So you're in the EXPRESS line at a store... (stupid etiquette question)

[trotsky]

Poll question: So you're in the EXPRESS line at a store... (stupid etiquette question)

The person in front of you has 15 items in a 10 ITEMS OR LESS express line. What is the proper etiquette in this situation?

[GOPisEvil]

1. Stare daggers into their backs and wish them curdled milk!

[StClone]

2. Tell the store to

Change their policy to '15 items more-or-less.' You see what happens is a person can not under normal circumstance carry 15 or more items and the check out is still fast and a cart is just toooooo obvious to sneak through. Works at my favorite store.

[skygazer]

3. When I'm their checker

I ALWAYS tell them. If they're only a few items over, I'll take them but I tell them, "You know, this is the 10 items or less checkstand." I do it loudly so they are publicly embarassed in front of all the people they're holding up. And if they have much over the limit, I won't take them. I hate rude people. Isn't it great I work with the public?

[GOPFighter]

13. You're my hero of the day!

Wish there were more like you!

[skygazer]

17. Thank you, thank you

No applause, just throw money.........

[uncle ray]

16. bravo!

more people who deal with the public need to make the idiots feel like the idiots they are! i was in boston market the other day, and some bozo starts going off on how a large soup doesn't look like it's worth $1.40 more than the small, "i just thought i'd let you know, you might sell more" of course the manager caved and gave him a large for the price of a regular. if i were working i would have told him where the soup kitchen was in town.

[trotsky]

21. I wish every checker did this, skygazer.

Just a polite reminder coming from a store employee would be great!

[miss_kitty]

43. yes i'm glad you work with the public

i have in the past, and i hate the public.

[aden_nak]

4. I find that the direct approach is best.

Something along the lines of:

"Fifteen is a higher number than ten, don't you think? 'Cause, ya know, you have fifteen items. But this lane is for ten or less. That's awfully rude."

Alternately, grab five items from their cart and chuck them down the isle. ;)

[OneBlueSky]

5. ignore it . . .

there are enough real things in this world to get upset about . . .

[gpandas]

14. why not just ask people...

behind you if they want to pass by you also, while you concern yourself with more important things.

[OneBlueSky]

25. I've actually done that . . . quite a few times, in fact . . .

if I have multiple items, and someone behind me is carrying just one or two, I often ask if they'd like to ge through ahead of me . . . I find that small kindnesses help make the world just a little more liveable . . . :)

[Longhorn]

19. I agree.

Life's too short! I give them the benefit of the doubt that they lost count, got in the wrong lane, or are in a major hurry, and move on.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

6. Grab their ass.

Always works.

[Endangered Specie]

Somehow I doubt the number of items they check out

prevents you from grabbing someones ass ;)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

15. Really? I can just grab?

Kewl!

[Endangered Specie]

7. Count the items off aloud as the clerk scans them...

IF you have small kids, pass it off as a "counting excersize".

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. Other: let the checkout person handle it.

If the checkout person doesn't, at a minimum, inform the customer that he has too many items, shop at another store in the future.

[Philostopher]

9. Minnesota nice with a twist.

Mr. Nownow and I also do a 'tsk -- shame they don't teach people to count to (10, 12, 15) in school anymore' or 'wow, they must not teach kids small and large on Sesame Street these days.' I also have little sympathy for technofear in the self-check lanes, though I'm less annoyed when the elderly get in there with small orders and don't know what to do.

One thing to consider, though -- when the stores are busy, and the small order lanes are empty, checkers will wave people over to their lanes even if they have large orders. I've seen it happen, and in those cases I don't blame people for doing it -- the checkers do ask them to.

[GOPFighter]

10. My experience a few months ago:

Guy in the express lane had at least 25 items in the express lane (15 items or less). When the person in back of him complained, the guy turned around and yelled, "Look, I'm shopping for two people!"

:eyes:

[Bunny]

11. My rule is that you can have up to five items over the stated limit,

and not receive the bunnyj Dagger Stare/Death Wish Combo (patent pending).

I normally don't get too exercised about a few extra items, but what tends to really honk me off is when someone goes through the express lane, waits until EVERYTHING is rung up, and then decides to open his/her purse, get out the checkbook, record the details in the checkbook ledger, write the check (as slowly as possible), study it for a minute, then sloooooowly tear it out of the checkbook and hand it to the cashier.

I have silently vowed to bring a gun the next time, but thankfully I never do. Why oh why do people do this??? Don't they have someplace else to be? For the love of God, why??

[trotsky]

18. HA HA HA

I am with you on that, bunnyj. The slow check-writers kill me!

[sleepyhead]

53. It always comes as a complete surprise to some people

that when their stuff is all rung up, they will actually have to *pay* for it. The checkbook is always at the bottom of the bag or in the least accessible pocket, and then they have to double- and triple-check the total. Meanwhile, my frozen items are melting before my eyes.

[Catherine Vincent]

36. LOL!

Funny!

[sendero]

55. Bingo!

The fact is, with modern scanning checkouts, 5 more items is not going to take much longer. I don't get too frosted when someone is a few items over.

But nothing in a grocery store raises my ire like idiots who take longer to pay than it did to ring up their purchases. If you must use a damn check, please fill in everything but the amount while you are being rung up! Or you will get the evil hairy eyeball from me!

[cmf]

12. One time I was accosted by someone behind me in the express line

He accused me of having more than 15 items. So I calmly counted out each item (there were 12), and told him that if he was going to accuse people of having more than 15 items, then maybe he should learn to count first.

The moral of the story is if you decide to confront the person, MAKE SURE they are actually over the posted limit.

[skygazer]

20. Stupid questions one fields while manning the express checkout

1. "Does each can count as one item?" when they have 32 cans of soup.

2. "Well, does each banana count as one item?" snippily delivered when they are told 'yes' to question one.

3. "Can I pay for the first ten, then the second ten and then it will be two orders of ten or less?" not even deserving of a reply.

[Lavender Brown]

24. I feel for you

I used to work in a department store, in the curtain department. When you work in customer service you see the full spectrum of people's weirdness. I sometimes had to explain that I, myself, the girl at the register, was the not the person who made the curtains. They actually pictured me sewing in the back room after hours or something. :eyes:

[skygazer]

27. That is so funny!

It is amazing the things that come out of people's mouths! A couple of years ago, the Teamsters were on strike so we had trouble getting regular deliveries (one thing that ticks me off about my union is that we don't support the Teamsters when they go out. They ALWAYS support us).

Anyway, an irate lady cornered me and began yelling about how she couldn't find this and that and nothing was on the shelves. In my best 'customer service voice', I explained the Teamster situation but she didn't want to hear it. "I know about the strike," she yelled, "but you need to do something about this!" while poking me in the chest with her finger.

What she expected a lowly checker to do I don't know, but I patted her condescendingly on the shoulder and said in a silky smooth voice, "Well, I'm sure the trucking companies are looking for help. Perhaps you could get a job with them."

[truthspeaker]

40. not only do you sew the curtains, you set the prices and sales tax

If your store sells alcohol or tobacco, you, the cashier, are personally responsible for any state and local laws relating to the selling of these items.

[eleny]

22. Ignore it because you have a life

[LisaM]

23. I accidentally did this once... I was three items over..

and I didn't know it was an Express Lane because the only sign for it was about 20 feet up in the air and completely parallel to the line - I happened to get in the lane straight on (not from the side) so there was no way I could see it. I had something like 18 items for a 15 item line and one was a large bookcase that I'd already unloaded. The guy behind me FLIPPED OUT. He had three ready-made submarine sandwiches and he started screaming "shame on you! shame on you! for getting in the Express Lane with too many itmes!" (that's when I realized it was the Express Lane). It would have taken longer to load everything back into the cart and move than to just continue on - the cashier had already started ringing me up - and the mean guy started yelling, "shame on Kenny (the cashier) for ringing you up! Shame on you!"

Kenny got all flustered (I had already apologized) and rang me up in Canadian money, which of course slowed things down further. I don't know what the guy's problem was. He was hugely overweight and just ANGRY. I told him I'd already said I was sorry, and then I just paid and went to put my stuff in the car.

When I was leaving, a big, giant, old yellow rusty and dented Cadillac was slo-o-o-wly maneuvering out of the handicapped space, making everybody in the place wait. Yep! Sandwich guy. I guess it was okay for HIM to slow people down.

It still makes me mad! I respect the Express Lanes. He should have seen that the sign placement was poor and backed off.

[NV Whino]

30. had a similar experience

A few items over the limit. Didn't see the sign, which was hidden. Unloaded cart before the checker told me it was the express line. I looked around for the sign and still couldn't see it. I asked where the sign was--just curiosity on my part at that point. It was hidden behind a vase of flowers at the check stand. NO overhead sign or anything. I said a few choice words that Mr. Cheney might have used and proceeded to check out.

[Ediacara]

33. If I were Kenny

I would have told him to get into another line. If he refused, I would have asked him to hand me his sandwiches and then leave the store. Look, I can understand getting annoyed at an express lane abuser, but when it goes from being annoyed to verbally abusive, that person has lost their grocery store privileges.

[demnan]

26. Don't sweat the small stuff

but if they have over twenty bump them in the ass with your cart.

[yellowcanine]

28. You need to perfect the sincerely puzzled stare followed by a discreet

Humph! - but this is only done when the number of items is clearly well over the posted limit. No one likes a tight assed school marm wagging a finger for one item over.

[Ediacara]

29. I'm a checker

Sometimes, there is no one in express and lots of people in the standard lines. I often invite the next person into my line so I'm not asking them to be a jackass. In that situation, where a person is WAY over the limit, glare at the checker.

Most other cases are due to the customer being a foreign tourist or elderly, so cut them some slack.

But.... if it's a fully aware regular grocery store customer that is neither senile, nor illiterate, then the Minnesota Nice option is the way to go.

By the way, when you're a customer in express, try being nice. I hate checking in express because people are complete assholes and refuse to talk, run off etc, and act like total jackasses. The checkers go as fast as they can, but people seem to think that ONE MINUTE in line is a lifetime of waiting......

[mrboba1]

31. What if they have 10 koolaid packets?

Does that count as 10 items?
Or 1?

This has bothered me....

[trotsky]

32. Depends on how it gets rung up!

10 separate scanner beeps = 10 items

Smart checker types "10x" and scans 1 = 1 item

[Ediacara]

34. counts as 10

Even if they're the same flavor. Produce items that are per each, like garlic, lettuce, bell peppers etc are counted as one item each, but 47 tomatoes, are just one item because you weigh them.

In my own mine, I would count 6 cloves of garlic as one garlic, and 10 cherry koolaid packets as cherry koolaid. If it's ten identical soup cans though, it's ten items....

[mrboba1]

38. So if I had 10 packs of koolaid (various flavors) and a bag of sugar

I wouldn't be able to get in your line?


I don't know why I'm continuing, I guess the matcom dumbass thread is getting to me!

[skygazer]

41. Personally

I would count it as one item. The issue is time - if a person has 22 cans of soup, I can ring it up with one scan by using a quantity but I still have to bag it all and, since there's no bagger on express, that takes time. I wouldn't accept the soup. Kool Aid I could just toss in the bag quickly.

It's common sense, somehting that is so rare, I wonder why it's called 'common'. Produce, for instance. so you have 6 potatoes - they're all in a bag together though and are sold by weight so that would be one item.

Another consideration is whether there's anyone in line behind the person - if not, I'll cut them more slack - if there's a line, I'm pickier.

[Catherine Vincent]

35. No big deal, as long as it's just 5 over.

We all do it!

[miss_kitty]

45. "We all do it?" speak for yourself

i don't. but then i was raised to be considerate of others....that includes obeying expess lane signs, and not speaking on behalf of the entire human race.

[Catherine Vincent]

50. Bite me!

[miss_kitty]

52. ok!

come here, you rude grrrrl!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Catherine Vincent]

39. Hello!

[pbg]

42. Nothing

Because, face it, raising a stink about it slows the line down more than just checking the extra items.

A mention from the checker is fine, but otherwise, when the whole point of the express line is speed, slowing it down for abstract principle is kind of silly.

If it's obvious at a glance that the person is over, saying "Excuse me, but this is the express line." would be in order.

But otherwise, just let it go and get out of there.

[TahitiNut]

44. Put FIVE of those items into a separate basket ...

... at the rear of the line and pleasantly invite them to go through checkout again, always saying "I'm really glad I could help you!"

[LynneSin]

46. GOD BLESS SELF SERVE CHECKOUTS

Usually the people who are too dumb to count & read signs are the same people too challenged to ring up their own groceries.

I've paid for $50 worth of groceries on through self-serve and did it in no time flat

:bounce:

[RebelOne]

49. Amen to that, but only one grocery that I shop at has them.

[LynneSin]

51. They're everywhere in Wilmington

and there are a couple of them in each store so if a dumbass does take up one usually another one will free up real quickly

[ronnykmarshall]

47. Take 5 of their items

throw them into a basket and tell them to get their ass back in line.

Then slap the shit out of them.

[Kat45]

48. Once I saw a woman with an overflowing cart in the express lane

I think it may have been the only express lane open, but I'm not sure. It was a young woman, and she was unloading this full cart onto the belt. Another young woman came into the line behind her and said something to her. The two of them started yelling and getting physical with each other, and it looked like a fight might break out. Then the second woman just walked in front of her and put her little basket on the belt ahead of the woman who was still unloading her cart. Meanwhile, the high school kid working at the register was probably too scared to say anything, and the woman with the full cart went through next, as a line of people with a few items formed behind her.

Usually the checkers are high school students, and I think a lot of them are afraid to say anything to the customer. And some others don't seem to care because they're too busy flirting and socializing with each other.

[PassingFair]

54. Jeez...

If a fifteen item person in the checkout line gets your goat, you're in trouble. We have a jackass in the Whitehouse...now THAT'S something to get your panties in a bind over...

[trotsky]

56. Welcome to the DU LOUNGE

where we never take anything too seriously. Oy!