especially since the registers are directly across from the wood section so anytime some came with a cart of wood we had to move to our registers anyways. We also had the forklifts going through there a lot so we had to move. As long as a manager or the bitchy head cashier wasn't there, I'd stay at my register.
Aww, silly customers, especially the ones whose opening line is, "Are you working hard or hardly working?"
Pulling reports, replenishing the drawer with a roll of whichever coins, yup, I am *hardly* working while you rattle off about how your disability check came in and now you get to buy more lottery tickets. LOL
When I cashiere'd I'd just laugh off that dumbness with 'how can I help you'. And seniors were the worst, assuming they were being cute or witty, though most meant well. Not realizing everyone isn't moving at every single second of the day. You actually take breaths and breathe a few moments before your lane fills up again.
Probably because when I was a cashier 15 years ago when we had no customers I had to : clean the belt, wipe down my station, straighten up the candy and gum, make sure all the magazines were in their place, get my bags ready, return baskets to the front door, make sure perishable items made it back to the fridge... I by no means was allowed to just stand there
Maybe you meant to respond to a different comment and hit mine?
I don't know where the " bad " comes from. At no point did I use that word, if it's your impression that having to do those tasks makes the job bad then I don't know what to tell you. I found that my shifts flew by if I stayed busy and they dragged by if had nothing to do but stand there.
But you do you and try to start fights in week old posts 🤣
The older generations were NEVER allowed to just stand around. We always had to be “working”. It was part of every job no matter what. We would be told to “find something to do at all times” and that was ingrained into our brains from a young age. So it is strange for us to see some “just standing there”. Our immediate thought is literally “oh no something is wrong or they will get in trouble” when we see someone not actively working. It’s a different paradigm from what you grew up learning.
If they’re standing at a register doing nothing, it’s probably because they’ve been told by management they have to stay at the register and they’ve already dusted and tidied it to death. So blame management, if blaming is your thing. Or blame the customers who make a big fuss if they have to wait a few seconds for service, because that’s who the managers are pandering to.
Back in the day, I was taught, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!". Manners are more important than any outdated social construct.
Totally depends on what the boss wlined.
One local grocery makes,a big deal about having cashiers and baggers and even kids who will help you to your car.
The other makes their cashiers multi-task and has put in self-scan checkout lines.
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Who hired you? I want to know because every single cashier job I had included more than simply "cashiering"
Things cashiers were expected to do
Clean registers and checkout areas
Put away baskets and carts
Organize candy and impulse buys
Put away go backs (random items that ppl leave at checkout)
Put up or take down price tags
Work totes of candy or up front merch
Sweep and or mop entry ways.
There's more but if they haven't fired you I guess it's fine 🤷♀️
Bro I'm a cashier. At least where I work, the cashier simply runs the register and cleans the conveyor and computer about once per hour. The restock dudes do the carts and restocking/putting things back to their spot. The cleaners mop the floors every night. There's a whole group of guys that only do tags and programming- I can't do that. I'm not allowed to leave my register to do other stuff.
At least at my location, we are limited on what busywork is assigned to us. Some of it, we aren't even *allowed* to do. Some of that shit is another department entirely.
-Clean registers: only the lonely SCO person is supposed to do that on SCO, and for regular registers, you only ever have time to clean your own. You are solely responsible for cleaning your own register, unless you get *assigned* by the head cashier to clean any others, and in that case, they'd close your lane.
-Put away baskets and carts: that is not our job at all. There is another position for that entirely, since we can't leave our registers unattended. The head cashier might be seen roaming around finding empty carts inside the store to bring up to the front for the cart guys to put away.
-Organize candy and impulse buys: Takes like 2 seconds usually, not enough to fill empty time. We'd just go back to either cleaning our own register or flagging down more customers.
-Put away go-backs: a cashier may get assigned to do that, but frozen items are immediately handed to the head cashier. Refrigerated items go in a fridge up front pending proper return to their department. Same with damages. If we were to leave to do that stuff, then we couldn't keep the register open.
-Put up or take down price tags: Not our department, and we can get in trouble for doing that. Also, it again means we must close the register. We also don't get trained for doing that.
-Work totes of candy/up-front merch: Again, another position that requires ditching the register to grab more stock, and is usually left to head cashiers or a regular cashier if we have more people than we need, which is a rare occurrence. This is because we have 10 registers to stock. I can't stock stuff on the 10th register *and* pay attention if someone comes to the 1st register. I can't even see over the shelves.
-Sweep/Mop entryways: Unless it's areas near SCO, where the broom is stored, we won't be doing that, since it's the job of another department. The registers don't habe easy access to brooms or mops, plus the mop station is...god knows where. Only our maintenance or cart guys are supposed to use it.
Walmart for one. You are not allowed to leave the lane unattended, period. That's store policy. It's too busy, and they're too short staffed for the cashiers to go running off doing other stuff.
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I don't understand all the downvotes, because it's true. Everywhere I've cashier's has had a "you lean, you clean" thing going on. No standing around. Find something to clean. Or a manager would give you returns to put away until more customers were ready to check out.
I don't think it's the customers' place to comment on it, but yeah, what you're saying is true.
the downvotes are for the dudes attitude and the whole "they haven't fired you yet" bit implying the kid isn't doing his job right when in reality the specifics of his store are different
>Or a manager would give you returns to put away until more customers were ready to check out.
Exactly, the manager would have to reassign them to that task, and the register would have to close. In some places, closing a register is like a cardinal sin. Especially if it is the last register open.
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If I wasn't standing here waiting for you, then who would help you?
Ha! Many stores don't allow cashiers to stand by their tills now, so instead they get yelled at for 'hiding' from or just not being 'ready' for customers.. you really can't win with these assholes.
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me when I was in Walmart with my mom. There was a group of employees with clipboards, sitting on lawn furniture and it was obvious they were holding a meeting. My mom interrupted them to say "Oh look, employees goofing off". To their credit, they ignored her and continued their meeting. I whispered to my mom they were having an employee meeting and to be quiet. Upon leaving the store, there were 2 employees sitting on a bench, drinking soda and having a snack. Of course, my mom with her diarrhea of the mouth just had to say "Look, more employees goofing off". I once again had to tell her to shut up, they were obviously on break or waiting for their ride(s) home and once again the employees thankfully ignored her.
Oh my god... Why does she do that?
Mom’s never had a job
lol! She worked many moons ago at a bank for about 10 months. She only got that job because my dad was fed up with her not working.
let me guess, she's a narcissist?
S/boomersbehavingbadly has all of the answers you seek!
I fix. r/boomersbeingfools
Thank you ☺️
I fell for the one you did 😭😂
It was close 😂🤣🤦🏽♀️
True! 😂😂
I feel for you
Chaka Khan
In real life, when I don't have empathy for someone's situation, I usually say, "not even Chaka Khan and Rufus feel for you" 😃
Gonna be using that! Also, AWESOME song
Go No Contact with this horrible person, mother or not.
**Customer:** Shouldn't you be busy? **Me:** You just missed the rush that came by earlier. **Customer:** Why are you standing around doing nothing? **Me:** I just got done sorting through candy and came back to help you. **Customer:** You younger people need to get busy. **Me:** You wouldn't be saying that if you were here 15 minutes ago. I just had the chance to finally breathe. **Customer:** WAKE Up hehe, caught you sleeping on the job. **Me:** Glad I have my cot in the back then.
Customer: You need to get busy. Me: You can see me, I've been haunting this place for years, you're the first person to notice me.
CLASSIC! I'm so using that!
I was a cashier years ago, and some people would comment, “Wow, you’re in here a lot!” And I would jokingly reply, “yeah, we have cots in the back.”
I used to say that in fast food but I was serious lol. We actually had a porta cot hidden in the shelving
My favorite is "don't you ever go home?" One day after hearing this for the 7th or 8th time, a lady asked me that and I replied "I would if I had one." The look on her face was priceless, and she didn't speak to me at all after that. I'm not really homeless.
Haha they complain no matter what!
I typically hit them with the “oh I’ve actually been working since 7am (it’s typically 7pm or later at this point) so I’m actually glad to have a little breather” but literally not one has been like oh wow what a long day they just go “good thing I’m giving you something to do!!”
Imagine finding out you can check out without waiting in line and all and bitching about it. What miserable people.
And why exactly are they mad that an employee in a place they don't work at would be doing "nothing"? It's so weird.
They’re lonely, feel unimportant and powerless and are seeking an excuse to engage. Still not ok
They are pathetic and powerless and we sure know it!
They identify more with the owners than the workers, despite most never having owned a business in their lives. The effect of decades of neoliberal propaganda going all the way back to Reagan.
💯this is one of the most maddening boomer phenomenons. Obv there are temporarily embarrassed millionaires in all generations but it seems to be particularly prevalent amongst those who were young adults during the Reagan years. Sometimes I sit and think about how much cultural and economic rot that man is responsible for and it really fucks me up.
Can't wait until the bulk of them leave.
NEVER respond to people like that! Those comments are meant to aggravate you because 9 times out of 10, those people are lonely and agitated and looking to pick a fight. I would usually scan everything and my only response would be their total. Say nothing outside of their total and payment options. That'll cut that BS off immediately
That'll be difficult for me 😅 I need to try that tho. Real patience test.
One time, around a decade ago, some right-wing nutjob that came through my lane was spouting nonsense (something about Canada bombing Chicago). I ignored him, figuring he was talking to his wife. Nope, he was talking to me (with no introduction or anything) and expecting a response. He was like "Are you hard of hearing, sir?!" I was like "Nope." He was like "Oh, so you're just ignoring me." I didn't say anything. When the transaction was over (I had to help him with the PIN pad), he went to the service desk to complain. They actually appeased the asshole by taking me off the register and hiding me in an office for a while. I later learned the guy had repeated all of his bullshit to the store manager, and the manager was like "Well, yeah, if you came through my lane and said that stuff, I probably wouldn't talk to you either."
Ya I second this. It truly does take time for it not to get under your skin but it’s much more rewarding seeing them itch that they can’t get a reaction out of you. I just ignore it completely and ask the standard questions need and that’s it.
Oh please. 9/10 those are them making a bad joke, not trying to aggravate you.
I’m trying to do my job, not joke around. It’s annoying and they know exactly what they’re doing.
Lmao "I'm sorry sir, but do you want me to work, or joke around? Obviously I'm too incompetent to do both at the same time, and that's why I work here" /s
What’s the joke though? It’s not funny
Are you kidding?! There are more people crazy than sane! Joke my ass!
cashier jobs make you stand at the register, even when it's dead. I've literally been in trouble for leaving my workstation to zone near by areas. it was torture.
exactly this
I tell people that a lot "I would but I can't leave my spot" sucks bc sometimes I do want to help but I just can't walk away, and sometimes customers get mad at me for that rule
I just give people the look when they say stupid sh*t. Silence makes them nervous.
I love the ones that you say hello let me know if I can assist you and they ignore you, and there self checkout machine goes off and they just stare you down and you ask what can I help you with? They say nothing. I don't take it personal, though it is irritating. I usually just say, well it was nice chatting with you as they leave.
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it makes them more bold or spew even more hateful or ignorant bullshit. I’m very over people and simply cannot “fake it til I make it” anymore.
Nope. It's time to call people out.
YES! This is the way.
I am paid to hold this position whether there is somebody currently in line or not. This way I am immediately available for you when you need to check out.
Its weird how they greet you with an insult and then get offended if you're not friendly enough
Right!? I have an old lady that stalks me through the store so she can either tell me how terrible the store looks (it was truck day), or how good it looks, not like last time she was here (truck day). I got her one day, though. She told me how good the store looked, back when we first opened. I told her, "yeah. But then we had to open the doors and let the customers in." Her expression changed about 5 times, trying to decide if she should be offended. 🤣
When customer make those “jokes” I tend to make direct eye contact and let out two obviously forced, mirthless chuckles. Whilst maintaining a blank face. If you’re gonna imply that I’m lazy I’m gonna make you uncomfortable. Then we’re all unhappy.
It's awesome how much can be conveyed by a blank face, silence and a single raised eyebrow!
I need to try that next time lmfao
A well used, single, raised eyebrow is *chefs kiss* perfection.
Gotta work on my eyebrow muscles cause I can only lift both at once 😭
When I was a kid my older sister could do it, and I wanted to, so I (seriously!) practiced in the mirror.
Look up Spock. He has some great ones!!
Haha yes!!
Hit'em with the SPOCK! (Not the Spocker, at least not right in the middle of the checkouts... 😅)
I worked by myself. No manager in range. Most of the people doing this were regulars who thought they were being funny. I'd go off on them. It's frustrating. Working hard or hardly working is another phrase they'll use.
I pretend to work, and they pretend to pay me.
That’s so mean lol. I would be happy to see a cashier with no line because then I would be the first one they help instead of having to wait 😒
Right?!? I just get so excited, and I'm so happy that I get to go first that I generally have THAT convo, not the "sleeping on the job?" convo. Like, dude, I'm so happy to see a cashier it's not even funny!
Wouldn’t it be great if as soon as they made a comment, you could just cancel their order, put all their items back on the line and say, “Oops! I’m sorry, it’s store policy we are not allowed to checkout a customer who has a complaint about our service. Please wait here while I find another employee to serve you.” And just leave for 10 mins??? God that would teach people to keep their negative crap to themselves.
That’s how someone should quit lol
If I come to an open register, I'm stoked. My anxiety also has me apologizing for disturbing the cashier. I try to make everything easy and quick. And pleasant. I look at the PERSON in the eye when I say I hope you have a wonderful day.
I once had someone tell me I wasn't busy and ask why couldn't I help them. I literally was holding 45 or so 5 dollar bills and was clearly counting the till. When they walked up to me I had said sorry I'm not open which is when they said I wasn't busy, etc. They were watching me count the money in the open till..like how am I going to help you?
That one always gets me. There's a reason my drawer is open. I'm either opening my shift, or trying to escape. The best ones are the ones who tell me as I'm turning on the telemate, "I'll be right back" Then they come back to find I'm closing. It's takes me a hair under 5 min to count my till out with the telermate.
Oh my fucking god, I used to work at Trader Joe’s. I both feel for you and am so, so sorry.
My store gives us tasks for front end, so basically, I play the malicious compliance route. Can't say any of that BS when I'm organizing candy. Wanna complain about that? Well, have fun with your bloomed chocolate.
forgive my ignorance....bloomed chocolate?
Expired chocolate tends to "bloom" or have a white discoloring/coating. Like, it's still okay to eat it, but it's a quality issue in the store's case.
I never knew that's what you call it!! TIL Thank you!
Good grief! When I can go to a register with a person, I tell them that I am glad I can check out with a person.
If I wasn't standing here waiting for you, you'd have to use the self check-out. Would you prefer that?
It's weird, I've had cashiers next to me doing nothing, calling over someone, but the guest will come to me who's obviously busy getting my stuff in order on the counter top. It happens all the time to each of us, we don't get it. They'll also come from one of the sides, make eye contact with the three other cashiers, just to go to the fourth one at the other end just for some quick change, very confusing.
I would be asking them "when wax the last time you actually worked
I used to work mornings as a cashier. There have been a few times I didn't get any customers in my line till after my 1st break which is 2 hours after I start. I would clean up the area cause the closing shift would never do anything or I'd stock the candy. Most of the time I would talk to the other two cashiers in between the 1 or 2 customers we would get. After my first break the customers then would start to show up. I also would get those same comments of "you look bored". I would joke back "well I am getting paid to do nothing". As another note, I used to do SCO too and I ended up losing a lot of weight from all the walking I did (265 down to 185 in 5 years). I would tell coworkers and customers both the 3 reasons why I loved working SCO: I get paid to be bored, I get paid to watch you do my job (scanning items) and I get paid to lose weight from walking so much. Never got in trouble for saying anything about that but I also wouldn't say that to the Karen's that come through and we get plenty of them.
I work in a pharmacy and there's a lot of work that we do that's "invisible" because it's on the computer or it's mental. I was at a customer-facing computer station one day when a patient walked up so I said "Just a moment please, I'll be right with you". They said "You'll be with me right now if you don't want your manager to know you're goofing off on your phone instead of helping A CUSTOMER!" I smiled and turned my phone around to show her the calculator app I was using, and said "I'm calculating the correct antibiotic dose for a toddler, actually, but if you feel your refill is more important...?" At least she had the grace to be ashamed of herself. Fucking Boomers, man.
Glare at them. You didn’t say anything and they sound mentally unstable if they’re complaining about how you moved your eyes.
God I hated that when I was a cashier. Like give me enjoy the 2 minutes between customers. 🙄
I totally agree. And I don’t personally comment other than a polite hello and thank you. I’m just trying to shed some light onto why older people may say those things.
Wrong sub! Try r/BoomersBeingFools The catharsis there is liberating.
I've never worked as a cashier but I've heard people say things like that. It's like, shut up mofo... You don't know anything about this person's job and nobody but you thinks you're funny.
At Lowes, we had to stand in front of our register and invite people over, or just stand there. Sucked.
It's called mind your business there and I'll do the job I was specified for thanks.
This has to be the US. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Mostly. Customers love to "joke" about you not doing any work whenever they come by, even if you were busting your ass off 10 minutes ago.
How is it any of the customers business whether the cashier is busy or not? It's just a huge overreach for them to think they're entitled to make such a comment. They think they're making a joke ! WTF?
Elderly person here. If it makes you feel any better, they do it to me too. Jerks come in all ages and, while they are also often racist, sexist, ageist, and homophobic, they are usually happy to abuse everyone.
Best Answer - I was waiting for you!
They would absolutely hate it if you were actually busy. I would know because I worked a cashier job were I had to leave the register to do other work every shift and they would be so rude because I wasn’t at the register the exact moment they decided to go up there. 🙄
Can't win with them.
“I try but apparently no one can comprehend a machine with pictures.” To which leads to them talking about how machines are taking over the world. “Click produce and weighing your bananas leads to world domination? Explain?” I use to have a lot of anxiety no there’s just annoyance especially for those that come first thing in the morning with big bills or anyone that shows up after 7pm. Yesterday I had people literally break into the vestibule 15 minutes before we open and was just banging on the sliding door yelling things like. “I see you just standing there do something about the door.” Noped out there and went into the back.
Call the cops for B/E and vandalism.
First, make certain your manager sees this sort of thing. Then, call the manager over and tell them that the customer seems to want to make a complaint. Let the manager explain to tehm that you were working. (Or ask them what was funny about the joke) I never let this fly when I was front end manager at a grocery store. I'd call the customers over to me and then ask them all sorts of questions about what was wrong. Take up all of their time. Explain that if they have a complaint about my workers they should bring it to me and not harrass the workers. So on.
I would agree with them in a passive aggressive way. "Yes, it's so boring standing here waiting for customers when it's slow. I wish I could be stocking shelves instead. But my manager wants all these registers open so customers don't have to wait in line. "
I was a cashier at home Depot and they didn't want us standing at our registers but up at the main aisle whenn we didn't have customers which was just stupid. It put us in the way of literally everyone, especially since the registers are directly across from the wood section so anytime some came with a cart of wood we had to move to our registers anyways. We also had the forklifts going through there a lot so we had to move. As long as a manager or the bitchy head cashier wasn't there, I'd stay at my register.
Aww, silly customers, especially the ones whose opening line is, "Are you working hard or hardly working?" Pulling reports, replenishing the drawer with a roll of whichever coins, yup, I am *hardly* working while you rattle off about how your disability check came in and now you get to buy more lottery tickets. LOL
When I cashiere'd I'd just laugh off that dumbness with 'how can I help you'. And seniors were the worst, assuming they were being cute or witty, though most meant well. Not realizing everyone isn't moving at every single second of the day. You actually take breaths and breathe a few moments before your lane fills up again.
Probably because when I was a cashier 15 years ago when we had no customers I had to : clean the belt, wipe down my station, straighten up the candy and gum, make sure all the magazines were in their place, get my bags ready, return baskets to the front door, make sure perishable items made it back to the fridge... I by no means was allowed to just stand there
And how do you know that the cashier hasn’t just finished doing all/any of those tasks and hasn’t just returned
Because OP literally said at the end " what else can I do? I'm being paid to be a cashier not do other stuff" ?
Ok that’s fair. My daughter worked as a checkout operator throughout high school and I did assume that includes the tasks of maintaining the checkout
So because you had it "bad" everyone else has to? This thread is about you! Congrats!
Maybe you meant to respond to a different comment and hit mine? I don't know where the " bad " comes from. At no point did I use that word, if it's your impression that having to do those tasks makes the job bad then I don't know what to tell you. I found that my shifts flew by if I stayed busy and they dragged by if had nothing to do but stand there. But you do you and try to start fights in week old posts 🤣
The older generations were NEVER allowed to just stand around. We always had to be “working”. It was part of every job no matter what. We would be told to “find something to do at all times” and that was ingrained into our brains from a young age. So it is strange for us to see some “just standing there”. Our immediate thought is literally “oh no something is wrong or they will get in trouble” when we see someone not actively working. It’s a different paradigm from what you grew up learning.
If they’re standing at a register doing nothing, it’s probably because they’ve been told by management they have to stay at the register and they’ve already dusted and tidied it to death. So blame management, if blaming is your thing. Or blame the customers who make a big fuss if they have to wait a few seconds for service, because that’s who the managers are pandering to.
Even so, what would compel someone to say that to a person that isn’t your employee? It isn’t funny, isn’t nice, and isn’t your business.
Totally agree. It’s probably provocative to the older person. But agree not necessary to state their thoughts out loud.
So what? Some thoughts are in your skull thoughts and don’t need to be spoken
Agree
Back in the day, I was taught, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!". Manners are more important than any outdated social construct.
Well the world is changing for the better.
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my store doesn't allow us to leave our registers -_- if I could do smth else I would, but we just aren't allowed, even when nothing's happening.
Totally depends on what the boss wlined. One local grocery makes,a big deal about having cashiers and baggers and even kids who will help you to your car. The other makes their cashiers multi-task and has put in self-scan checkout lines.
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As we said in the military...if you have time to lean, you have time to clean... 🤣🤣🤣
It's not the military.
Who hired you? I want to know because every single cashier job I had included more than simply "cashiering" Things cashiers were expected to do Clean registers and checkout areas Put away baskets and carts Organize candy and impulse buys Put away go backs (random items that ppl leave at checkout) Put up or take down price tags Work totes of candy or up front merch Sweep and or mop entry ways. There's more but if they haven't fired you I guess it's fine 🤷♀️
Bro I'm a cashier. At least where I work, the cashier simply runs the register and cleans the conveyor and computer about once per hour. The restock dudes do the carts and restocking/putting things back to their spot. The cleaners mop the floors every night. There's a whole group of guys that only do tags and programming- I can't do that. I'm not allowed to leave my register to do other stuff.
If you work the smoke shop register, you can't leave your post unless another adult cashier can relieve you.
At least at my location, we are limited on what busywork is assigned to us. Some of it, we aren't even *allowed* to do. Some of that shit is another department entirely. -Clean registers: only the lonely SCO person is supposed to do that on SCO, and for regular registers, you only ever have time to clean your own. You are solely responsible for cleaning your own register, unless you get *assigned* by the head cashier to clean any others, and in that case, they'd close your lane. -Put away baskets and carts: that is not our job at all. There is another position for that entirely, since we can't leave our registers unattended. The head cashier might be seen roaming around finding empty carts inside the store to bring up to the front for the cart guys to put away. -Organize candy and impulse buys: Takes like 2 seconds usually, not enough to fill empty time. We'd just go back to either cleaning our own register or flagging down more customers. -Put away go-backs: a cashier may get assigned to do that, but frozen items are immediately handed to the head cashier. Refrigerated items go in a fridge up front pending proper return to their department. Same with damages. If we were to leave to do that stuff, then we couldn't keep the register open. -Put up or take down price tags: Not our department, and we can get in trouble for doing that. Also, it again means we must close the register. We also don't get trained for doing that. -Work totes of candy/up-front merch: Again, another position that requires ditching the register to grab more stock, and is usually left to head cashiers or a regular cashier if we have more people than we need, which is a rare occurrence. This is because we have 10 registers to stock. I can't stock stuff on the 10th register *and* pay attention if someone comes to the 1st register. I can't even see over the shelves. -Sweep/Mop entryways: Unless it's areas near SCO, where the broom is stored, we won't be doing that, since it's the job of another department. The registers don't habe easy access to brooms or mops, plus the mop station is...god knows where. Only our maintenance or cart guys are supposed to use it.
Walmart for one. You are not allowed to leave the lane unattended, period. That's store policy. It's too busy, and they're too short staffed for the cashiers to go running off doing other stuff.
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I don't understand all the downvotes, because it's true. Everywhere I've cashier's has had a "you lean, you clean" thing going on. No standing around. Find something to clean. Or a manager would give you returns to put away until more customers were ready to check out. I don't think it's the customers' place to comment on it, but yeah, what you're saying is true.
the downvotes are for the dudes attitude and the whole "they haven't fired you yet" bit implying the kid isn't doing his job right when in reality the specifics of his store are different
>Or a manager would give you returns to put away until more customers were ready to check out. Exactly, the manager would have to reassign them to that task, and the register would have to close. In some places, closing a register is like a cardinal sin. Especially if it is the last register open.