Retail Problems - Self Checkout

 I thought I would dedicate a post to self-checkout.  It's called self-checkout (SCO) for a reason.  You scan the items out yourself.  The employee standing there is for any problems or questions that arise.  Not to scan your entire order.  Oh, and it's fifteen items or less, by the way.  I'm surprised at the number of people who can't read the sign.  It is definitely not two carts full of merchandise.

OK, now that we have cleared all of that up, let's get started.

Customer:  "Why is there only one cashier?"

Me:  Because we don't have enough cashiers.

Customer:  Well, if I wanted to scan stuff, I would go to Wal-Mart.

The SCO machine accepts credit or debit cards only.  The customer came up and asked me to read it to them.  She replied, "Oh.  I guess its a good thing I went to the eye doctor this morning."

There are customers that are on their phone.  They can't scan and talk at the same time.  They end up causing the line to back up.  You are either on the phone or you are scanning.  Not both.

Some customers decide they want a job.  "They should give me a discount for scanning my own stuff."  Umm, who decided to use the SCO machine?

I get some crazy questions like, "Can we check out here with food?"  I work in a grocery store, so, yea, that's what you scan here.

There's the customer who told me, "I don't want this because it's too wet."  And she handed me a red cabbage.  In case you are wondering, it wasn't wet.

There are customers who approach SCO and throw all of their stuff on the floor.  I guess they can't see the shelf attached to the machine.

And of course, the customers who approach the machine and say, "I'm not good at this."  

Oh, and I can't forget the woman who said to me, "Sister, I need help over here."

My personal favorite was the customer leaving SCO, mumbling to herself.  She walks toward the restrooms and enters the men's restroom.  Fifteen seconds passed, she came out mumbling and entered the women's restroom. 

Black Friday

  It's Black Friday!  Time to exercise your credit cards -  Push them to the limit folks!  And, get in a big workout trying to snag that big screen TV before someone else grabs it.

Oh, yea, and it's also time for my world famous  usual Black Friday post.  

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday and it is the biggest shopping day of the year.  For retailers, it marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. 

For those of us that are out there working on Black Friday, it's a crazy, long and tiring day.  Make sure you take those vitamins, drink lots of water, plaster a smile on your face and, well, just try to have some fun.

If you are out there shopping, it can get crazy, so, try to be safe.  Also, be nice to the store employees.  They don't make the rules or have any control over the amount of inventory the store has of that item you want to purchase.  So, go easy on them!

I'm not exactly sure how the day will go with the supply chain issues.  Some of the items that you want might still be on a ship, so, this should be interesting.

And now, what everyone has been waiting for, here is my famous Black Friday song playlist for your  listening pleasure:

Man in Black - Johnny Cash
Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones
Back in Black - AC/DC
Black Cat - Janet Jackson
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Black or White - Michael Jackson
Black Widow - Iggy Azalea
Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
Black - Pearl Jam
Blackbird - The Beatles
Black Betty - Ram Jam
Black Gold - Soul Asylum
Men in Black 3 Back in Time - Pitbull
Black Night - Deep Purple
Black Rain - Soundgarden
The Long Black Veil - Johnny Cash
Ebony and Ivory - Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Black Velvet - Alannah Miles
Black Water - The Doobie Brothers
Men in Black - Will Smith

Blue on Black - Five Finger Death Punch

Now get out there and have some fun!

Retail Problems

 Another dose of the retail life for you.  Sometimes you get to laugh at work.

At work, we have to wear walkie talkies.  It's great when you have a question.  Someone can chime in with a quick response.  Of course, there are times when you ask a question and the line goes dead.  Either your message didn't go through or no one has an answer.

One day a coworker was looking for a chair to use while doing markdowns.  Sometimes it's a lot easier to sit down when you have to scan a lot of items close to the ground.  Over the walkie talkie, she asked, "Has anyone seen the scooty chair?"  Apparently, she did not speak clearly and there was a reply, "Booty chair?  Aren't they all booty chairs?  You have to sit your booty down in the chair."  All of us had a good laugh.  When my coworker finally replied, she made sure to enunciate and say, "Scooty chair."  

On another day, we had a furry visitor in the store.  I'm sure I have mentioned that our store is dog friendly.  We get quite a few furry visitors during the week.  On this day, the "visitor" made a little mess.  The manager was not very happy about it.  Apparently this dog visits quite often and always does his business in the store.  The manager took to the walkie talkie and said that there is a "clean up" in the pet aisle and to bring paper towels, a bag and a mop.  She went on a rant and explained how this customer always brings her dog in when it clearly has to do it's business.  After her rant, another employee said, "So, Cocoa visited us and left us a little biscuit?"

Retail Problems

Some little ditties from my lovely job in retail.

There are many stories of my time as greeter.  My favorite is the guy who winked at me.  I'm not sure if there was something in his eye or if it was a nervous tic.  This guy walked in, behind his wife, and as he walked by he said hello and winked at me.  I found it odd and thought that it might have been a mistake, but, he winked at me again as he followed his wife out of the store.   A habit or is he a flirt?  

There was the time when this woman came in wearing dirty purple gloves.  She grabbed a cart and did some shopping.  Even made a purchase.  A few hours later I saw her enter the store to do an exchange.  She was still wearing the same dirty purple gloves.

My favorite story happened the other day.  I was ringing up a customer and gave her the total.  She reaches into her purse, starts digging around, moves away from the counter and then says (loudly), "I can't find my wallet.  SOMEBODY STOLE IT!"   I didn't know what to say.  I wasn't with her in the store and it looked like her bag was closed when she got up to the register.  How did someone steal her wallet without her knowing about it?  She steps toward the counter again and looks in her purse and calmly says, "Oh.  There it is"  and pulls the wallet out of her purse.  I almost burst out laughing and was quite grateful that I was wearing a face mask.  I wanted to know if she was related to RT* but didn't have the courage to ask.

*check out these posts for a backstory on people stealing RT's stuff : goggles, phone, hiking gloves.

The Mask Whisperer

 I wrote this post awhile ago.  Masks are not required in stores in this state but are recommended for those who are not vaccinated.  I know there are differing opinions on this subject.  This post is not political and lands more on the humorous side of mask wearing and mask wearers.  

Masks are still required when in a restaurant or place of business.  At this point, a year in, most people are used to wearing masks.  We have learned to speak, breathe and do various activities all while wearing a mask.

I'm not sure if they should be called mask mumblers or mask whisperers.  Mask whisperer sounds like they can perform some type of magic while wearing masks.  A little soft conversation and the ear loops won't break.    I'm referring to the people who mumble or whisper their reply into their face mask when they are asked a question.  They must feel like they are speaking loud enough to be heard.  Maybe everything they say is top secret so they choose to speak softly?

At checkout, we ask customers for their email.  A lot of customers feel the need to whisper their email into their mask.  They don't realize that the mask and plastic protective shields at the register muffle their words and we can't hear anything that comes out of their mouth.  Yes.  I am older, but, I can assure you that my hearing is still pretty good.  (What?)  Speaking a little louder so that others can hear you will not harm your health.  We are not asking you to shout out any of your personal information.  Just some quick answers to, "Did you find everything ok?" and "What is your email?" 

There are many states that have lifted their mask policy.  Masks are not required in all stores or restaurants.  People have been wearing masks for a year now and some are not ready to give them up.  To the mumblers these people I say, "Please speak up louder so your voice can be heard.  Thank you."

When You Work in Retail

 I have a few more funny weird  strange  stories to record.  Just some interesting incidents that happened at work that can't be classified as Karen stories.  I found them to be amusing and thought I would share them with you.  Here we go:

During my stint as a Walmart greeter:

A customer walks in to the store.

Me:  Hello.  How are you?

Customer: Right now?

Me:  Sure.  How are you right now?

Customer:  I don't know.  And, I don't think I want to know.

A customer walks into the store:

Me:  Hello

Customer:  Thank you.

A customer walks into the store.

Me:  Hello

Customer:  No kissing because of Covid.

Me:  I'm not afraid of Covid.

Same customer as he's leaving, handing me his shopping cart:

Customer:  Now, remember, no licking the carts.

Me:  Aww, you just ruined my fun for the day!

Every week like clockwork, there is a woman who pulls up and hauls a large trash bag (or three) and tosses it into the public trash can in front of our store.  She drives a nice SUV so I'm assuming she has a home.  I'm not sure what the attraction she has with public dumping.  Does she get a thrill from it?  Maybe she's trying to hide something?  A shopping addiction?  Scratch off tickets?  An addiction?  A drinking problem?  Corn nut addiction?

A woman came in to the store, her first time visiting.  I started describing the store to her.  She told me that she wanted to discover the store on her own.  As she was leaving, I noticed she made a purchase.  I told her I was happy she found something today.  She told me I was very sweet and if I say the word, she will go get me a cup of coffee.  I politely declined and thanked her and told her that she was my new best friend.

And, I will leave you with this last story.

I was at the register and asked the customer to press the red button on the pin pad.  The customer told me that he didn't want to press the button because of germs (we have hand sanitizer and we clean the pin pads between customers).  When I tell him the total of his purchase he pulls out his wallet and proceeds to hand me dirty  cash to pay for his transaction.  He told me to keep the change ($0.01) and left without using any hand sanitizer.