Companies say they respect their customers’ intelligence. Here’s a quick example of what a lie that is…….
In any given store (department, grocery, etc) with a checkout line, there is usually a “10 items or less” line. We all know that sometimes people bring 11 (or more!) items into these lines. The cashier is better off to go ahead and check them out since it would demonstrate bad corporate karma to kick someone out of line unless they’re just blatantly coming through with a cart full of items. We (the customers) are breaking the rules…and the customer is always right. (actually, they’re not always right. Start believing that and watch your customer service improve.)
Here’s where the store thinks you’re an idiot.
Sometimes those “10 items or less” signs have a subtext that states “Cash Only”. Look at the register. There’s usually a credit/debit card reader with a PIN pad.
Why would we need that in a cash only line? Think about it.
Bad checkout experiences happen to everyone.
tags :: customer service rants
Chris Houchens 
I’ll plead guilty to using a U-Scan check-out lane with more than 12 items (the limit at the store at issue) given the following circumstances: No U-Scan machine for more than 12 items, insufficient cashiers on duty to handle the “regular” lines, more than one open U-Scan, and my having only a few items over the limit. Breaking the rules, sure, but isn’t there also an implied “rule” they are breaking – that they will have sufficient cashiers on hand to process “non-express” customer purchases in a reasonable amount of time?At one store I frequent with a “cash only” express line, they can turn off the “cash only” part of the sign (and for that matter, the “express” part of the sign) while keeping the register open – so they need a credit card machine. But which of the following is more likely:* You are held up in a “cash only” lane by somebody with a credit card;* You are held up in a “cash only” lane by somebody who is scrounging in her purse for exact change, or is counting out pennies; or* You are held up in a “cash only” lane by somebody who is writing a check.At least in my experience, as I stand there with my $20 bill and half-gallon of milk, it has been the check-writers and “exact change” people who have held things up.
Clarification: I’m not talking about a self-service checkout. The point is that the store has said this is a cash only line. And then, they’ve put something in to take credit cards.Both cannot co-exist and make sense.
Corporate America has no customer service except in name only. Can’t give real service because that would mean one or more minimum-wage employees who would just cost us another $230.00 a week. (Don’t even consider the possibility that one employee at $230.00 per week could be responsible for hundreds or thousands of dollars per week from the satisfied customers. NAH. why do that when shortsightedness and the need to maximize the bottom line is the most important issue for Big Business???)