Today I was more irritable than normal because I woke up earlier than I needed to. Only because I got my days mixed up. But I guess its better to be early than late right? Not for this chick. I need as much sleep as I possibly can get. So, the rudeness of some people rubbed me the wrong way more than a normal day.

Up until the last few hours of my shift, I was having a great day. Then its as if all the rude people decide to go through my line. As I said, normally I can let it roll off my back and not even worry about it for the rest of the day. But, today it was hard to not say something to these people. For example, this lady had the green bags. Which I have no issues with whatsoever, but her attitude towards me absolutely sucked. I tried to make conversation with her. And when I realized that I might be making the bags too heavy for her, I asked her. She responded with “Well, nothing in this store is stocked so why should I expect anything more from you?” I kind of shot a look of daggers at her but I continued on without saying anything. At the end of the transaction, she handed me coupons. One of the coupons didn’t want to go through so I checked it out and the reason why is because it was a value pack instead of two individual things. I explained to her that they need to be individual ones in order to use this coupon. So I was nice and said do you want to save the coupon for another visit or do you want me to see if I can get someone to get the things you need? She said have someone go and grab the ones I need to use the coupon. Okay, I did that. Well there was a line forming and she said “i’m sorry, I’m holding you up.” And I thought she was talking to me and I said “that’s okay, I’m here all day.” And then I realized, oh, you’re talking to her – I’m sorry. And then she continued on with “well, I don’t think SHE wants to be here all day” and then that lady started getting rude. Really? Maybe if you would read the coupons before you tried to use them we wouldn’t be having a hold up like we presently are. Apparently you need to be a rocket scientist in order to use coupons properly.

So then the woman after her was snippy with me. But I just grinned and bared it. I mean really, its all I can really do. I apologized for the inconvenience and she snarled something I didn’t catch. But by this point, I had about enough of the human race. I haven’t had many rude people lately so it kinda broke my groove of “hey, maybe people have finally removed the sticks from their asses” but those two women alone – eek. I just hope that when I get old, I don’t turn out to be a crazy old bat like them. I mean seriously people. Its not my fault that you don’t know how to read the coupons. If you can’t understand that I have policies I have to follow, then you may as well not even shop here. Yes, customers are our top priority but that doesn’t give you the right to be ruthless pricks.

Be sure to check back periodically – I will update quick to let you know approximately when it will be back in session.

Obviously I can’t say enough, the self checkouts are absolutely worthless. More so lately than ever before.  The ones on the grocery side are completely down for various reasons but all of them share the same problem, bagging scales are all out of whack so it doesn’t register items properly. Only one of them works properly on that side (out of 4 mind you!). And on the general merchandise side, 3 out of 4 work. But 2 out of the 3 that does work won’t take cash because the cash dispensers are broken. Now this is what gets me…

On the 2 that doesn’t accept cash, it states that it will only accept credit and/or debit. But if you use a debit card you can NOT get cash back. What do people do? They ask for cash back. One person did this and he got his money all in ONES (100 dollars worth in ones). He looks at me and said “why did it give me all ones?” I said “did you see the sign on the front of the machine stating to not ask for cash back because the dispenser is broken?” He’s like “no.” So I said I’d give him 20s instead. But really people, its right there in front of your face. If it was any closer, it may as well be a post-it note on your flippin’ face.

I think the whole 7 1/2 hours I was on them today, I had to suspend at least 30 transactions and take them at my podium because they lack the ability to read the BRIGHT notes on the machine and on the scanner part of it. I’m irritable because I hurt (possible torn rotator cuff) and it intensifies when I deal with stupid people every 5 minutes. And please do not ask me “this won’t take cash?” when you read the sign. Apparently its not true and we just felt like playing a really early April Fools joke on all the customers. YES MORON – it does NOT TAKE CASH! So do NOT remove that flippin’ note just to try and stick the cash in the slot.

Argh…I don’t get paid enough to deal with people like this.

For some, this may not be rude but to me, it is. I’m definitely not model material with my size 14/16 pants. Yes, sometimes I will have what you call a muffin top. But you can thank my lovely kids for that! I’m not visibly overweight, but I am by medical standards. This comment is the very reason as to why I keep a sweatshirt on at all times no matter how hot I may get.  What is that comment you ask?

Are you pregnant?

Um, hello? Do I know you? Where do you come off asking me this? I’m sorry that my body didn’t bounce back to “normal” after having kids. But not everyone has bodies that can endure what mine did during pregnancy (three mind you!) and still look decent. I don’t go around asking obese people “do you REALLY think you need that Big Mac and Super Sized fry?” No. Because its wrong. I remember when I was pregnant with my oldest child this lady made it a point to tell me that I was the largest pregnant woman she had ever seen. At that point, I had already had it up to my head with those “you’re ginormous” comments. So without even thinking I said “well, yeah maybe, but at least I have an excuse – what’s yours?”

Maybe people think because we’re cashiers (or anyone who works in the service industry), they have the ability to talk down to us. I’d be careful with what you say – especially to a waitress or someone of the like, you never know what they would do to your stuff as payback. Refer back to my “you’re not better than me” post. I think some people need to go back to their mother’s and get a refresher course in manners. The rudeness saddens me.

Today this woman was using up the remaining vouchers that expired today. She had a fruits/veggie voucher as well as a regular voucher (milk, cheese, cereal, peanut butter and eggs). I did her fruits/veggie voucher first. She had a 3 pound bag of red apples, which was okay. She also had a 3 or 5 pound bag of white russet potatoes. I told her that those weren’t going to go through. She asked me “why?” And I told her that no white potatoes can go through. Sweet potatoes/yams yes, but white potatoes no. She told me she didn’t believe me so I scanned it through and told her that it wouldn’t let it go. Come on people, we’re TRAINED to know what can and can’t go through, don’t sit there arguing with me. There’s a few exceptions to where it will say its not approved but it really is, they’re still working out their kinks. She also had some strawberries. With the fruit vouchers, you’re able to pay the exceeded amount and WIC will pick up the amount they put on the voucher. Well, I did the strawberries first and then added the apples. I told her it went over such and such amount. She told me she’s not going to pay it. I said well then you’ll only have strawberries on this voucher. She’s like okay.She then handed me another fruit voucher. Which I put the apples on and we were good on that.

Before the new WIC guidelines, I had this one woman come through my line with a bunch of cereals that weren’t WIC approved. I told her that they weren’t going to go through before I even started to enter the information. She got mad and told me she’d go to someone else who would know what they were doing. I said fine, have fun. She went to another line but while she was headed in that direction, I mentioned it to my supervisor which went to follow her through the line to make sure the cashier wouldn’t let it go through. Well, she went to a line that had a person on it that doesn’t know much about WIC to begin with. What she did was let the stuff on the voucher go through first and then she handed him the voucher. She tried to play stupid, but alas it bit her in the butt because we were on top of our game this time. Morons.

Another WIC voucher came through. Prior to them getting up to the register, their kids were screaming something horrible. Both moms (3 kids – 2 moms) were getting irritated yelling at their kids. One of them looked like she was going to smack her kid right in front of me. I’d dare anyone to do that. I would stomp it out before it even started. I may lose my job for intervening, but really – its not called for.

She handed me her voucher, absolutely nothing wrong with the stuff (kudos to you on this!). Well, she kept on yelling at her kid while I was processing the items. She looked at me and asked me “do you want kids? I’m selling them!” I smiled a half smile and told her that I had 2 kids of my own. I was really thinking “if you didn’t want kids,why did you spread your legs without protection?”  But again, I figure I can’t risk my job so I bit my tongue. But this whole time, I felt so bad for the boy. It made me feel as though he goes through way more at home than what was shown in the store. And if that was the case, I really hope social services would be knocking on her door. The next mom wasn’t any better, but she at least comforted her child when he cried.

People never cease to amaze me.

You have 90 days or less to return your product for various reasons (didn’t fit, wasn’t the right color, defective, etc…). Certain products – cameras, computers, printers – have less time to be returned. Guns and ammunition – SALES ARE FINAL! If you are unsure of the products allowed return time limit – that information can be found at the bottom of your receipt and/or you can ask the person who works up at the Customer Service desk. They will have the information readily available for you.

About a week ago I had this guy return a percolator (imagine coffee in a restaurant) that he had received as a gift 6 months ago. He said it quit working. I explained to him about the 90 day return policy and given the fact that its past the 90 day, I couldn’t do a return. He told me he had talked to GE (the company that manufactured the product) and this woman had told him that we would issue in-store credit for the “defective” product. Again, I explained to him that not only was it past the 90 days, it was also above the $25.00 limit without a receipt and I couldn’t do any returns with approval from my manager. I got my supervisor and had her talk to him. He wound up getting her to call the company herself to listen to what they said. She told the company that we couldn’t issue store credit for various reasons. One, he had no receipt and the amount was too high to do so without an exchange. Two, we have no way of finding out if we actually carry that product without a box and/or UPC code. Three, it’s past the 90 days. He wound up not getting it anyways. Had he just listened to me in the first place, it wouldn’t of taken an hour to have what I said confirmed to be true.

We do have a policy in place where we are able to return items of $25.00 or less without a receipt and an ID. If the product is more than $25.00 and you don’t have a receipt, we can do an exchange for the same product of equal or greater value. If it’s an electronic item, it has to be checked out by a person in that department to verify that it’s the right product inside the right box. If the serial number of the product doesn’t match the serial number of the box, you won’t be able to return it.  It also has to have EVERYTHING that came with it, in it. If you’re missing something that’s suppose to be in it, I won’t return it.

Today this woman wanted to return an XBox 360 game. It wasn’t opened but it was above that allowed limit for no receipt returns. I told her we could do an exchange for a game of equal or greater value she told me she didn’t want another game. And I told her that I couldn’t do the return without a receipt because of it being above the allowed no receipt return. She told me I could just put it on a gift card and I said that I couldn’t, it would still be breaking Walmart policy. She rolled her eyes and told me whatever. I apologized and she said I should be and walked away. I moved on to my next customer.

I had another great one. This guy was returning a breast pump (for breast feeding mothers) but didn’t have a receipt. He had approached the service desk while I was on my lunch so I didn’t know what the person who covered for me told him. He came back with a basket full of food items and a case of diapers. He told me he was the one that wanted to do an exchange. And I asked him if he had another pump. He told me no and that he wanted me to exchange the pump with the food he had in his basket. I told him that I can only do exchanges for the same product of equal or greater value. He’s like “oh”. I told him I could do a return without a receipt since it was less than $25.00 but I’d need an ID. Now a valid ID would be a drivers license, state issued ID card, military ID and/or passport. We can NOT use student IDs or anything of the sorts. If you have an expired license to where the corner is clipped but no slip verifying that its still valid and you’re just waiting for the issuance of a new one, its not considered a VALID ID. So I started doing the return and I asked him for an ID (ID is to prevent too many returns with no receipt in a 45 day period – you’re allowed 3 no receipt returns in that time frame). He handed me his student ID as well as his international student ID. I told him that I couldn’t use those, I needed a state issued ID (wow, I’ve said ID a lot!). He told me he has a passport but its at home. And I apologized and said that until I had some sort of identification, I couldn’t process the return. He grabbed his stuff and walked away.

People really amaze me some days. I really hope you can sense the sarcasm here….

What I love the best is the ones who will say “oh well, I can do that” AFTER they see all their bags are into their cart. Well, if you could of did that why didn’t you? You have about $300.00 worth of stuff on my belt and also see that I”m starting to put things on top of my carousel to make more room – wise up and remove them. Don’t wait for me to start putting them in before you even consider maybe lifting a finger. Many times there’s a certain finger that I would enjoy lifting, but I restrain. Also if you go through a 20 item or less lane with way more then 20, expect some of your items to go on the floor to make room. The express lane has 5 less bagging slots than a long line does, so obviously we aren’t as equipped for the excess overflow. Either don’t come through that line or be prepared and grab an empty cart.

The rudeness of people today absolutely flabbergasted me. Most of the ones I waited on didn’t even acknowledge my greeting them. Then, when asked how their visit was for the day, they totally blow it out of the water stating that the cashier didn’t greet them and was extremely rude. Maybe in your little world, we are rude. If that’s true, I wonder why that happened? Its because people like you think its all about them. And quite frankly, you need to take a step back and realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you.

There’s been multiple incidents to where I’ve had to deny a coupon for various reasons. Biggest reason being the coupons had been expired. I know some can be tricky because MOST expire either at the beginning of the month or the end of the month, very rarely in the middle.  But you should ALWAYS check the dates of the coupons before trying to use them. Three-fourths of the time the cashier will catch it. If you intentionally pass off an expired coupon, shame on you.

I had more coupons today than I normally do. At Walmart, there is a limit of $50.00 in savings from coupons per transaction. I’ve only had a few people exceed that amount in the almost two years I’ve been there. Today one lady tried to use a Target coupon at Walmart. Now, if it weren’t for the red bulls-eye repeating itself I would of let it go through, because it was a manufacturers coupon. I explained to the lady that I couldn’t honor that coupon. She asked me why and I explained to her. I said it was a Target coupon and she was shopping at Walmart. She told me that we ad match. And I said yes, we ad match but not coupon match. She rolled her eyes and said whatever.

Not too long ago I also had a woman try to use a coupon that expired in June when it was October. Do people really think coupons never expire? Do they not realize that cashiers are trained to catch these things? There’s only been a few coupons I’ve seen that didn’t have an expiration date and that was in instances to where the company was trying to make up for an error/dissatisfaction in their products.

Ad-Matching is where we will give you the price of a product a competitor has in their ad if its cheaper than what we carry the same product as. There’s a few catches here – 1) you actually NEED the ad. You can’t say “well, I was looking through the fliers this morning and saw this product at Target for $2.00 cheaper”.  And 2) it needs to be a current ad. You can’t bring an ad from a few weeks ago stating that you want the price shown in the flier. Most sales will only run for a week.

I wish there was a common sense pill I can give people. It would make my life as a cashier so much easier.

But the reason for my post is because this lady yesterday went all psycho on me. I’m on the verge of getting sick, but I’ve always made sure that I used the sanitizer before I handed the receipts and/or money to them. For most, that is enough but for this woman, it wasn’t.  She paid with a credit card, so it required a signature.  She didn’t want to sign on the card reader because she didn’t want to get all germy, so she had me print out a paper slip so she could sign. I don’t really see the logic because you’re still getting germs from the counter top, from the cart, etc…But I did it and she seemed fine.

After I handed her the receipt, she asked me if I had any sanitizer. I told her we had some on the shelf behind her if she wanted to purchase a bottle. She told me she didn’t want to do that. And I told her that there is usually a sanitizer container when you walk through the door to wipe your hands and the cart handle.  She said they were all out and I said ask one of the door greeters.

I mean really, if you’re that freaked out about germs – what are you doing out in a public place to where there’s all kinds of germs? And why don’t you have your own bottle of sanitizer lying in your purse and/or pocket? Most people who are worried about germs, but refuse to have it control their life, will bring their own sanitation products. I figure that would be the most logical thing to do, especially during peak flu season.

Today I was on self-checkouts again. These are horrendous, no good machines and need to be taken out IMMEDIATELY! It would give us two more long lines(2 extra cashiers) as well as two more short lines (again, two more cashiers). This would also increase a customers shopping experience. But instead, Walmart apparently doesn’t see the logic in this. They’d rather spend more money on fixing these stupid machines instead of investing in the possibility of more revenue.

The scales are all messed up on our self check outs. So, the first few items wind up being listed as “not bagged” because of having the customers push the nifty little white button that states “I do not want to bag this item” on the screen. One customer was scanned his first item, placed it in the bagging area and after a few seconds it started saying “please place your item in the bagging area.” He started swearing at it and threw the item into the bagging area. i thought to myself “THIS is why our scales get out of whack is cause of morons like you.” So I went over to him, calmly told him that it wasn’t him – it was our scales and all he had to do was push the white button. Then I told him that after the first few items, it’ll be lovely again. I walked back to my podium and watched him. He scanned his next item, same thing. I told him that I had already explained to him once how to make it work better, push the white button. He kinda snarled at me but I didn’t care – you act stupid, you’re going to get it right back. Finally he was done and gone.

Few minutes later, same scenario – only this time, it was a combination of the scales being out of whack and the woman being impatient.  She’d scan her items, throw them into the bagging area and it’d set off the alarms.  I’d explain to her about the scale and she kinda gave me the “don’t talk to me, I know what I’m doing” look.  So eventually the scale would work its kinks out and then she’d go and rip the bags out of the bagging area before the scale even registered the item going into the bag. Seriously woman, go through a real check out if you’re going to be a wench like that.

For you food stamp users – please use that number and/or website address on the back of your card to find out your balances. The only way we can find out the balance for you is if you purchase something and then the balance will show up at the end of the receipt. And please stop trying to buy 300.00 worth of groceries with only 70.00 in food stamps – we won’t pick up the excess.  And any refrigerated/frozen stuff you have in your cart at the time of checkout, but decide against after all is said and done, thank you. You just made us waste that product because it can NOT go back on the shelf. So, before putting any of those items into your cart – be sure you’re going to purchase them. Nothing is more irritating than knowing what was perfectly good food is going to waste because you’re too indecisive.