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tspikes51 · 10-19-2005, 09:52 PM

I have been thinking about writing a book about my experiences as a cashier and courtesy clerk (or "bagger" to the layman) at various grocery stores. The grocery business is an interesting one because nobody can avoid going there. You see an accurate representations of the populace. I work at a Kroger that is pretty much on campus. We sell lots of beer, and get lots of fake ID's, and people don't realize that there are people watching me, and I lose my job on the spot if I sell them beer. I can throw them out with relative ease though, and if not, I always carry a knife and can also call security, so it's not so much of a problem.

The problem comes when people get uppity about stupid shit that I can't do anything about. Example: we have a machine up front that you dump change into. It prints out a ticket that you take to the customer care counter and get paper money for. There is a big sign on the machine that says: "Coinstar tickets can only be exchanged at the customer care counter, which is open from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM." People come in at midnight and bitch at me because I can't exchange their ticket.

One thing that people who haven't worked a low-wage service/retail job fail to realize is that the employees of the company that you interact with (i.e. sales associates, servers, cashiers) have no say in any of the companies' policies. I usually try to direct complaints to a manager, but people should know better than to get belligerent with low-level employees. We're there to do our jobs, not kiss your ass and wipe it too. I refuse to be dehumanized and I have been known to throw people out on my own power. I am good at service jobs (they're actually my favorite non-creative jobs), and I realize that I am getting paid by the customers I serve, but I refuse to go beyond what is reasonable and kiss customers' asses. Good managers will realize that, and shrug off complaints about employees.

That being said, I know a lot of people who work in service jobs that are assholes to customers, but they're outnumbered by good service people.

10-19-2005, 09:52 PM	#59 (permalink)
tspikes51 Fuckin' A Location: Lex Vegas	I have been thinking about writing a book about my experiences as a cashier and courtesy clerk (or "bagger" to the layman) at various grocery stores. The grocery business is an interesting one because nobody can avoid going there. You see an accurate representations of the populace. I work at a Kroger that is pretty much on campus. We sell lots of beer, and get lots of fake ID's, and people don't realize that there are people watching me, and I lose my job on the spot if I sell them beer. I can throw them out with relative ease though, and if not, I always carry a knife and can also call security, so it's not so much of a problem. The problem comes when people get uppity about stupid shit that I can't do anything about. Example: we have a machine up front that you dump change into. It prints out a ticket that you take to the customer care counter and get paper money for. There is a big sign on the machine that says: "Coinstar tickets can only be exchanged at the customer care counter, which is open from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM." People come in at midnight and bitch at me because I can't exchange their ticket. One thing that people who haven't worked a low-wage service/retail job fail to realize is that the employees of the company that you interact with (i.e. sales associates, servers, cashiers) have no say in any of the companies' policies. I usually try to direct complaints to a manager, but people should know better than to get belligerent with low-level employees. We're there to do our jobs, not kiss your ass and wipe it too. I refuse to be dehumanized and I have been known to throw people out on my own power. I am good at service jobs (they're actually my favorite non-creative jobs), and I realize that I am getting paid by the customers I serve, but I refuse to go beyond what is reasonable and kiss customers' asses. Good managers will realize that, and shrug off complaints about employees. That being said, I know a lot of people who work in service jobs that are assholes to customers, but they're outnumbered by good service people. __________________ "I'm telling you, we need to get rid of a few people or a million." -Maddox