Satisfying rant about Giant cashiers

[Anonymous]

I don't have anything in particular against Giant cashiers. Just xxxx. At the Giant on Westbard. And her manager whose nametag I didn't look at.

They put in these new "hand scanners" at that Giant, and it's supposed to make shopping easier. You scan your own items as you go so you can see how much you're saving. In truth it's also a way to show you deals in certain aisles so you'll buy more. Whatever. That's fine. You have to put in your Giant card to get the scanner, and I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Okay it has a few kinks, I ended up not being able to scan my organic milk or ice cream sandwiches, and I couldn't remove a package of chicken I scanned but decided I didn't want. I went to the grocery belt with my items in hand (all of about 6 of them) and explained 2 items hadn't been scanned, one item was scanned twice by accident, and one item was scanned but I couldn't remove it from my scanner and I didn't want it. The chicken.

First off, xxxx immediately takes this attitude like I'm a big load of trouble to her and says, "Hold on. Hold on. I don't know how to use this thing." I'm fine, no hurry, but even as I'm sort of apologizing for not knowing how to remove things from this scanner, A SYSTEM THEY HAVE PUT IN PLACE TONIGHT, she starts saying, "Just hold on!" Then, as we're waiting for her supervisor, xxxx starts asking where my chicken is. "Where is the chicken?!" THe supervisor comes. First thing xxxx does is start to talk about what a loser I am. "She bought chicken on this and then didn't bring it over." I try to explain, "No, it's that I scanned it to see the price and decided I didn't want it and I couldn't remove it from the scanner. It didn't work." So the supervisor says to me, "You have to pay for this. We can't take it out of the system now." I ask, "You can't just void that chicken?" Supervisor: "No. It's in the system." I say, "This is ridiculous. I don't want to pay for this chicken. It's not my fault your scanner doesn't let you remove the item!" and the supervisor interrupts me and says, "Hold on! If you would wait I was going to explain. You need to pay for it here. Then you go to customer service and have those items removed."

Well, I hadn't put in my credit card yet and so I just said, "Nope. Not paying" and left everything on the belt and walked away. Then you could see xxxx's supervisor try to figure out how to void the order and I yelled back, "Oh look! You're figuring out how to take the order back!"

Then I went to customer service and complained about the ladies at aisle 13.

I cannot imagine in this downturned economy how two people feel so entitled to treat the CUSTOMER like a piece of shit.

I would say I am not going back to Giant, but I am. I am going back when xxxx is working, and I'm going to remind her every time, "You're the cashier who was completely rude to me about the scanner."

[Anonymous]

Thank you, good post.

[Anonymous]

Omg I love how pissed you got. I bet the other shoppers thought it was a scream. Seriously, I would have spazzed too.

[Anonymous]

That's it, I am not ever going to pick up one of those hand scanners.

I already hate the stores that ask me to ring up my own stuff on the way out. I especially hate them with children in line with me, the damn robot voice saying "YOU have an IM-pro-per-ly Bagged I-tem, please re-MOVE" and I'm trying to explain my 6 year old just shoved my 3 year old and she fell onto the place where you are supposed to bag your items.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live?

Our scanner system was installed about 2 months ago (Reston), and they (the employees) are so helpfull! During the first month there was an employee standing by the scanners just to explain how it worked and to help.

It works great! Love it. But have to get the hang of it - for instance, to scan you must not be too close nor too far from the barcode. And to remove an item from the scanner, you have to hit remove and then re-scan it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. This was the Bethesda Giant on Westbard. I had never seen the scanners before, and I go once a week at least, so I'm assuming they are pretty new (also evidenced by the fact that xxxx was quick to point out she didn't know how to use these things, so I had to "Hold on!")

There was someone very helpful installed by the scanners. The problem was, that person was hell and gone from where I was paying. The only person I had at the checkout was xxxx, who obviously hadn't learned customer service from scanner man out front.

Also, my scanner honestly did not work properly. I tried to unscan my chicken. Maybe I didn't do it correctly. But I'm going to tell you, I'm pretty well educated and if I couldn't unscan my chicken, there will be others. So they have to change the system so you can void things on the scanner without having the item in front of you (which was over in poultry). People are not going to want to drag 15 items they know they aren't going to buy with them just because they couldn't figure out how to unscan. And people won't want to pay for items they don't want only to be sent to another line to have a refund. Won't work.

The other problem is xxxx. I'm the damn customer. I don't have to buy my ice cream sandwiches or organic milk at your supermarket. I'm perfectly APOLOGETIC about my lack of success with the scanner. Where the hell do you get off acting like I'm an idiot and telling me to just HOLD ON! And getting upset with me because I didn't bring my chicken over with me. Chicken I knew I didn't want.

You hold on. Hold on to all these groceries while I walk out and go to Safeway.

Clearly, I haven't fully recovered.

[Anonymous]

In my experience, a lot of people working with the public suck. Is it the low pay, hours and lack of respect that make them that way or were they always like that so they have no chance for promotion? People seem more courteous in places where there is a real sense of community, not in big metro areas.

[Anonymous]

The problem is, xxxx doesn't give a damn if you buy your groceries at Giant or not. She doesn't see any profits. In fact, she'd probably prefer that you go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm about ready to break up with Giant. If the Safeway in my area didn't have gross expired food, I would have already. I think the customer service at Safeway (at least mine) is markedly better. I've gotten so much attitude from Giant cashiers. It's like, Hey I'm the customer, don't treat me like an a-hole. Once I had turned my back on my 2 year old for like, what, 30 seconds, in the aisle, contemplating couscous as he just stood up in the cart. Before I could tell him to sit back down, this old harpie in uniform comes over and gives me a nasty look, and lectures me like she's my mother-in-law about what a "damn" shame that would be if he fell and cracked his head open. Sure, that's true. But I certainly don't need parenting lessons from you, Checker on Aisle, nor do I need your nasty attitude.

Having grown up shopping at Giant, it has really slipped in recent years. For many years, Izzy Cohen owned Giant and he was a generous, and beloved figure . The employees loved him and were proud to work there. The company was based in Landover, Md. Now, it's foreign-owned and they merged with Stop and Shop. Essentially, this company has broken that union. My aunt works at Stop and Shop in Mass. , she's been there and she makes more and they're trying to push her out the door, hiring mostly part-timers. And that's what's going in Giant, too. Sad. Giant jobs used to be great ones.

Anyway, good post OP. I feel your irritation.

[Anonymous]

I understand your frustration and anger at the situation, but it's not fair to mention the woman by name in a public forum while you hide behind the name "anonymous."

[Anonymous]

OP here. My name is, ironically, anonymous. It's a real issue on this forum.

Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

I have not shopped at Giant or Safeway in over three years. Ever since Wegmans opened...Wegmans how I love thee, let me count the ways. Every time we think of moving, one of us says, "it has to be close enough to Wegmans," in the list of must haves for the new house. And then we decide not to move because we are so close. How sad is that?

[Anonymous]

I had to smile when I read your post because two girlfriends and I have a running joke about how awful everyone is at the Westbard Giant--we regularly play a "can you top this..." about that store, because they are pretty much laughably incompetent and nasty all the time. I try to go there less and less, but sometimes can't avoid it--unfortunately, because of its bigger size, there are item that they carry that the Arlington Road and the Friendship Heights Giants don't carry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My name is, ironically, anonymous. It's a real issue on this forum.

Give me a break.

I wouldn't have a problem with your post if you hadn't used her name and her exact place of work. Obviously, since I'm posting anonymously I don't have a problem with anonymous posts. It's the use of someone's name and work location that is the issue. I think most people are smart enough to understand that.

[Anonymous]

Giant sucks since it got bought out by that Dutch company.