Put the receipt down on the counter please

Take a leaf out the book of the people of the ASDA supermarket chain in the highstreets of the southeast and the North of our country.

There the checkout servers take the time to be polite, and to use their own hands to assist you with packing sometimes. They lay grocery sacks out ready for you, across the main conveyer belt passing your items through the barcode reader, and when any strange item does not 'scan' for any reason or passes the wrong side of the reader causing it to slow the conveyer belt right down, they stop the belt and let you catch up - Then finally you've finished, and then they don't demand payment straight away, in cash or by charge for each transaction from start to finish.
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You just have to read the comments here to realise why English customer service is reputed as the worst in the Western world. The staff think they are doing you a personal favor by doing their job. They find it perfectly acceptable to be rude and want you to be grateful for it.

And they wonder why companies are employing the Polish over Brits! Easy decision for any employer.

I want my receipt whenever I buy anything. I always want my receipt. I do want to be asked whether I want it. If I want to bin it, that's my choice, not the check-out operator's. I want a receipt everywhere I go. I want a fully comprehensive receipt if I buy drinks in a pub. AND I NEVER WANT 12.5% ADDED TO MY BILL IN A RESTAURANT.

Oh my days. And people wonder why cashiers are often so miserable. It's because of people like you who are NEVER happy whatever we do! It seems a cashier can't do right for doing wrong these days. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Why does everything have to be done this way and that way? And why do customers get angry with cashiers when we don't fulfil their often silly needs? Who cares if a cashier waves the receipt in front of you? Are you really THAT above us that you can't take one second out of your schedule to grab a receipt? I have seriously lost all faith in humanity.

Im a checkout operator and sometimes we are shity.. Why??? Because we dont always get good customers we are only standing there foung our jobs and get treated like shit!! So GRUMPY please be a little understanding of checkout operators they dont always mean to be rude but if you get a line of mean customers then you wouldnt be so happy too.

Tip - I refuse to pay until it is all packed up! I'm usually quite fast at it, but if the checkout person finishes scanning my stuff, and I still have a fair amount to pack, I'll hand them a bag... and only when it's all packed I'll pay! Isn't it part of the service? Should they really just sit there and watch you as you pack up your stuff... I don't think so, and I have no issue making them aware of my thoughts!

Whoever came up with the phrase "the customer is always right" has clearly never worked in retail.

The sense of entitlement that some customers have is absolutely ridiculous, as if the cashier is meant to serve their every whim. On the complaint that I read in the comments of the change being placed on the counter - it's well known by everyone who has ever been a cashier that you only ever place the customers change on the counter if they have given you the money by placing it on the counter in the first place. Personally I also do this if the customer has approached the till/service counter while on their mobile phone and proceeded to stay on the phone while being served.

A better judgement of the state of our society is the way customers treat their cashiers, not the other way round.

I was trained to hand the receipt with 2 hands to show the customer this is a important document. Not to chucked in the bottom of a bag or left on the counter top because you know this will be the customer that will have a return "oh i lost or never was given a receipt" and "what do you mean store credit? I want my money back" It was not untill I worked in retail that I realised that Joe Public maybe even the human race is in trouble that people can be so stupid it scares me.

I appreciate - now - that is part of the store training not down to the thoughtlessness of the staff, which I didn't really now before. But I still fail to see why store management would encourage their staff to subordinate customer requests to robotic procedures that inconvenience them. A sure fire way to lose customers, I would think. Why can't they wait until all of the goods are packed away before thrusting the receipt at them, if they insist on doing things their way! The store only has itself to blame if that holds up queues even more because they won't juggle bags, goods and receipts simultaneously. These days, I find myself using self check out machines more and more. At the least I am dealing with a real robot when the receipt pops out - not a human one - because the receipt dispenser doesn't shove it under your nose as if to say "push off you slow coach.". If you think about it, it is ironic that in this day and age metal dispensing machine acts seems to be more accommodating - and human - than the store staff are trained to behave. Perhaps, if I want to deal with humans, behaving like humans - I should shop at my local independent stores instead. That way, supermarket Head Office staff process generators and consultants may start to appreciate the value of customer service and to remember the old saying: "the customer is always right"; they're not faceless profit generating units who visit their store for the store's convenience. Clearly, they've forgotten those old fashioned values entirely.

But thanks for pointing out that this problem is down to staff training. I didn't know staff had no choice in the matter. Probably not helped because some supermarket staff do honour my request to put in down on the counter or place it into my bag. Perhaps they know who the mystery shoppers (spies) are.

Just tell her it's not part of YOUR training! I pack at my own speed - not deliberately slow as that means other people behind me suffer. But I WILL NOT pack at breakneck speed simply because the cashier has been told to get through x number of customers in a certain amount of time. I was actually told this by a cashier when I told her she was going too fast for me to pack. I pointed out that I was not an employee and those rules should not apply - I was the paying customer. I later went to the customer service counter and demanded to see the manager who then regurgitated the same old nonsense. He got a piece of my mind.

I also NEVER pay until I have packed all my shopping, it is in my trolley and I have accounted for everything. I have forgotten so many things before (including my debit card which was seriously inconvenient) due to being rushed. If I am paying £100 + each visit I will not be treated like that.

You want your rights? TAKE them!!

I know from experience one high street electrical retailer trains the staff that the receipt must be given to the customer with both hands holding the receipt. Failure to do so and if spotted you shall be given 'additional training'.

I agree with Grumpy below - mystery shoppers mark you down for not placing change and receipt into the customers hands... It's not the friggin customer advisor/sales assistants fault that they don't want to get into trouble...

Source: Duty manager in a convenience store, and I carry out mystery shops...

Why dont you just pack faster then or just ask them for help instead of moaning.

One further thing - I used to work in supermarkets. Tesco's being one of them so I understand how hard it is for a cashier. But good service is good service regardless.

Oh, this is an easy one to deal with. Do what I do. No matter how fast the cashier flings my shopping down the conveyor (and gets told to slow down if it is ridiculously fast) I pack my bags how I want them. I do not go deliberately slowly as I know there are other customers behind me waiting. They then demand the money whilst I am still packing. I say thank you and ok - and continue packing.

Only when ALL my shopping is packed and in my trolley do I put in my card and pay. After all, it is no faster and I used to hate having to pack my shopping when they began flinging someone else's shopping onto it causing two customers to fight for packing space.

I smile and say thank you and leave. You are only treated badly if you allow it.