Grocery Store Etiquette

[kckgirl]

I know this topic is old, but as a cashier, I just had to speak up about the dividers: the person in front should put it down. Suppose there is nobody after you, and there is no divider, the belt keeps going and going, and it pisses off every single cashier I know to have to stretch all the way to grab one, and slam it down. We are supposed to slide them towards the customer, which puts them way out of reach and seriously why is it so hard to pick one up and put it down?? Ahem. Why in the world would I put a divider down if there isn't anybody behind me? Most of the time there isn't any divider there, which is quite annoying for the customers, too.

In the same street; if at my checkout (no belt, cart to cart type) I move your bag to the front of the cart and you YANK it back and refuse to let it go, guess what, I will not bend over and put the items in, I will put them in the front of the cart and let you put them in yourself. You are only here 5 minutes, I am here for live and I need my back for the remainder of that career. Yes, that's a work instruction. That means the boss won't side with you, as company policy forbids me to bend over, period. I don't understand what you mean here.

Oh, and if I say 'good morning', the correct response is not 'no I don't have any coupons with me'. That is not what I asked.

And for the love of all that is holy, do NOT talk on the phone while at the check out! Extra SS points if you apologize to the person on the other end of the line for the inconvenience of my presence  Same goes for headphones.

And dogs are not allowed in grocery stores. I don't care how special you think you are, if health inspection walks in they will shut us down, and we will all be out of a job. And no, nobody is going to steal your dog if you leave it outside (seriously?) Are you talking about people bringing in pets, not working dogs? I've never seen that.

All things aside, I really do love being back in retail   

[diesel_darlin]

Oh, and if I say 'good morning', the correct response is not 'no I don't have any coupons with me'. That is not what I asked.

This. Oh so much.

How hard is it to say "good morning" back to someone?

And Library Dragon, I totally agree with you as well. I had a customer hand me some cash after his hands had been in his nose, ears, armpits, and other unmentionable areas of his anatomy. I was not a happy cashier. 

[VorFemme]

My grocery store has great, cheap clothes, but I'm scared to put any clothing on the convery belt because it's so dirty at times. 

Once I did put a top down...and the cashier 'swiped' it through some wet spill on the belt.

I made her take it back.

Cheap or not, I'm not paying full price for something that I would have to immediately wash...

I wash everything before I wear it. I've worked in retail and you have absolutely no idea the things people do to clothes on the racks.

I do - but I got used to dressing a kid with sensitive skin (she now uses perfume and dye free laundry detergent) and got used to washing everything before it got worn, period, to remove the "sizing" and other manufacturers' chemicals on it.  Whether or not anything or anyone else touched it - the "sizing" sometimes made ME itch!

++++++

I had several Kroger bags two summers ago (basic black, firm bases, perfect size for two gallons of milk) and I used them to pack groceries to take on a trip to our time share in.  Somehow, they were nowhere to be found when we got home and I was going out shopping again......

I've been looking at the various displays of grocery store bags at the local Salvation Army - they may not be much cheaper than the new ones at the store, but I can get several for a store that is NOT found in our area and no longer risk having to pay a second time (third time?) for the bags that I have.

Or if I remember to take in my ripstop nylon bags (over twenty years old - very "green" at this point) and the mesh bag (expands a bit) out of the dryer.....I can use them again.  I need a slightly larger purse to have space to carry the shopping bags around with me......but if I start to carry a slightly bigger purse, then VorGuy and VorSon hand me their stuff to carry in it, too, if they are with me.  And I'd need to get a bigger purse again........a never ending cycle that would end with me rolling a suitcase on wheels behind me at all times or wearing saddlebags......

[mmswm]

And I'd need to get a bigger purse again........a never ending cycle that would end with me rolling a suitcase on wheels behind me at all times or wearing saddlebags......

This made me chuckle because I went to an event to day and there was a fashion show as part of the entertainment.  The designer was actually a handbag and jewelry designer.  One of the highlighted bags was actually a saddle bag.  There was a strap that went around the back of the model's neck and at the end of each strap was a decently large bag.  So, if you do decide to start wearing saddlebags, just know that it's apparently the height of Miami Beach fashion.

[Syrse]

I know this topic is old, but as a cashier, I just had to speak up about the dividers: the person in front should put it down. Suppose there is nobody after you, and there is no divider, the belt keeps going and going, and it pisses off every single cashier I know to have to stretch all the way to grab one, and slam it down. We are supposed to slide them towards the customer, which puts them way out of reach and seriously why is it so hard to pick one up and put it down?? Ahem. Why in the world would I put a divider down if there isn't anybody behind me? Most of the time there isn't any divider there, which is quite annoying for the customers, too.

In the same street; if at my checkout (no belt, cart to cart type) I move your bag to the front of the cart and you YANK it back and refuse to let it go, guess what, I will not bend over and put the items in, I will put them in the front of the cart and let you put them in yourself. You are only here 5 minutes, I am here for live and I need my back for the remainder of that career. Yes, that's a work instruction. That means the boss won't side with you, as company policy forbids me to bend over, period. I don't understand what you mean here.

Oh, and if I say 'good morning', the correct response is not 'no I don't have any coupons with me'. That is not what I asked.

And for the love of all that is holy, do NOT talk on the phone while at the check out! Extra SS points if you apologize to the person on the other end of the line for the inconvenience of my presence  Same goes for headphones.

And dogs are not allowed in grocery stores. I don't care how special you think you are, if health inspection walks in they will shut us down, and we will all be out of a job. And no, nobody is going to steal your dog if you leave it outside (seriously?) Are you talking about people bringing in pets, not working dogs? I've never seen that.

All things aside, I really do love being back in retail   

Why to put a divider down; because it helps the cashier  Of course you're off the hook if there isn't one. I admit it's a pet peeve of mine. It's like holding open a door; of course you don't have to, but why not be nice once in a while.

And yes, people bring their pets into the store. Because they're so special and couldn't possibly be tied up outside the store, how dare I even suggest that 

About the check out with carts; we don't work with a belt. We have a cart, the customer puts their cart next to our cart, we scan everything and load it over to the next cart. Makes sense? To avoid back trouble, we are supposed to work back to front, front to back. So you pull the cart forward, and put all the items from the back of cart one in the front of card two, push the cart back, and do it the other way around. This way you don't bend over, but sideways.
And no, if you arrive without a cart you do not get to take mine, hands off 

And don't come in 5 minutes after opening and ask for 100 Euro cash back. I don't have leprechauns that magically add money to the till.

[Sharnita]

I have to say that when i was a cashier I never expected customers to use dividers when nobody was behind them.  It didn't make me slightly irritated, let alone piss me off.

I don't know about the health department thing with dogs - people can legally bring in service animals without the health department having issues.  And yes, pets do get stolen.  I am not sure why that seems unbelievable.  Some because they are a valuable purebred and some to be used for dog fighting. Seriously. I have never brought a pet in the grocery store but if I heard a suggetion that somebody simply tie up their pet I would think the person suggesting it was seriously out of touch with reality.

[kherbert05]

I think the divider thing is going to be different according to where you live. At my grocery store, the belt doesn't move if it is empty. At other stores the cashier has a switch. So it doesn't need the divider to stop it. If someone is behind me when I load the belt I put the divider out.


If I'm already being checked out and up at the card scanner station, then the person who comes up behind me should put out the divider.


If my stuff is one the belt and I'm waiting for the person in front of me to finish, it depends. If the person who comes up behind me is closer to the divider s/he should put it in place. If I'm closer then I should put it in place.

[Syrse]

I have to say that when i was a cashier I never expected customers to use dividers when nobody was behind them.  It didn't make me slightly irritated, let alone piss me off.

I don't know about the health department thing with dogs - people can legally bring in service animals without the health department having issues.  And yes, pets do get stolen.  I am not sure why that seems unbelievable.  Some because they are a valuable purebred and some to be used for dog fighting. Seriously. I have never brought a pet in the grocery store but if I heard a suggetion that somebody simply tie up their pet I would think the person suggesting it was seriously out of touch with reality.

Service animals are not pets. They generally won't pee against the apples And the tying up outside is very common here, and if you don't want to, fine, it's just a suggestion, you can always take the dog home and return to your shopping. But how would it be out of touch with reality? Lots of stores here provide a place to tie up your pup. Who in their right mind is going to steal a chipped-by-law-dog in broad daylight, in front of a busy store?
Anyway, the point is just, no pets inside.

The divider thing is a personal pet peeve of mine, pay it no mind 

[juliasqueezer]

"Who in their right mind is going to steal a chipped-by-law-dog in broad daylight, in front of a busy store? "

The answer to this is right there in Sharnita's answer.

Where I live (in a near-suburb of a very large US city, with all the crime that goes along with it) the idea of going to a store and tying up a dog that you ever expect to see again, let alone love or care about, is unthinkable. Thieves would very casually stroll up, untie your dog, and walk away with it. It might become a bait dog for dog-fighting (yes.... torn to bits to teach the thief's fighting dog to be aggressive and have that much-admired "killer instinct". You can then enter your killer dog into a dog fight, place bets and get richer than if you sold drugs!)

We're lately experiencing a rash of thefts of dogs from their fenced in back yards. Owners have been warned to never let their dogs out of their sight outdoors. Dogs have been stolen out of locked cars while their owners dash into a store. The thieves simply break a window. There's not much public interference in these case. Witnesses never know if the thief is armed.

Not all thefts are for bait-dog training. There are cases where dog owners find their stolen dogs placed for sale on Craig's List. This can be lucrative, especially if it's a cute toy breed or one of the latest "in-vogue" breeds.

In the US, micro-chipping is voluntary. Veterinarians charge around $40 to $50 to place the chip and get it registered. Lots of folks, especially those who don't have an excess of money, are not going to prioritize this expense. There are many rescue groups who will have micro-chipping events where you can get it done for $25-$30. And as much as the manufacturers of the microchips try and get the scanners into the hands of all police and shelters/pounds, again, it's all voluntary whether they're used or not. 

Not all places who receive stray/abandoned/dropped off animals will bother or remember to scan incoming animals. Some go straight to the euthanasia room, if there are no available cages. The irony in some cases (thankfully, not often) is that the cages might be full of confiscated fighting dogs on "police hold" awaiting trial of their owners.

Just saying all this to point out that things are different, all over the world. What's "out of touch with reality" isn't universal or concrete.

[Syrse]

Well, leaving the dog at home will solve all then. But I must say, I'm really surprised people can be so low to steal pets like that  It's not a thing here.

[mmswm]

Dogs would get stolen here as well.  They get stolen for baiting/fighting purposes, for resale on craigslist and for labs engaging in illegal animal testing. There was also a scandal that broke a while back about cats being stolen to be sold to companies that provide animals for dissection in science classes.  It's truly jaw-dropping what people will steal and for what purposes.

[25wishes]

Actually, the "dogs in stores" question is a moot point, at least in the US. All you have to do is say it is a service animal. That's it. Store is not allowed to question you about what kind, documentation, nothing.

[Sharnita]

I have to say that when i was a cashier I never expected customers to use dividers when nobody was behind them.  It didn't make me slightly irritated, let alone piss me off.

I don't know about the health department thing with dogs - people can legally bring in service animals without the health department having issues.  And yes, pets do get stolen.  I am not sure why that seems unbelievable.  Some because they are a valuable purebred and some to be used for dog fighting. Seriously. I have never brought a pet in the grocery store but if I heard a suggetion that somebody simply tie up their pet I would think the person suggesting it was seriously out of touch with reality.

Service animals are not pets. They generally won't pee against the apples And the tying up outside is very common here, and if you don't want to, fine, it's just a suggestion, you can always take the dog home and return to your shopping. But how would it be out of touch with reality? Lots of stores here provide a place to tie up your pup. Who in their right mind is going to steal a chipped-by-law-dog in broad daylight, in front of a busy store?
Anyway, the point is just, no pets inside.

The divider thing is a personal pet peeve of mine, pay it no mind 

To have that dismissive reaction to the suggestion that a pet might be stolen.  And the dog being chipped only helps if the dog is turned in to the authoritites, which is not usually the next step of thieves. Ignoring the potential for that  does indeed seem very out of touch with reality.  Even in small town it has happened.  I would say that people who are not decent minded would not do it but using that standard we could leave our cars unlocked with keys in the ignition.  It is unfortunately too high a standard to risk.

And Barb answered my question which was how people knew/proved a dog was a service animal.  I know the use of service animals has broadened over the years so they are not just leader dogs anymore.  I have also seen malls with lots of stores that allow pets so I am not sure about helath codes regarding that  - I believe some of those stores do have food.

[Syrse]

Actually, the "dogs in stores" question is a moot point, at least in the US. All you have to do is say it is a service animal. That's it. Store is not allowed to question you about what kind, documentation, nothing.

I was going to say 'only in the US', but that's probably rude, huh Over here, you actually have to prove it's a service animal. Because you know, the customer isn't always right. Sometimes they're just idiots   

[Sharnita]

Actually, the "dogs in stores" question is a moot point, at least in the US. All you have to do is say it is a service animal. That's it. Store is not allowed to question you about what kind, documentation, nothing.

I was going to say 'only in the US', but that's probably rude, huh Over here, you actually have to prove it's a service animal. Because you know, the customer isn't always right. Sometimes they're just idiots   

Well, if you want to say "only in the US do they give you the benefit of the doubt" I am personally OK with that.  There might be other people who don't like it.

ETA:  I'm also not sure if it is true of all other countries but I don't see it as an insult to mine.