Etiquette poll

[eris esoteric]

Gentleman walks up to the desk. I am standing on the other side of the desk. I am wearing a uniform. I am typing at a computer workstation.

The gentleman asks me if I'm working there.

I do not, in fact, tell him that, no, I don't work there, and that I'm very confused about how I got there in the first place and why I'm wearing this horrid uniform.

I simply smile and tell him that "I'm working here for another ten minutes!"

The gentleman then tells me he wants to pay for his son's room. With cash.

So, I go get my bank back out, refrain from hitting him over the head with it, take the payment, and end up leaving work 15 minutes late because the hotel's IDIOTIC cash handling procedures really are such a pain in the butt.

So, at which point should I have slapped him?

[pippadaisy[$]]

When he first walked up to the desk. Save yourself the time and aggravation of whatever stupid question he was about to ask and the world the oxygen he was about to waste.

[amykhar]

Now, if it were me, I would assume cash would be the easier way for you to take payment and I would think I was being nice offering you cash instead of an icky credit card.

[eris esoteric]

Eh, cash is always a bigger pain in hotels. Mostly because of the amount of the final bills.

I will grant you, though, that it is NOT the gentleman's fault the university rules make cash SO much more difficult to process. But yeah, in a hotel the credit card, which involves one piece of paper we keep and one piece of paper we give to the guest, is always easier than cash.

[pippadaisy[$]]

My answer is not in the poll questions.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

See, I'd have thought cash would be easier too. And I wouldn't have realized a shift change would mean you'd have to reopen a till or something and do a re-count or anything like that.

[eris esoteric]

pippadaisy said

My answer is not in the poll questions.

Yeah, well, I'd briefly considered putting that in, along with "follow him around for the rest of his natural life and just slap him at random intervals," but I considered both of those to be overkill.

It's not like the he was the guy that called to make a room reservation and wanted to know if 35 people would be able sleep in one of our rooms.

[eris esoteric]

mjfrombuffalo said

And I wouldn't have realized a shift change would mean you'd have to reopen a till or something and do a re-count or anything like that.

Anything short of a major grocery store setup where they have people walk out and hand the cashier a new bank will necessitate a bank countdown. And I've worked in a grocery store that wasn't so major that still required that.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Ah. My grocery store days involved my closing the register at 5:59 and turning the till in to Accounting. But people who've never worked grocery/retail wouldn't know any of this, so I can't say the guy was rude or evil, just that his first question was rather stupid.

[eris esoteric]

Stupidity isn't cause for slapping?



When the heck did this start?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Well, when someone doesn't know something that's common knowledge, let the slapping commence! but I'm not sure this guy had any frame of reference to know what he was asking was a PITA for you

[amykhar]

Please don't taser me for this.

But, in my retail days, we never would have dreamed of telling a customer we were only there for another 10 minutes. We either made ourselves scarce so customers didn't see us or we dealt with their needs without even hinting that they were inconvieniencing us - no matter how long that took.

Generally, a co-worker who knew you were leaving would slide in and finish up with the customer if we weren't swamped.

[eris esoteric]

Oh, I would have been willing to let him slide on the cash issue, but combined with the "are you working here?" question, it definitely made him slap-worthy.

Of course, the best ever "are you working here?" question I ever got was when I was working at a convenience store. Granted, it was very late at night and I wasn't wearing a uniform or a name tag. On the other hand, I was on my hands and knees cleaning out a cupboard. And yes, when the gentleman asked me, I did in fact tell him that, no, I didn't work there, I just really liked cleaning out cupboards, and tended to wander around late at night cleaning cupboards in various stores.

Some days I really miss working at a convenience store.

[eris esoteric]

amykhar said

Please don't taser me for this.

But, in my retail days, we never would have dreamed of telling a customer we were only there for another 10 minutes. We either made ourselves scarce so customers didn't see us or we dealt with their needs without even hinting that they were inconvieniencing us - no matter how long that took.

Generally, a co-worker who knew you were leaving would slide in and finish up with the customer if we weren't swamped.

No taser, Amy, I really shouldn't have said that to him. There is, after all, a REASON (or twenty) why I'm on third shift and really shouldn't be let around the guests for any period of time.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

[nicholmere]

[emeleel]

For years now, I've apparently had an invisible sign over my head that says, "Yes, despite the fact that I am wearing neither a name tag nor a store uniform, go right ahead and ask me if I work here." I don't get it!

Although, I almost never get asked that anymore, now that kids are dragging along with me everywhere. See, they have their uses.

[hadassahchana[$]]

Melanie, why should that work for you? I can be surrounded by Horsemen, swarming with them, and people will catch a glimpse of me at a store and will climb over other customers in order to get close enough to ask me stupid questions. Like last week when I was at Target in the shampoo aisle, and a lady came up shaking a camisole at me, asking if I could get another one in her size only in black.


I told her that I was sorry, that the only ones left in her size were bright orange.


Well, she deserved it. Otherwise, I'd have to practice at a slapping range next to Eris and Pippa.

[pippadaisy[$]]

I don't need to practice. I was born with it.

[lynnzop[$]]

New bank for new employee is commonplace. That way they can pinpoint who is ripping off the till.

Eris, he was just trying to be polite when interrupting you. It was a stupid question, but I guess it was better than, "YO, B."

I would vote to slap the person who makes it so hard for you to close out your shift. And then leave 15 minutes early the next time to make up for it.

[eris esoteric]

lynnzop said

Eris, he was just trying to be polite when interrupting you. It was a stupid question, but I guess it was better than, "YO, B."

Maybe, but when he got up from his chair and started walking toward me I did stop what I was doing and greet him.

(See, I do occasionally follow procedure for talking to guests.)

[mtbat]

did you make eye contact with him as he strolled across the lobby???

I'd have tazerd him.