I thought this could be a fun thread. List things that get on your nerves about the grocery store, or things that the stores/personnel do right.

For me, I can speak from the cashier and the shopper's side. I was thinking and noting the things that bother me while I was at work today.

DO'S:
Speak to the cashier
Tell the cashier your payment type
Have your coupons ready before the end of the transaction
PAY ATTENTION TO THE EXPRESS CHECKOUT (12/20 ITEMS OR LESS) SIGNS!!!

DONT'S:
Let your kids run crazy through the store
Come in to do your 2-cart grocery shopping 10 minutes before the store closes

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 10:48 PM. Reason : ]

7/8/2008 10:44:51 PM

Self-checkout gets on my nerves the most because if you have a problem, the worker just kinda stands there and does nothing.

7/8/2008 10:45:38 PM

Hide the beer in the back.

7/8/2008 10:45:55 PM

don't take beer into the self-checkout

7/8/2008 10:46:29 PM

please remove all items from the bag

7/8/2008 10:46:55 PM

do buy food

7/8/2008 10:46:58 PM

DO:

PAY ATTENTION TO THE EXPRESS CHECKOUT (12/20 ITEMS OR LESS) SIGNS!!!

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 10:48 PM. Reason : so important, I'll add this to the original post so it gets read more.]

7/8/2008 10:48:02 PM

Don't cut me off on the way to the short line.
Don't tell me to take something out of the bag to prove I bought it (coupons redemption)

Do put your cart back in the designated spot.
Do put that extra gallon of Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip back in the freezer (not on the bananas)
Do let my cart pass

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 11:07 PM. Reason : on]

7/8/2008 11:07:03 PM

get off your goddamn cell phone when checking out.

7/8/2008 11:13:46 PM

Quote :

"please remove all items from the bag "

LMAO

7/8/2008 11:14:17 PM

DON'T pay with a fucking CHECK

WTF OLD LADY

7/8/2008 11:17:07 PM

as long as they watch where they are walking (as in not into me) I really don't care. Kids are annoying, but I don't really have to deal w/ many of them.


If I were shopping at Food Lion or Walmart, my list would be much much longer.

7/8/2008 11:21:10 PM

Don't get mad when the cashier turns off their light for their lunch break/going home.

7/8/2008 11:24:58 PM

yeah i worked in a grocery store as a cashier.

this thread is 10/10.

7/8/2008 11:28:10 PM

^^^^

hahah there was this tiny little old lady at the bank yesterday who wasn't even tall enough to see over the counter. And she started cursing up a storm. Bout fell out laughing it was so funny

7/8/2008 11:29:14 PM

which bank?

7/8/2008 11:30:17 PM

DON'T:

Get $300 worth of junk food and meat on welfare/EBT card, then proceed to bitch about the price of your 6 pack of schlitz and pack of newports that you have to pay for out of your own pocket.

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 11:32 PM. Reason : i will smash your bread ]

7/8/2008 11:32:09 PM

DO:
Provide your "customer loyalty card" at the beginning of the checkout process.
Go ahead and swipe your card through the machine so all you have to do is hit "yes" when the cashier is done.
Present all coupons before the cashier is ready to total the order.
Make sure that the item you pull off the shelf is indeed the one that is on sale/discounted.

DONT:
Allow your younguns to run through the place like its their own giant playground.
Yap on your cellphone so that we can hear your conversation three aisles over.
Think you are the exception to the rules. Limit of four doesn't mean you can buy eight. The coupon that expired seven months ago isn't valid. No, you can't buy something this week for the sale price it had when it was featured a month ago. And as already mentioned, PAY ATTENTION TO THE EXPRESS CHECKOUT (12/20 ITEMS OR LESS) SIGNS!!!

7/8/2008 11:38:09 PM

wachovia

7/8/2008 11:38:38 PM

she must've been pissed because she isn't a SECU member.

7/8/2008 11:39:50 PM

Quote :

"Go ahead and swipe your card through the machine so all you have to do is hit "yes" when the cashier is done."

that doesn't always work. more than half the time when i swipe early i have to re-swipe because the system wasn't "ready" for my swipe. wtf? and usually i end up having to hand the card to the cashier to get the CCID or last 4 digits off of the card (amex)

they should make people who use food stamps go to a special food-stamp checkout line. im sick of waiting for them to sort through their orders, saving their beer and magazines for a separate purchase with which they use a $100 bill to pay.

7/8/2008 11:40:37 PM

Do not take meat out of the cold area and leave them sitting somewhere random, like the bread isle. It's dangerous!

7/8/2008 11:40:41 PM

Get off of your fucking cell phone long enough to give the fucking cashier some bit of respect since they are the ones handling your transaction..if your doing self check-out then disregard.

7/8/2008 11:43:31 PM

Do pay attemtion to the amount of money you can spend. That way, we don't have to void off $50 worth of food that you can't pay for, and then call a manager for a key.


fjjackso, do you work for a grocery store now?

7/8/2008 11:44:12 PM

no no

i did for two years in high school

7/8/2008 11:48:23 PM

Quote :

"they should make people who use food stamps go to a special food-stamp checkout line. im sick of them having to sort through their orders, saving their beer and magazines for a separate purchase with which they use a $100 bill to pay."

the way our registers were set up, you just scanned everything and then at the end after you hit a few buttons, it would give you the EBT total (minus sales tax)... they pay that, then it gives you the remaining balance with sales tax.

i do like the idea of a special EBT checkout line though... if for no other reason, it might motivate people to get off their asses and get a job instead of embarrassing themselves at the grocery store.

also, please note - if there is a problem with your order, or if your check gets rejected by chexsystems, or you have a coupon that expired last week, or anything else... and the cashier calls a supervisor... DO NOT GET PISSED AT THE SUPERVISOR. it isn't our fault... and, at least with me, the nicer you treated me, the more lenient i was willing to be.

also
a) don't complain to us when your credit/debit card gets denied, we can't do a damn thing about it. ask the cashier to suspend your order (so they can continue checking other people out), go outside, and call your bank.

b) always, always, ALWAYS give the cashier your greenpoints/VIC/whatever card at the beginning or near the beginning of your order. our registers tended to fuck up a lot if the card was scanned after the order had been totaled. this just creates headaches for all involved.

c) if you get cash back on the pin pad, it's usually a good idea to tell the cashier you've done so. even though they get a little message on their terminal about it, sometimes they're a bit out of it because they're so busy (or some other reason). if you tell them AFTER the drawer has closed, they have to call a supervisor to come open the cash drawer, and we really don't like doing that 239480234 times a day.

d) if the store closes at midnight, THE STORE CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT. we make announcements 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 1 minute before the store closes - you have plenty of warning. if midnight comes around and you're not in the checkout line, sorry, you're out of luck. my cashiers want to go home.

e) the louder you yell at me, the more likely i am to either a) ask you to leave the store or b) call the police and get them to remove you from the store. yelling at people almost never solves anything.


i can think of more, haha

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 11:52 PM. Reason : i was a bookkeeper at lowes foods during high school]

7/8/2008 11:52:02 PM

if you see a floor manager who looks like he is a pious prick, do us a favor and punch him in the throat

7/8/2008 11:53:12 PM

Quote :

"Do not take meat out of the cold area and leave them sitting somewhere random, like the bread isle. It's dangerous!"

Thank you, I hate to see stuff like this I always wonder if they put it back or toss it.

7/8/2008 11:57:43 PM

^depends on if it's still cold or not

7/8/2008 11:58:48 PM

The grocery store was my first job when I turned 16. I did it at store 1 for 1.5 years, transferred to store 2 for about 6 months, then last semester started working again at store 3 (after like 4.5 years break). Then, yesterday, I started back at store 1 for the rest of the summer.


Personally, I like to save the store savings card for the end of the transaction, just so I can see how much money they saved. And it never messes up, it keeps the savings separate from the order, so its easier to make sure someone got the discount on whatever they're asking about.

And it is much easier to tell us that you got cash back, just as a reminder. Although, we can open our own registers now, without a key. (Otherwise, I agree completely with evan's post! )

7/9/2008 12:04:06 AM

^^^put it back more often than you'd like to think about. you also don't want to know what kind of abuse your frozen food goes through before you get it (i.e. thawing out in the back room for 6+ hours after it comes off a truck before anyone starts putting it away)

[Edited on July 9, 2008 at 12:07 AM. Reason : 

7/9/2008 12:05:03 AM

7/9/2008 12:05:40 AM

hahahahahaahaa

7/9/2008 12:09:29 AM

i really hate people that don't put carts in the cart things in the parking lot.

like, HATE.

it is but a simple action and yet it shows SO MUCH about the person. you lazy motherfuckers.

7/9/2008 12:16:32 AM

Don't:
Be a lazy employee and say "nah I'm tired of doin' this shit" and go stand at an unoccupied register to talk with your friends instead of bagging groceries.
Look in shock and horror that somebody under the age of 30 is wearing a t-shirt and shopping in your grocery store.
Be rude and ghetto to grocery store employees, unless you want to get cancer/smitten.
Mess up store displays then walk away without fixing them.
Stand there and stare at the cashier when there isn't somebody there to bag your goods. Man up and use your hands, nancy.
Exploit the system of handouts provided by the government, unless you want people to form negative judgments about you and elect politicians that will make your life hell.
Be creepy.

Do:
Be gentle with produce, unless you want to pay for the stuff you just left finger dents on.
Ask people to pardon your reach while you get a product, instead of just standing off to the side like you're mute and waiting for them to move on.
Park your shopping cart out of the way if you're going to be extremely contemplative about a purchasing decision.
Beat the shit out of your kids when they act up and run around in a grocery store.
Put back shit you don't want.
Learn to pull bills out of you wallet faster than one at a time.
Bag your own shit if nobody's there to help (should be repeated 800 times).
Offer to help the cashier with heavy items if you're a big guy and they're a little girl.
Tell the employees to have a nice day when you've finished your transaction.

The kids being crazy thing has always gotten me though. Had people's kids run all around the store, nearly run into me on a few occasions, then they ran into something fairly solid (I think it was a display of 12 packs of sodas or something) and started bawling like idiots. If you have children like this, sterilize yourself and boil your children. Either that or discipline them.

7/9/2008 12:38:02 AM

you said to put back a lot of things but i didn't notice shopping cart.

you aren't one of THOSE PEOPLE that doesn't put it back? are you? are you?

i hope not. and i agree about the children.

7/9/2008 12:40:00 AM

I put it back, always, and an one of the most respectful and considerate people you will ever meet when it comes to operating in conventional situations such as grocery stores and retail outlets. If anything else were ever to be implied it would be an attack on my honor, and I would settle the disagreement with pistols. If you don't have a firearm, more power to me.

7/9/2008 12:42:00 AM

take someone else's basket

"hey, that's mine!"

not yet it isn't!

-GC

7/9/2008 12:42:35 AM

Ever try to get through the express line with more than the prescribed number of items?

7/9/2008 12:49:52 AM

no i feel bad about the express line thing. i thought the under 12 under 10 under whatever was just kind of a general number. like if you have AROUND 12 items you are allowed to check out there. so i'm pretty sure i've violated and checked out with like 13. no one has ever said anything though. oopsy. i'd never do it if i had more than 5 extra items though. i just never thought 1 or 2 was a big deal. oopsy again. i will reform.

7/9/2008 12:51:48 AM

^^ I've had those cashiers call people over from my line before because we all had full carts and he wasn't getting anybody who was just checking out with a couple of items.

7/9/2008 12:53:49 AM

DO this

http://video.stripclublist.com/video/scl92164i

7/9/2008 12:58:09 AM

Quote :

"Look in shock and horror that somebody under the age of 30 is wearing a t-shirt and shopping in your grocery store."

What?

Quote :

"I've had those cashiers call people over from my line before because we all had full carts and he wasn't getting anybody who was just checking out with a couple of items."

Personally, I kinda keep an eye on who is heading towards the checkout. If no one is coming too soon, and I'm on the express lane, I will call over even a full cart. I know how fast I am, and I know whether or not I SHOULD* get it finished in time. (*If the person is super slow or whatever else, its out of my hands!)



Another Don't:
Go straight to checkout 1 because you're closest to it. If there are a couple of people in that line, it may be because they all did what you just did. Walk down and check out the other lanes. Usually, they'll be shorter.

7/9/2008 1:20:59 AM

Quote :

"i really hate people that don't put carts in the cart things in the parking lot. like, HATE. it is but a simple action and yet it shows SO MUCH about the person. you lazy motherfuckers."

i will bitch people out for this
(i also bitch people out for parking in fire lanes)

seriously, people... look around you... if you're near the front of the store, just take your cart back inside... or if you're farther back, at least put it in the cart corral.

and i don't care if you're just running in for a minute, it is ALWAYS inappropriate (not to mention illegal) to park in a fire lane, and there is no excuse for it unless you are driving an emergency vehicle code 3. i WILL bitch you out.

7/9/2008 1:40:11 AM

.

[Edited on July 9, 2008 at 1:42 AM. Reason : ]

7/9/2008 1:42:16 AM

Working in retail should be mandatory for everyone for a year when they're young. You really get to see how shitty your fellow man is.

7/9/2008 2:02:26 AM

same with the food service industry. any service job i guess. but yea...i'm doing retail this summer and while it is a step above working in a bar, people are still bitches, yo.

7/9/2008 2:03:26 AM

Working in retail DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON should be mandatory for everyone for a year when they're young. You really get to see how shitty your fellow man is.

7/9/2008 2:03:42 AM

yeah i'm in agreement.

7/9/2008 2:04:08 AM

i work at a children's clothing boutique. children and boutique. are you serious?

some shittay people frequent my store. though like i said, it is better than working at a bar. although i think the bar was more fun (at times). and i made more money. but it was also more stressful, more demeaning, and when it was bad...it was REALLLLLY bad.

7/9/2008 2:06:21 AM