LTHForum.com

Yes, of course. If I have the choice between shopping at a store with friendly employees who cheerfully accommodate a simple request vs. snitty behavior and having to repack everything in the parking lot, absolutely. You would continue to patronize a store with rude employees if you had an option not to?

_________________
As a mattra-fact, Pie Face, you are beginning to look almost human. - Barbara Bennett

Perhaps we have different perceptions of "rudeness"?

Re-read what I wrote. Eyerolls, sniffy comments, huffing. If you call that polite then we have nothing to say to one another.

_________________
As a mattra-fact, Pie Face, you are beginning to look almost human. - Barbara Bennett

I noticed a real difference in the attitude of the checkers and baggers when I moved from the north side to the burbs. The kids in Elgin and Dundee are so nice that I was really shocked the 1st couple of times. Not that I remember any rude service in the city, just really nice out here. I always get asked if I want the meat in plastic instead of the reusable bags and if I need any help taking my groceries outside.

I'm with you. Vote with your dollars.

_________________
The cake is a lie

I couldn't help thinking of John Updike's great short story "A&P" when I read you had been a bagger there. It's a bit relevant to this thread, so if any of you perusing this thread haven't read this quite short classic, you can do so here.

Sure wish Mike Holiday was still hard at work here in Chicago!

_________________
my food shots

When the chubby middle-aged guy with a mustache and glasses on the Treasure Island on Broadway and Roscoe packs, I know I'm doomed. This involves discreetly moving ten feet past the checkout counter and rebagging so that there isn't forty pounds of canned food in one bag and paper towels, bread, and tea in the other.

Rick T:

Yes, indeedy! I don't know if this is still the case there, but back when I lived in NJ, the gas station lobby was quite powerful. I think what they were trying to do (and succeeded in), was to keep gas pumps away from convenience stores.

_________________
"When I'm born I'm a Tar Heel bred, and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead."

Siun,

I'm with you! And, I'm amused at your NC experience. I know that Dominick's (at least in Park Ridge) will always ask if I need help with my groceries, and tipping is not allowed, but somehow, it's different from back home. I very rarely take them up on the offer here.

The other option for groceries when we lived in Lakeview and Streeterville was to have groceries delivered. You would just tell the person at checkout that you wanted that option. Since I didn't have a car, this was great. Is that still offered at Treasure Island? We also used to shop at the Dominick's on Broadway at Wellington, which burned down quite some time ago; I don't know if another one was built in that part of Lakeview. But they also delivered.

If I wasn't having groceries delivered, having a good bagger was key, because I would be using one of those wheeled carts to get the groceries home. They would need to maximize the space in the cart.

_________________
"When I'm born I'm a Tar Heel bred, and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead."

Sdbond - Treasure Island does still deliver and I find the one at North and Wells as well as the one over on Clark at Division or close to quite decent options. Since I happily got rid of my car and only use a zipcar when absolutely needed, I really like strolling to the store but not worrying that I'll have way too much to carry on my return home. I think Dominick's will deliver as well or have seen signs about that but I'm not sure I believe it and like you, I never took them up on offers to help me out when I did used to drive.

This discussion jogged a memory, the A&P where I worked also delivery groceries. Jewel and Dominick's would never do that now.

_________________
Ms. Ingie
Life is too short, why skip dessert?

It really sounds to me like the problem here is you are doing something you have all thought out and that makes obvious sense to you, but not to a person encountering it for the first time. They have a choice between going, "Now wait, what is this and what does this lady want me to do?" and just trying to incorporate it into their flow. Telling them what you want them to do is not condescending. And asking them to guess is the opposite of respectful.

Honestly, if I was bagging and someone handed me a bunch of bags in a bag, my first thought would probably be, "What?" ? And then probably, "Oh, OK, she wants me to use some of these bags for her stuff and, um, hand the others back to her." But it would be a bit of a head-scratcher. (For one thing, it's amazing the stuff people will hand you when you are working in retail.)

I remember getting my gas pumped on Ogden, not far from Creiger High School, and I was shocked. It was in '97, and I didn't know that happened anymore. I wasn't even sure what to do.

_________________
I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love
There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach
I can't go to Hollywood. I got biscuits to make. ~ Dwight Henry

Late-Nite Eats Database

Don't leave us hanging! What would they give you?

_________________
I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love
There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach
I can't go to Hollywood. I got biscuits to make. ~ Dwight Henry

Late-Nite Eats Database

Lots of C-stores with pumps (not self service), at least in the southern half of the state today. I know my elderly mother appreciates not having to pump her own gas.



My last visit to Trader Joe's, the checker overpacked the bag and put a bottle of wine at the bottom. The bag broke in my garage and the wine smashed all over the floor.

Might be a function of neighborhood, but the stores near me all offer delivery service (aside from Peapod).

That's unfortunate. Did you call or return to the store?

_________________
Ms. Ingie
Life is too short, why skip dessert?

It was a bottle of Two Buck Chuck for cooking, so no, I didn't bother to go back.

Oh my god, anything they want to get rid of. Mostly partially eaten food or cups or shopping lists or whatever, but it could be any kind of crap. I've worked a lot in bookstores and I think the only thing I haven't been handed is a dirty diaper, though there have been a few of those left on the floor. It's weird enough when you're behind the cash register but when you're walking by with one hand holding a phone to your ear and the other hand holding a pile of books? Someone shoves something at you like you're supposed to grab it with your third hand.

Anyway, my point about bagging and stuff, based on these experiences in stores, is that even the most inept or casual worker has some kind of routine to help them get through a large number of transactions as smoothly as they can. And even the good ones will be momentarily boggled by a variation when they see it for the first time. I haven't run a cash register all that much, but when I have, I've been known to get confused by someone who has an unusual way of piling up or dividing their purchases, paying by multiple means etc. It's the worst when they just assume I'm going to understand what they're doing. Now, most people are pretty good natured when they realize that no, it was not immediately apparent. But some seem to think that since they've done it a hundred times I've seen it a hundred times, and I have a hell of a nerve not knowing immediately what to do.

My philosophy about working retail is that once you start expecting customers to understand the way you work, or the way things work in your store, you're doomed to a life of frustration. But it's the same thing when you're a customer. If you have a routine you like to follow and people aren't getting it, you're going to be continually frustrated unless you explain it up front.

Strack and Van Til will help you with groceries to your car, in fact you kind of have to ward them off if you DON'T want them to do so!

_________________
Leek
SAVING ONE DOG MAY NOT CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT IT CHANGES THE WORLD FOR THAT ONE DOG.
American Brittany Rescue always needs foster homes. Please think about helping that one dog.
http://www.americanbrittanyrescue.org

In Québec it's bad manners NOT to bring your reusable bags, even at the provincial wine/liquor stores. The upside is, the kids who do the bagging are pretty capable. They're unionized, well-paid, and courteous.

When we drive from Montréal to my in-laws in LI, we *always* stop for gas in Jersey, not only bcz it gets pumped for you, it's always waaay cheaper than NY!

Geo

_________________
Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

I worked as a cashier for a number of years while in college and have noticed that today's cashiers either are not given training or just ignore it. We were trained to do the following to minimize mistakes and avoid customers falsely claiming that they gave you a larger bill. If the total was $8.50 and they gave you a $20, we would first say "out of 20" as we took the bill, then lay it across the drawer so it is still visible to the customer, then say "$11.50 is your change," then count back up to $20 while handing the change to them -- when the coins are given you say "Nine," the single "Ten." and then the ten "and Twenty." Not only does this avoid most confusion -- if they insist they gave you a $50, you can point to the $20 laying across the drawer -- counting up allows you to put the coins in the palm of the customer's hand, followed by the paper. Now they say nothing (not even "you're welcome" if I thank them) and invariably hand the paper money back with the coins resting on top as on a tray, often resulting in the coins sliding off during transfer (prompting no "sorry"). I know, grumpy old man.

Exactly. I can't stand when I'm given the currency followed by the coin. The other thing that bothers me is that many today can't make change on their own. They only know what the register tells them.

_________________
Ms. Ingie
Life is too short, why skip dessert?

You have made me remember the excretable Bob Greene. For that I cannot forgive.

_________________
I'm not Angry, I'm hungry.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ArticleArchives?tag=Bob%20Watch

_________________
my food shots

At some places, particularly fast food, they are not allowed to do it themselves. They have to just do what the register says, so they don't learn.

_________________
Leek
SAVING ONE DOG MAY NOT CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT IT CHANGES THE WORLD FOR THAT ONE DOG.
American Brittany Rescue always needs foster homes. Please think about helping that one dog.
http://www.americanbrittanyrescue.org

Went to Woodman's this morning for our regular grocery run. We bought 2- 5 lb. bags of birdseed and they were the first things scanned and sent down the conveyor. The bagger did ask if we wanted to put the seed into a bag and we said yes because it's easier to carry and then proceeded to watch the checker and the register while making out our check (yes, we always pay by check but we have it ready to just fill in the amount) When we unloaded the cart into our car we noticed that the bagger put the bird seed in the cold zippered bag, the produce all in one (and we had a lot) and the milk without a bag. There is a sign near the front desk that says something to the effect that if a customer brings in a cold bag, the cold stuff has to go in it. Not birdseed.

Excretable?
Execrable isn't insult enough?

_________________
"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Perhaps AngrySarah meant extrudable, and wanted to make sausage from him.

_________________
Well I got drunk and I ate a chicken
I ate a chicken I found in my kitchen
Not just a leg and not just a wing
I'd like to let you know that I ate the whole damn thing