http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/is-it-rude-to-shop-while-talking-on-your-phone-dont-all-call-at-once-8683927.html

I would be tempted to refuse the shopper, not sure I would have the balls to though. Sainsbury’s should have issued her with waitrose vouchers!

What does everybody else think?

utterly ridiculous, they get paid to serve me in a shop and they can do that wether I’m on the phone or not. Hope that shop worker got the sack for bringing sainsburys into the national press. I confess I do it all the time.

Nahhh … money is king so serve her but not look her (customer) eyes but side ways while serving.

Also talk to other checkout assistant(s) about people talking on phone by assuming this customer to be invisible. 😈

Think it was pretty rude to expect to be served while on the phone. Common decency imo. How hard can it be to call the other person back later?

People don’t care anymore, their phone is more important to them than almost anything.

Good on the shop worker!

Sad state of the modern world we live in where manners are becoming a thing of the past

The relationship between some people and their phones seems the same as that between cows and grass. I’m stunned by the amount of people I see who find it perfectly acceptable to gab on and on and on, talking utter cobblers in the most bovine manner imaginable, while oblivious to the person in front of them.

Its the height of bad manners, and utterly disrespectful. Just because someones working on a cheque-out doesn’t make them some machine, just to serve you while being studiously ignored. “Anyway… so Darren said to Bazza…..”

Well done to Sainsbury’s though. I’m sure giving the rudest people in the country free vouchers as a reward for their ignorance, sends out just the right message 🙄

I wouldn’t dream of taking a call whilst paying for something at a till. That’s what the self serve tills are for.

I agree with Houns, good manners cost nothing but go a long way.

I have been to places which have signs saying they won’t serve people that are on the phone. I don;t think it’s unreasonable to be polite to the person serving you.

Sainsbury is just a glorify wet market to be frank. Nothing special.

As far as people trying to get serve by me while on their mobile I just told them to switch off.

If they are on the mobile walking in front of the Chieftain tank I let the tank turn them into carpet. 😈

It’s just rude.

I wouldn’t dream of taking a call whilst paying for something at a till. That’s what the self serve tills are for.

I agree with Houns, good manners cost nothing but go a long way.

Yep, sums it up for me

totally rude to use the phone whilst expecting to be served at the same time, obviously no mobile phone etiquette whatsoever. Just as rude as being mid conversation with someone and their phone rings which they then answer instead of ignoring. Probably the same sort of people who also have dire ringtones at volume 99 and shout whilst talking on the phone so everyone in the vicinity can hear their conversation.

Like everything, there’s a balance to be struck, but being humans there’s always an extreme view, a plonker or two and suggestion that “rules”are needed.

FWIW

“I won’t be shopping there again – I’ll go to Waitrose insted”

… as a response, swings me to think this belongs in the plonker basket.

Good for the shop worker!

The lack of manners with mobiles is becoming a plague on modern society!

I think behaving like that (speaking on the phone whilst someone is trying to serve you) marks you out as a bit of a bellend. Same as the people who don’t bother to say hello to the cleaner when they walk into work in the morning (because they are “just” a cleaner) or to the bus driver and don’t say thanks when handed your pint/coffee. Just common manners.

Given that I’m not sure I’d have refused to serve her; just given her absolutely the minimum respect I could get away with.

Speaking about her ordeal Ms Clarke said: “I don’t know what she was playing at. I couldn’t believe how rude she was. When did she have the right to give me a lecture on checkout etiquette? I won’t be shopping there again – I’ll go to Waitrose instead.“

Property manager Ms Clarke, 26, does sound a bit of an arse.

jekkyl – Member

utterly ridiculous, they get paid to serve me in a shop and they can do that wether I’m on the phone or not. Hope that shop worker got the sack for bringing sainsburys into the national press. I confess I do it all the time.

I meant to ask… hows your campaign for your local Tory candidacy coming along?

Frankly, if someone I was speaking to on the phone carried on with their shopping I’d assume that I was less important to them than a tin of beans and a french stick and accuse them of bad manners.

The relationship between some people and their phones seems the same as that between cows and grass. I’m stunned by the amount of people I see who find it perfectly acceptable to gab on and on and on, talking utter cobblers in the most bovine manner imaginable, while oblivious to the person in front of them.

Its the height of bad manners, and utterly disrespectful. Just because someones working on a cheque-out doesn’t make them some machine, just to serve you while being studiously ignored. “Anyway… so Darren said to Bazza…..”

Well done to Sainsbury’s though. I’m sure giving the rudest people in the country free vouchers for their ignorance, sends out just the right message

This, well said!

Yeah tricky for businesses to deal with this, think sandals did a great job with Jordan –

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/01/25/sandals-resorts-offers-katie-price-refund-if-she-doesn-t-book-company-again

I listen to my mp3 player constantly, but as soon as I’m at the checkout I switch it off and make a point to actually speak (A “hello” is enough) and make eye contact with /look at the cashier. Their doing a job just like everyone else & deserve respect, common courtesy costs nothing.

If you want to be a **** go use the self service till.

I won’t even use my phone on the self service checkouts. The lady who says “Please insert your card into the chip & pin device” deserves the same courtesy as anyone else.

Unless that was dripping with sarcasm, then the paper needs pulling up on the use of the word ‘ordeal’.

Not sure what its got to do with politics Binners…..but hey don’t let that stop you!

I recall being in a dept store looking for something in a quiet clothes area. This complete Tool was walking around in circles chatting to a friend on speaker……very loudly! I would gladly have belted him around the back of his head with a heavy object, but managed to desist and went elsewhere. 😥

The lady who says “Please insert your card into the chip & pin device” deserves the same courtesy as anyone else.

You’ve clearly never met the lady that hides in the machines at Morrisons….skanky, slow, a touch schizophrenic and quite frankly, neurotic.

Its the mark of a person how courteous you are with another no matter how much higher (or lower that you perceive them to be to you).

I’ve still been in a conversation when I’ve gotten to a shop assistant- I’ve ended the call asap then apologised as I was aware someone was waiting to interact.

Normally (if I’m interacting with people) and the phone rings I’ll cancel it and carry on talking- this says ‘hey your important to me’ or it says ‘this call looks more interesting than you’. Only an emergency (Mother etc number that you know is unwell etc) should stop a conversation.

Retail staff are employee’s NOT servants.

HELLO

Dom Jolly has just been interviewed on Sky about this.

Don’t know what he said… I was on the dog

they get paid to serve me in a shop and they can do that wether I’m on the phone or not

😆

Fair enough I’d say. How annoying is it when you stand there invisible to the shop staff when they’re busy talking to each other or on the phone ignoring you’re even there.

It’s something we get a lot here in France – (my personal experience, not saying all french are rude!). I like to make a point of saying a big happy “Bonjour!” when they do that – sometimes they stop their chat. But you do sometimes get made to feel like an inconvenience when turning up giving them something do to. Especially public sector workers.

Fairly rude and I wouldn’t to it myself but if it stops the small talk some check out operatives like to engage in then I can understand people making a call as they approach the check out.

Scan my stuff, I’ll pack it (instead of some god awful person raising money for whatever worthy cause the supermarket is supporting that day), don’t engage me in chat about my shopping, let me pay and let me the **** out.

If you’re on a business call for example why should I stop talking because someone is scanning my stuff? And as for refusing to serve a customer I would imagine that’s gross misconduct.

I’ve still been in a conversation when I’ve gotten to a shop assistant

Are you aware you just used the word ‘gotten’? You are not from Louisiana. Stop it!

Well, this has restored my faith in STW. You are obviously in the majority, correct. It’s immensely rude to carry on like the shop assistants don’t matter. Just because they’re shop assistants it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get respect. Absolutely terrible manners.

There’s a newsagents in Leeds. just a one man shop and it was a brave step for him to take but he refused to serve anyone who continued to talk on the phone. Good man.

If you’re on a business call for example why should I stop talking because someone is scanning my stuff?

If you’re on a business call, WTF are you doing shopping?

If you’re on a business call for example why should I stop talking because someone is scanning my stuff?

Maybe the rest of us simply aren’t important enough to be doing our shopping while on a business call.

Having been a ‘customer assistant’ at a cinema, my way of dealing with people on phones was simply not to say anything to them. Why should I be polite when they can’t return the courtesy? Never got any complaints.

As for the woman in the article, how would she have felt if the checkout person was on their phone while they were serving? … Exactly…

If you’re on a business call for example why should I stop talking because someone is scanning my stuff?

What happens if you are on the toilet or during sex?

jekkyl – Member
utterly ridiculous, they get paid to serve me in a shop and they can do that wether I’m on the phone or not. Hope that shop worker got the sack for bringing sainsburys into the national press. I confess I do it all the time.

I’m surprised you can actually do your own shopping with your head so far up your own arse!

Manners cost nothing. Being polite costs nothing, and sadly, being a weapons grade bell end costs nothing either.

I saw an article recently about how the journo had been given advice by her mother that you should measure a potential partner by the way they treat waiters/shop workers/cleaners etc. If they’re polite and respectful of the person serving them they’re good people. If they act like an 11th century lord of the manner oppressing his/her peons then don’t bother, they’re clearly **** (I paraphrase). Seems reasonable to me.

What happens if you are on the toilet or during sex?

Do the shopping later?

you should measure a potential partner by the way they treat waiters/shop workers/cleaners etc. If they’re polite and respectful of the person serving them they’re good people. If they act like an 11th century lord of the manner oppressing his/her peons then don’t bother, they’re clearly **** (I paraphrase). Seems reasonable to me.

Very much so.