Cashier Walks Off

[CrochetFanatic]

Something interesting happened yesterday.  I was grocery shopping at Acme, and the cashier asked me if I had my discount card.  I said that I didn't, and she walked away from her register without a word and left me standing there for about three minutes.  People behind me were shifting around and looking annoyed, as I only had three items, but I was too surprised to stop her.  She finally came back with another employee's card, which she scanned.  No apology or explanation, though she did say "Have a nice day" after the transaction was completed.  I said "Thanks, you too", and walked out.  Honestly, I would have rather just payed the extra three dollars!  I was getting the stink-eye because I was the reason she walked off to get the darn thing.

I'm pretty sure she was rude, or at least thoughtless when she walked off like that, but was I right to just let it go?  I doubt she was supposed to do that, and the whole thing was kind of awkward (for me, at least).

There had been times when I've had to leave my register to get or do something in order to give someone a discount or fix a register error, but I always at least explained myself so that the customer would know, and could decline if they so chose instead of being inconvenienced. 

[MrsCrazyPete]

That's...weird. I mean, I'm sure she thought she was doing a nice thing for you, but how odd to just leave you standing there! I don't know if I'd say anything to management or not. Like you said, I'd be surprised if they're supposed to do that, but I think she thought she was doing something nice.

I agree with you though, she was definitely rude to walk away like that!

[SpikeMichigan]

    I would give her the benefit of the doubt, and assume she wasn't thinking straight or was maybe just a bit out of it. She was trying to help you out at least with the card, though of course she really should have said something about why she was leaving.

 Probably not worth talking to management, I'd just chalk it up to a failure to communicate.

  What I find the most rude is the people behind you giving you the eye when it is clear why there is a hold-up.

[WillyNilly]

I truly believe there are people out there who have no practical sense of time. In her mind she only left "for a second" not for a few minutes. And perhaps even in her mind explaining where was going would take longer then just wandering off.

[siamesecat2965]

I don't have an issue with her leaving, IF she had stated why.  A simple "let me see if I can find a card for you, I'll be right back" would have been fine. But to just walk off without saying anything is both rude and unprofessional.

I sometimes have to step away when I'm ringing up a customer at my job, but I always say why I'm doing it; need a manager, a merch. credit card, hangers, whatever.  And the customer is fine with that.

[JenJay]

I worked at a store with discount cards. If the customer didn't have one they could either have the cashier use an unassigned card (each check stand had one and it stayed right next to the register) or pay full price and then go to the customer service desk for a refund (if they had misplaced/forgotten the card or wanted to sign up for a new one). I suppose next time you shop there you might want to say "No thanks" or "I'd rather not" or something that indicates "I don't have a card and I'd rather pay more than stand here until you find one." 

[rose red]

What's the point of signing up for a card if they scan a generic card for you anyway?   

But yes, she should have said something.  What she did was just weird.  When I worked at a grocery store, cashiers are never ever suppose to walk away from their cash register or there will be consequences.  I wonder if she's new.

[Yvaine]

I truly believe there are people out there who have no practical sense of time. In her mind she only left "for a second" not for a few minutes. And perhaps even in her mind explaining where was going would take longer then just wandering off.

My guess is she also encountered unexpected delays of some sort--like, she thought she could just borrow one from an employee really close by, but that employee forgot his/her card, so she had to go farther than expected, and so on.

[O'Dell]

I've run into a number of people that do things like that: not explain the action they are taking and leaving people standing there clueless. When I worked in a store, I was surprised that more customers didn't speak up when it happened to them. I noticed that people who do this tend to play everything close to the vest...sorta' like a defense mechanism where they think the less they speak the less they risk getting mouthed off to.

If you say something, she'll know it was you. And IME people like this sometimes don't take getting spoken to by authority so well. If I were you, I'd let it pass and take more control of the situation in the future and tell her what you'd like done as part of your answer: "Nope, don't have my card with me. Let's just forget that. It's only $3." or "Nope I don't know the price on that item. Could you call on that? (or Could you set it aside and I'll get it another time?)"

If this is a pattern of behavior with her, it'll show up eventually and it'll resolve itself without you taking the risk.

[redcat]

I truly believe there are people out there who have no practical sense of time. In her mind she only left "for a second" not for a few minutes. And perhaps even in her mind explaining where was going would take longer then just wandering off.

My guess is she also encountered unexpected delays of some sort--like, she thought she could just borrow one from an employee really close by, but that employee forgot his/her card, so she had to go farther than expected, and so on.

Or while she was on the shop floor, another customer asked her a question and she tried to deal with that rather then not helping them.  Always difficult when there isn't another employee to direct them to instead.

[Virg]

My suspicion is that she left you thinking she'd walk ten feet to get a store scan card and return, and the person she asked didn't have it or had to retrieve it, so what she thought would be a few seconds turned into multiple minutes.  It was a bit rude to walk away without asking you if you'd prefer to wait for a store scan and also not to apologize once she returned, but beyond that I'd bet it was just an unexpected delay and it's not the sort of thing I'd follow up on unless it happened again.

Virg

[CrochetFanatic]

Yeah...I wasn't especially bothered by it, just caught off guard and a little embarrassed to be the cause of the hold-up.  The main thing that had me scratching my head was, it had been drilled into my head that a cashier does NOT leave their register when they have a line unless there's a problem, and I didn't think my lack of a card constituted a problem.  I thought it was strange that she would walk off out of the blue like that, and while I did appreciate the discount (somewhat), I sort of wished she hadn't bothered.

I've had her ring me up once before, so I'll probably bump into her again.  I'll just say "No, thanks" next time.

[juliasqueezer]

This is such a coincidence. I had a weird cashier experience yesterday at a local drug store.

I purchased several items, including a package of printer paper. As soon as I'd scanned my debit card, the cashier, a young teenage girl who hadn't said one word up to that point, ripped the receipt off the register, stuck it in the plastic bag, and walked away to the back of the store.

The plastic bag was hanging back behind the counter on the cashier side, so when I realized she was finished and not coming back (much to the dismay of the guy behind me in line!) I had to bend over the counter and unhook the plastic bag. It was heavy. She had put all of the items I'd purchased PLUS the ream of printer paper into one rather flimsy bag. Of course, it started to rip before I could leave the store, so I went to the other cashier and asked if I could have another bag. I was just in time to hear the customer who'd formerly been behind me in line asking why that cashier had walked away. The second cashier just shrugged and rolled her eyes. Charming.

I'm in one of the worst high-unemployment states. This just amazes me.

[SPuck]

Actually stuff like this happens at local Walgreens all the time. For a store that claims its faster than the big box stores, there are often lines at the registers while you can see anywhere from two to three other employees attending to non customer based tasks.

[juliasqueezer]

Funny how you guessed (correctly) that it was a Walgreens!