'They confirmed... it was a top priority': Store managers decide customers should never have to wait more than 15 seconds before checking out, employee maliciously complies

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 11, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Just how long should a customer have to wait for service when they're checking out at a store? It depends on a lot of factors. For example, if you check out at a store at 6 PM and there are no cashiers to be seen for a minute or two, you might be confused and annoyed. At 2 AM at that same store, you'd probably take it in stride if there were no cashiers, knowing you may have to go find that person and tell them you're ready to pay. The same goes for family stores, or small shops where the store is run by just a few people at one time. You can expect that these people are doing double or triple duty by working the cash register, stocking shelves, helping customers, cleaning, or answering the phones. 

Still, this store's customers were not happy with how long they had to wait for service at this store. U/BobertGnarley shares that customers sometimes had to "wait a minute or two," and were quite unhappy about it. Management decided to make a new rule to address this, but it kind of backfired on them, as you can read about below. 

Next up, this construction worker played an outrageous prank on their least favorite coworker, causing the guy to quit on the spot!

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  • 01
    20% 25% 31250 30% $15.00 Custom vagaro garo
    via Vagaro on Unsplash
  • 02
    Sure, the longest a customer will ever have to wait is 15 seconds So I worked in a fairly large store that wasn't very busy until 3 pm, and only had 2-3 employees in the floor in the morning.
    via u/BobertGnarley
  • 03
    We were getting complaints from customers that they'd have to wait a minute or two at the register before getting checked out. We were always filling stock in the aisles and weren't allowed to "just stay at the register".
    via u/BobertGnarley
  • 04
    Management decided that the longest any customer should have to wait was 15 seconds before starting check out. As I always do when given tasks that contradict each other, I ask "hey, what gets priority - getting our stock out or ensuring this check out happens within 15 seconds?" They confirmed that it was the customer service and that it was a top priority. Perfect.
    via u/BobertGnarley
  • 05
    I had my cart of stock and I was in charge of the register. My cart was about 7 seconds of walking time away from where I could view the register. So I literally walked for 7 seconds, checked, walked back for 7 seconds, which left me with a single second to do stock.
    via u/BobertGnarley
  • 06
    Normally you can get a cart of stock out in about 30 minutes - my cart was still quite full after about 4 hours. Management came by and saw me walking back and forth "barely doing any work". I reminded her that what I was doing was top priority, and since I wasn't allowed to stay at the register, that I was accomplishing both my tasks in the most efficient way possible.
    via u/BobertGnarley
  • 07
    The next day the 15 second rule had been abolished.
    via u/BobertGnarley
  • 08
    Flaky_Operation687 People these days, too lazy to clone yourself and be two places at once...
    via u/Flaky_Operation687
  • 09
    wa... "Why are managers so bad at problem solving?" is my real question. Like okay. You have customers waiting too long because your staff is all spread out over the store. and nobody is at a register.
    via u/wandering-monster
  • 10
    You only have 2-3 staff to work with, but you want to cut wait times. You could do it stupid like in OPs story and just say "get back to the register faster", but it doesn't actually solve anything.
    via u/wandering-monster
  • 11
    So how about this: one person is on register watching duty. Their stock cart should be filled with items that are within view of the register only. If there's. restocking, part of their job is to check the other restocking carts and collect the items on the endcaps/shelves/whatever that have view to the register area.
    via u/wandering-monster
  • 12
    They're going to cover a much smaller chunk of the store, but will also do the bulk of checkouts so it's all fair in the end. Maybe swap partway thru each shift to give the register guardian a mental break. It's a little more work for the manager to get it organized, but then the problem is actually solved.
    via u/wandering-monster
  • 13
    EDIT: I'm aware of bells. I find them an insulting way to call someone and would use them as a last resort if I was managing a team in this situation. Seem like they'd be terrible for morale.
    via u/wandering-monster
  • 14
    Milan514 Who are these customers, complaining about a one minute wait? Who does that? Who actually spends. time and energy doing this? Your customers sound very entitled.
    via u/Milan514

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Tags

cash register malicious compliance retail shopping retail worker coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit working cashier workplace malicious compliance reddit shoppers
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