I had a conversation with one of my members at work the other day. Like so many before them, it was about the self-checkout registers.
It started out with him throwing things on the belt, through the sensors... in turn annoying me before even going over to fix it.
I did, several times, with him complaining the whole time. My issue was, we had our normal three self-checkouts and three other registers open with human cashiers, 2 of which had no lines, no waiting... and he chose the self-checkout.
When he was finally done, he snatched his receipt from the printer, threw his items into his cart and approached me again. He strongly pointed behind him at the self-checkout and said, "Those are pieces of s**t. They take jobs away from real people."
Oh... how many times I've heard that. I said, "Sir, I'm sorry they give you trouble. However, those machines give me a job. They can be finicky at times, but it's not just the machine that messes up. They really are simple machines with pretty intelligent technology."
He still wouldn't believe me. And so, he left.
A few days later he came in the store again. He asked me to go over to the self-checkout with him "just in case." I usually don't, since I had other things I needed to get done, but he didn't have many items. I said, "just don't rush things, put things in the middle of the belt, and listen to what it says." He sighed a sigh like the one you give as you roll your eyes. I gave a silent sigh of my own, and he started the checkout. Surprising to me, he did as I advised, and had no issues. "That went better than last time. Must be lucky today." I replied with a little chuckle, "Sure, we'll call it that."
It started out with him throwing things on the belt, through the sensors... in turn annoying me before even going over to fix it.
I did, several times, with him complaining the whole time. My issue was, we had our normal three self-checkouts and three other registers open with human cashiers, 2 of which had no lines, no waiting... and he chose the self-checkout.
When he was finally done, he snatched his receipt from the printer, threw his items into his cart and approached me again. He strongly pointed behind him at the self-checkout and said, "Those are pieces of s**t. They take jobs away from real people."
Oh... how many times I've heard that. I said, "Sir, I'm sorry they give you trouble. However, those machines give me a job. They can be finicky at times, but it's not just the machine that messes up. They really are simple machines with pretty intelligent technology."
He still wouldn't believe me. And so, he left.
A few days later he came in the store again. He asked me to go over to the self-checkout with him "just in case." I usually don't, since I had other things I needed to get done, but he didn't have many items. I said, "just don't rush things, put things in the middle of the belt, and listen to what it says." He sighed a sigh like the one you give as you roll your eyes. I gave a silent sigh of my own, and he started the checkout. Surprising to me, he did as I advised, and had no issues. "That went better than last time. Must be lucky today." I replied with a little chuckle, "Sure, we'll call it that."
I found this post very entertaining for many reasons. One I have also dealt with incidents like that where customers complain but then do the opposite, or blame the technology when it is no the fault. Its funny if you really look at what the customer said and then his actions. This being:
ReplyDeleteOne- He hates that it takes human jobs but now uses it instead of waiting or going to an actual cashier.
Two- He blames technology for ignorance.
Three-The customer is always right, so this leads to attitude if he doesn't understand.
Four- Why go back to the machine?
What really makes this even more comical is that you have to deal with this customer in a professional manner, without coming off as rude..haha;Good luck. This is one of the most frustrating things to do, explain that the customer has been doing something wrong and by correcting it will fix it all, but instead blames good luck. But I do believe that you handled the situation very professionally and correctly given the circumstances.