SELF scan

One thing that has come to bother me through the years of working at Stop and Shop is the ignorance of the elder people. You try to explain thing to them, but they do not understand, or they try to tell you how to do your job, but it is completely nothing like you need to do it. The biggest pet peeve that I have with ignorant elder people is when they use self-scan. There are a good number of elder people who go through the self check out with no problems, but there are a few who have completely no idea what is going on.

One time I had a woman just stand in front of the self check out machine for about five minutes. I went over to her and asked her if she needed help with something. She looked at me and said she was waiting for the cashier to come ring up her items. I explained how it was self scan and that she would have to do it herself if she wanted to use it. She walked away.

I honestly do not mind when people do that, and there have been times that I will scan there few items for them because they look so sad that they were waiting for nothing. The people that I mind are the ones who come up to self scan and say “Oh I have never done this before you are going to have to help.” I show them the basics, but then they tell me to just ring everything up and bag it. I do not understand why people who do not know how to work self scan, mind you it is pretty self-explanatory, even come to the lines. It is not that I do not want to help them, I just do not like the fact that they know they cannot understand the concept of the machine, yet they still insist on using it.

The Strange Bagger

I was sitting at the computer; wondering what I should write for my blog this week and then out of nowhere and event that happened about a year ago popped into my mind. I do not know how I did not think of this before. The following story is something that caught me, and the manager, off guard one night.

I was working behind courtesy one day and I noticed a young man hanging around the registers. He ended up being one of the cashier’s cousins. The cashier told him that he had to leave and that he could not stand there with her. Plus other customers were complaining about someone helping them bag who was a random stranger. He left about ten minutes after he was told to leave, but before he walked out him and another young kid, who was shopping with his mother, got into a little bit of a verbal bicker.

The next thing I know the phone rings. So I pick it up like usual and I hear this woman’s voice on the other end yelling. She was telling me that “That kid that was hanging around your cashiers who does not even work here just ran after my son and tried to beat him up. I am calling the cops and coming back inside now so have your manager downstairs so I can speak with him.” I said okay no problem, hung up and got the manager downstairs.

The fight did not end up happening and I do not believe any cops ended up coming, but the randomness and adrenalin from the chaos made this event something crazy and entertaining.

Creepy....Part Two

In the last blog I talked about creepy old men hitting on me. The next story I am about to tell is a bit more direct and freaked me out even more than the first instance.

Last week I was working at customer service and a regular customer came in. I see this guy every week and he always says hi to me and asks me how I am doing. I never found that odd until this day, since many of the regular customers say hi and ask how I am and I do the same in return. So, I see the guy and we wave to each other and he comes over to say hi and whatnot. We were talking and since it was slow and no one was coming up to customer service, he was talking to me for a little longer than usual. We talked about the tsunami and earthquake in Japan and other things that he brought up. Then, out of nowhere, he says “so maybe we can get some lunch together sometime”? I kind of was not sure of what had happened because he mumbles a bit and I was not sure if he was talking to me or about him and his wife getting lunch. So I just dismissed that he even said anything. But, then what he had said was confirmed when he said “so, um, should I get your number or something”? I laughed a little and he said “oh are you too busy?” So I told him yes because I have school and work and I do not have time for anything else. He looked at me and said ok and walked away. I seriously had no idea what to do. I am now scared to talk to that guy, but he is always in the store. So I guess I will have to come up with some sort of plan to avoid him or something.

Creepy...Part One

Have you ever heard jokes about creepy old men hitting on younger girls? Well, it is not much of a joke since I have started working at Stop and Shop. Since I started I have had a few old men stare at me in a creepy way and tell me how beautiful I am and all that stuff. But, there have been two instances so far which have stuck with me more than the rest. In the following two blogs I will tell you each story.

The first instance happened about a year into working. I was working on register that day. A fairly old man, I would say about 60’s, came into my line. I said hi like usual and asked how he was, like I do to all the customers. We were talking for a little while I was ringing and he asked me how I liked working here. I told him it is very nice and they work with my schedule well. To me that was not an odd questions since I have been asked that before. Then the weird part began to happen. He asked me if he would like him to get me a job at a casino that he owns. I told him that I am ok where I am working now. Then he says “are you sure, I would get you a job as a cocktail waitress”? I just looked at him and again told him no and that I was happy where I am. It was so weird, and I felt a bit uncomfortable.

Free Peanuts?

There is nothing that I dislike more than people who demand to get things for free. It is our policy to give them their money back, but it bothers me when they demand it, because sometimes it is up to my discretion if they get the full price back or just the difference.

Last week I had a woman come up to the courtesy counter and explain to me how she found some plastic in her peanuts. I called the manager because she wanted to let him know what had happened. He said he was sorry and that he could write up a report to the company for her. She said that she would appreciate that. Then he told her that I will give her the money back for the peanuts, which I figured I was going to do anyways. So I gave her back the full price which was $3.29.

About a half hour later the woman comes back up to the desk and complains that she bought the peanuts for $2.50 last week and now they are ringing up the regular price of $3.29. I explained to her how the sales change each week so that is why the peanuts are not on sale anymore. She then says “Well I think because of the situation I was in I should get this one for free or get the difference back.” I then explained to her how she got a refund of the full regular price for the peanuts before, because I did not know she paid a sale price. So I tried to have her understand that she pretty much just traded cans because I gave her the same amount of money back that she just spent on the peanuts. It took her a few times to understand that she only ended up paying $2.50 for the first can of peanuts and that she was not going to get a refund on another can.

I thought it was funny how she was telling me that she should get it for free just because she found plastic in her other can. She would then be getting 2 free cans, one for no reason.