So last night we were at the local food store that we frequent. It was fairly busy, though hardly overwhelming.
As we checked out, the cashier looked at us and said, "Wow, it's busy. Hope it slows down."
We replied, "Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow. It's probably only going to get busier."
She looked at us with wide eyes, and said, "I hope not. It's terrible here when it gets really busy."
The subtext of her message: "When you as the consumer come in here, it is a inconvenience to me."
This made us rethink our position on self-checkout. This is one cashier who probably shouldn’t have been so talkative.
And what it made it worse was the fact that she was slow.
Every retailer's nightmare.
During the same visit, we were at the seafood counter and saw a card that read, "Where Your Tuna Comes From," and detailed where tuna comes from during the summer months. This being late November, we turned to the person behind the counter and asked, "But where does it come from during the winter?"
They looked confused. They consulted with other people behind the counter, and then finally said, "The Caribbean." Except that it was more question than answer, with the implied hope that we wouldn’t further challenge their expertise.
We didn’t. (At that point, our 14-year-old son was beginning to roll his eyes…)
These are the kinds of store inadequacies that try consumers' souls…
As we checked out, the cashier looked at us and said, "Wow, it's busy. Hope it slows down."
We replied, "Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow. It's probably only going to get busier."
She looked at us with wide eyes, and said, "I hope not. It's terrible here when it gets really busy."
The subtext of her message: "When you as the consumer come in here, it is a inconvenience to me."
This made us rethink our position on self-checkout. This is one cashier who probably shouldn’t have been so talkative.
And what it made it worse was the fact that she was slow.
Every retailer's nightmare.
During the same visit, we were at the seafood counter and saw a card that read, "Where Your Tuna Comes From," and detailed where tuna comes from during the summer months. This being late November, we turned to the person behind the counter and asked, "But where does it come from during the winter?"
They looked confused. They consulted with other people behind the counter, and then finally said, "The Caribbean." Except that it was more question than answer, with the implied hope that we wouldn’t further challenge their expertise.
We didn’t. (At that point, our 14-year-old son was beginning to roll his eyes…)
These are the kinds of store inadequacies that try consumers' souls…
- KC's View:
