Am I overreacting?

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This cashier at the supermarket I go to, for the second time today gave my turn to someone else, on the grounds that they had only a couple items and I had a few more than that. That was the first time. Today we both had 1 item each, but mine had to be taken from a shelf by another cashier and given to this cashier (would take about 15 seconds), so she gave my turn to the other person.

Now, I'm exhausted after work and barely functioning (I've been feeling quite bad after my operation of last month), so standing in line for another couple minutes after what I've already stood in that line DOES make a difference to me. I've complained to her, but she pretends not to hear and continues the transaction with the other person, ignoring my complaints and anything I say about the issue.

I want to complain to the manager.

Definitely talk to the manager if it happens again. Even if she thought she could get their order done in the 15 seconds that it would take, she still should have asked you to make sure it was alright with you first.

When you talk to the manager just say basically what you typed here.

[edit]I have cashiered before, and even when the next guy in line had the "go ahead" of the person who would have taken a couple moments it seemed like those are the people who use the checks that just won't go through or forgot their license in the car and then the person who was cut is stuck waiting even longer. It is not fair that you were not asked if it was okay.[/edit]

Last edited by Detren on 28 Sep 2008, 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

yeah i use to be the guy that stood there and counted the numbers of items in the " 9 items or less basket"
and would be incensed when some one had 10 items.

one day some lady tried to barge past me and told me " i wont be long" as she strolled past me.
i stood in front of her and her trolley and said " you will be longer than me"

i thought i was cool...i probably scared her.

anyway these things incense me too, we AS have a tremendous sense of righteousness.

i will sit here in my living room and laugh it off , but i can go out and do it tonight, forget what i tell you and kick up a fuss.

what do you do?

you need to "let it go"

i know this is easy to say........but in time and with practice you can learn to not react....it wont stop you from wanting to kill the checkout girl, but you have to control it.

why?

because no one else can.

How far away was this item? Did she know the cashier was on her way to retrieving prior to ringing up the other person?

What if you had been that other person - would you be just as angry if you had to wait for the person in front of you to get an item of a shelf when you had only a few items and had everything you needed in your cart?

What hurts the most is how she pretends not to hear me all along while I'm complaining, and continues the transaction with the other person as if nobody was talking.

I think I'll write a letter to the manager, to avoid his trying to show me I'm the one in the wrong, as they usually do around here.

As I said, it never takes more than 15 seconds. And it's not that I didn't have my stuff in the cart - it's their regulations that item has to be taken from that shelf.

And how do you justify the first time?

That depends on where the cashier who needed to get it was standing and what it was. Sometimes it takes a few seconds for people to price check your item in large stores. Othertimes the cashier sends you back to get another one because its going to be long time before she can get an employee available to go tell her the price

If it was something like cigarettes it makes sense that she would take the other person first, as it does typically take longer to get the cigaretters out of a display case than it does to ring up someone with just one or two items. Anything else, and I don't understand why you wouldn't have gotten it yourself in the first place

As a cashier I often ignored the people who complained, because they were generally the ones who'd stand there and argue about nothing, insist that I was stupid for no other reason than I was a cashier, and would completely ignore my questions as they told me the same thing over and over again - like I needed to know the size of ice cream this woman wanted and I couldn't enter anything about her order until she told me the size, but she kept repeateding "strawberry ice cream with whip cream" everytime I asked her what size she'd like and getting angrier and angrier at me because I wasn't able to comprehend what she was asking. its experiences like that which led me to ignore those who shouted out things while i worked. especially as what they were shouting out often didn't match what I was doing (ie I don't want any carmel syrup on my sundae - well duh, thats why I used the pump marked butterscotch)

I've already written the letter.

is that the uh top shelf?

I'd let it go GT, it could snowball and then you'd have to find somewhere else to shop. Try to use another cashier. They don't last that long anyway, she'll move on somewhere else hopefully.

LOL! A woman tried to do that to me one Sunday morning when I was checking out a few items. She basically told me that she was going first, because she was in a "hurry" and that she had less than me. I said "tough". She was about to argue with me, but I must have had the "eat dirt and die" look on my face, because she backed off AND went to a different cash register. I figure if you are rushed off your feet on a Sunday morning, then your priorities might not be straight. I don't mind letting someone go in front if I have a cartload and they have a chocolate bar or something, and others have done the same for me, but to just EXPECT it... sigh.

Thanks for that advice. It made writing the letter very easy!

Unless you're able to shop at quiet periods, like first thing in the morning or at night, then you should expect shopping to be a frustrating and annoying experience.

I also find bad weather tends to be a good day to do the supermarket shopping.

oh it was the same cashier both times.

Last time were you already to put your items up/pay and she waived someone in front of you?

If you complain, and she is still there 3 months from now, you will be even more irritated.

I know this from personal experience.

me too. nothing happens except it gets more embarrassing to shop there.

she could be a 'friend' or relative of the boss or something.

They're a 'club', you're an outsider. it's not a good idea to get on the wrong side of food providers.

I wouldn't complain unless you've got another shop to go to.

OK, I can see the reasoning behind letting someone with 2 items get served before someone with a trolleyfull, but......

In the UK we take queueing VERY seriously. To the point that talking to even NT's about other countries, they will often comment on how "they don't respect queues like we do in the UK"

Going back my original line, the fundamental rule of a queue is "first in first out". Not "lowest numbers of items first". I know about item counting, friends who have worked as cashiers (incidentally well worth cultivating if they will let you pass a few bottles of vodka thru without charging for them ) have told me that it doesn't matter what the maximum number is. people will invariable try for 2 more items than the limit.

Anyway, queue ettiquette in the UK is thankfully so clear than it's kind of an Aspie dream system, if only it could be applied elsewhere (eg bars, where the rule seems 'most attractive' or 'most aggresive looking' first).

The point I'm trying to get at is that it's NOT OK for the cashier to be making the judgement. if the shopper in front of you with a trolleyfull sees you with a couple of items, it's up to *them* to do the decent thing and let you go first. In my experience, 9 times out of 10 this is what happens and it's fine.

Greentea, out of all the unpleasant things that can happen, this is not the worst, although I can understand it feels like you're being picked on. Can you not just avoid this particular cashier and see if another treats you more fairly?