How did we get to this? I wondered as I checked out at StuffMart. Somehow, customer service has slipped to all time lows. Jogging around a store of a couple of acres, I select my items. The milk is in the far back right corner but the dog food, equally important, is in the front left. After getting in my morning workout just doing a little shopping, I put the items on the conveyor to checkout. Having done that, I must then stand by as a bagger.
The cashier puts the items in the bag, turns the turntable so that I can reach the bag, and I'm expected to load my own cart. As I stood doing this the other day, the cashier told me that she was "running out of room here" but I was still loading the conveyor. Hurry up, I'm sure she was thinking. HOW have we women, who do most of the shopping, allowed ourselves to be treated so? How is it that they've managed to get us to do all the work and pay for the privilege? After spending over $300 (I used to think a good day was getting out under $100), does anyone ask if I need help out? No, I now have the task of gingerly steering the cart with bags that don't quite fit as well as the unbagged cart, watching that William doesn't get run over, and then loading the car myself. Something is wrong with this picture.
LinkWithin
Popular Posts
-
Guest Blog by Lauren Lauren wrote this essay for a class she is taking. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share with you. Copyrigh...
-
Before going back to more serious subjects, I wanted to share a story told by my sister about my beloved nephew/godson. He recently had a fr...
-
In a recent Smithonian Magazine article, it quotes author Vaclav Smil as saying that "two of every five humans on earth today would not...
-
The county where I live is a "bedroom" community, not just for people, but for horses. It is not unusual to see large horse traile... -
I saw this on one of my email lists, from Louise in Israel: While you're at it, you can do the wild-animals-foaming-at-the-mouth "t...
-
Mass was about to start, so I turned down the volume on my iPhone and silenced it. I slid it into the handy pocket on my thigh of my new cap...
-
The BBC news magazine reports that Paris Hilton wrote the following on her myspace.com blog: "Please help and sihn it." She is hop...
-
"I am going to be homeschooling my kindergartner. What curriculum should I use?" If only I had one day to have my little ones li... -
Burger King, that is. Yesterday, I took 3 yr old William to Burger King. There's a play place there, and kids with which to play. He ...
-
If I had been the cashier, I would have lost my job. I would have told the old lady that I'd ring up her "Christmas gifts" ...
7 comments:
While I was at Stuff-mart last night, the "bagger" loaded the van for me. Let me explain though, I purchased mulch and an older guy (I worried would have a heart attack helping me) was in the "loading area" making sure I didn't take more than I purchased. Not only was I concerned for his health, I wondered about the wisdom of being in a back parking lot after dark with him -- he was kind of creepy.
--Camflock
I have to admit that I don't shop at Stuff-mart. I've been there maybe 6 times in the last 7 years. Since I moved here, I've been 3 times because it's the only thing in town. But, it takes an emergency to get me there. The only reason is the service. Every time I go to Stuff-mart, I get irritated by long lines and poor service. So, I try to save myself the irritation.
Oh, I sooo feel your pain. But Stuff-mart isn't the only store that has developed the revolving carousel for bagged groceries, the other majors have done the same. I've had them say the same thing to me, & then I shoot them one of my whithering looks, which I'm VERY good at doing. ;)
I had one young man say something to me once & I just looked at him and said, "excuse me, I think you're the one that's getting paid to work here" with that he started putting the bags in the buggy. Then other times I have a stand-off with them... I'll just stand there & watch 'til they finally give in and load it themselves.
Our walmart in oldham is horrible in comparison w/Louisvilles...the prices out here on some items are as high as $2.00 more than at the Westport road store. Their service is slow & not friendly at all. When stores started the turntable thing I said isn't it funny how they just assume we will load our own bags! We need a new store out here so they have to care what their service is like. Also that development around Walgreens I just found out that 2 places backed out go figure!nothing is being built in there but possibly the hotel...
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that feels this way about the whole bagging/loading your cart process! I've dealt with cashiers that wouldn't even lend a hand to load my cart when I was 9 months pregnant & shopping with 2 small children in tow! I've actually complained to store managers about cashiers not doing what they are being paid to do. On the other hand, I can not say enough good things about Whole Foods. I've never had a bad experience there, the cashiers are always so friendly, they bag your groceries and *gasp* actually load them into your cart! It's a shame their prices are too expensive to shop there on a regular basis!
You have to go back to basic business principles and sociology. Employees will only be as productive (and courteous) as they are expected to be. If management leads by example and if they expect their employees to overachieve then they will. But at a place like Stuff-mart, as a former employee of a like minded store, the employers expect bad service and underachievement from their employees. That’s what they pay their employees to do via dollar per hour. Don’t expect an employee to disappoint their boss by not doing what’s expected of them. Also, when an employee does step up and goes against the grain because of some good work ethic instilled in them, it only leads to all the other employees hating that lone good worker. Even if the good workers rises to the top they will still be hated by those under them and will find it hard to accomplish anything worthwhile in the business because of their subordinates disdain. So basically, you can try bribing your cashier or you can talk to a manager......neither will actually help you though. :D
I have to say that I have found that if I use the older women which we have a lot of they are very helpful. They know that I have the four kids and that I am going to go crazy. Most will help by putting them in for me if the kids have not grabbed them and make sure that when the kids grab them that they do not whack the younger two in the heads with them. But it is a small town one. When I used a younger checker yesterday I was ignored while the man infront of me was talked to. I am a person that likes to talk also. I will be trying to find the older women from now on not just the shortest line.
Post a Comment