Asda are banning cheques.... ye ha

[Loosehead]

Anyone else delighted with this news? Gets rid of one of the many pains in the proverbial!

[Jude123]

I Have worked at Sainsburys for the last 15 years. We have cash only, and 10 items or less tills. We rarely have queues because we have a one in front policy which means we open more tills if there is more than 2 at a till. (One being served and one unpacking.) We always ask if the customer needs help with their packing. Some do and some prefer to pack their own. Also we dont get signatures for cash back.

I think getting stressed in a supermarket is a complete waste of energy and the checkout operator does not deserve some of the abuse handed out. The majority of customers we have and some I have made friends with over the years are very pleasant people and as for elderly people some of you have to get where they are and then you may realize why they may be a bit slower than you.

[shaneystar2]

Well said our Jude ....and if want any suggestions for your packed lunch Loosehead ..as a packed lunch maker veteran I will be more than willing to give you some suggestions!
Just think ..you can sit out in the sun and eat your lunch whilst us old biddies roam around Asda looking for Bogoffs !

[hammerman]

I just can't stand people who are so bone idle, they can't be bothered to make their own sarnies.....then spend all lunchtime queueing at supermarket canteens clogging up the system.

I'd love to just stand there holding a pack of sarnies at the checkout for 10 minutes whilst all the suited and booted look at me as if to say "well aren't you going to pay for that" whilst i have a big smile on my face.

[whiffey]

Presumably hammerman when you had picked yourself up after slipping over in the [edited by AB] you'd pay by cheque too... !

[Otrere]

You still have to initial for cashback to (a) show that you asked for cashback and (b) that you have received it. The cashier should also initial your receipt to show that he or she has given you the cashback. Its to stop people going to customer services and possibly, falsely claiming that they haven't received their cashback - believe me, it does happen.

I'm not delighted about the news at all - and I work for Asda.

[foundryman]

What a great thread!! I really enjoyed reading them. I can relate to most of the points raised..who cannot??

I give you all fair warning now..NEVER, I mean NEVER,stand behind me in a checkout. because every time I get to be the next to be served, there is a hitch...that takes forever to sort out. something will not scan... she puts up the flashing light that means... ignore her... we wait. I tell the woman[it is usually a woman] go get another. or forget it this week.. no chance....we wait ..and the folk behind me think this woman is my wife!! Big denials from me !! not believed for a minute.

Then.. when it is finally my turn.... staff changeover !!!/run out of 10p's /till breaks down. I thought it was my overworked imagination but it isn't. I seem to have a reverse Midas touch.. everything turns to lead!! then goes pearshaped grrrrrrrr!!

while i'm on.Buying your butties in the supermarket instead of diy at home, have you ever considered the cost??

1 buttie a day @�1.99= �9.95 for 5 days

for a working year that comes in at about �2000 per year, then for the average working life it comes to about...ready for this??......you will have spent over �100,000. if you had invested that money as you saved it it would have accumulated to around �250,000 !!

You have just eaten your retirement home in Florida!!!

[Loosehead]

er 9.95 x 52 = about a monkey how'd you get 2k out of that?

Anyway I don't buy sandwiches I generally go for the hot chicken.

I take the general point though I should do my own lunch at home it's just such a chore.

[Loosehead]

I know what you mean about the hassles though Foundryman. For ehat it's worth if something doesn't scan or there's any problem I always say leave it I'll get it next time but most people are just oblivious to the suffering they cause to others.

People getting clothes at the food till don't get me started on them!

[Jude123]

Just returned to this thread and read it with interest. No matter what I say there is always somebody who disagrees with me but I can assure you Otrere that at the branch of Sainsburys I work for a signature or initials are not required for cash back and I am sure that is the policy throughout the company.

[Carol Anne]

Iv'e just read this great thread with interest, and it seems to me you're all missing the main point: Useless snail -like checkout operators and likewise chip and pin techology. Ever been in an American supermarket? Seen the rate that these guys can move a queue? You regularly hear someone from the back of the line growling audibly about the line not moving fast enough, even though it's going like a train by our standards!! Why here do they employ these fat lazy sloths bursting out of their tabards and barely squeezed into their seats passing stuff through the scanner like it's slow motion? I remember a store in Austin Tx where they actually employed hustlers who ran up and down the checkout bank to speed the operators up, and you get your bags packed for you as a matter of course, which we don't here.

As for chip and pin, most of the time it's just as slow as a cheque. Under the old system I would hand over my card and have the receipt signed and handed back before these new keypads have even asked for the PIN!!! even then it takes an age to process. I could have been out the bl@@dy door by now!! No, dont blame cheques or elderly. It's like every other idea they import from America and they never quite seem to get it right over here. Blame the managers , yes for being so inept, but blame yourselves for not being like the Americans who don't just stand there like you lot and mutter under their breath whilst all the time putting up with it!

[Jude123]

Carol Anne your post does not deserve a reply, if you don't know what's wrong with it then there's no hope for you!!

[Carol Anne]

Actually Jude123, Back in a time of pre-history, I eeked out my student grant as a checkout operator in Presto's on Saturdays and holidays. There was none of this sitting passing stuff over a scanner. Every price had to be rung up by hand, trolley load after trolley load, for hours on end til you thought your wrist was about to drop off. Mistakes were not tolerated and the manager would dock wages for shortfalls. I think I'm well enough placed to comment on how easy you people have it today, thank you very much!!

[Jude123]

I rest my case!

[gessoo]

'Fat Sloths bursting out of their tabards' eh. How very polite! Why don't you go back to the States Carol Anne if it is so much better. Don't forget that the proportion of overweight people over there is very much higher than here, but then as you point out we never quite come up to the USA!

[Jude123]

Nice one Gessoo!

[Carol Anne]

Spoken like a true supermarket employee.

[Loosehead]

Carol, I'm jealous of the yanks already. You are so right about the lumps of the checkouts. They are like a bunch of zombies on mogadon. Every now and again you get one that's fast, probably not by US standards but it's a treat to us customers!

I suppose the basic problem is we Brits have always been terrible at customer service. Anyway since Asda was bought by walmart how come we ain't getting the US style checkout system? It'd blow away the competion and force them to follow suit.

[gessoo]

I have never worked in a supermarket Carol Anne. If you are referring to Jude, I think that you will find out from this site that she has been working for many, many years and, she won't mind me saying, like myself (and yourself too!) is no spring chicken and will well remember the 'olden' days, yes even before supermarkets existed. Don't assume before you know the facts.

Your remarks were untoward. There is no need for rudeness on this site. Just not clever!

[Carol Anne]

I've obviously upset you gessoo, and for that I apologise. don't take it so seriously, most of the postings on here are somewhat tongue in cheek and you will always get some who will rub others up the wrong way, but remember they are just as entitled to their opinions as you. It's not a battlefield where you have to fight down to your last bullet. Lets agree to differ in our opinions and leave it at that. Poor you loosehead, you now appear to have the poisoned chalice. Good luck. :-)

[gessoo]

Actually, no Carol Anne you haven't upset me. You annoy me because supermarket checkout operators who might be reading this will feel offended by your flippant post describing them as fat lazy sloths. This is only a cyber world and noone on here can upset me and fortunately I don't know you. You are of course entitled to opinion - perhaps you ought to consider posting it without being offensive and think a bit more.