in France I've often been behind some arse who is bagging his groceries while on the phone and doing it slowly so it holds up the queue.
I invariably get stuck behind:
"Would you like help with your packing?"
"No thanks."
*proceeds to bag really slowly, so that there's a week's worth of unbagged groceries still piled up at the end of the till when everything's being scanned*
When they finally get to serve me I'll need help with my packing as my fingernails are stuck fast in the trolley handle.
I spend a lot of time on the phone and if I got a call while in a social situation it would depend where I was.
There is an etiquette to using your phone, just apply normal good manners.
The Independent says 1 in 6 have used phones at funerals 😯 I find that hard to take in.
Also the article says "speaking of her ordeal" now come on that's when I though its just a load of bollocks. Shit journalism sensationalising a non new item.
Its good to see that the majority of people who have commented on this thread have manners.
Pebblebeach et al, you should be ashamed of yourself.
[i]Pebblebeach et al, you should be ashamed of yourself.[/i]
And you should learn to read. I refer to my first post on page one, go have a look and learn some manners yourself.
Pebblebeach...you better get back to your business calls, someone might be needing their loft insulation improving 🙂
Is shame an emotion you're familiar with? 😀
[img] 
[/img]
Actually DrP, I'm not sure that is a human?
I'm drawn to suspicions that her head has been photo-chopped onto that body.
And you should learn to read. I refer to my first post on page one, go have a look and learn some manners yourself.
The one where you explained how much more important you are than anybody who works on a checkout who despite all the ignorance they suffer still tries to be pleasant enough to engage you in friendly conversation?
[i]someone might be needing their loft insulation improving[/i]
You may think that's funny, I don't understand what you're attempting to say.
er no, this one [i]'Fairly rude and I wouldn't to it myself'[/i], but its fine if you want to be selective.
I used to work on a checkout... the thing to remember is that the people on mobile phones who ignore the checkout staff because they're on the phone are the same ones who would be a t**t even without the phone.
They're the ones who the next day will be in for a loaf of bread with an MP3 player blasting music into their ears.
Some people are just rude, it's the way the world is... but it's easy to forget that they are outnumbered by the nice, polite, friendly people so really we shouldn't worry too much about it. 🙂
And you should learn to read. I refer to my first post on page one, go have a look and learn some manners yourself.
It could have been the bit when he further endeared himself to everyone by stating that people giving up their time to raise money for charity are also a PITA that get in his way, as he manfully thrusts himself about in an oh-so-important businesslike manner on his way to his awaiting Range Rover
Good on the shop worker for taking a stand .it is rude and ignorant to talk on the phone like that ,just as it is to take a call when you are already talking to someone .Also one of my local pubs has a ban on mobiles being used and there is a bakers in Bath that wont serve you if you are on the phone
There's been the odd occasion where I've done it when I've been in a rush but I felt like a proper tool.
[i]his awaiting Range Rover[/i]
I keep that at the country pile, I prefer something more sporty around town.
I don't get many people on the phone, but the one that does irk me a bit is people who don't hand me money, they put it on the counter, which means I have to scrabble about to pick it up again.
I'm not infectious or anything, and that rash has cleared right up.
by stating that people giving up their time to raise money for charity are also a PITA that get in his way
TBF, I do find them a bit awkward to deal with. No problem throwing some shrapnel in a bucket for the local U11 team, but faced with a 9 year old who will either pack everything so slowly and so badly, I have to resist the urge to jump in and take over, or look at their little rejected faces and moments of awkward-ness if I do it myself, , I just collapse mentally and find myself either walking out with 4 pints of milk and a bag of potatoes balanced on top of a piece of cod, or with the knowledge I've contributed to the mental downfall of a youngster who may well go 'postal' at my local Asda in a few years time.
Just say 'No thanks' pack your own stuff, then chuck some cash in. Its worth it to keep them off the streets, vandalising bus stops, and drinking cider in parks
I like to believe my job is really important I can be called 24 hours a day 365 days a week by clients police officers and colleagues. I have taken calls when on holiday and in social situations .
I side with the checkout assistant. It costs nothing to be polite and interact with the person trying to serve you and is unacceptably rude to continue a call while being served. My last real world experience of this was a judges clerk calling me regarding the urgent listing of an emergency application it took nano seconds to establish who was calling explain it was inconvenient to take the call and that I would call back in 5 minutes.
I certainly believe you can judge character by the way people behave to those around them especially those perceived to be in a menial job. I would not employ any one who was rude to waiters, receptionists or cleaners .
I am also going to nominate the check out assistant on the link above .
[i]I would not employ any one who was rude to waiters, receptionists or cleaners.[/i]
Do you employ people who are rude to people in other jobs then, traffic wardens for example?
Its worth it to keep them off the streets, vandalising bus stops, and drinking cider in parks
When you put it like that, it's like denying them a right of passage!
I have taken calls when on holiday
Spotted last week;
[img] 
[/img]
🙂 Not one person on the beach on their phone. Was blissful!
I am also going to nominate the check out assistant on the link above .
I just did that as well
Why would you be rude to a traffic warden?
Aye Now I've thought about it bearnecessities, I'm not going to do it again.
Its sending out completely the wrong message. Would it be wrong to buy them ten Bensons instead?
Absolutely, with a 3L bottle of the cheapest white cider and some frazzles. 😀
"Do you employ people who are rude to people in other jobs then, traffic wardens for example?"well we pay our staff to be confrontational with authority figures .
I do still say thank you to a shop assistant whilst I'm on the phone, I'm not the type to completely ignore someone and I do believe in manners but........ why should I hang up on my mate to punch in 4 digits to pay for my 80 quids worth of fuel and a twix. Like I say I do smile and make eye contact and say thanks. It's only a phone call ffs, like someone else said, not like it's a funeral.
busy at work today, otherwise would have replied to all my haters earlier. Peace Love \/:o)
Sorry.... were you saying something? I'm just on the phone 😉
Im siding with the checkout operator.
I've not read through the whole thread but to put the boot on the other foot.
How would you feel if the checkout operator was gassing away on their mobile whilst serving you? If its not acceptable for the shop staff to do it, then it certainly isn't acceptable for customers to do it.
I'm home/field based and all of my work calls are via mobiles. If I'm busy, meeting with a customer or talking to somebody, I never answer my phone in those situations. However I'm shocked at the number of times other people answer when I ring and then tell me that its not convenient or that they are in a meeting. If its not convenient don't answer, I'm more than capable of leaving a message!
And yes at 41 years of age, I really can see the Grumpy Old Man syndrome sneaking in! 😉
you may say that being on your phone is anti-social, but only to the people around you who you most probably don't know. they're probably being very social to friends, or at least to people they almost know on Facebook.
jekkyl - Member
why should I hang up on my mate to punch in 4 digits to pay for my 80 quids worth of fuel and a twix. Like I say I do smile and make eye contact and say thanks.
Erm because, the implication is, you are using your phone on the forecourt and you shouldn't be?
Erm because, the implication is, you are using your phone on the forecourt and you shouldn't be?
The amount of petrol stations I have visited in Leeds and Bradford, where the cashier is babbling on their mobile, is probably a dozen.
And...................?
And...................?
Nothing; your vernacular prowess has beaten me! 😉
Beeb reporter said it in one 'would you like it if someone came into your work and did they same to you'?
We ALL have customers. Even the folk who pay 450 @ month to hire an Audi to look 'important' to their neighbours.
hora - MemberBeeb reporter said it in one 'would you like it if someone came into your work and did they same to you'?
We ALL have customers. Even the folk who pay 450 @ month to hire an Audi to look 'important' to their neighbours.
I don't get the Audi haters. I'd like an Audi. You'd like an Audi I guess??!
This thread is silly. Treat people nice is all this amounts to.
If you catch yourself having a conflab while being served; apololgise, be nice, fumble through the 2 transactions to make sure both parties are ok and don't feel offended, and move on!
piemonster - Member
Im siding with the checkout operator.
+1
But I was brought up in a generation who did not have mobile phones.
I dont hate Audi's. I think they attract the wrong-type.
I hope Mre Mobile doesn't come to my local Waitrose. She sounds more like an Asda person to me.
My wife has an audi. We don't pay 450 a month for it though. We bought it, with money.
I don't think she thinks she's important in it either. She has a rule. The speed limit is a limit, not a challenge. If she feels like doing 25mph in a 40mph area, then 25mph it is.
I should imagine this goes down immensely well with people behind her. I'm assuming so anyway, they're always waving at her, she tells me.
would you like it if someone came into your work and did they same to you?
my clients are always checking their Blackberrys in meetings for really important emails like those ones telling them that the Fungspan server will be off for 2 hours on Saturday, and the one from the COO saying that Jackie Meyer-Fishbomb has been appointed Regional Client Bottom Polisher in Alaska.
I'd care more, but they're paying for my time, so they can waste as much as they like.
I work in aldi on avarage it takes around 30 seconds to get served at the till, if you cant ask someone to wait for 30 seconds on the phone or wait till you have finished on your phone before coming to my till, you'll have a much bigger wait for your shopping,i will walk off, and return when you have the common decency to treat me with respect,yes my job may not seem important to you but you'd all be screwed if we just sacked you off and stayed closed.
Its come on decency and I will judge you as a absolute Piss bucket ****er if you cant give someone serving you a little bit of respect.
I've worked in Tesco, Marks and Spencer and also Dillons (The Newsagent) in the past and can honestly say people being on the phone didn't bother me.
As long as they're not holding up the queue so you can keep serving people what difference does it make?
It's just a supermarket at the end of the day and you're being paid to scan the goods and maybe bag them, not forge a relationship. I don't understand why the checkout girl in question here would take it personally- it's really not a personal slight at the end of the day, or I never thought it was anyway. Context is everything and imo in this context there's really no need to enforce some kind of advanced etiquette. It's not a funeral ffs.
To be honest I never found it that bad when it came to the customers, can only really remember one or two isolated incidents where people were really rude and both times they involved kids/teenagers rather then adults.
It's not just bad manners, it also tends to be inconvenient for other customers. People who insist on having a conversation with someone on the phone whilst they are being served generally take longer as they attempt to jiggle two separate conversations with two different people at the same time, forcing everyone else in the queue behind them to wait as they fart about unnecessarily.
Purchase something, or, make a phone call. Life is full of choices.