Do People Just Not Want To Work Anymore?

[andi9899]

Dec 2, 2021 20:48:00 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Dec 2, 2021 19:36:39 GMT -5 giramomma said:

The problem I have with full service check outs is that it's assumed part of good customer service is chatting the customer up.

No, I don't want you to comment about my purchases. I don't want to hear how cute something is. Or hear how someone has never seen X product before, or hear their opinions about what I'm baking for Christmas cookies.

No, I don't want you to spend 2-3 minutes making multiple comments about how someone 8 people in front of me has saved $400. I  have been standing in line for 20 minutes to do an in store pick up. I'm beginning to regret shopping at your establishment.

Grocery stores with little or no self-check out lines in my neck of the woods also charge $.25-$1 more per item, carry less loss leaders, pipe in classical music, and make their workers wear white shirts and black pants. I don't need to spend an extra $200 a month in groceries to hear vivaldi, stand in longer lines, and then be checked out by someone wearing black slacks.  

ETA: One of the reasons I stayed with my hair stylist person after she got expensive is because she knows I don't want to make small talk and doesn't press it. I pay her to cut my hair, not to get an update of my kids.

There are times for relationship building. I do it at my job all day long. I do it when I teach. I'm not doing it for services I buy. 

I will now slink away and go shake my fist at teenagers.

Maybe it’s because I look angry and mean even when I’m in a good mood (which has been brought to my attention a zillion times during my lifetime), but I don’t have cashiers talking to me about random stuff that I don’t care about. I get the cordial greetings and pleasantries, and that’s it.

My resting bitch face must be something serious.

I’m not upset about it either, I can truly understand how that would drive a person batty. 

I have a severe case of RBF. I can't tell you how many times it's been brought to my attention or how many times people have told me that they were intimidated by me when they first met me.

[wvugurl26]

I said that was the downside of masks hiding my RBF. I'm perfectly happy with self check out. It is rare to see more than 1 or 2 check out lanes open. The two grocery stores I buy produce at have scanable tags on most stuff now.

I don't have all day for shopping. Sam's Club scan and go is the best thing. Scan it as you load the cart, slide to pay and away you go.

[finnime]

I like self checkout, too. And ATMs. And self-service gas stations. Anything but interact with people, who may be perfectly pleasant but demand energy from me.

[jerseygirl]

I have an electric car now but when I had a gas car, one of the good things about NJ was all gas stations had attendants!
Jersey girls don’t pump gas!!

[Lizard Queen]

I'm really introverted, but it's all about how much time it takes for me. Where I shop, cashiers ask if I could find everything, and if I'm in the rewards program. They rarely make other comments.

I like Aldi because the cashiers are super fast. Sam's annoys me much of the time. Meijer is hit and miss. They just started some scan and go, but I don't have room on my phone for every store's app.

[andi9899]

Dec 2, 2021 16:43:46 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Dec 2, 2021 16:36:45 GMT -5 nidena said:

Self-service doesn't actually save the company any money because they're still paying the low-wage person but just putting them elsewhere in the store.  A four-set of self-checkout machines costs around $125,000.

HOWEVER, they do MAKE more money by installing these because now the pace is set by each customer and not the cashier and those machines likely pay for themselves within a year.

And, no, prices are never lowered except for random, temporary promos.

My husband works for a company that makes those.  They DO need people and have come around to training on the job again because there just aren't enough people with experience.  So where one door closes another door opens.  Not everyone who works at McDs is too stupid/feeble/lazy to have another job, the opportunity just needed to present itself.

Data is showing a lot of those people who left retail left either for better jobs or got an education THEN got a better job because 2020 presented them with an opportunity. 

Warehouse work here is paying up to $20/hr and you just need to pass a drug test. .

I was reading an article about someone who was a bartender.  They said it wasn't until the bar closed and they had to find another job to pay the bills they opened up to the idea of a different field.  Originally they planned to go back but eventually decided they wanted to stick with the non-customer facing office job.

Maybe if we didn't have men screaming swear words at the top of their lungs because they got the wrong McNugget sauce we'd have more people willing to come back (I watched that happen. He made the drive thru girl that couldn't have been older than 17 cry).  Maybe if we didn't have hostesses getting beat up or worse shot over mask mandates people would come back.

If you aren't going to be a decent human being don't expect people to flock to jobs serving you. 

And what did employers expect?  Bills didn't cease to be due while the bar was closed.  They weren't waiting with baited breath for the day you called to say you were open again.  People had to move on with their lives.

[chiver78]

Dec 2, 2021 18:00:17 GMT -5 swamp said:

Am I the only one who likes self check out? I’m happy to not interact with people.

this, and all of what gira said.

and, for groceries, I'd prefer to bag them myself anyway. the one place I go that doesn't have any self-checkout has older baggers that like to put two things in a bag and move onto the next bag. I actually will wait in whatever line my friend's mom is working, b/c she'll just load them all up for me. 

[Lizard Queen]

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

[anciana]

Dec 3, 2021 9:39:27 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

Our grocery store came out with smaller carts in addition to the regular size ones, and I love them! They are much easier to maneuver around people and perfectly sufficient.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Whether or not I use self check out depends on what I’m buying.  If I’m running into the store for milk or bread, no problem.  $100 of groceries is a problem as there is no place to put them.  The store in KY I used to use you could buy about $30 worth of groceries before you ran out of room.  There is much less room at the stores in WA I go to.

Costco has self check out, and it’s a pain.  You can’t scan things and leave them in the cart, so I have to haul the 40 lbs of kitty litter out of the cart, but it on the scale, and put it back into the cart.  Nope, I’ll use the people unless I have few light items…..which is rare for us.  

[ners]

I am going to be honest. I really do not want to work anymore. However I like having a roof over my head, a car to drive, food on my table and partaking of adult beverages. The 4 dollars I won in the last Powerball drawing will not provide these things so I continue to work.

[teen persuasion]

Dec 3, 2021 9:39:27 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

Wait, they don't allow reusable bags?

NY outlawed plastic bags, so every store encourages reusable bags.  Only other option is paper, which they all charge for.  If I have to pay for a bag, I'll go for reusable and sturdy with handles, TYVM.

[Lizard Queen]

Dec 3, 2021 11:59:38 GMT -5 anciana said:

Dec 3, 2021 9:39:27 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

Our grocery store came out with smaller carts in addition to the regular size ones, and I love them! They are much easier to maneuver around people and perfectly sufficient.

Meijer has had those forever. Aldi does not.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 3, 2021 12:29:20 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

Dec 3, 2021 9:39:27 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

Wait, they don't allow reusable bags?

NY outlawed plastic bags, so every store encourages reusable bags.  Only other option is paper, which they all charge for.  If I have to pay for a bag, I'll go for reusable and sturdy with handles, TYVM.

They stopped allowing them here when covid first showed up too.  I don't know if they're back to letting you use them again or not. 

[Lizard Queen]

Dec 3, 2021 12:29:20 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

Dec 3, 2021 9:39:27 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

Wait, they don't allow reusable bags?

NY outlawed plastic bags, so every store encourages reusable bags.  Only other option is paper, which they all charge for.  If I have to pay for a bag, I'll go for reusable and sturdy with handles, TYVM.

Meijer encouraged them until Covid, then banned them. I'm not sure when they'll change their minds, but I don't think they have yet.

[buystoys]

I've not seen anyone using reusable bags here yet.  They were banned last year and I never heard an OK to use them again.  I may just start taking them on our weekly shop.

[Tiny]

Dec 3, 2021 9:09:51 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I said that was the downside of masks hiding my RBF. I'm perfectly happy with self check out. It is rare to see more than 1 or 2 check out lanes open. The two grocery stores I buy produce at have scanable tags on most stuff now.

I don't have all day for shopping. Sam's Club scan and go is the best thing. Scan it as you load the cart, slide to pay and away you go.

TLDR: I hate the self checkouts.  But, if I could scan stuff as I put it into or out of my cart and see a total/info about what I was buying -  I would be more inclined to do that - even if it had a crappy interface. 

I hear Amazon Fresh stores have that ability - your cart has a scanner/scale  and as you leave the store with your cart it charges your account (credit card).       I admit I am intrigued by this.  And would give it a try.  I tend to have a grocery bill of less than $50 if I am not buying paper products, cat food, or soda.  


Too Long: 
 The thing I don't like about the self check outs is  there's too many options on the screens  (I'm not familiar enough to know the "path" to take so I wind up having to make a lot of "which icon should I touch"  decisions - and after about 3 or 4 without actually having scanned anything I get cranky. And then at some point it beeps at me and I'm like  Which button do I hit now?  It wants something?  what the F&*K does it want!!!    and then it never fails that I have problems with the "You didn't place your item in the 'bag' area! please place your item in the "bag" area!!"   and I DID put the damn thing in the bag area... see it you stupid machine!! 

And then when I get to the "pay" part - again with the dozen icons and having to figure out which one I need to touch to pay.  and then it's 3 or 4 screens of choices to get to the payment part   why can't I just run my CC thru the machine!!! .   and then it appears to freeze.  And I'm like - OK, I broke it... what's wrong?   and then as I'm waiting and reading and dancing around trying to figure out what's wrong  and not wanting to touch anything   the "CSR person"  comes over - and takes a look, looks some more (doesn't touch anything )  - and  then BAM! it processes my payment and spits out a receipt -  it just took it what felt like 2 minutes to process my card and gave me NO indication that it was doing something. (so I thought it was broken or it wanted something from me) 

Maybe my stores just have crappy "self check" options. 

[Tiny]

All the stores I've shopped since June have allowed re-usable bags. I shop in a lot of suburbs.

We've had Mask Mandates (or atleast nearly everyone has been voluntarily wearing a mask) since - well, forever, hear.    I don't think I've been maskless in a store (any kind) since March 2020. 

Grocery shopping (most shopping) in big box type stores does not appear to be a big risk of becoming a  "Covid19 Spreading Event". 

[wvugurl26]

Moat self check outs I use if you just swipe the card, the system will process. Might take a few seconds longer for it to catch up.

Sam's Club is the only one I know that has the scan as you go. A local grocery chain has something similar but you need to use their scan devices.

I think Wegmans got it as well but it's a separate app which is annoying.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 3, 2021 12:10:05 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Whether or not I use self check out depends on what I’m buying.  If I’m running into the store for milk or bread, no problem.  $100 of groceries is a problem as there is no place to put them.  The store in KY I used to use you could buy about $30 worth of groceries before you ran out of room.  There is much less room at the stores in WA I go to.

Costco has self check out, and it’s a pain.  You can’t scan things and leave them in the cart, so I have to haul the 40 lbs of kitty litter out of the cart, but it on the scale, and put it back into the cart.  Nope, I’ll use the people unless I have few light items…..which is rare for us.  

Same here. Carton of ice cream and diet pepsi I self check out. Tons of fresh produce and no way. It's quicker thru manned register.

I saw article the other day about how WM is accusing people of stealing when using self checkout and then turning collection agencies on them. Said so many people just pay to get out from under harassment. One lady sued and won. Said WM was raking in millions on the "claims" of theft. I will go back and try to find article when on PC - ipad challenged when trying to c/c/p links

Besides I don't like the fact that they capture your face. you are on camera the whole time at self checkout  - hell next thing you know you might show up on a porn site   

ETA I don't buy prepackaged produce so no bar codes to scan!

[wvugurl26]

Even the loose stuff like peppers/apples etc has a barcode sticker on it. Not just prepackaged stuff. Before the sticker just had a code to punch in, now it has a barcode on it.

[Opti]

Dec 3, 2021 12:10:05 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Whether or not I use self check out depends on what I’m buying.  If I’m running into the store for milk or bread, no problem.  $100 of groceries is a problem as there is no place to put them.  The store in KY I used to use you could buy about $30 worth of groceries before you ran out of room.  There is much less room at the stores in WA I go to.

Costco has self check out, and it’s a pain.  You can’t scan things and leave them in the cart, so I have to haul the 40 lbs of kitty litter out of the cart, but it on the scale, and put it back into the cart.  Nope, I’ll use the people unless I have few light items…..which is rare for us.  

That sucks about leaving things in the cart. At the grocery store I can just press the 'do not bag' button for things like a package of water bottles. 

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 3, 2021 15:24:19 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Even the loose stuff like peppers/apples etc has a barcode sticker on it. Not just prepackaged stuff. Before the sticker just had a code to punch in, now it has a barcode on it.

Not all produce has a bar code on it. I bought yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet potato, Idaho baking potato and broccoli florets today and NOT ONE had a bar code on it. The loose shitake mushrooms didn't have a bar code either. In fact no sticker of any kind. The apple did to identify what variety of apple it was.  The head of cauliflower has bar code since it is wrapped and not sold by the pound. Guess it depends on store where one shops maybe??

[anciana]

Dec 3, 2021 15:39:35 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Dec 3, 2021 15:24:19 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Even the loose stuff like peppers/apples etc has a barcode sticker on it. Not just prepackaged stuff. Before the sticker just had a code to punch in, now it has a barcode on it.

Not all produce has a bar code on it. I bought yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet potato, Idaho baking potato and broccoli florets today and NOT ONE had a bar code on it. The loose shitake mushrooms didn't have a bar code either. In fact no sticker of any kind. The apple did to identify what variety of apple it was.  The head of cauliflower has bar code since it is wrapped and not sold by the pound. Guess it depends on store where one shops maybe??

Target has stickers with bar code on a lot of their produce, but early on, their self checkout wasn't working with those bar codes, and would error and freeze when one of those was scanned. 

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 3, 2021 15:46:01 GMT -5 anciana said:

Dec 3, 2021 15:39:35 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Not all produce has a bar code on it. I bought yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet potato, Idaho baking potato and broccoli florets today and NOT ONE had a bar code on it. The loose shitake mushrooms didn't have a bar code either. In fact no sticker of any kind. The apple did to identify what variety of apple it was.  The head of cauliflower has bar code since it is wrapped and not sold by the pound. Guess it depends on store where one shops maybe??

Target has stickers with bar code on a lot of their produce, but early on, their self checkout wasn't working with those bar codes, and would error and freeze when one of those was scanned. 

I don't buy groceries at target any more. Everything is unit priced. I can buy a small bag of red onions for the price of one red onion!! I can't even buy fresh broccoli florets at target - just the big honking broccoli prepackaged stuff. They are geared for the online shopping and that's fine. I just don't shop that way. And I started shopping target the day they opened a Super Target back in 05 or 06  I still catch their diet pepsi sales and I buy gift cards there for the 5% discount. No problem with their changes just not for me. 

I did spend a dime or two on Cat & Jack outfits for DILl's niece. Fresh Market is my go to store now for fresh produce.

[Deleted]

Dec 3, 2021 14:47:22 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Dec 3, 2021 12:10:05 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Whether or not I use self check out depends on what I’m buying.  If I’m running into the store for milk or bread, no problem.  $100 of groceries is a problem as there is no place to put them.  The store in KY I used to use you could buy about $30 worth of groceries before you ran out of room.  There is much less room at the stores in WA I go to.

Costco has self check out, and it’s a pain.  You can’t scan things and leave them in the cart, so I have to haul the 40 lbs of kitty litter out of the cart, but it on the scale, and put it back into the cart.  Nope, I’ll use the people unless I have few light items…..which is rare for us.  

Same here. Carton of ice cream and diet pepsi I self check out. Tons of fresh produce and no way. It's quicker thru manned register.

I saw article the other day about how WM is accusing people of stealing when using self checkout and then turning collection agencies on them. Said so many people just pay to get out from under harassment. One lady sued and won. Said WM was raking in millions on the "claims" of theft. I will go back and try to find article when on PC - ipad challenged when trying to c/c/p links

Besides I don't like the fact that they capture your face. you are on camera the whole time at self checkout  - hell next thing you know you might show up on a porn site   

ETA I don't buy prepackaged produce so no bar codes to scan!

I don't even go into WM anymore.  I just put in an order and have them deliver it to my car.  So instead of paying a cashier, they are now paying someone to handle everything.  

[nidena]

Dec 3, 2021 9:35:04 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Dec 2, 2021 18:00:17 GMT -5 swamp said:

Am I the only one who likes self check out? I’m happy to not interact with people.

this, and all of what gira said.

and, for groceries, I'd prefer to bag them myself anyway. the one place I go that doesn't have any self-checkout has older baggers that like to put two things in a bag and move onto the next bag. I actually will wait in whatever line my friend's mom is working, b/c she'll just load them all up for me. 

At my local Kroger, I tell them to "Tetris the groceries in the bags" and most of them understand what I mean.

[nidena]

Okay, so while I'm not a fan of helping super wealthy people and their tax-loophole ways of staying that way, one thing that I DO enjoy about my job is helping our insurance customers maximize their premiums.  By this, I mean, I keep an eye out for policies of minor children who have or are turning 18 soon because then they can be submitted for reclass on their policies.  Most minors (in our company) are risk-classed as plain "non-tobacco" with the other options being Preferred NT, Select Pref NT, or Ultra Pref.  If the kiddo gets reclassed to a higher/better class, the dividends on the whole life policy are better.  I like knowing that I'm helping in that aspect.  Or if a regular adult client recently got a policy and was rated Ultra Pref, if they have a policy from a couple years ago that is less than that, I will submit to see if we can increase the rating (for the same reason as with the minor children). One client actually got an $1100 refund because their paid up policy got rated better and the reclass was requested to be backdated to whenever the Ultra Pref policy got put inforce.

So those parts are fun.

[NastyWoman]

Dec 3, 2021 12:29:20 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

Dec 3, 2021 9:39:27 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Ah yes, there is the bagging aspect. I too try to not bring home 5000 bags. I wish they'd go back to allowing reusable bags. One more plus for Aldi: I have a small hand basket I throw everything in. Half the time, I just use that to shop instead of pushing around the big cart.

Wait, they don't allow reusable bags?

NY outlawed plastic bags, so every store encourages reusable bags.  Only other option is paper, which they all charge for.  If I have to pay for a bag, I'll go for reusable and sturdy with handles, TYVM.

We have had this reusable bags only for years now but for ~ nine months after the the start of the pandemic you were not allowed to bring your own bags into the store. You could get everything put back in the cart and use your own bags at your car but that was it. After they felt certain that reusable bags did not spread the disease things went back to normal

[chiver78]

Dec 3, 2021 20:11:37 GMT -5 nidena said:

Dec 3, 2021 9:35:04 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

this, and all of what gira said.

and, for groceries, I'd prefer to bag them myself anyway. the one place I go that doesn't have any self-checkout has older baggers that like to put two things in a bag and move onto the next bag. I actually will wait in whatever line my friend's mom is working, b/c she'll just load them all up for me. 

At my local Kroger, I tell them to "Tetris the groceries in the bags" and most of them understand what I mean.

I wish. I have looked at them and said, please put meats in plastic (a different style of reusable bag that is a lot easier to clean if there's a spill) and load up the rest, and bag everything. nope, 5lb bag of carrots gets a paid sticker and thrown back in the carriage unbagged, cold stuff is split even though it went down the belt all together, it's such a PITA. I worked at a snooty grocery in HS, in floral and bakery, but we were all trained on bagging (legit, is bagging training still a thing??) and the first question we would ask was "would you like your perishables in plastic?" and go from there. where I'm at now, I want my meats together (and separate from anything else) in case of a leak, and the refrigerated cold shit all in one bag together, please. and maybe bag the stuff I put on the belt sorta together? I loaded the belt the way I did for a reason. 🤷‍♀️

just let me self-check, and get off my lawn while you're at it. 😝