I'll go there because the store is always clean and bright and usually has some products you can't find elsewhere. On the other hand, it usually doesn't have some products you can find anywhere. All you need to know is that meat, cold cuts, dairy, and produce are all in the same aisle. Paper goods gets twice as much room by itself.
But I had a short, kind of fill-in list, so I went there bright and early and loaded up the cart. The problem is that this store is as hard to check out of as a Roach Motel. There was one cashier at the 10-items-or-less aisle, who was also handling returns; banks of self-service registers suitable for no more than a handbasket of goods; and about a dozen full-size checkouts, dark and silent and unmanned. This was about nine o'clock on a weekday morning.
I got a little sore about it. The lady at the checkout invited me to her register but I said, "What if someone with less than 10 items shows up? The person will be mad." And someone did. Then the manager, who had been invisible until then, opened a second 10-items-or-less aisle.
At the end of your shopping trip you're invited to take an online survey. Did I ever. I told them basically what I've just told you. I was asked if I'd care to follow up with staff. I said sure.
The manager got in touch by e-mail later that morning, sorry that the store didn't meet my (entirely reasonable) expectations. He invited me to write or call to discuss it further. When I had the time (was very busy all day) I did write back and thank him, but pointed out that that store has always had inadequate cashiers. I'll gladly discuss it further, but from what I've heard from someone who works there, they are not likely to change.
So I won't go there anymore for grocery shopping, however tempted I may be. I probably will stop in from time to time if I need quirky little things in a hurry. After all, what are you going to do if you need to get a Golden Girls Sophia Chia Pet in an hour? Seriously!
Our local Regork supermarket usually has one or two traditional manned checkout lanes open and about 20 self-serve lanes. Every time I try to use the self-serve, there are problems. Won't scan a manager mark-down (clerk needs to do it), a clerk needs to see my ID if there is wine (I'm 65), the computer chastises me for not putting the item in the bag (even though I just did), it won't scan the paper coupon (clerk needs to come back and do an override). Even with the wait, going through the manned checkout takes 1/3 the time!
ReplyDeleteProbably a combination of record low unemployment and the "Fight for Fifteen" campaign so that there's a dearth of cashiers.
ReplyDeleteMy parent use the self checkout at Regork (I'm stealing that, Mongo) and it's constantly admonishing them to put items in the bag, which they just did and usually they have to call over one of the roving clerks. I swear the Piggly Wiggly had better scanners in South Carolina. In the 1990s.
Maybe I shouldn't just pick on Blarget because even the local Marte de Wahl is lousy about having real checkouts for sizable loads with real cashiers. And those that are there seem to hate humanity with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns. But our Blarget really is the worst.
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