Last night was actually pretty dull. Not a lot happened apart
from us keeping an eye on the customers to make sure that the blonde
from the night before didn't show up and try to force herself on
us! Methinks Slaphead is complaining too much about girls wanting
to foist themselves on him.
So, as I don't have a huge amount of work based stuff to talk about
today, I think I will mention something which was dominating breakfast
TV yesterday. the 2p sausage. Well, not exactly but that
area. You see, Asda (boo! hiss!) have brought out a packet
of sausages which work out at 2p per sausage. Nutritionalists
complain it only has 36% meat, but here is the thing. And I
really never thought I would be leaping to the defense of the retail
world. Things are getting cheaper. Don't believe the mass
media, I am a customer too, and I know. Example, I adore jam and
cream doughnuts. Have for a long time. Now, when I was
unemployed, a pack of 2 cost £1.20. I've been employed for
5 years now. Now, our store is expensive, yet a pack of 2 jam and
cream doughnuts costs 80p. Not on special offer, that's just how
much they cost. And for desert today, I had chocolate eclairs
which cost me 86p (ok, less, I used my discount card) but they used to
be expensive. This is what riles me about the mass media, and
hence why I am so passionate about blogging. Ok, mybe wheat and
rice are getting more expensive, ergo things like pasta become more
expensive, but don't make out every single food item is more expensive
now. And don't whinge on and on about how food costs so much,
then slam retailers when they come out with a solution. It might
not be the best sausage in the world, but you know what? People
with limited incomes don't care. It's like we do frozen steak at
our store. £2.50 for a pack of 4. No, they aren't 21
day matured 100% aberdeen angus sirloin steaks. But they are
steaks. And for people on a budget, they are not going to knock a
62p steak. Especially not when they can have a few 2p sausages
with it...
Out of all the dull customers I had last night, I did have a few rather
attractive girls wearing rather tight clothes, and I would particularly
like to thank the short, slightly podgy redhead who was wearing
unfeasably tight black velvet trousers with an equally tight white
lacey top and skipped up to the counter (almost spilling out of said
top) and then skipped out of the store after paying for her
petrol. You made my night and I was called a perv by
Slaphead. Now, I also had the guy who has no internal
monolouge. He asked me if I had any price marked packs of Pall
Mall. When I said no, he asked if I was hiding any. Because
that is obviously what we do. Then he argued that he thought he
should be allowed them at £3.19. No, you shouldn't.
And then after complaining that he had no money, he bought 2 packets of
cigarettes, one just because he wondered what they tasted like.
Now, slow work days come rarely, but they do come. Like last
night. Although I worked like a demon, I doubt you really want to
read about how I worked really hard and got lots of stock out.
Doing it is reasonably boring, so I guess reading it would be more
so. Another problem is I have chronic writers block today!
So far I have wasted an hour doing anything other than writing.
I've smoked, downloaded some videos, watched said videos, contemplated
writing outside, and now I have settled for blogging in bed. And
rambling seemingly! Anyway, as an antidote to slow work days, I
have decided that I am going to write lists/guides. They aren't
going to be a regular feature, more of a space filler for when nothing
overtly exciting happens at work!
Today's list/guide is things that are guaranteed to annoy your checkout
operator.
1: Walking up to the counter, handing over money and then walking
off. We are not psychic! Just because you know what it is
for, doesn't mean that we do! The worst offenders for this are
the people who do it when the petrol station is full. Just
because you filled up with £10 of fuel doesn't mean that nobody
else has! This also leads me onto number 2:
2: Walking up to the counter and saying Diesel. This is just as
annoying as number one for a few reasons. One, we're still not
psychic. Several people might have diesel. And also, we
cannot see who has what unless we press buttons. If there is a
queue, we will make sure we press every button, whether or not we find
your diesel, namely because it wastes your time, and the people behind
you will hate you for holding them up.
3: Walking up to the counter, dumping stuff, and then walking off to do
more shopping. Oh, seriously, you have no idea how irritating
this is. I've heard people say to me "That must be a real pain in
the ass". Doesn't even touch it. We then have to wait
around for you to finish what normal people do anyway. And then,
we have to explain to the customer behind you that has decided you have
dumped your stuff and left the store that actually, no, you're a moron
and can't get everything at once. Which leads me onto number 4
4: Complaining that I voided your items when you walked off to get
stuff. Tough. Did I not mention you had one minute to get
back? Sorry. Next customer!
5: The phrase "I pay your wages!" Uh huh. I actually get
this frequently from one particular customer who I have since stopped
speaking to other than to tell him how much his cigarettes cost and how
much change he got. If you come in and buy a packet of cigarettes
every day, you aren't paying my wages. We make like 10p on a
packet. If you come in and buy £50 of petrol every day,
you're still not paying my wages because we make like 1p per litre, and
you just bought 50 litres (actually, less than 50). Now, if you
bought perhaps £50 of coffee a day from our machine, then you
might be closer to paying my wages, because actually, the coffee you
pay £2 a cup for costs us pretty much nothing to make. And
actually, head office pay my wages, not you. Sorry for that rant,
but it's the one phrase that makes my blood boil. So humiliating.
6: (A store specific bonus): "Where are the eggs?" I will get
this at least once a day. I don't care how polite you ask me, I
am still going to be angry if you ask me this. We have what I
call the breakfast t-junction. Bacon, eggs, milk, bread,
mushrooms, sausages and black pudding all within 2 metres of each
other. Beans are a little further away. Now, not only this,
but the entire top shelf of the section opposite the milk is
eggs. Nothing else, just eggs. And for those that cannot
recognise an egg carton, we have a half metre black and white sign with
a red arrow saying "Eggs". I'm not kidding, it's that much of a
problem that they especially made the sign just for our store.
And still people ask. I have actually suggested that we encase
the sign in neon. Pedro said no and to stop being so silly.
Pedro also hides in the office from customers... Permalink |