Five Things That People Do That Annoys The Crap Out of Cashiers

I've spent a large majority of my life as a cashier in one sort of business or another. As a cashier, I've been able to interact with so many different types of people and witness some of the weirdest situations. One thing that has always amazed me is the fact that customers come into the store and sort of forget that cashiers are just normal people like they are. They think that somehow we've memorized every single price of every single item in the store, that we move faster than the speed of light, and that learning seven different languages was a part of our new hire training. I could list one hundred things that people do that have annoyed me while I was working, but i will settle for just five.

1. People take a cashier's friendliness for granted

When cashiers interact with customers, they often have a very friendly demeanor. They smile, make eye contact, and ask you how you are doing. They bag your items carefully, complete the transaction, and tell you to have a wonderful day and to please come back. They do this because it is part of the job training, not because they like you. Somewhere in the training manual, or on a computer course that the cashier had to take before they could be let loose on the general public, the cashier was told that the best customer service was to smile, make eye contact, give a warm, friendly greeting, and thank the customer and ask them to come back to the store. If you thought that the cashier was being nice to you because you are so special, think again. Chances are that they can't wait for you to leave so that they can go on their break.

 2. Cashiers can't stand when you tell them about your problems

There is always that one customer who gets to the register and decides to tell the cashier about all of their problems. I'm pretty sure that most cashiers do not have a degree in Psychology, so I've never understood why people seem to want to talk about their problems at the cash register.  Cashiers don't care about the fact that your dog got hit by a car, or that your rent is three months past due.  They don't want to know that your grandmother makes the best homemade pies, or that your church service ran a little long last weekend.  They don't care about your political views, they don't want to know that your boyfriend doesn't like your cooking, or anything else that you may feel the need to talk about.  All they want is for you to pay and leave so that they can go on their break.

 3. Cashiers can't stand when you don't have enough money to pay for your items

 Every cashier has this problem happen to them on a daily basis.  A person gets to the register with a cart full of stuff and after the cashier has rang everything up, they suddenly realize that they don't have their wallet.  Now to the consumer, this may seem like a simple problem.  But for a cashier, now they've got to unbag all of that stuff, move it out of the way of the next customer, find a manager to void the transaction, and in some stores, they may even have to put the stuff back.  Its during these times that the cashier has to really remember why they need their job, because otherwise, the customer may be leaving the store with a very unfriendly goodbye.  This category also includes people who get to the register, and can't purchase everything that they have in their cart because they don't have enough money.  I mean, honestly, don't people know how much money they have before they go into the store?

 4.  Its very annoying when you have to pay for your items with three different credit cards

It has always amazed me when people tell me something like, "I'm going to pay ten dollars cash, then I'm going to put twelve dollars on this debit card, and the rest on this credit card." If you have to pay for your products this way, you may not need to be shopping in the first place. Its not that its hard work for cashiers to split up the transaction for you, its just really annoying.

5.  People wait until the middle of their transaction to remember that they forgot something thats all the way in the back of the store

 This one annoys other customers as well as cashiers.  Why do people have to run and grab another item after the cashier has rang up half of their items?  Doing this holds up the line and causes the cashier to literally have to stop what they are doing and just stand their until you get back.  Customers begin to get irritated because they have to wait, and in turn they might take it out on the cashier, who may begin to get irritated also.  Then you just have a whole bunch of grumpy people all because one person has bad memory.  If you forgot something, just pay for what you have, and then go get what you forgot so you don't hold up the line.

 It was really hard to list only five annoying things.  I may have to put out a sequel to this hub.  The next time you go shopping, please take these things into consideration so that you and the cashier may have a pleasant day.