I think the sentiment applies to any type of job that directly deals with the general public. Dealing with lots of people isn't so bad if it is inter-business dealings...but when people feel comfortable or don't have to act professional...you see the worst in some nut jobs.
I bagged and scanned groceries at a Food Lion for 3 months...just for a summer before I was going back to grad school. It was a beach town on an island. It was the only grocery store on the island. I worked there for the summer. You get the picture. Mad house. Literally lines to the back of the store. Saturdays were the worst because that was when the week long rental houses had check in. Lots of crazy people...but here are my general thoughts from my grocery store experience:
1) Don't ***** to me about how high the prices are. We are the only grocery store on the island...supply and demand my friends. I also don't get to set the prices...and I don't benefit from the artificially inflated prices. I also can't magically change them or give you a discount. The cashier can't just make their own prices up.
2) If you don't have the stupid scan card, don't ***** at me when you don't get the sale price, when I told you to take a free scan card. When you don't get the sale price, don't pay me and take the receipt...take 3 steps...and turn around and demand your money back. Go to customer service to return your 2 liter bottle of Coke. I can't just give you $2 back here.
3) If your coupon doesn't scan properly...you probably just can't read. Out of everyone that gave me a coupon...and then had the register deny them when it was scanned...NOT ONE was legitimate. Read the coupon...it only works for the 20 ounce bag of peeled and de-veined shrimp. You have to buy a 3 pack of chicken breasts to get the Mac & Cheese half off. It can be confusing, but don’t cause a scene in public with 30 other people behind you for 30 cents off. I literally gave people the coupon price out of my pocket to get them to leave me alone.
4) After the cashier takes your money, types it into the register, and opens the drawer…it is too late to say “hey….let me give you 3 pennies to make it easier for you to count my change”. No. It isn’t easier. Say what you want about the education system in our country…but I have a couple engineering degrees that indicates I am at worst, pretty good at math. When you are scanning groceries all day…the numbers really just flow together. Once the numbers are in the register, my drawer will be off. Simple math, it is…but it is easy to get caught off guard and freeze up on the spot making you look like a doofus. Just take the 2 pennies.
5) If you request paper bags, I will smack you unless you bought 10 boxes of pop tarts. Paper bags are larger, but the extra space is all vertical. You just slow down the baggers as we are trying to get you guys out of here as efficiently as possible.
6) Don’t bring your own cloth bag when you are buying $400 worth of groceries. Cloth bags are nice for buying a few items here and there, but not with all the groceries you just bought…you aren’t helping the environment. Also, for co-baggable items: I can’t bag your bleach, raw steak, raw chicken, celery, and bug spray in the same bag. I just can’t legally. Save the cloth bag for buying your organic vegetables later.
7) How many times have you gone grocery shopping? No matter where you are from, the process is similar. Start unloading your cart on the conveyor (if applicable) as soon as it is available. It is nice if you actually group like items together (produce, cold items, chemicals, etc). If you don’t want your bread smashed, don’t put it on the conveyor right in front of your 30-pack suitcase of Natty Light…not our fault. Once your cart is empty, push it forward to the bagger so they can make room for more bags. Don’t stand around like you forgot the groceries have to go out of the cart…and then back in.
8) Cashiers often times, don’t know where anything is. Read the signs. My box was about 10 square feet behind a register. I know where the bar codes are on every product and know some produce codes. Where to find them…not a clue. Of course…I was always happy to help, but don’t give me an attitude when I don’t know which shelf on which side of which aisle it’s on. raspberry vinaigrette dressing is probably on the salad dressing aisle next to the normal vinaigrette dressing that you have in your hand. You will have to do some work here.
9) How can people not take the 2 seconds to put the cart back in the stall neatly? Really. It is easy and courteous. Bonus points if you actually grab a cart from the stall on your way in...or take your cart back to the store instead of leaving it flipped over behind some bushes at the end of the parking lot. Clearing the parking lot is the worst when it is 100 degree beach weather.
10) Putting your ice cream in 2 plastic bags inside a paper bag will not keep it from melting in your car if you go to the beach afterwards.
11) Offer to help! Nothing is more refreshing than when a customer is on top of their game, helps bag from the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] bagging station, and helps gets their items back in their cart. Especially if the cashier doesn’t have a bagger…and you sit there and awkwardly watch the cashier scan $300 of groceries, then turn around and bag them. I get it…it isn’t your job. But you don’t want to be here, and neither do we. Working together, at least we can get one of us out of here sooner.
12) Bagging groceries is like Tetris with food. It really is fun when you aren’t dealing with jack-waggons all day. To this day, whenever I go grocery shopping, I 1) bag my own groceries and tell the poor high school kid to take a break, 2) grab my cart from a stall on the way in to the store, 3) return my cart to the stall, and line them all up nicely, and 4) be polite and say thanks on the way out.
Now, being a seasonal grocery job at the beach, my experience was constant, non-stop bagging and scanning. Every group would come in and buy a weeks worth of groceries for their beach vacation. Multi-family vacations would sometimes spend $2000+ in one visit…three or four carts full. 30 total minutes of break for 12 hours of hard work (wah wah…I know). I don’t mind the hard work, but when people are a constant ass hat to you for 12 hours…it is tough. Not to mention my “managers” weren’t really management material. Let’s be honest, as an 18+ person with a work ethic, the 16 year olds basically showed up high, slacked off, and the manager made me pick up the slack.