As a grocery store customer, you may not realize it, but some of the things you do might be driving your cashier nuts. There are a long list of common offenses, but this article is reserved for the top ten worst things that customers often do. Take notes and please, for the love of God, try not to be this person.
1. Your cashier gives you a friendly hello, and you say nothing back
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Honestly, this just kills the vibe right off the bat. It’s so easy to just say hello back. Seriously, it’s a common courtesy and your mother would be disappointed. I don’t care if you’re 18 or 80, she would be disappointed.
2. You stare at your cashier while your 50 items pile up on the conveyor belt because there isn’t a bagger
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Alright, this one really gets me. If there’s no one behind you in line, I might let it slide. But lets say it’s a Saturday, and there are three people with equally large orders behind you. I get that it isn’t your job to bag your groceries, but if you do, it helps both of us out. Do your cashier a solid and bag your groceries if there isn’t a bagger. We really appreciate it when you do.
3. You try to tell your cashier/bagger how to bag your groceries like it isn’t their job or something
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We do work at a grocery store.
4. You blame your cashier for something that very obviously is not their fault
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Story time: an older man once called me “a bad cashier” in front of a long line of customers because the woman in front of him had a container of strawberries that included one moldy berry. Please tell me how it’s my fault that the produce department put out a container of bad berries? I’m only a cashier, I just do what I’m told to do.
5. You try to get your cashier/self-checkout attendant to help you while they’re helping someone else
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If I’m already helping someone else, you’re going to have to wait your turn. Not only is it rude of you to interrupt the other customer that I’m helping, but you’re also making me want to help you even less. It isn’t that I don’t want to help you in the first place, the other person was simply there first.
6. You freak out if your cashier scans one of your items twice by accident
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If we’ve done this, we most likely noticed and voided it right away. If we’ve failed to notice, it isn’t because we’re trying to rob you, it’s just because it happens sometimes. When you, preferably calmly, ask us why it’s showing up twice, we will happily take the extra item off for you.
7. You walk into a lane with a long line when I’m standing in front of my register, waiting for customers
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At most grocery stores, cashiers have to stand at the front of their lane when they have no customers. This is so you know that we are ready and able to get you through the last part of your trip as soon as possible. What I really don’t get is that customers will think I’m standing there for fun. Someone once asked me, in all seriousness, “Are you guarding the magazines or something?” Actually, I am working, and I can help you here.
8. When you complain that your cashier/bagger “made your bags too heavy”
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This usually applies to paper bags or reusable bags. All of you paper lovers always ask for it because “you can fit so much more in them.” Yes, you are right. I’m going to do the paper bags justice and fill those bad boys as much as I can. If you bring me your own, humongous reusable bags, then yeah, I’m going to fill those things to the top as well — especially if you just bought a ton of items.
9. You come into the Express Lane with a full order
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Obviously you didn’t notice, but the Express Lane is for people with 15 items or less. It even says that on the lane number sign. Please don’t get mad at me when it takes forever to check out because I only have a four-bag carousel, and I have no where to send your items except right into the bags.
10. You ignore your cashier’s outstretched hand and put your money on the conveyor belt
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It’s easier for the both of us if you would just put the money in my hand. My hand was already there, open, waiting. It’s surprisingly hard to pick coins off of a flat surface.
This is the end of my grocery store cashier rant. I sincerely hope that you’ll take these things into consideration, and that from here on out you’ll try to make your cashiers’ lives a little easier by never, ever doing these things ever again. Make the world a brighter place, one less grocery store offense at a time.