If you are checking out in a store check-out line...

[LostInAnomie]

... and there is a long line of people behind you, don't be an asshole and strike up a conversation with the checker that has nothing to do with items you are purchasing.

It will only make everyone else have to wait that much longer.

[AmyDeLune]

1. Also---(checker here!)

Have your coupons and form of payment ready please; cos' everybody loves to wait while one digs for exact change and hunts for the coupons buried in one's wallet/purse/pocket.

Other pet peeves:
Not unloading one's hand basket (unless one is 6'+, it's a killer on the wrists, elbows, and back).

Chatting/texting on phone instead of paying attention to where you are.

Unloading 50+ plus items onto the belt in the "12 items or less lane"; express is fast because there are fewer items per customer, not because the checkers are exceptionally speedy.

So very much more, so very little time...

[Iggo]

15. Be ready to do the thing that you are doing.

That's such an important rule.

[struggle4progress]

2. Even if it's about a personal sexual issue that you really want her advice on?

[Chan790]

18. I'm really more interested in her phone number.

:hide: When I was with Starbucks, that used to annoy me.

I'm at work, don't hit on me. When I'm on break...don't hit on me. When I'm just there as a customer (as evidenced by my street clothes) you can hit on me...but really you're probably not getting anywhere, you're old enough to be my grandma.

[petronius]

3. Checkers are people too - and they deserve to hear my stories about my recent

visit to the yarn museum or how my puppy saw a bird for the first time. It brightens their day! Sure, the stories run a little long, but you can't do the tale justice in just a few minutes...

[Chan790]

19. As a former cashier...

I hate yarn and puppies. I just thought you should know.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. I was living in the Philadelphia area when I started visiting my folks here in Tucson...

.
.
.
.
.
...and, though I was known amongst my East Coast peers as very laid back,
I had to scale it WAY back for the residents here.
.
.
.
I liked that.
.
.
.
Another thing I liked about the place was the friendliness -- strangers on
the street making eye contact and saying "hello". One of the things that
struck me the most is that cashiers would not only participate in, but
START conversations -- and no one in line seemed overly upset or startled
by this.
.
.
.
Of COURSE there are people here who resent it (there are MANY newcomers
here -- myself included -- from all over the country), but overall... it's a
lot more relaxed and a lot healthier culture in that regard.
.
.
.

[bluedigger]

5. Or this.

Yesterday afternoon I went into a convenience store after gassing up for a soda. The two clerks had a conversation about after work ending with one saying to the other, "I want to get out of here before 7:00!" Meanwhile the customer in front was buying lottery tickets. Then I waited while he cashed in his winners...for more tickets. "I'll take one of blah,blah,blah, and give me two... no... three..." I set the soda on the counter and walked out. I fucking HATE lottery tickets! If I want to hang out at a casino, I'll go do that.

[madinmaryland]

13. I hate waiting for the lottery ticket buyers also. I'm there to buy

some beer and you end up waiting ten minutes while some douche figures out which set of numbers they are going to pick.

:mad:

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Not a checkout line but a toll booth, and not...

the toll payer but the toll taker...

I was waiting for what seemed an inordinate amount of time at one of those annoying Garden State Parkway toll booths for the car in front of me to pay. Maybe an asshole was arguing about paying the toll, maybe he had no money... Whatever, it was taking while for that louosy 35 cents to pass hands.

Then, after seeing the toll taker yakking a lot, I notice she passes a dog biscuit to the car.

SHE'S TALKING TO THE FUCKING DOG IN THE CAR!!!

(And, if she has dog biscuits in the booth she does this a lot.)

[proteus_lives]

7. Agreed.

[Tripper11]

8. Check writers.....

When it's busy, I scan the aisle seeing which would be qwuicker, as most people would. Sort one line out and wait, patiently, thinking this will be pretty quick, I only have 6-7 things and then the person at the beginning of the line breaks out the check book.
Suddenly all the other longer lines are going quicker...

[nadine_mn]

9. as a customer and former cashier my pet peeves

people who lick their finger before counting out their money - thank goodness for debit card readers - just eww.

As a customer - if I have a shitload of stuff in my cart and the person behind me has a handful of items - I will always let them go ahead of me.... as long as they don't ask to. Just a peeve - when people just assume that I won't ram them with my cart when they say "I just have a couple of things you don't mind do you kk thanks"


I really hated when as a cashier I had a customer who was slow to count out money or write a check due to age or impairment (or something that made them take longer that wasn't due to just being rude like yapping on a cell phone) and some impatient ass was behind them loudly sighing and groaning. Hell then I just made sure to slow my ass down even more.

[siligut]

10. I so agree with the loud sighing and groaning

Most people are going to be old some day! Where I live, for some people, English is a second language. I have shopped in other countries and never has anybody been an idiot because I was slow to count foreign change or didn't bring my own bag, this was before the Euro and before we in the states even thought to bring our own bags. Plus, cashiers are people too, they deal everyday with people who slow things up, and if they aren't groaning, the customer needs to be a bit more tolerant as well.

[tigereye]

11. I just looked at a woman behind me who was sighing, in amazement - it

seemed so rude. If I don't have time to check out, I try not to get anything. It's not the cashier's fault that I (or anyone) didn't plan well and is running late.


Also, cashiers are human, too, sometimes a little conversation makes their day go a little faster, or seem a bit more pleasant. :shrug:

[Deep13]

12. Yup. nt

[Phentex]

14. Attn cashiers and managers...

When you open a new register, please learn to say "I'll take the NEXT person in line" instead of letting people who have not waited as long jump right up.

[pacalo]

16. If you see me in line, do NOT get in back of me -- pick another line.

The cashier ALWAYS runs out of register tape when my turn comes up.

[grace0418]

17. And don't just stand there and stare as the cashier bags up all your damn groceries.

Give him or her (and the people behind you) a break and chip in. You'll get out of there faster too.

I always like to start bagging, that way I know the fruit I spent several minutes carefully choosing doesn't get thrown in the bottom of the bag.