I'm a tad pissed at this. Rude bagger at the grocery store.

[Midlodemocrat]

I ran into the local Food Lion to pick up a few things and whilst perusing the wine section noticed that they have a new discount policy - 6 750ml bottles and you get a 10% discount. Kroger has the same discount, EXCEPT, if you buy 3 1.5 liters, you get the same discount.


So, at the checkout I asked the checker if they had the same policy. He replied no. I said, 'I was just wondering because it's Kroger's policy'. The kid, no more than 16, bagging my groceries says to me "This isn't Kroger" and ROLLED HIS EYES. ROLLED HIS FUCKING EYES AT ME.

I said "Well, in this community, most of the retailers do a price match to stay ahead of Wal Mart, you know in the spirit of competition".

Kid to me. "Some stores don't care about competition". ROLLED HIS EYES AT ME FUCKING YET AGAIN.

I lost it. I said to this 'child'. "You know what, darlin', when you graduate from high school and then from college and then get a couple of advanced degrees and work supporting yourself and your family, I will be more than happy to listen to you pontificate on Food Lion's Business Plan. Until then, treat your customer with respect and do your job"

I know. I'm mean. Sorry. Had to vent.

[underpants]

1. Please see

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5333736

[progmom]

2. there's an angry virus going around at the grocery stores

I've had a few out-of-the-blue bizarrely rude encounters in the last week or so myself.

FWIW - you handled it just fine!

[redqueen]

3. How is that mean?

All you did was tell him what you thought. Mean would have required going to his supervisor and getting his expendable ass canned.

Kudos for not allowing him to get away with it. Every individual should be called on their assholery when they act that way. It helps if you can do it with humor. Alas, I'm pretty much incapable of that.

[NewWaveChick1981]

4. Damn, Midlo!

What a waste of protoplasm... :eyes: I worked for Food Lion in college (thankfully those days were 20+ years ago), and I know they care about competition. Moran Bagger probably makes just above minimum wage and is none too happy about it. I'll bet the store manager and other higher-ups would not be pleased at his attitude---it's costing them business. Did you speak to someone besides him?

[mark414]

5. who cares?

so he's a smart ass kid, no use getting all worked up(tight) about it

let it go

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Here's the eye roll smilie

just for you.


:eyes:

[mark414]

21. all i'm saying is

that there are millions of people in this country and yes, some of them are rude and uncivil. that's the way things are, deal with it. giving a condescending lecture isn't going to change that - ultimately, what happened to you today means, excuse my french, absolutely shit in the grand scheme of things.

there is such a thing called picking and choosing your battles, and placing importance on things that are indeed important and learning to relax, breathe, and let go and brush off things that are completely inconsequential, as today's incident seemed to be.

this is not directed specifically at you but i'll be honest and say that yer included, obviously (although this isn't really related to what happened today): where on earth do people get a sense of entitlement that employees of businesses that said people frequent are supposed to get down on their knees and kiss the ass of the customers? i've worked in customer service positions for years, and have always been good with my customer service and i've put up with a lot of bullshit with a smile - but no, i'm sorry, the customer is not always right and sometimes that needs to be made clear.

[Midlodemocrat]

26. Dude. Why bother to post in this thread if it bothers you so

much? I am well aware that in the GRAND SCHEME it means shit, but this is the LOUNGE. People come in here to blow off steam, not solve the world's problems.

And, if you read what I posted in the OP, the kid was an obnoxious twit, interjecting his rolling eyes and comments when I wasn't even speaking to him.

Don't see why people are having such a hard time with that fact. The little shit was rude.

And, as far as the customer always being right....well, guess what? I don't expect ANYONE to kiss my ass. I DO expect polite, professional behavior in exchange for my dollars. It would be just as easy to shop someplace where my spending my money is valued as it isn't. I have to be polite in my job. It is expected that I am courteous to the client. I see no reason why a grocery store bagger can't do that as well.

[LSK]

25. I agree

You are making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Midlodemocrat]

27. Right. You've NEVER vented in the lounge.

:eyes:

[LSK]

32. not everytime I've encountered rude people at the grocery store

We'd need a whole seperate forum for that.

[Midlodemocrat]

36. Me, neither. Dude.

But I guess I should have cleared it with you first prior to posting.

[swimmernsecretsea]

6. You were excellent.

I would've just let my anger get the best of me and said "shove it" or something similar. You pointed out that he was being rude when you had a legitimate business question. It will help him in the long run, believe me. Rudeness in customer service extends toward all other aspects of life. Children think it's meaningless and that it's not necessary to learn consideration for others even in a service industry. Good job. Don't think of yourself as mean. Think of yourself as having taken initiative when confronted by bad behavior to instruct someone who badly needed it.

[jadedconformist]

7. I think you set yourself up for that one. He really has no incentive...

to talk about what other stores are doing and cater to the customer. He's getting paid minimum wage and he just wants to ring you up, clock out and go home. Now if it were management treating me like that, I'd understand a bit more. He's just a kid. I guess I'd have to have been there, but I think you are overreacting.

[Midlodemocrat]

8. That's the point. If one of my kids and I have two teenagers

spoke that way to ANY adult, and FUCKING ROLLED THEIR EYES!!!!, I would hand them their heads.


And, in the first place, I wasn't talking to him. I was talking to the checker who is someone with whom I interact weekly.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. Because adults are somehow entitled to ultimate respect?

On what basis, I'd like to know?

If some dumbass adult is condescending to my child, I will fully authorize her to administer the smackdown, eyeroll included.

[Midlodemocrat]

15. Did you even read what happened? Or are you just jumping on

that post?

[Divameow77]

17. You would encourage

our child to treat an adult that way, while they are working a customer service job?

[Midlodemocrat]

19. I don't think he/she read what happened and is just

responding to my post about treating adults, heck, all people with respect.

I have ALWAYS encouraged my children to stick up for themselves, but in a working situation, I would be mortified if one of them behaved the way this kid did.

In the first place, I wasn't even talking to him. We had the customary pleasantries about whether or not I wanted paper or plastic and then I was opening my wallet to get my discount card and my debit card.

Then, I saw the wine at the end of the belt and it jogged my memory to ask the checker.

[redqueen]

10. he's a human being dealing with other human beings...

holy shit... is civility something people expect to be paid extra for nowadays?

hell, now i'm gettin worked up... see what you started Midlo! ;)

[Midlodemocrat]

11. I didn't mean to, redqueen!! I PROMISE!

[redqueen]

12. Was only joking love :)

:hi:

[Misunderestimator]

14. Yep. That would piss me right off.

And you weren't mean.

[anarch]

16. that's not mean.

Mean would be waiting in the parking lot until he gets off his shift, and taking a lead pipe to his knee.

[taterguy]

18. I take the baggers side

He doesn't have any control over store policy. Therefore, expressing your opinion about it does nothing to him except make him feel awkward and uncomfortable, hence the rolling of the eyes. Or maybe he thinks that there are more important things in life than the price of bottled water.

[Midlodemocrat]

20. Okay in the interest of clarification.

It was wine. I wasn't talking to him. I was talking to the checker. He chimed in with his stupid two cents, and FUCKING ROLLED HIS EYES at me, the CUSTOMER!!!!

I don't see why you don't get how rude that was.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[progmom]

40. say what?

damn....that's just rude.

[jadedconformist]

28. The more I read your posts...

The more I feel we're not getting the whole story. You seem pretty high-strung. I also think that he probably felt justified in his remark after you went off on him. Customer may always equal right when you're the customer, but not when you're the one hearing all the BS they shoot at you on a daily basis. Everybody rolls their eyes at them, but you don't always see it. At least he was upfront.

[Midlodemocrat]

34. Yeah, that's it.

Dude. I didn't tell him off until after he chimed in with his worthless two cents. I wasn't even talking to him. I was SIMPLY FUCKING ASKING THE CASHIER A QUESTION.

Since we haven't interacted before, I will tell you right off. You can ask around, I'm as far from high strung as they get.

I don't get why the rudeness of a service oriented employee is getting me flamed.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jadedconformist]

50. Birds of a feather apparently flock together.

Thank you for your insightful post. :)

[taterguy]

71. Don't you think it's a tad rude?

To use obscenities typed in all caps in response to a poster that you've never interacted with before. Maybe that's why people think you're high strung. I didn't read your post carefully enough to know if it was water or wine. It doesn't matter. You were just trying to save a few pennies and some people don't care as much as you do about money. Maybe he's one of those semi-good Christians that thinks money is the root of all evil, or just contemptuous of people that place such a high value on it, like John Lennon's legendary rude comment about rattling jewelry.

[Mojambo]

22. Yeah, his attitude while not really justifiable was understandable

There's nothing worse, as a retail serf, than having a customer come in and point out to you how things should be done. Particularly when you have absolutely no control over things.

Now while I don't think the OP was necessarily getting on them as to how things should be done, I can easily see how the clerk could take this the wrong way. He's probably been attacked on this score a number of times in the past.

[Misunderestimator]

29. She didn't ask HIM the question, he rudely answered and rolled his eyes

pretty inexcusable no matter how commie pinko any of us happen to be. :)

[jadedconformist]

33. Well, if we got the baggers side...

he'd probably tell us that the clerk is very softspoken and he hears BS shouted out at his friend all day...maybe this was the one time he wanted to stick up for him. So let's just spin this and say that he's a good friend for sticking up for his coworker. :)

[Misunderestimator]

35. How about we say that midlodemocrat is a polite person and this was

a very rude thing to say to a polite customer. She asked a simple damn question and got rolling eyes as a response. I would have reacted in very much the same way as she did.

There was no "sticking up" to be done here... it was plain rude.

[Midlodemocrat]

38. Thank you, MisU!!

I can't believe how I am getting flamed by people with whom I have never interacted before.

I appreciate what you said. It happens to be the truth, I think.


:hug:

[Misunderestimator]

44. This is just plain weird... I suppose all these flamers are also rolling..

their eyes as they type. I know I rolled mine when I read these responses. Seemed simple enough to me, but I guess some people just automatically take the position of the bagger, having been there, or for whatever reason.

FWIW, I've worked plenty of minimum wage jobs myself as a teenager and young adult. There's really no excuse for that kind of shit.

[Midlodemocrat]

48. You're right.

I could see if I was getting flamed by people with whom I had interacted, but I don't know any of these posters. I was just venting, knowing full well that people in the lounge who know me would know that I didn't do anything to cause this.

I treat everyone I come in contact with with the utmost respect. It's what makes the difference between ass and class.

My mom always said that the epitome of class was interacting with the hoi polloi and sitting on the curb sharing a sandwich with a homeless person.

I don't mistreat service people and I think some of the people on this thread are either projecting or feeling guilty about their own behavior. Sad.

[jadedconformist]

49. It could be anything from...

the inflection or tone in her voice to body language that may have made him react a certain way. Although it was rude, we don't fully know all the variables to really demonize this kid yet. She keeps referring to herself as THE CUSTOMER, and then practically made fun of his age. They both were a little rude, but her comments did come across as condescending, especially to people who can't do anything about it.

:eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

56. How about that he was a rude little shit and I didn't do anything?

I don't know you. And, frankly, after your comments on this, I don't think I wish to. You can see how some people who DO know me have reacted.

So, see ya.

[jadedconformist]

63. So basically..

everybody must agree with everything you say? It would be pretty boring if we all agreed.

I don't know you either, so I don't know you well enough to make a judgment. However, that was a pretty childish/rude remark you made to me. You're not my customer, but I still will treat you with respect. I wish you the best.

[Misunderestimator]

68. Now that's funny. Do you consider your posts in this thread respectful?

:rofl:

[jadedconformist]

72. You're asking the wrong question.

Have I made any personal attacks on her? Has anything I said been totally irrelevant to her initial post? If I am hurting anybody's feelings than perhaps they should question the real reason why it stings.

:)

[Midlodemocrat]

75. '

:applause:

And the best part is, he thinks he matters.


:rofl:

[jadedconformist]

77. I don't matter. Which is why I'm confused as to why I've upset you.

Not everybody is going to agree with you. Just put me on ignore. :) I'm really not that bad of a person, until I disagree with you, apparently. sheesh! Bye then.

[Midlodemocrat]

79. Your opinion on this doesn't matter to me. You weren't there.

You haven't upset me, dude. You give yourself WAY too much credit. What I don't understand is why you would even venture into a thread started by someone with whom you have never interacted and behaved the way you did.

It is more than a little strange.

[Midlodemocrat]

70. You've been unbelievably judgmental on this thread.

And for you to think otherwise is ridiculous. Your posts have been condescending, rude and borderline offensive. You DON'T know me. And, I was posting a vent in the lounge to blow off some steam to people that DO. If you find this so offensive, don't post in this thread.

Your postings to someone to whom you have never interacted speaks volumes.


But, yeah, I'm high strung. :eyes:

[jadedconformist]

74. If I judge your character - that's one thing...

If I judge something you cannot change, that's another. I'm sure you're a good person at heart. However, I've been simply responding to your posts with all honestly. I'm sorry they're not what you guys wanted to hear.

[Midlodemocrat]

78. Wow. You certainly have a high opinion of yourself.

Do you really thing ANYTHING you have said to me matters? You should probably get acquainted with how things go in the lounge before taking
such a judgmental tact.

People vent here. The people who are venting aren't the least bit interested in the opinions of someone with whom they have never interacted.

Look at this thread. It should be pretty damned evident who I have interacted with previously. And, the flamers, like you, don't matter a bit.

[jadedconformist]

82. For someone that doesn't matter, I sure feel as If I'm mattering quite..

a bit.

And yes, there is nothing wrong with thinking highly of one's self. I hope everybody thinks highly of themselves. I was simply responding to a post. You seem to sweat the small stuff. It will be okay!

Okay, back to not mattering.

[Midlodemocrat]

30. I didn't do any of that.

I wasn't even talking to this kid. I was simply INQUIRING if the discount applied the way it did at Kroger's. Ed, the darling little man who I always go to to checkout is a little hard of hearing, so I was explaining to him that the discount applied for the large bottles as well.

Then the little wet behind the ears jackass chimed in and ROLLED HIS EYES.

Would you, as a self described 'retail serf', which I have been as well, have done that? Twice? To the person's face when they weren't even speaking to you?

Not sure why this is so hard to understand.

[Mojambo]

45. Which is why I said his behavior wasn't justifiable, but understandable

Perhaps in retrospect he regretted saying and doing what he said. I know I certainly have on occasion.

But sometimes the frustration of dealing with consumers who have been assured by everyone that they are right in every situation imaginable gets to a clerk and they snap.

It's understandable, just as your response was understandable.

[jadedconformist]

31. Well said.

Go bark up another tree! It's just hot-air to the clerk and bagger.

[Misunderestimator]

41. Right, so a customer shouldn't even ask a clerk what the policy is...

even though the clerk should know the policy?

[Phillycat]

39. I agree with this.

It's like bitching out a waitress when the food in a restaurant is bad. They can't help it, they're not cooking it, you know?

[progmom]

46. just to be clear, though

Midlo didn't bitch anyone out to get this reaction. Didn't give anyone a hard time...just asked if this grocery store offered the discount on 3 1/5 liter bottles. THAT is what prompted the rude eye-rolling routing from the bagger.

[Phillycat]

52. No, I do understand and I do think the kid was a little rude...

I just remember from my many years of working horrible shit jobs finally just losing it some days because of person after person being so fucking rude. And maybe the last person I dealt with was actually the LEAST rude of all of them, but yet I took it out on them and did feel bad afterwards many times. Sorry, just a little flashback; I guess I have a lot of patience with kids working those awful minimum wage jobs because you would not believe the abuse they get thrown at them all day long. People treat you like you are lower than a dog.

[Midlodemocrat]

60. That's kind of the point, janesez.

I DON'T and have never treated any service person with anything less than respect. I've been there, heck we all have. It diminishes you as a person to mistreat someone and I DON'T do it.

Hell, the little, sweet, elderly hard of hearing checker and I have great conversations all the time. Does that sound like someone who would mistreat someone?

[LaraMN]

24. I think you should've said, "I sure hope nobody pees on your car

upholstery, while you're working." :P Some people's children!

[Pithlet]

37. He shouldn't have rolled his eyes

But, he probably mistakenly thought you were going to be one of "those customers". Though I'm sure you weren't, the bagger probably figured you were going to start giving him a hard time about it, and he thought he would preemptively react. Retail environments are full of customers who just can't fathom that store clerks don't usually have the authority to offer discounts on the spot, even if another store offers that discount. They don't understand that matching competitor's prices is something usually determined at corporate level. They've read money saving articles in magazines that falsely give people the impression that you never have to pay retail; all you have to do is haggle for the right price. As a result, they think it follows that if you chip away at the salesperson, they'll eventually give in. I think the writers who write such articles should be sentenced to 12 years hard retail labor.

He shouldn't have snotted at you like that, but I understand his weariness. He probably doesn't care that Kroger has a different offer, because it really is of no consequence to him. I know that after going 12 rounds with a customer who insists "Store B has it for 5 dollars less, come one, can't you just take 5 dollars off!", I'd instantly think, "Uh Oh", the next time another customer mentioned store B. But, I wouldn't have just jumped at the customer for casually mentioning it, the way you did. That was wrong.

[Midlodemocrat]

42. Thank you, Pithlet.

And, he might have been having a terrible day, but I have interacted with Ed, the checker for YEARS and we have a nice rapport.

I was simply inquiring. Truth be told a 10% discount doesn't mean all that much, but if they were going to match it, it would mean I would frequent them for parties and such.

[Pithlet]

51. I didn't see that you weren't even talking to him

until after I posted the above. That makes you anger even more understandable. He was just being a rude twit.

[Midlodemocrat]

58. No, I wasn't. Which makes what he did even more offensive.

Thanks. :hug:

[progmom]

47. WHAT THE FUCK??

Does no one read?? How could anyone give you a hard time for objecting to someone rolling their eyes at you?????

[Misunderestimator]

53. Especially when she didn't even ask HIM the question.

Wow.

[Midlodemocrat]

54. Apparently not, progmom.

Astoningly, really. And, thanks. I appreciate it.

:hug:

[jadedconformist]

57. ...

:eyes:

[progmom]

67. wow...brilliant.

[jadedconformist]

76. People get so uptight here. Everybody simma down! n/t

[rug]

55. I'd like to read his MySpace page tonight.

[Xipe Totec]

59. You gave him way too much credit

you should have said:

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry you're a bagger.

I'm sorry that, 20 years from now, with that attitude, you'll still be a bagger.

[Midlodemocrat]

61. I think I love you.

Thanks for saying that. You're a peach. :hug:

[flvegan]

62. How this SHOULD have gone down:

I ran into the local Food Lion to pick up a few things and whilst perusing the wine section noticed that they have a new discount policy - 6 750ml bottles and you get a 10% discount. Kroger has the same discount, EXCEPT, if you buy 3 1.5 liters, you get the same discount.


So, at the checkout I asked the checker if they had the same policy. He replied no. I said, 'I was just wondering because it's Kroger's policy'. The kid, no more than 16, bagging my groceries says to me <"our store policy is that we don't do any sort of price-matching, nor coupon sharing. However, if you'd like to discuss the possibility with the manager, I can get him/her for you.">

End of story.

[Midlodemocrat]

65. Believe me, flvegan

it wasn't worth the discount to go to all that trouble. Here we have an absolute plethora of grocery stores and they constantly match each other's coupons, so it just seemed to me when I got to the checker that maybe they had left that little bit off the sign and I would ask. Additionally, we have all been in the store when something is on sale and doesn't ring up at the sale price, so it really isn't out of line to inquire to the checker about a discount or sale price.

I really didn't think asking him would elicit such rudeness from the bagger.

[deucemagnet]

81. I just don't understand why people aren't getting this, Midlo...

You did nothing to this kid to deserve any lip from him. His job is to bag the groceries, period. A smile and a "Have a nice day, ma'am" would be a nice touch, but not required. Interjecting snotty comments into a customer's conversation with a clerk doesn't enter into the job description at all.

[begin_within]

64. You should write a letter to the store manager - get the name of that

bagger, even if you have to go in and buy something else just to get near enough to the checkstand to read his name badge. Also when you're there look on the wall to see the name of the manager of that store. Write a letter and sign it with your own signature, and mail it to the store. I bet you will receive a reply within 2 or 3 days after they receive the letter. When I have done this before I have always gotten a response and it has always made me feel good (if only by knowing that the employee in question got a good chewing out...) Sometimes they might even offer you something; Chili's restaurant offered me a free meal for 2 once. If nothing else it will help you feel better.

[Midlodemocrat]

66. I don't want the kid to lose his job over it.

Frankly, venting to the lounge, with certain exceptions obviously USUALLY makes a person feel better.


Tonight. I don't know. Maybe something is in the water.

[begin_within]

69. I doubt he would lose his job over it. But he would get a talk with his

supervisor, and the result would be that he will do his job better in the future. If he continues to have that attitude towards customers, he will lose his job eventually, so reporting his behavior is, in a way, doing him a favor, as well as relieving your own frustration and feeling of being offended. I would recommend that you write a letter, it doesn't need to be long, just the facts, as you stated them in your original post.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

73. "Teachable moment" handled reasonably well.

Once upon a time when the checkers were older than the baggers he/she might also have interceded.

[Midlodemocrat]

80. Except I think Ed's hearing aid battery was going.

:thumbsup:

[Call Me Wesley]

83. Locking.

A vent, the flames, and a lock in the end. Sorry.

Call Me Wesley
DU Moderator