The grocery game challenge Aug 26-Sept 1, 2013 #4- Customer care
Cashier Takes Service Too Far
Last week I talked a little bit about cashiers, the role of the cashier and how important excellent customer service is. With the good we get the ugly and today I have part 2 of the role of the cashier and customer care. Yesterday while standing in line at a local grocery store I was witness to a cashier having a bad day and a customer who wasn’t going to stand for her attitude.
My wife thought I was being nosey but I wasn’t the only one either as customers were watching and our own cashier was trying to listen in and find out what was going on. She was so entranced in the back and forth dealings with the cashier and the customer that she even took our coupons, removed the coupon amount then handed them back to us lol.
I told her that she might need those to balance her cash at the end of her shift. She laughed and lightly bopped herself at the top of her head with the palm of her hand. She said that she has her days. I said you and I are both too busy wondering what’s going on, that’s the problem. She didn’t disagree and was smiling from ear to ear. When she finished cashing me out I said to keep smiling and to remember that today is just another day.
The problem
Very briefly while standing in line I overheard the customer saying she didn’t want a product and the cashier was not so nice with her and told her to put it aside or put it back herself. Well the customer didn’t like her response and frankly neither did and the customer with a furious look (scared me) on her face asked to speak to a manager. Then you hear the cashier pick up the phone abruptly and with a stern voice ask the cashier manager to visit her cash. When the manager must have asked why she loudly winded that a customer wants to talk to her. Then she slammed the phone down.
The cash manager
We were all like a bunch of penguins lined up with our heads moving back and forth. I almost felt like asking the cashier to call a grocery boy to bring me up a bag of popcorn and a soda so I could watch this all go down. I know I’m having a laugh but I don’t often get to see these interactions between the customer and cashier. Normally it’s the cashier dealing with difficult people but in this case it was the customer dealing with a difficult cashier.
When the cash manager came down she asked what the problem was and the customer promptly explained the situation. The cashier spoke up said she wasn’t feeling well which was no excuse for her behaviour and that she wanted to go home. The manager calmly told her to take deep breaths and to go and have a break and that she would step in to finish up with her customers and then come and see her.
Well done, I was half expecting fireworks but the cash manager handled the very public situation as a leader should have without escalating the customer or the cashier. This is just another reason why it’s important for human resources to make sure they are putting people in leadership roles that are passionate about the people, their staff and their role. This could have easily gotten out of hand as blood was boiling but having a manager easily defuse the situation by stepping in and releasing the cashier was the best option in my opinion.
Have you ever witnessed a cashier and customer show down? How was it handled? If you are a cashier how do you handle yourself when you are having a bad day?
August grocery game recap
If you missed grocery game posts for this month just click on the links below and post your shops in the comment section. We are currently on week 3 for August so week 1 and 2 is posted below if you still have to post your shop.
- The grocery game challenge August 5-11,2013 #1- Skip the shopping cart and save
- The grocery game challenge August 12-18, 2013 #2- Grocery shopping for seniors
- The grocery game challenge August 19-@5, 2013 #3- The role of the cashier
Grocery saving tips
Free Money Saving Downloads is lists that were created to get us on track to work towards reaching our budgeting goals. Get organized with a freezer inventory, meal plan, shopping list, price comparison list and much moreall for FREE. I want to see you save money in your budget.
Click, Save and Print. It’s that easy
- Let Your Coupons Expire And Save Money
- Welfare Food Challenge $26 Per Week In The Grocery Budget
- What A No-Shop Week Really Means
- Should You Buy It Now Or Buy It Later?
- Stock Up On Items When You Can
- The Cost Of Organic Food
- What Foods You Should Not Eat and Organic Gardening
- Knowing Your Prices Is The Key To Saving Money In The Grocery Budget
- Product Price Adjustments Don’t Miss The Savings
- Scanning Code of Practice In Canada (SCOP)
- How To Start Saving Money On Groceries In Canada?
- How Much Should My Grocery Budget Be?
- Top Ten Ways To Cut Your Grocery Budget
- Meal Planning For The Budget
- The Grocery Game Challenge and Our Grocery Budget
- Grocery Budget Saving Tips
- Food Shopping On A Budget
- How To Grocery Shop
- Grocery Store Self-Scanners
- Food and Vegetable Preparation
- Best Time To Grocery Shop
- Organic Food Costs
- Why Shopping Hungry Is Not A Smart Idea
- Are We Eating Too Much Food?
- Discount Days and Rewards Programs
- Getting Back On Track With Food Budgeting
- Why You Should Ignore Your Grocery Flyers
- The Low-GI Diet and Your Budget
- How To Track Grocery Expenses
- Comparing Prices With a Price Comparison List
- Why Too Much Salt Is Not Good For Us
- Shopping More Than Once Per Week
- Food Samples When Shopping
- Food Waste In Canada
Food food and more food
A grocery store ( I don’t want to say to protect the identity of the store above)
- Swiss Chard x 2 $1.97 each
- Collard Greens $1.97
- Lettuce $0.87
- Radish $1.47
- Peaches $0.97
- Milk $3.97
- 2 Downy Unstoppables PM Freshco $6.99 x 2- $3.00 coupon
Total out of pocket $22.01
Yearly grocery budget for two: $2819.38
- Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $235.00 or $78.33 week with one no-shop week per month or $58.75 for 4 weeks per month. (During the months with 5 weeks we just make it work)
- Total Budget For August: $181.92 to compensate for previous overspends.
- Total Coupons Used this Week : $3.00
- Total Discounts this Week: $0
- Total Gift Cards Given Used this Week: $0
- Total Rewards Points Used: $0
- Stockpile Budget: $20.00 Used $15.88 (Nescafe coffee)
- Total Spent This Week: $22.01
- Total Spent So Far for August $182.35
- Total Over/Under spend this shop: $0
- Total Over/Under spend for the month of (August): $ 0
- Total Left to Spend for the Month: $22.01-$21.58 (left to spend for month)= I went over $0.43 for the month!
- Total Coupons Used This Month:$2.75+$5.00+1.50=$3.00= $12.25
- Total to Carry Over Next Month: $ 0.43 over spend
- Total Spent To Date This Year: $206.95 (Jan)+ $160.77 (Feb) + (March)$169.62 + (April)$397.74+(May) $155.68 + (June) $216.01+ (July) $235.83 (August) $182.35=$1724.95 (does not include stockpile budget)
- Rendezvous Account: $65.38 This is money saved if there is any leftover at the end of a month of grocery shopping for a date night for the wife and I.
Weekly Overview: This was supposed to be our no shop week however we did need a few bits so in we went. I will say that we did very well considering that we could have went overboard. This is a first for us. We had some sort of self-control. The overage will have to carry over to September.
Canadian coupons found in August
Frequently Asked Questions
Grocery Game Challenge RULES….. Read the rules first and if you have any questions email me or comment on this post with your question and someone will answer you as soon as possible.
- Do I have to be Canadian to post my Grocery Shop? No, you don’t have to be Canadian to post your shops only to win a monthly prize. We have a few players from around the world.
- When does the Grocery Game Close each month? The Grocery Game Challenge closes at midnight of the last Sunday of the last post for the month. You can post your shops all month-long.
- Does Your Grocery Budget Include Health and Beauty and Laundry? Yes our Grocery Budget includes such items as shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap etc. We don’t mind stockpiling items that won’t be affected by expiry dates or have long expiry dates but not so much food any more. It’s just one way to help cut your budget to save money.
- Where can I find Canadian Coupons? Here are your latest Coupon Match-ups of the week including Checkout 51 from 25 Newspaper Inserts around Canada compliments of Save Big Live Better that you can use to help you save money in the Grocery Game Challenge.
- What is an FPC? An fpc is a free product coupon which means you can get a free product as described on the coupon.
- How Do I Know what stores accept coupons? You can find all your store coupon policies here. If you are not sure it’s always best to call the store and ask.
- How Do I Grocery Shop?– I can tell you about grocery shopping and what we do in terms of shopping to save money and how it works for us. There are no wrong or right answers, just smart choices.
Over time you will gradually learn where you should and shouldn’t go in the grocery store or at least how to say no, I’m on a budget I ‘need to buy this or that. You may also substitute items in order to stick to your budget to make it work. Nobody is perfect, heck we struggle with this part of our budget like many people do and this is why the grocery game challenge was created.
If you have just joined The Grocery Game Challenge get ready to dive deep into your grocery budget and learn just where you are spending, how much you are spending and what you are saving. You’ve made a wise decision.
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