Sometime last week, I was at a K-Mart. The cashier called me over and was probably the least attentive I've seen for a long time. Something her co-workers were doing behind the counter was far more funny and interesting than my comforter. All I thought was Wow. But I wasn't mad at her. And to be honest, what was going on behind the counter was a little more funny and interesting than my comforter. There are some people who I know that would have been FURIOUS (with a capital furious) at that. But I can't be that person. I've been there. I've been that cashier. And cashiers tend to do things like that from time to time. We joked. We were playful. It happened. It kept us from going absolutely postal on customers who swore the store was built for them. And at one point, I was that customer, too.
I had to have been about 12 years old. I was at a Burger King at a mall. I ordered a Whopper (I think) and it came back wrong. The cashier was definitely older than me, but not old old (probably late teens).
I absolutely laid into her. I yelled at her with the fury and the anger of 1,000 drill sergeants. I didn't cuss at her, however (that counts for something). And she started to cry. And man, did that get to me. Maybe she had been going through something that day and I was the breaking point. I don't know. I immediately apologized to her and the manager. I promised to never act like that towards a customer service rep.
Here's the thing: a lot of people have never had an actual customer service job. And I mean face-to-face customer service - not call center stuff. Customer service sucks. Cashiers will do things to make their job slightly better. So unless the cashier is cussing you out or throwing fecal matter in your face, give them a little bit of respect.
HOWEVER, to cashiers: stop acting like idiots. Don't ignore customers. Don't cuss customers out. Don't act like you are the greatest thing to happen to customer service. The customers are not throwing fecal matter in YOUR face. So chill.
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