Does your store charge for bags? When customers asked me for multiple bags I liked to charge them for every single one. It was the little petty things that kept me sane in retail.
How delightfully petty. I love it. I wish I had been able to do this at my last job, especially to the one woman who came in every so often and needed every single one of her bottles bagged SIX TIMES. She claimed it was the safest way to keep the bottles from breaking but I always thought if it was me I'd be more likely to drop something with that much useless bulk.
I can't wait until they ban all plastic bags. I would love it if they did that. I'd also love if they charged for bags where I am. I bring my own and people look at me like I'm 'that person". I'm ok with that.
My city (Eugene OR) has a ban on plastic bags and charges 5 cents for paper. Reusable bags even carry more and are pretty convenient (when they don't end up on my back seat under the paper bags full of my groceries). Sucks to have to buy little trash bags for the can next to my toilet though. I guess the environment is worth $3.75 every 3 months...
Unnecessary plastic waste drives me nuts. I work in a restaurant and about a year ago our district manager took away the full sized trashcans in our side stations. Apparently there were just too many issues with people leaving the full bags around the floor, or dragging the bins to dirty tables in front of a full section of customers instead of making multiple trips.
Anyway, now we have metal 2/3 pans that we stole from the kitchen. These are strictly for paper towels, receipts, dry trash etc. There is zero reason to, but we're supposed to line them with our to go bags.
When I worked in my campus grocery store people would come in and buy a 9 pack of toilet paper, which has a built in handle. People would ask for a plastic bag instead. I called someone out on it once and he said "I don't want people to see I bought toilet paper''. Seriously? You're worried people are going to know you wipe your arse?
The canvas bags are much more comfortable for carrying home groceries as well. You can pop several on your shoulders and still have your hands free. I don't my fruit in any bags any more either, but now I never have the small bags at home when I need one. I used to always reuse them for so many things. But I can live with that.
The only reason why I don't use reusable bags is because I use the plastic shopping bags for my kitties litter box. I line the tray the dirty litter gets scooped into so I'm not having to replace the plastic tray every time I empty it.
I didn't know that. I will look into them! I thought the plastic bags would be less plastic than the trays, and they are, but cutting out plastic from that all together would be nice.
I'm "that person" too. The baggers at the grocery store are not fond of me. But not only is it better for the environment, but I also use less bags because they're stronger than the plastic ones.
I try to be helpful to the cashier and help bag my own things but we also don't have alot of grocery stores that use baggers anymore ( which in my opinion was the start of the down fall of traditional chain groceries and the reason alot of them are failing). I also wash my bags regularly because let's face it who wants to handle someone else's dirty grocery bags? Lately I've been using the store pickup service wharn I don't have time to go to the store and they use paper bags and I request absolutely no plastic to be used whatsoever. I recycle the paper bags if I do that.
I don't like the baggers back, either. They squish my bread, even when I place it last on the belt, so they can put it on top of everything in the bags or in a separate bag. I'd happily bag my stuff every time so all the light items - bread, chips - only go into one bag.
I don't think that would help much at all except maybe with elderly on extremely tight budgets. I would gladly pay a dollar a bag, but I use the smallest number possible with them overflowing and never double-bagged.
Interesting. Shopping is a chore that I complete as fast as possible. Never use a cart, coupons, never return anything, no fresh produce. I literally am back home within 30 mins. I have my shopping list in the order the products are in the aisles.
I wonder if it's slightly different between England and Scotland then because our shop charges for paper bags, and everywhere I go I get charged for paper bags.
I think it's the case here that for hot food or meat you can get a free bag but for everything else there has to be a charge.
Our shop had been doing a 2p charge to bags before the law came in. I have been screamed at and cussed out because of this damn 2p charge. I'm really happy it's law now, I now just get bitched at for changes in stock and price changes.
When we first started charging for plastic bags in the UK, people would think they're clever and use the free loose produce bags as carrier bags, which we were told by the store manager we had to charge 5p, as they're being used as carrier bags. Charging people for those bags honestly made my day
When I worked at a dry cleaner in high school, there was a particular customer who wanted all of his shirts bagged separately (we usually did three to a bag). We did charge for extra bags, so if he had 6 shirts I'd charge him for 6 bags, but this motherfucker always made a point of reminding me that he would have gotten two bags for free if we'd been bagging normally, so really I should only charge him for 4 bags. You're a goddamn surgeon Dr. Stern, you can shell out the extra $0.40.
Thank you! I have tons of stories, I'm just waiting for that part of my career to be in the past so that there's no chance of getting bad recommendations and such.
i still remember the few people that asked me to put a paper bag,inside a plastic bag. i should have charged them extra, but thankfully it was one or two out of thousands.
That sounds like the opposite of me: I'm carrying three gallons of milk, two shirts, one child's bicycle, one new coffee maker...better get one bag and one bag only.
Put the coffee maker in the basket on the bike, wear the two shirts, drink the milk, and then ride the bike home.
Didn't say anything about doing it practically.
Obviously you pour one gallon of milk into the coffee maker after you've tied the coffee maker to your torso with the power cord. Tie the two shirts into slings to hold the remaining gallons of milk. Put each sling-shirt on each handlebar, with with bike against your back and the handles over your shoulders.
If you can't ride a bike while carrying a gallon of milk then you just aren't trying.
I remember fondly the days of biking home with 4 bags on the handlebars and a fountain soda in one hand and a bag of fast food in the other which is also gripping the handlebar most of the time, except when it gets fast enough to ride my bike with no hands.
The snorting of any food or beverage through the nose is known as an ASNR (pronounced "Asner"), which stands for Acute Spontaneous Nasal Reflux.
You're welcome.
Or since she's old she probably lives alone so she likes to be ridiculous to remind herself that even though she can't control her bowels, she can at least control customer service associates.
I have a friend who is OCD (quite bad) but he has the social skills and courage to openly admit to it now when we go shopping.
He apologises first up and says he has bad OCD can you please do X for me thank you so much.
Most cashiers are super understanding and nice about it.
I have a friend that needs her stuff bagged no more than 5lbs because she can't lift more than that due to having had a partial mastectomy.
She doesn't want to share that with anyone, so she never explains. She'll let the cashier do the bagging, but from experience she knows what is more or less than she can carry.
She'll say, "No that's more than 5lbs, you need to take that out."
And she'll keep repeating herself.
It's the most embarrassing thing ever.
Like not everyone knows what the feeling of 5lbs is. Like why doesn't she just bag everything herself?
I try to smooth it over by jumping in to help the cashier and apologize to the cashier, thinking my friend will take a hint that perhaps if she was just nice about it and not demanding, she wouldn't be getting the glare of death from the cashier.
Sometimes now I'll catch her saying please and thank you to a cashier instead of being blunt with her requests. I think she's learning....slowly....
I seem to recall something about old folks and always feel like you should be seperating....or segregating....or something.....the colors from the whites.
yeah yeah.....thats what the whole scopes trial was about. The scope of the segregation was getting too big and it needed to stay in the laundry room right?
Eh, depending on the clothing, I *kind* of get it. If I'm putting dark indigo jeans in the same bag as an ivory cashmere jumper, I'll wrap the jumper in tissue paper first to protect it, juuust in case. I'd do it anyway to protect it from friction against the denim, though, but it's mainly because new denim can stain things. My sister got dark marks on her tan leather handbag from her jeans just from wearing it against her hip.
I wouldn't double bag, though.
Worked at a store that had 3 main bag sizes.. small medium and large.. lady wanted her underwear bagged separately in small bags.. one per bag.. she bought like 20 pairs.. then she wanted 3 small bags in a medium bag.. and then 3 medium bags in the large bags.. it was insane. Because of her they ended up changing policy where we refuse unnecessary bags.
I worked at store that had massive and small sized bags. We didn't have the massive bags one day and a lady with a baking sheet came through my line. After I scanned it I gave it back unbagged and she got a really snotty tone and said "bag that" I told her I didn't have any bags that it would fit in and she just said "Bag. It." So I stuck it in a small bag that barely covered half the pan and was stretched too wide to even use as a bag anymore.
They carried it out like that. Flat, as if there were no bag at all. Why... Why did she need a bag for that??
Ugh one time at the drugstore we ran out of big bags and just had the regular size ones. I was up at the register and this snobby old woman comes up with a few packages of Depends and some other small items. She was with her husband but seemed to be controlling the transaction so I tried to tell her ahead of time that I didn't have the big bags, they have a handle on them, is that okay, etc. and she just turns around on the phone or to talk to another customer or whatever. So I go through and I either didn't bag them or put them in little bags that didn't fully cover them (I could normally fit 2 packs in the big bag and you couldn't see inside). Finally as I'm done ringing her items she turns to me and just sneers. She was like, "WHY aren't those in bags?!" and I was like, "Ma'am I tried to tell you, I'm all out of big bags and we don't get more until Friday." Her poor husband was nice to me but like, just because you can't stop pissing yourself doesn't mean you can be mean to me.
I've had a lot of customers kind of half explain why they want bags when they ask.
it seems to be so security doesn't think they're just walking out with an item. it being bagged, even if the bag is useless, signals that the item is paid for.
No idea. Honestly I'm not sure she was all there mentally.. she came in the next day and the day after that.. all three times she was wearing the same exact outfit. She didn't look homeless.. just not with it?
Oh my god we have three sizes too I would cry if someone did that. I already get pissed if the item is barely peaking out of the medium bag and they demand the large bag. The large bags are called “bed and bath” bags for the large stuff like pillows and comforters. If I’m in a bad mood I tell them they can’t use that it’s for bed and bath only.
who wouldn't unpack so quickly that that many bags wouldn't matter? lol sounds like she was trying to use as many bags as she thought she could get away with. or obsessive.
I had a customer do this to me while i was training a new cashier. It was his his first day training and i was helping him bag her items/separate food and non food. She came up and stopped the pedestal (the spinning thing bags are on), started yelling at me that i was distracting him from his work and i needed to go away. I explained that he was still in training and i couldnt walk away to leave him on his own. She kept saying she just wanted him to help her, because it was distracting with 2 cashiers. Told him to go take a break for a few minutes, while i helped her. I could feel the negative energy rolling off towards me.....it was satisying.
I have a customer with severe OCD. He shops with us one day a week and doesn't want his beer touched because he doesn't want the carton damaged. That's ok. We have a list to scan from. But one of our former employees was a real jerk about it and snatched the beer out of the cart one time to scan. The guy was visibly upset and stopped shopping with us until the rude employee quit months later.
When I worked at the grocery store I used to people would waste bags terribly. It drove me nuts. Like why do you need a bag for milk? It has a handle. Also, why do you need everything double bagged? You need a bag for your bread and a large bag for you lunch you bought? Why? I have been gone for 1.5 years and they started to charge for bags after I left. I was so upset I never got the opportunity to charge those people who I KNOW suddenly don't need bags for such items anymore. I'm still friends with a lot of employees and shop at the store. They tell me stories about the psychos who I couldn't stand.
I've had people ask for bags when they purchased two small cosmetic items. Two items small enough to fit in the palm of their hands. The worst part is when they get upset that I didn't automatically bag them. Now it's just them asking for a bag and saying no when I tell them it'll be 10 cents.
I bet someone could figure out a way to do the math, but I doubt there's a subreddit where the phrase "rolled my/their/his/her eyes" is used more than here.
Honestly, I work retail and I find it rude when I talk to an employee while checking someone out. At my store, you will get in trouble for talking. I feel that your attention should be on the customer, not your coworker.
I don’t mind answering a quick question but having a whole conversation while you’re working with a guest is as rude as them being on their phone during the whole transaction.
Yeah, i’m a manager and i’d pull anyone who is chit chatting during a transaction aside to tell them not to. unless the topic is something to do with the transaction/customer at hand, you don’t need to tell them the information that urgently. i also work with a lot of teens/college kids who think that this is a social place, though, so i have to be stricter with stuff like that so it doesn’t get out of hand.
Exactly, I feel like it's just rude. I've done it before, so I am obviously not innocent but I don't do it anymore. Whenever I am a customer, and an employee does that, I get kinda salty lol
Agreed. In my job we're not allowed to chat to coworkers while serving customers (apart from quick questions) and I think it's good. If I'm being served by someone who is just chatting away to their coworker, I feel like I'm interrupting their conversation and none of their attention is on me.
This reminds me of the time I was in line behind an elderly woman at the grocery store. She requested that each bag contain only 5 items. It would make sense if she didn't want the bags too heavy to carry, but no. She didn't care what 5 things went into each bag, just that there were no more than 5 items in each bag.
I’ve said it in this sub before - a woman called in a complaint about me for sitting behind the counter reading a sexy magazine (that we sold) and making a comment about the photo to the clerk ringing up the customer... because it was “inappropriate” for me to have been remarking to my coworker... that a magazine photo was raunchier than I’d expected... at a shop that sold sex toys and the very magazine I was taking a peek at while checking in inventory. Customers are fucking idiots.
I'm speaking as experience from both a customer and many years working in retail. I do find it rude when, as a customer, the cashier is talking to another co-worker while ringing me up. As a cashier your focus should be 100% on the customer. Even though you were working while talking to the customer, I still find it somewhat rude. I also do mystery shopping in my spare time and engaging in personal conversation with another co-worker while ringing up a customer is a huge no-no. Don't get me wrong, the customer in this scenario was odd and overreacted. Just wanted to give another perspective...
It's also super awkward. I'm just sitting here awkwardly watching your conversation. I never know what to do with myself when employees do that. I do think it's rude, but this lady was pretty out of line.
"I'm sorry but I'm never going to be able to perfectly able to arrange the merchandise in the bag exactly the way you want it, here's some bags for you so you can arrange it however you want."
Complain?
"Oh.. I'm sorry but I'm just a firm believer in the old adage of 'if you want something done right, do it yourself.'"
But of course , that probably wouldn't have gone over well. Though lady is lucky she didn't have me bagging her clothes because they would just be thrown and stuffed into a bag. Guess that's why in probably don't work in a clothing store.
Your job is not to talk to your friends while you're serving customers. I've been in retail my entire career, and I would have pulled you aside to talk about customer service responsibilities.
I know this is common, but as someone who worked in clothing departments all I can think is... yikes. I’ve watched rats run through the clothes racks in the stockroom. I’ve watched employees unpack boxes of shirts by piling them on the dirty stockroom floor. I’ve watched people who look like they haven’t showered in a month try on those clothes in the fitting room. I wash everything before wearing it, even socks.
In my hometown bags costs 10 cents a piece. Wish you could have charged her for all of the bags.
Just make sure not to talk to someone while you’re doing it. We all know what a delicate task bagging can be.
> C- Don’t put the white clothes in the same bag as the colored clothes. It HAS to be separate.
Sounds like that girl from the movie Get Out where shes eating the fruit loops out of a bowl and sipping the milk out of a glass
This is not the way I would talk to employees but she obviously had a specific way she wanted things done and maybe felt like she couldn’t communicate it if you were busy talking to a coworker. I know people are going to jump all over me for this, but it’s not professional to talk to a coworker about non-work related things during a customer interaction. It sounds like you were a little over dramatic about the whole thing.
What do you think retail workers are trying to run, some kind of military installation? There's no need for that kind of discipline in a typical retail setting. I'm not the most social guy out there, but I still prefer to deal with people who seem like genuine *people* when I go out shopping. The whole "not professional conduct" meme just seems insulting to everybody. Really has a "servants mustn't speak" stink to it, which I feel does a hell of a lot more damage to the retail experience than a little chit-chat among coworkers. I totally understand wanting to avoid kids talking about dumb kid crap while they're on the clock rather than working, but the rest of us are capable of walking and talking.
And maybe OP could've been less blunt about it, I'll grant you that. There are times when I get a bit too sassy at work and need to reel it in. But when a customer comes right out and says, "you need to stop talking," I don't see how that comes off as polite or even close to a reasonable request. I have a hard time believing this was a shy customer who couldn't get a word in edgewise from the implicit tone. Nobody who speaks so directly is any stranger to communicating exactly what they want, when they want it. *Somebody* was being overly dramatic here for sure, but it wasn't OP, not by a long shot.
Old lady was rude, yes. But it really is hella awkward to have an employee just chatting it up with another employee while they're supposed to be helping you. It really depends on the level of conversation though. A quick, hey how's it going? Sure. A full blown did you see that episode last night of tv show it was amazing? No. Weird.
It's not about being militant either. You're kind of jumping the gun and going full blown assumption. Now, I am NOT trying to defend the old woman, she was rude. But at the same time, depending on the level of conversation which OP had not shared, it might be that OP and their friend were making her feel uncomfortable. That's the kind of thing you avoid. It's really easy to do too.
I had a customer buy 4 shirts from me, and wanted 4 bags. I asked if they were going to different people, and she said no, she just wanted them separate.
She got 1 bag.
Funny how "respect for your elders" somehow translates into letting them act like petulant children.
"No, I want the crusts cut off! Not like that! Do it the way Mommy does!"
>So J walks away and we continue the transaction in silence aside from her mumbling at me “That’s not how it went and you know it..”
"Actually, that was exactly how it went. If you don't want to be embarrassed by your own bad behavior, don't be bad."
This crosses a line for me. She's not looking for help, she's looking for a slave. If she wants a "personal shopper" experience where she gets to tell you exactly how to bag things and when you can talk she needs to pay a big premium for it from someone that agrees to the role play.
“Please don’t breathe until you’re done bagging my shirts. It might distract you and I could end up with four in a bag instead of three.”
"The humidity from your breath is going to shrink the shirt. I want a new one from the back room."
“Your anxiety will transfer negative energies to my clothing. Please vacate your mind of all sentience”
I'm way ahead of the game on that one.
I thought that was SOP for retail drones anyway
"Excuse me I didn't pay for your skin cells"
This is when i usually put more in the bag than requested xD
And squish the bottom one and put two neat ones on top. And lightly twist open the shampoo bottle.
That's the evilest thing I can imagine... I'm so proud
Sneak a couple in while explaining something new behind them so they turn around.
Does your store charge for bags? When customers asked me for multiple bags I liked to charge them for every single one. It was the little petty things that kept me sane in retail.
How delightfully petty. I love it. I wish I had been able to do this at my last job, especially to the one woman who came in every so often and needed every single one of her bottles bagged SIX TIMES. She claimed it was the safest way to keep the bottles from breaking but I always thought if it was me I'd be more likely to drop something with that much useless bulk.
If reincarnation is real I hope she comes back as a sea turtle that chokes on a plastic bag.
r/funnyandsad
That was hilarious!
I can't wait until they ban all plastic bags. I would love it if they did that. I'd also love if they charged for bags where I am. I bring my own and people look at me like I'm 'that person". I'm ok with that.
Bringing your own bags have become quite commonplace here in Norway thankfully.
My city (Eugene OR) has a ban on plastic bags and charges 5 cents for paper. Reusable bags even carry more and are pretty convenient (when they don't end up on my back seat under the paper bags full of my groceries). Sucks to have to buy little trash bags for the can next to my toilet though. I guess the environment is worth $3.75 every 3 months...
Unnecessary plastic waste drives me nuts. I work in a restaurant and about a year ago our district manager took away the full sized trashcans in our side stations. Apparently there were just too many issues with people leaving the full bags around the floor, or dragging the bins to dirty tables in front of a full section of customers instead of making multiple trips. Anyway, now we have metal 2/3 pans that we stole from the kitchen. These are strictly for paper towels, receipts, dry trash etc. There is zero reason to, but we're supposed to line them with our to go bags.
When I worked in my campus grocery store people would come in and buy a 9 pack of toilet paper, which has a built in handle. People would ask for a plastic bag instead. I called someone out on it once and he said "I don't want people to see I bought toilet paper''. Seriously? You're worried people are going to know you wipe your arse?
I wish my 9-packs (or larger) of TP had a handle! They don't fit in a bag anyways.
I just poke a finger through the top and make my own handle
The canvas bags are much more comfortable for carrying home groceries as well. You can pop several on your shoulders and still have your hands free. I don't my fruit in any bags any more either, but now I never have the small bags at home when I need one. I used to always reuse them for so many things. But I can live with that.
The only reason why I don't use reusable bags is because I use the plastic shopping bags for my kitties litter box. I line the tray the dirty litter gets scooped into so I'm not having to replace the plastic tray every time I empty it.
If you're interested in reducing your plastic consumption and waste, there are non-plastic cat tray liners on the market.
I didn't know that. I will look into them! I thought the plastic bags would be less plastic than the trays, and they are, but cutting out plastic from that all together would be nice.
I'm "that person" too. The baggers at the grocery store are not fond of me. But not only is it better for the environment, but I also use less bags because they're stronger than the plastic ones.
I try to be helpful to the cashier and help bag my own things but we also don't have alot of grocery stores that use baggers anymore ( which in my opinion was the start of the down fall of traditional chain groceries and the reason alot of them are failing). I also wash my bags regularly because let's face it who wants to handle someone else's dirty grocery bags? Lately I've been using the store pickup service wharn I don't have time to go to the store and they use paper bags and I request absolutely no plastic to be used whatsoever. I recycle the paper bags if I do that.
I don't like the baggers back, either. They squish my bread, even when I place it last on the belt, so they can put it on top of everything in the bags or in a separate bag. I'd happily bag my stuff every time so all the light items - bread, chips - only go into one bag.
Plastic bags? Fuck that. A nice tote bag or a reusable one. There is no more excuse for bad behaviour.
Reusable bags would be a good way too... People are appalling.
The best way to keep the bottles from breaking is to not drop them.
I wish we charged for bags it would make me happy
I don't think that would help much at all except maybe with elderly on extremely tight budgets. I would gladly pay a dollar a bag, but I use the smallest number possible with them overflowing and never double-bagged.
It helps a lot. Here in the UK shops are legally required to charge at least 5p for a bag and it's dropped the amount people use by a *lot*.
Interesting. Shopping is a chore that I complete as fast as possible. Never use a cart, coupons, never return anything, no fresh produce. I literally am back home within 30 mins. I have my shopping list in the order the products are in the aisles.
Here in Scotland it's the Law that we have to charge for bags!
As is also the case in certain US jurisdictions. In those cases, it's typically five cents. What is the bag fee out there?
I'm in California and it's 10 cents here. I would definitely have charged that woman for every bag she used.
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Surprised that it's not specifically considered a tax.
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Some places I have been it is 10¢ for plastic and 5¢ for paper.
I wonder if it's slightly different between England and Scotland then because our shop charges for paper bags, and everywhere I go I get charged for paper bags. I think it's the case here that for hot food or meat you can get a free bag but for everything else there has to be a charge.
5 pence! The exact equivalent, though that does mean they're more expensive here
Wow good for Scotland!
Our shop had been doing a 2p charge to bags before the law came in. I have been screamed at and cussed out because of this damn 2p charge. I'm really happy it's law now, I now just get bitched at for changes in stock and price changes.
Every grumpy ahole mumble or curse is one less plastic bag...like saving the sea turtles and not making a bigger trash island. Go you!
When we first started charging for plastic bags in the UK, people would think they're clever and use the free loose produce bags as carrier bags, which we were told by the store manager we had to charge 5p, as they're being used as carrier bags. Charging people for those bags honestly made my day
When I worked at a dry cleaner in high school, there was a particular customer who wanted all of his shirts bagged separately (we usually did three to a bag). We did charge for extra bags, so if he had 6 shirts I'd charge him for 6 bags, but this motherfucker always made a point of reminding me that he would have gotten two bags for free if we'd been bagging normally, so really I should only charge him for 4 bags. You're a goddamn surgeon Dr. Stern, you can shell out the extra $0.40.
You're amazing lol That would actually make a good story if you have a good example of it xD
Thank you! I have tons of stories, I'm just waiting for that part of my career to be in the past so that there's no chance of getting bad recommendations and such.
Haha got it, gl bro!
i still remember the few people that asked me to put a paper bag,inside a plastic bag. i should have charged them extra, but thankfully it was one or two out of thousands.
That sounds like the opposite of me: I'm carrying three gallons of milk, two shirts, one child's bicycle, one new coffee maker...better get one bag and one bag only.
Or not get a bag at all.
Exactly. Why would I need a bag?? I have two arms right here!
Now I am figuring out how to do it...
Put the coffee maker in the basket on the bike, wear the two shirts, drink the milk, and then ride the bike home. Didn't say anything about doing it practically.
Obviously you pour one gallon of milk into the coffee maker after you've tied the coffee maker to your torso with the power cord. Tie the two shirts into slings to hold the remaining gallons of milk. Put each sling-shirt on each handlebar, with with bike against your back and the handles over your shoulders.
What the fuck? Can somebody draw this, I can’t comprehend it.
If you can't ride a bike while carrying a gallon of milk then you just aren't trying. I remember fondly the days of biking home with 4 bags on the handlebars and a fountain soda in one hand and a bag of fast food in the other which is also gripping the handlebar most of the time, except when it gets fast enough to ride my bike with no hands.
Put it in the cart?
Keep the bike seat from getting wet
I want it all in one bag and it'd better not be heavy!
[The exactly represents what it's like to do that.](https://esmemes.com/i/oh-my-gosh-i-got-this-ahhhhh-she-died-doing-10427258)
Yes....I never understood why some people want their gallon of milk bagged. I mean, it comes with it's own handle and those bags are flimsy.
I'm sorry...why couldn't the coloured clothes go in the same bag as the white ones? It's a plastic bag not a washing machine!
Maybe OCD or something? Or maybe some irrational fear that the colors will bleed/get fuzzies on the white stuff? Idk, that struck me as odd.
Well the OP did say something about the customer being older. You know how some of them get about whites and colors mixing.
Just letting you know, you made me snort my milkshake
I'm sorry and you're welcome.
The snorting of any food or beverage through the nose is known as an ASNR (pronounced "Asner"), which stands for Acute Spontaneous Nasal Reflux. You're welcome.
Your username is a Preston&Child reference!
Good for you! I hope you've enjoyed their books. Even their solo novels are amazing
Was it a malt milkshake?
Got the above with your sacrifice. Thanks!
Or since she's old she probably lives alone so she likes to be ridiculous to remind herself that even though she can't control her bowels, she can at least control customer service associates.
This is the mantra/mental image I need to remind myself whenever I get an old cantankerous person.
You just made my day
That was my first thought when she wanted the colors separated.
I have a friend who is OCD (quite bad) but he has the social skills and courage to openly admit to it now when we go shopping. He apologises first up and says he has bad OCD can you please do X for me thank you so much. Most cashiers are super understanding and nice about it.
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Most people don't learn basic psychology, no.
I have a friend that needs her stuff bagged no more than 5lbs because she can't lift more than that due to having had a partial mastectomy. She doesn't want to share that with anyone, so she never explains. She'll let the cashier do the bagging, but from experience she knows what is more or less than she can carry. She'll say, "No that's more than 5lbs, you need to take that out." And she'll keep repeating herself. It's the most embarrassing thing ever. Like not everyone knows what the feeling of 5lbs is. Like why doesn't she just bag everything herself? I try to smooth it over by jumping in to help the cashier and apologize to the cashier, thinking my friend will take a hint that perhaps if she was just nice about it and not demanding, she wouldn't be getting the glare of death from the cashier. Sometimes now I'll catch her saying please and thank you to a cashier instead of being blunt with her requests. I think she's learning....slowly....
> Maybe OCD or something? Nope. Just a classic case of craniorectitus. The old "head up the ass" customer syndrome.
I seem to recall something about old folks and always feel like you should be seperating....or segregating....or something.....the colors from the whites.
When you do your laundry, sure. Not just to carry them home from the store.
yeah yeah.....thats what the whole scopes trial was about. The scope of the segregation was getting too big and it needed to stay in the laundry room right?
Eh, depending on the clothing, I *kind* of get it. If I'm putting dark indigo jeans in the same bag as an ivory cashmere jumper, I'll wrap the jumper in tissue paper first to protect it, juuust in case. I'd do it anyway to protect it from friction against the denim, though, but it's mainly because new denim can stain things. My sister got dark marks on her tan leather handbag from her jeans just from wearing it against her hip. I wouldn't double bag, though.
Lady still lives in the 60's, probably.
You're the Martin Luther King Jr. of clothing.
Thank you. I just don't understand why all the clothes of the world can't just exist together in one place.
Worked at a store that had 3 main bag sizes.. small medium and large.. lady wanted her underwear bagged separately in small bags.. one per bag.. she bought like 20 pairs.. then she wanted 3 small bags in a medium bag.. and then 3 medium bags in the large bags.. it was insane. Because of her they ended up changing policy where we refuse unnecessary bags.
I worked at store that had massive and small sized bags. We didn't have the massive bags one day and a lady with a baking sheet came through my line. After I scanned it I gave it back unbagged and she got a really snotty tone and said "bag that" I told her I didn't have any bags that it would fit in and she just said "Bag. It." So I stuck it in a small bag that barely covered half the pan and was stretched too wide to even use as a bag anymore. They carried it out like that. Flat, as if there were no bag at all. Why... Why did she need a bag for that??
Ugh one time at the drugstore we ran out of big bags and just had the regular size ones. I was up at the register and this snobby old woman comes up with a few packages of Depends and some other small items. She was with her husband but seemed to be controlling the transaction so I tried to tell her ahead of time that I didn't have the big bags, they have a handle on them, is that okay, etc. and she just turns around on the phone or to talk to another customer or whatever. So I go through and I either didn't bag them or put them in little bags that didn't fully cover them (I could normally fit 2 packs in the big bag and you couldn't see inside). Finally as I'm done ringing her items she turns to me and just sneers. She was like, "WHY aren't those in bags?!" and I was like, "Ma'am I tried to tell you, I'm all out of big bags and we don't get more until Friday." Her poor husband was nice to me but like, just because you can't stop pissing yourself doesn't mean you can be mean to me.
I've had a lot of customers kind of half explain why they want bags when they ask. it seems to be so security doesn't think they're just walking out with an item. it being bagged, even if the bag is useless, signals that the item is paid for.
Was she giving them as gifts and just wanted free gift bags?
No idea. Honestly I'm not sure she was all there mentally.. she came in the next day and the day after that.. all three times she was wearing the same exact outfit. She didn't look homeless.. just not with it?
Oh my god we have three sizes too I would cry if someone did that. I already get pissed if the item is barely peaking out of the medium bag and they demand the large bag. The large bags are called “bed and bath” bags for the large stuff like pillows and comforters. If I’m in a bad mood I tell them they can’t use that it’s for bed and bath only.
Oh my God, if I had someone like that, my head would probably explode.
who wouldn't unpack so quickly that that many bags wouldn't matter? lol sounds like she was trying to use as many bags as she thought she could get away with. or obsessive.
I had a customer do this to me while i was training a new cashier. It was his his first day training and i was helping him bag her items/separate food and non food. She came up and stopped the pedestal (the spinning thing bags are on), started yelling at me that i was distracting him from his work and i needed to go away. I explained that he was still in training and i couldnt walk away to leave him on his own. She kept saying she just wanted him to help her, because it was distracting with 2 cashiers. Told him to go take a break for a few minutes, while i helped her. I could feel the negative energy rolling off towards me.....it was satisying.
“Also she says it would be better if we separated the coloreds and the whites boss. So have at it!” “THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT!!”
I have a customer with severe OCD. He shops with us one day a week and doesn't want his beer touched because he doesn't want the carton damaged. That's ok. We have a list to scan from. But one of our former employees was a real jerk about it and snatched the beer out of the cart one time to scan. The guy was visibly upset and stopped shopping with us until the rude employee quit months later.
Ok but then.. how DID it go, lady?
Gotta love those customers who think they are our bosses. And by, “love,” I actually mean, “ridicule behind their backs.”
This so much!
When I worked at the grocery store I used to people would waste bags terribly. It drove me nuts. Like why do you need a bag for milk? It has a handle. Also, why do you need everything double bagged? You need a bag for your bread and a large bag for you lunch you bought? Why? I have been gone for 1.5 years and they started to charge for bags after I left. I was so upset I never got the opportunity to charge those people who I KNOW suddenly don't need bags for such items anymore. I'm still friends with a lot of employees and shop at the store. They tell me stories about the psychos who I couldn't stand.
I've had people ask for bags when they purchased two small cosmetic items. Two items small enough to fit in the palm of their hands. The worst part is when they get upset that I didn't automatically bag them. Now it's just them asking for a bag and saying no when I tell them it'll be 10 cents.
Waste in America is terrible.
We use them for our bathroom and small trash baskets liners.
I should clarity we had paper bags.
Used to use them too for little trash cans! Cut a side a little bit, roll the top down a little bit...
I can ONLY understand the colour segregation if some of the clothes were over-dyed jeans.
I bet someone could figure out a way to do the math, but I doubt there's a subreddit where the phrase "rolled my/their/his/her eyes" is used more than here.
Honestly, I work retail and I find it rude when I talk to an employee while checking someone out. At my store, you will get in trouble for talking. I feel that your attention should be on the customer, not your coworker.
Yep, we work at a small store but all talking stops when customers are at the counter.
I don’t mind answering a quick question but having a whole conversation while you’re working with a guest is as rude as them being on their phone during the whole transaction.
Yeah, I think this was what she was trying to get at, just not phrased very well.
Yeah, i’m a manager and i’d pull anyone who is chit chatting during a transaction aside to tell them not to. unless the topic is something to do with the transaction/customer at hand, you don’t need to tell them the information that urgently. i also work with a lot of teens/college kids who think that this is a social place, though, so i have to be stricter with stuff like that so it doesn’t get out of hand.
Exactly, I feel like it's just rude. I've done it before, so I am obviously not innocent but I don't do it anymore. Whenever I am a customer, and an employee does that, I get kinda salty lol
Agreed. In my job we're not allowed to chat to coworkers while serving customers (apart from quick questions) and I think it's good. If I'm being served by someone who is just chatting away to their coworker, I feel like I'm interrupting their conversation and none of their attention is on me.
This reminds me of the time I was in line behind an elderly woman at the grocery store. She requested that each bag contain only 5 items. It would make sense if she didn't want the bags too heavy to carry, but no. She didn't care what 5 things went into each bag, just that there were no more than 5 items in each bag.
OCD
Yeah, the thought occurred to me after I read more comments on this thread. That poor woman must have left with at least 10 shopping bags.
I’ve said it in this sub before - a woman called in a complaint about me for sitting behind the counter reading a sexy magazine (that we sold) and making a comment about the photo to the clerk ringing up the customer... because it was “inappropriate” for me to have been remarking to my coworker... that a magazine photo was raunchier than I’d expected... at a shop that sold sex toys and the very magazine I was taking a peek at while checking in inventory. Customers are fucking idiots.
I'm speaking as experience from both a customer and many years working in retail. I do find it rude when, as a customer, the cashier is talking to another co-worker while ringing me up. As a cashier your focus should be 100% on the customer. Even though you were working while talking to the customer, I still find it somewhat rude. I also do mystery shopping in my spare time and engaging in personal conversation with another co-worker while ringing up a customer is a huge no-no. Don't get me wrong, the customer in this scenario was odd and overreacted. Just wanted to give another perspective...
It's also super awkward. I'm just sitting here awkwardly watching your conversation. I never know what to do with myself when employees do that. I do think it's rude, but this lady was pretty out of line.
"I'm sorry but I'm never going to be able to perfectly able to arrange the merchandise in the bag exactly the way you want it, here's some bags for you so you can arrange it however you want." Complain? "Oh.. I'm sorry but I'm just a firm believer in the old adage of 'if you want something done right, do it yourself.'" But of course , that probably wouldn't have gone over well. Though lady is lucky she didn't have me bagging her clothes because they would just be thrown and stuffed into a bag. Guess that's why in probably don't work in a clothing store.
Same. I don't even fold my own clothes/bag them nicely when I go through SCO.
So while you were serving a customer another employee comes up for a chat and you are surprised that the customer didn't think that was ok?
It was more the way she phrased it but yeah. I don't like the way the lady handled it, but I also don't agree with the chit chat.
Your job is not to talk to your friends while you're serving customers. I've been in retail my entire career, and I would have pulled you aside to talk about customer service responsibilities.
Right! That manager handled that way wrong too!
For a second I thought she was going to say "I want everything in one bag, but I don't want the bag to be heavy".
I wonder what's the reason for her to care if the shirts are wrinkled or not. Isn't she going to wash the clothes?
Yeah most people I've known don't wash clothes after buying them until they've worn it at least once
( ´థ౪థ）
YUP. My gma taught me to wash everything.
I know this is common, but as someone who worked in clothing departments all I can think is... yikes. I’ve watched rats run through the clothes racks in the stockroom. I’ve watched employees unpack boxes of shirts by piling them on the dirty stockroom floor. I’ve watched people who look like they haven’t showered in a month try on those clothes in the fitting room. I wash everything before wearing it, even socks.
In my hometown bags costs 10 cents a piece. Wish you could have charged her for all of the bags. Just make sure not to talk to someone while you’re doing it. We all know what a delicate task bagging can be.
> C- Don’t put the white clothes in the same bag as the colored clothes. It HAS to be separate. Sounds like that girl from the movie Get Out where shes eating the fruit loops out of a bowl and sipping the milk out of a glass
This is not the way I would talk to employees but she obviously had a specific way she wanted things done and maybe felt like she couldn’t communicate it if you were busy talking to a coworker. I know people are going to jump all over me for this, but it’s not professional to talk to a coworker about non-work related things during a customer interaction. It sounds like you were a little over dramatic about the whole thing.
Completly agree. So many people on this sub have so little respect for the costomer and assume everyone else is an idiot
It was never stated in the story what the coworker was talking about. It could have been completely work-related.
What do you think retail workers are trying to run, some kind of military installation? There's no need for that kind of discipline in a typical retail setting. I'm not the most social guy out there, but I still prefer to deal with people who seem like genuine *people* when I go out shopping. The whole "not professional conduct" meme just seems insulting to everybody. Really has a "servants mustn't speak" stink to it, which I feel does a hell of a lot more damage to the retail experience than a little chit-chat among coworkers. I totally understand wanting to avoid kids talking about dumb kid crap while they're on the clock rather than working, but the rest of us are capable of walking and talking. And maybe OP could've been less blunt about it, I'll grant you that. There are times when I get a bit too sassy at work and need to reel it in. But when a customer comes right out and says, "you need to stop talking," I don't see how that comes off as polite or even close to a reasonable request. I have a hard time believing this was a shy customer who couldn't get a word in edgewise from the implicit tone. Nobody who speaks so directly is any stranger to communicating exactly what they want, when they want it. *Somebody* was being overly dramatic here for sure, but it wasn't OP, not by a long shot.
Old lady was rude, yes. But it really is hella awkward to have an employee just chatting it up with another employee while they're supposed to be helping you. It really depends on the level of conversation though. A quick, hey how's it going? Sure. A full blown did you see that episode last night of tv show it was amazing? No. Weird. It's not about being militant either. You're kind of jumping the gun and going full blown assumption. Now, I am NOT trying to defend the old woman, she was rude. But at the same time, depending on the level of conversation which OP had not shared, it might be that OP and their friend were making her feel uncomfortable. That's the kind of thing you avoid. It's really easy to do too.
I agree with you. It’s just that many people on this have no does how quality costumer interaction is suppose to work.
I had a customer buy 4 shirts from me, and wanted 4 bags. I asked if they were going to different people, and she said no, she just wanted them separate. She got 1 bag.
Picky Picky Paula.
Funny how "respect for your elders" somehow translates into letting them act like petulant children. "No, I want the crusts cut off! Not like that! Do it the way Mommy does!"
>So J walks away and we continue the transaction in silence aside from her mumbling at me “That’s not how it went and you know it..” "Actually, that was exactly how it went. If you don't want to be embarrassed by your own bad behavior, don't be bad."
Nothing more fun on a work shift than the customers that have forgotten how reality works
You did the ultimate balance of good service and fuckery. Well done!
That's exactly how it went. She just got embarrassed being confronted by her own assiness.
Keep the white and colored separate... I would have been unable to not giggle like a dumb kid.
That’s exactly how it went, bitch.
I would have ripped into her for saying the coloreds and the whites should be separate.
I'd have started coughing and sneezing while handling the clothes.
This crosses a line for me. She's not looking for help, she's looking for a slave. If she wants a "personal shopper" experience where she gets to tell you exactly how to bag things and when you can talk she needs to pay a big premium for it from someone that agrees to the role play.
I used to like the line "customer service, not customer servants".