Thats not express

[snoopygirl]

   I work in a supermarket due to my health problems I am usually on Express ( I have bad shoulder pain and weakness in my wrist). This is not usually a problem  as I enjoy it and the regulars I usually get on the line. Today was the worst though. My line is eight or less. I will take a few over then eight but this one lady really pushed my buttons. She had 61 items ( yes I kept a tally using the item counter because I noticed she had a cart full that she managed to plop on the belt between me finishing the last customer and me getting to her.) and was in a huge hurry her words. I was so stuned I didnt say anything.
     However, I finished her order and noticed a line as well as people going it says eight or less. I was angry at myself and her for putting me and the other customers in this situation. I kept saying sorry to the line behind her. I then asked my boss what I should have done. She told me to not say anything just have somebody pull the other people to another line by flashing my light. Well they would still be waiting in line because nobody responds to my light and I dont think we should put people in this situation because well it is express. I think I should just forget what my boss said and just tell people that it is express.

[MadMadge43]

Your boss is wrong. In effort not to p.o. one obnoxious person, he p.o.ed 8 level headed customers. You should talk to him about this and explain that they need to go to a different line. I'm sorry you didn't notice before when she was putting them on the belt and could have told her then, but that is not an excuse for her thinking she was entitled.

[Chocolate Cake]

If the system your boss outlined worked the way it was supposed to, his suggestion might be fine.  However, since it doesn't, I think you have to say something such as, "I'm sorry Ma'am, this is the express line for 8 items only" (if you see her cart full before she unloads).  If she has already unloaded, you could say, "I'll check you through this time, but next time please note that this is an express lane for 8 items or less so you don't inconvenience all these nice people behind you again."

[Clara Bow]

I have a water bottle I use to squirt the cat when she misbehaves, would you like to borrow it to take to work with you??
I think that in the future I would politely tell people that the express line is eight items or less, firm. There is no need for some poor old soul trying to get a tube of toothpaste on their way to work should have to wait behind someone trying to buy groceries for the month.

[Tabris]

I think you should very sweetly stop ringing her up after every eight items, total her out, run her credit card, and then ring up the next eight items. She'll protest this. You can then point out the sign (eight items or less) and say, "The register is set up so I cannot ring up nine items. I'm terribly sorry. If you were in a hurry, you should have gotten here earlier."

Having to stand there through seven transactions would have driven the point home. And it would have amused the eight people standing behind her.

[snoopygirl]

I have a water bottle I use to squirt the cat when she misbehaves, would you like to borrow it to take to work with you??
I think that in the future I would politely tell people that the express line is eight items or less, firm. There is no need for some poor old soul trying to get a tube of toothpaste on their way to work should have to wait behind someone trying to buy groceries for the month.

The funny thing is with her while she said she was in a hurry none of the things she had needed to be bought that second. Unless she was a troop leader late for camping with the Scouts. It was seriously a cartload of stuff to make smores. I felt annoyed that the lady behind her with the Cascade had to wait in line for that.

[MelJill]

I think you should very sweetly stop ringing her up after every eight items, total her out, run her credit card, and then ring up the next eight items. She'll protest this. You can then point out the sign (eight items or less) and say, "The register is set up so I cannot ring up nine items. I'm terribly sorry. If you were in a hurry, you should have gotten here earlier."

Oh, I wish they would find a way to program the registers that way ... eight items and an auto-total and required tender or hit total at any point before that ...

I know in my grocery store, they will sometimes take a full-cart customer who's standing in line at a regular register and drag them over to the express (15 or under, usually ... the 7s are made physically smaller).  If they offer it to me, I refuse and tell them that I'm fine with waiting where I am, but I would hate to inconvenience someone with a true express order after mine got started.  (Buying for a week for a family of 6 means that I've got a TON of stuff ...)

It's extremely annoying on the other side, when I'm jumping in for the couple gallons of milk mid-week, and I find the express lanes clogged by non-express customers.  Management, however, doesn't seem to care.  I guess I'm the only one in the world who'd rather wait an extra couple minutes in line (that's really how much is saved, honestly--I've never stood more than 5 minutes before my order's being checked) than risk causing someone else inconvenience.

[Sandi Papaya]

I don't work in a grocery store, but one of my pet peeves is people who obviously have more items in their cart than the posted item limit for the express lane. Even more annoying than that are the people who claim that more than one of the same thing (say, 2 cartons of milk as opposed to 1) count as "one item" - no, it doesn't, if you've got 2 bags of salad, 2 cartons of milk, 2 bottles of salad dressing, 2 jars of mayonnaise, 4 packs of lunchmeat, 2 loaves of bread, and 2 boxes of cereal, and the posted item limit is 9 items. You have 16 items, not 9. I'd be fine with it if you're in the 15-items-or-less line and are over by one item, but when you've got almost double the posted item limit you're in the wrong line.

This is especially annoying when I'm on my lunch hour, I'm in a hurry to get back to work so I can eat my lunch, I've got exactly 2 or 3 items (say, a sandwich, a fruit and a drink) in hand, and you're standing in the express line with your month's worth of groceries. And then when I ask you politely if you mind if I go ahead, since I've only got 3 items and I have to get back to work inside of an hour, you snarl at me and tell me that "you were here first." Well...good point, but I'm not the one who's standing in the line where the posted item limit is clearly "15 items or less" (or whatever the limit is) and you're WAY over the limit, while I'm well under the limit and trying to beat to clock, to boot.

I try not to end up behind these people when I'm in a hurry, but sometimes it's unavoidable, and 9 times out of 10 the cashier will just take the person without pointing out that that person is inconveniencing others by bringing their ginormous cartload of 1 month's groceries into the express lane, thereby defeating the entire purpose behind the concept of "express."

Maybe it's me, but it doesn't seem like a smart move to alienate your main customer base when it happens to be the employees of the county offices across the street, who are usually in a time crunch and need to get in and out of the store pretty quickly.

[Maggie]

As a cashier in a grocery store where the express lane is 20 items or less, I understand your frustration.  However our manager has told us not to say anything to those people that have more than 20...at least in the past...now she has changed it to the point we can say that excuse me this line is for 20 or less.  IF we are busy.  If we aren't busy then we still have to check them out.

Last Christmas I checked out a woman that had over $500 worth of groceries and 3 adults with her.  None of the 4 of them ever took a bag off the carousel.  Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't say anything to her because until about 2 weeks ago we could have been terminated for doing so.

Just another point of view.

[LadyJaneinMD]

Actually, I've done that myself.  Unloaded my cart obliviously, and then while ringing them out, the cashier mentioned something about it being an express lane.  Jokingly.  I looked up and saw the sign, then turned and apologized profusely to the rest of the line while turning bright red.  I was just having a senior moment at the time.  Fortunately, it wasn't a lot of stuff, just clearly over the limit.
Oops.  The older I get, the more these senior moments sneak in. 

[behindbj]

Hey LadyJane!  Good to see you.

My favorite is when I am in the not-express lane with a cartful of groceries and a person or two in front of me, also with cartloads of groceries.  People with one or two items will come and demand that we let them in front of us because they only have a couple of items.  They're told that there is an express lane - to which they answer that the line's too long and they're in a hurry.

Sorry. 

Note:  if there are only regular lanes open (and it happens), I will let the person behind me with a couple of items if I have a lot. 

behindbj

[Another Liz]

I know in my grocery store, they will sometimes take a full-cart customer who's standing in line at a regular register and drag them over to the express (15 or under, usually ... the 7s are made physically smaller).  If they offer it to me, I refuse and tell them that I'm fine with waiting where I am, but I would hate to inconvenience someone with a true express order after mine got started.  (Buying for a week for a family of 6 means that I've got a TON of stuff ...)

That has happened to me more than once: some management type insists that I should go over to express because the lines are long and there is no-one in line at express then one of 2 things happens.  Either every person in the store who was picking up just one item magically appears behind me (cue snarky remarks) or the cashier makes a comment about "this is the express lane".  (That ticked me off because the cashier saw the manager bring me over.)  I don't take them up on their offers anymore.

[Lisbeth]

I think your boss is wrong.  If the line says Express Lane - 8 items or less, and that's what the customers behind this woman were expecting, then the woman and your boss wasted their time by making you total the rest of her items.  I would have stopped the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but this lane cannot take orders of more than 8 items.  Once I ring up your first 8 items, you need to go to another lane.  These people are waiting behind you and they are also in a hurry."

[farmerted]

This is a huge deal at my supermarket. I don't know if there are a lot of habitual offenders, because the manger at the store will kick people out of line.  I've seen them make people remove stuff from the belt and move to a new line. I have to say it nice, I was behind a three adult women with a cart full of stuff from clearance that needed to hand keyed in.  The manger made them move, it cause a huge sense but everyone in the store was behind the manger. 

[Pixie]

I hate that our Walmart has a policy that one may ONLY buy tabacco products in the express lane.  What I usually do is buy my cigarettes first, then take my cart to another lane.   Why? because the sign says 20 items or less, and I tend to follow the rules.   I've had clerks ring up my full order in the express lane if its 1 or 2 in the morning and the store is empty, and that is nice, but I don't expect it. 

It was a bit of a shock when I first moved here, but now I know the routine.  I am always polite, and friendly. The clerks did not make the policy, they simply have to enforce it.   However.... I hate it when the clerks get an attitude and ASSUME I'm going to be nasty about it or cause a fuss.  But I have a reply when they get an attitude, "I'm sorry you're having a bad day,  I hope tomorrow is better."  It shocks the heck out of them when people are nice.

I try to be nice and friendly to everyone, but I also refuse to be a doormat..... My poor old bones can't take people walking on me anymore.