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u/obscurereference234 27d ago
Because he’s not there and the employee is. If the owner was standing right there I’m sure people would bitch at him.
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u/AldenDi 26d ago
Nah, the owner would assure the customer that the worker will be reprimanded and give them something for free so they can feel magnanimous while fostering the customers negative attention on the employee.
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u/cultmember94 26d ago
The employee would also have to pay for it out of pocket since it's "their fault" that the customer was angry
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u/what_the_a 27d ago
I was at Joann fabrics around the holidays and it was expectedly busy despite the pandemic. Lots of people in line to get fabric cut, four employees moving as fast as they could, and their little handheld scanners were on the fritz. I didn’t see any freak outs but the energy was very tense and lots of tsking, sighing, and foot tapping.
I got up to my turn and the young woman assisting me was sweaty and frantic looking. She greeted me politely and let me know her scanner wasn’t cooperating and apologized for the inconvenience. She looked like she was bracing herself for insults. I said “don’t worry, I’ve been there—working retail during the holidays is so stressful and it seems like the technology never works at the busiest times. Take as much time as you need, I’m in no rush.” I could feel her tension ease up and she thanked me for being so nice, like I had done her some insane favor by just being understanding and patient. It made me feel sad that in the midst of this horrible year, people couldn’t just be kind to a person putting themselves in harms way to sell us craft supplies. Sheesh.
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u/Teacosyhats 27d ago
Because those people want to complain to someone but don't want to put the effort into finding the person to blame. They are more concerned with getting it off their chest than resolving the issue.
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u/ordinaryBiped 27d ago
It's the Brainwash™
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u/hollyberryness 27d ago
I need a brainwash
Gray-matter bath
I need the clutter all
Thrown in the trash
I need a brain wash
Cause I'm a loon
So would you please put my head in a tub
I could really use a cerebral scrub
Wash away what I know
It's an overrated frontal lobe
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u/QuestoPresto 27d ago
People want to share their pain and they don’t know where to find the millionaire owner. They do know where to find the cashier though.
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u/Cedarfoot 27d ago edited 26d ago
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.” – Utah Phillips
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u/knivadollar 27d ago
Don’t use automated check out as a response. This reinforces the ownership’s belief that they don’t need to have staff. Be patient. Stand your ground. Someone needs that checkout job.
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u/Dibbix 27d ago
Also if you feel yourself getting annoyed, stare directly into the cameras. There may be a manager sitting in the back having a snack while watching them
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u/ColonelHectorBravado 26d ago
A store director or sub-director, maybe. But they're not looking at those cameras. Anybody I saw with "manager" in their title was on their feet, in the trenches, putting out fires all day because it's always a skeleton crew.
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u/OuterInnerMonologue 27d ago
That’s actually a really fucking valid point. Wow I never thought of that. I’m stupid, I know.
I often don’t use the self check out because I’m lazy and I hate the machine that stops and gets confused over every fucking label.
Ok that’s not entirely true-it’s also because I but a lot of alcohol and we cant check out there I’m my state.
But now I’m all for validating those jobs.
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u/jvanstone 26d ago
Disagree. I love self checkout, and those machines employ many more people than the single checker. They require cad designers, machinists, software engineers, painters, fabricators, painters, shippers, installers, and servicers.
Also I hate having to checkout and talk to the person. I just want to buy my stuff and leave. I don't want social hour.
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u/streatchitout 27d ago
Anyone who acts like that probably doesn't put a whole lot of though into life
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u/PieEatingJabroni 27d ago
Why not? Because those people are small, insecure people who realize they can say whatever they want to the cashier and they can’t do/say anything back. They wouldn’t risk getting told off by the owner or store manager.
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u/pinniped1 27d ago
Ok, I get the point of the story, but for our local small mom & pop supermarket people are usually pretty cool with the checkout staff, whether it's busy or not.
And the owner is sometimes in there working produce or meat or just taking to customers and staff. He may technically be a millionaire (since even a small store is worth more than that) but he isn't the ultra rich who are actively trying to undermine society and possibly kill the planet in the process. A grocery store has so much physical inventory in a physical location that he's probably not laundering money or offshoring wealth to evade taxes like so many other rich people do.
Anyway, our checkers have been there 10+ years, older ladies mostly, and people are nice to them as far as I can tell. There's sometimes a high school kid bagging, but if not I just bag my own... No big deal.
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u/LorenaBobbedIt 27d ago
I don’t think this is actually true, though.
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u/FlamingoQueen669 27d ago
As a retail worker, I can assure you it is.
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u/LorenaBobbedIt 27d ago
I mean, if ten percent of the people blamed you and ninety percent realized that bad management/ownership was the problem, how would you know?
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u/iShark 27d ago
I mean the underlying sentiment is solid (the cashier isn't to blame), but I'm pretty sure the person making the local staffing decisions is a manager making 70k/yr, not a mysterious "millionaire".
Now there's probably a millionaire somewhere along the way setting unreasonable margin expectations which force that 70k/yr manager to under-pay and under-staff.
There's definitely an asshole in the mix somewhere.
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u/SubstantialCourage78 27d ago
I am also a retail worker and can assure you it is true. The people above the store manager are underfunding the payroll budget.
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u/LorenaBobbedIt 27d ago
I mean, I think most people realize that and don’t blame the person right in front of them. I’m sure some do though.
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u/frenchtickler1 26d ago
If it's a small town mom and pop super market chances are the owner is hardly breaking even on the store to begin with
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u/punchin_juedi 26d ago
Call the store you're in.
Tell the manager the lines at the registers go around the store and to get someone down there immediately and open some registers.
Works about 70% of the time.
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u/Ultraphage-808 26d ago
I do. I’ve written letters to 2 Subway franchises near me stating I won’t be spending any more money there (family of 5, wife doesn’t like to cook) due to there only being A SINGLE employee working EVERY time I’ve been there for several months before. I dont care if business has been down the last 5 years. If you operate a fast-food place that doesn’t serve its purpose and you screw over the people actually doing the work, fuck them. Sorry to the employee but whatever
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u/What_U_KNO 26d ago
What pisses me off is stores that basically have no clerks at all, and they fully expect YOU to check yourself out.
Bitch! I don't fucking WORK here. You got 20 fucking empty registers available, staff this place up. You expect ME to do what is a paying JOB for FREE? Go fuck yourself.
It's like creating a restaurant that you cook for yourself. It's fucking dumb. Why do we tolerate it? This is a JOB, that could be supporting a person, and these assholes have decided that WE the CUSTOMER now have to do this JOB.
Why do we tolerate this bullshit?
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u/Nandy-bear 26d ago
What sort of piece of shit gets annoyed at the worker anyway ? You get annoyed at the store and the piss poor management of it.
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u/Loud-Feeling2410 26d ago
I dunno. When I complain about a place, I make it a point to voice my complaints about the company, ownership, leadership, or policies. But having worked for many companies, I have to tell you, they often just see fewer stars and blame the employees anyway. They don't really absorb the information you are sending them. They totally see it as a front-end problem, even when it isn't.
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u/EvidenceCommercial48 26d ago
It's the same people that shoot the messenger. No ability to regulate emotion so they just dump em on anyone that's in their physical proximity.
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u/AnnieDickledoo 27d ago
Oh, I think a lot of people get annoyed at both, it's just that the millionaire owner is nowhere to be seen, so they take it out on the ones most accessible.
It's like the bigots that claim "illegal aliens" stole their jobs. Reality is, it was your boss and the owner(s) of those companies that took your job away and gave it to someone else, and assuming that said "illegal aliens" were actually not in the country legally, then your boss(es) broke the law and illegally hired them. But almost nobody that has supposedly lost their jobs to "illegal aliens" seems to blame their boss for it. Wonder why that is?
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u/BigOleJellyDonut 26d ago
Lots of time it not the owner but the manager sucking off the owner to look good.
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u/wicked_z94 27d ago
For the same reason that people get mad when people complain about the restaurant industry underpaying and expecting customers to make up the difference. Companies have taught us that is the person you can see that is at fault, not the giant rich corporation. Why should they care? They'll just how the next person, and the next one as they quit after their mental health goes to shit from being abused by customers all day.