Who was next?

[bonyk]

This evening, I was waiting on a rather long express line at the grocery.  A store employee came over and asked me to move with her to the courtesy desk to check out.  We got to the desk, and there was a woman waiting there with a full basket to checkout. 

Who should have gone first?  The woman who was waiting, or me, whom the employee moved off of the other line?

[guihong]

You were next.  One, the clerk got you.  Two, I never assume that the customer service desk is a real check-out unless gotten (as you were), and then for small orders.  The desk in my store doesn't have a produce scale, for instance, so can't ring that up.

[*inviteseller]

The clerk came and told you to step over, so she in effect took you as the next person to be waited on.  Also, if she had a full basket and you only had a few things (I assume because you were in the express) it would make sense to take you first.

[m2kbug]

I would be surprised if they even attempted to check out a full cart of groceries at the customer service desk.  There isn't any space and no scale.  Maybe she was there for lottery tickets or something before she went to pay for her groceries. 

In any case, since the cashier came and got you specifically, you were next.  Even if they were going to check out the other woman at the CS desk, since you had fewer items, it would be best to take care of your purchase first anyway, and I would hope the woman be agreeable to that. 

[oceanus]

OP, you were next.  Did you get taken care of before the woman with the full cart?

[strawbabies]

You were next because the cashier came over to get you.  If that lady was there for the kinds of things that only customer service usually handles, like lottery tickets, she would still be after you.  If she went and stood there waiting for her cart to be rung up, she was a fool to do it at a time when the cashier wasn't even at the desk.

[bonyk]

OP, you were next.  Did you get taken care of before the woman with the full cart?
[/quote

I did, but she was clearly not happy about it, so I wanted to double check.  Thanks for your replies!

[siamesecat2965]

You were definitely next. I've had this happen at my job; which is a clothing store. i'll be helping a customer find something, and then they're ready to pay. I will bring them up to the register, and sometimes there's someone else waiting to be rung up. What I try and do in that instance is find another CW to ring up the other person, if not, I simply tell them I will be right with them. Which is what we are supposed to do. 99.9% of the time, the waiting customer is fine with it.  And as we don't have assigned cashiers, etc. its usually easy enough to find someone to help them quickly.

[Zilla]

This is my huge pet peeve.  I always decline when a cashier tries to call me over.  9 times out of 10 when I get over there, there is always someone there that saw the offer and try to take advantage OR they came in from the other side unaware that the cashier called me over. 


But in your case, you should have gone first. 

[Mikayla]

I agree with PPs, assuming the woman with the full basket didn't get shepherded there herself by someone else.  I can see a manager taking her there and telling her the rep will be "right back", not knowing the rep was doing the same thing for someone else.

[Sharnita]

I agree with PPs, assuming the woman with the full basket didn't get shepherded there herself by someone else.  I can see a manager taking her there and telling her the rep will be "right back", not knowing the rep was doing the same thing for someone else.

I was imagining the same thing.

[m2kbug]

OP, you were next.  Did you get taken care of before the woman with the full cart?

I did, but she was clearly not happy about it, so I wanted to double check.  Thanks for your replies!

Would you mind explaining how your customer service desk works?  I've rung up a handful of items at CS, sometimes because the "15 or fewer" line is too long and I see I can get out quicker if I go to the CS desk and other times because I want to get lottery tickets or something, so may as well just make one stop.  They have no capacity to deal with a large cart of groceries at none of the stores I shop at, and they don't have scales at the CS desk.  When you say "full basket," was it a cart or one of the hand-held baskets?  Even with a hand-held basket, if it's that full, it could still be too many. 

You were still in the right, just wondering.

[bonyk]

It was a full hand-held basket.  I've never tried to check out at customer service, but to me it looked like a lot for the counter.  Maybe 15 items?  However, there were only 2 open registers and both had pretty long lines.