Had a customer, a lady in her 50s, the other day ask me to void something on her lane. So I come to her and clear it out, and then I see some odd item on the screen which had a weird name, so I just wanted to make sure I was voiding the right thing. So I ask her about that item and if that's the item in the bag. Again, I just wanted to make sure I was voiding the right thing and also so it doesn't give those "remove the unscanned item" warnings.
Then she gets extremely offended because I asked her about that item. "Excuse me.. I'm not a thief, okay.." Like, wow. Where's this attitude coming from? I never even said they were, let alone thought they were.
Have you guys ever had a similar experience while on Uscan?
Sounds like someone had a guilty conscious. Like she's done it in the past, and was caught or almost caught.
Customers like that also try to escalate a situation with an employee in an attempt to get something for nothing by running to management.
I only do U-Scan when someone needs their break, lunch or has to take a leak. So I haven't done it enough to have any real negative experiences, but I've gotten defensive customers like that on regular registers.
It's usually when it's a check transaction that asks for ID.
"I've shopped here twice a week for 30 years! Why do you need my ID?!?'
Or
"I am who I say I am!"
That's when I politely and calmly inform them that it's nothing personal, and that I HAVE to type in their ID number, nobody can override it, and it's the only way to get their groceries.
That typically shuts them up.
Do the same for the UScan people. Say "Oh, it's nothing personal ma'am, just double-checking. These things are hard to read sometimes."
And then don't respond to any further attempts to make something of it. If you try to respond anymore, they'll escalate into a scene and lie to management.
Thanks for the advice. Never thought their response would be related to their own guilt.
Speaking of which, the other day, I caught a customer trying to steal beer. He comes in almost everyday with his girlfriend or wife. It was sunday, which I believe was the tax free day, so it was SUPER busy. He scanned his beer, and I guess when he thought I was busy, decided to walk out with the beer.
I saw the screen and then saw him heading for the door, I immediately went up to him and said "excuse me, excuse me" and then he turned around and gave me what I think is a hilarious excuse. He said "yeah, I was trying to pay using this quarter but the machine wasn't accepting the quarter cause I guess it's kinda outta shape or something" and then he handed me back the beer, which he had in a plastic bag as if he'd paid for it.
Sadly, there was no security officer around for me to say anything. So the guy just left, as I haven't been trained on how to handle shoplifters other than that.
The guy still comes in to buy his stuff, but he doesn't come to my Uscan. Gee, I wonder why.
I find it kinda strange why our store doesn't have a security guard posted near the door at all times. They're only there 50% of the time. I guess they're busy doing other security things in other places of the store the rest of the time.
I could think of a million ways to improve loss prevention at the Uscan. One of which would be to not have me have to fetch cigarettes for customers, cause that leaves the Uscan unattended for 30 seconds, sometimes a whole minute, which I search for a customer's cigs. Or even have the security guard watch the Uscan while I do it.
I find it kinda strange why our store doesn't have a security guard posted near the door at all times. They're only there 50% of the time. I guess they're busy doing other security things in other places of the store the rest of the time.
I could think of a million ways to improve loss prevention at the Uscan. One of which would be to not have me have to fetch cigarettes for customers, cause that leaves the Uscan unattended for 30 seconds, sometimes a whole minute, which I search for a customer's cigs. Or even have the security guard watch the Uscan while I do it.
I miss the OLD SCO program! Customer knew you scan the item, you put it in the bag.....simple! I am beginning to hate "HELP IS ON THE WAY".....and then I have to figure out the 4 Red issues and what might have caused the problem. I have a feeling the cost savings of switching will be eliminated with the shrink that is being caused.
Even when off the clock just in line for break, customers sometimes get nervous when they see me / another employee n the attendant on opposite sides of SCO, I'm continually watching them and waiting for the next one to be open. Afterwards I go to the break room.
Caught one customer trying to fiddle with the bags and he ended up tripping the bag check cause he thought it wouldn't sense the extra weight behind the bag (tried to bag something behind an already open bag). I knew something was up when I kept hearing "please remove item from the bagging area" indicating the computer and scale don't agree on something and that sent up a flag. Three times later, "please wait while we verify your bags." The computer was now in lockdown and I am not register trained so I told him I'll get someone for him. CSR caught the item and had him pay for it. ****ing condoms of all things! WTF bro! Pay for your stuff!
Even when off the clock just in line for break, customers sometimes get nervous when they see me / another employee n the attendant on opposite sides of SCO, I'm continually watching them and waiting for the next one to be open. Afterwards I go to the break room.
Caught one customer trying to fiddle with the bags and he ended up tripping the bag check cause he thought it wouldn't sense the extra weight behind the bag (tried to bag something behind an already open bag). I knew something was up when I kept hearing "please remove item from the bagging area" indicating the computer and scale don't agree on something and that sent up a flag. Three times later, "please wait while we verify your bags." The computer was now in lockdown and I am not register trained so I told him I'll get someone for him. CSR caught the item and had him pay for it. ****ing condoms of all things! WTF bro! Pay for your stuff!
I get that, "Please scan the item before placing it in the bag" message all the time. A lot of times I'll get it before I've even started scanning anything. Frankly, I think the software is very annoying. I've been tempted to just leave my stuff and walk out.
