Ridiculous customer behaviour.
Hi all, I work at an ALDI store in Sydney and felt the need to vent out some frustrations after a very chaotic weekend.
To begin, I have been noticing quite frequently at how customers are becoming less empathetic to other shoppers and staff. I want to emphasis how FRUSTRATING it is when people do not use the packing bench that is there for people to use. During a busy rush over the weekend, these people who come to the registers with a whole trolly filled with groceries insist that they take their time at the front counter to pack their bags and hold the line for everyone else. We have provided the packing bench for customers to USE. It appears that people think that the packing bench is some store decor and serves no purpose.
I tell people who do exactly this that they can take their time to pack their bags if they just move over to the bench to bag their items instead of at the counter and they just throw hissy-fits and tantrums at how they don’t like “double-handling” their groceries or how they’re not “comfortable” with this suggestion. When they don’t listen, I try to point out that they are holding the line for everyone else and even that fails to register. I sometimes show the malcontent how a model customer often looks like if I see a customer using the bench to bag their groceries. It’s extremely frustrating when customers do not comply and make things harder than it needs to be. Just place your shopping back in the trolly (not in your bags), then take move over to the bench and then bag your shopping! It’s not that hard to do!
I recount a time when dealing with a customer like this, a good customer behind her asserted that she use the benches to pack her bags and not hold up the line, she clapped back and told this customer to relax and to wait his turn along with a few expletives. It was extremely cathartic to see two customers go at it between them but it really made me think how little empathy a lot of people have with one another.
Another issue that I have with customers is how people do not transfer money between cards until all their shopping is scanned and they’re at the registers. I ring them up, tell them their total and then they’ll say “oh I’m sorry, I just have to transfer some money.” They spend the next 2 minutes holding up people without a care in the world, especially during a busy day. I’m just wondering why you didn’t do it before you queued up or even while you were in line!
Now I wouldn’t care if it was one or two people but it’s starting to be more than a few and becoming every second customer “has to transfer”.
Finally, while I’m replenishing stock with an electric jack with those decarding boxes and it is clear that there’s not enough room for customers to pick up a product as I have temporarily occupied some space, I don’t understand why customers have the need to violate my personal space just to get to that one specific item that’s by my legs or my torso instead of just waiting for a few minutes until I have cleared from the area. It is vexing when I have people come up right by my legs and the electric jack, putting themselves and I in danger. Please just look for another item or just wait for me to finish and then pick up whatever you need.
(Also on an unrelated note, why are a lot of customers blind? They ask to see where an item is and yet they don’t even glance at the shelves in front of them which have the product they want. I also ask the same questions for people who literally just walked into the store and started asked the same questions to staff. Like please, you literally just walked in the store, maybe try and have a look yourself? This also goes for people who ask when certain special buys come out. It’s written in the catalogues. Just read them please.)
Finally, I find it very disgusting that there are parents who let their kids indulge in yogurts, eat some berries, drink juice boxes, before actually paying for it. It’s trashy behaviour; and how hard is it to just wait until you buy the product? Do they have no self control? Why do they give in and not instil patience in their children? I also have the same feeling when I see adults drinking a bottle coke or opening a packet of chips before they buy it. In my eyes and as well as in the eyes of many different managers across many stores, it’s technically seen as theft because you’re consuming a product before having paid for it. It’s extremely boorish behaviour. Have some self control and teach your children to wait until you pay for it.
Thank you for reading through my tirade, it’s just been a long weekend and dealt with many uncouth people.