The other day, I went to go pump gas in my car and I realized I didn’t have my debit card with me. I didn’t think anything of it, maybe I left it at home. I searched all over the house looking for my debit card and came up empty. I went online to see my account balance and to my dismay my checking account was wipe clean!

Most of the charges were from the same store and I thought to myself, what idiot would not check IDs for card transactions! Then it dawned on me, nobody does, not even me! I was at work observing my cashiers on each transaction and none of them asked for ID because there wasn’t an opportunity to.

When a customer slides their debit or credit card, the card reader does not tell us anything. If its a debit card then the customer can punch in their pin but if its a credit card it automatically goes through without any verification. A debit card can also be slid as a credit card as well, by pressing cancel when it ask for the pin number. We only see if the transaction had gone through by the machine printing out the receipt. By then there’s no way to ask the customer to see their ID and the transaction had already been charged.

So now I ask my cashiers to ask the customer if they’re using a debit or credit card and if its a credit card then we would ask for ID. I know it’s an extra step for the cashiers and may be some inconvenience for the customer but it is for their best interest that the credit card is authorized by the person it belongs to.

When I started working as a grocery checker, I was 135 pounds. Eleven years later I’m now 192 lbs! I flirt with 200 pounds on a monthly basis and even though I try to restrain myself from eating, it’s just too hard to do so when you’re working in the grocery store.

Aisles: Almost every aisle you walk down, there’s food on the shelves. Yeah, try walking down the soap aisle to avoid the food but you’ll only find yourself wandering back to junk food aisle. Chips, candy, instant noodles, etc, there’s no way you can resist it. You can’t help but want to try to snack any of those things during your break.

Deli: Chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, jojos, sandwiches and the china deli? Deadly combinations but if you forget to pack you’re lunch and you only have a 30 minute lunch? I’ll bet my entire week paycheck that you’ll be over at the deli ordering something hot and quick to eat in the short amount of time you have.

Produce: Yeah I tried the fruits only diet, thinking that its an alternative way to avoid eating the greasy stuff but you know what? I actually gained weight that way as well. With all that sugar and trying to get full off of fruit is a tough task. I tried the salad only route as well but only one can do it so long but if you have the will to do it then more power to you.

Bakery: This is the silent killer, have you ever smelled fresh baked bread? Even if you’re not hungry the aroma itself will make you feel as if you are. Not even customers can resist the urge so what makes anyone think a grocery clerk who has been working all day wouldn’t either? Jalapeno cheese bread, muffins, cookies, and donuts! Let’s start counting those carbs! Hey, eating it only one day a week is OK right? Yeah, you keep telling yourself that…

Impulse Buys: There’s a reason why there’s chocolate bars, gum, small bags of chips, beef jerky by the checkstand right? So customers can “conveniently” remember that they actually need these things! Now imagine you’re a checker, you’re constantly looking at snacks and you’re telling yourself 3 things, “I don’t have to go far, I can eat it in the checkstand and it’s on sale,” they’re always on sale! You find yourself suckered into buying 5 because its “Buy 3 get 2 free” and you end up eating all of it in the checkstand by the time your shift is over.

Have you ever gained weight because of your profession?

I walked into my department this morning to find an order of 22 balloons that was going to be picked up in a few hours. I put on my safety goggles and filled each latex balloon with Hi-float and started blowing them up. With so many balloons, I usually try to make it easy on the customer while transporting them in their cars. I will put nine to ten balloons in a large garbage bag, tie it with the strings hanging out, and put in a heavy weight so the bag doesn’t fly away. This also keeps it lower in the car so it isn’t as hard to drive. This order required three bags, so I put weights in each (though it costs my department more because those heavy weights are expensive!), and I even gave the customer a balloon bouquet discount because she had one Mylar balloon in the order.

Miss K came in later than expected, but in somewhat good spirits. I introduced myself, and showed her the balloons I filled for her.

Me: Miss K, unfortunately I do not have a register, so you have to make the purchase up front, but I can help you carry out your balloons after you have purchased them.

Miss K: That’s fine, I will be right back!

A few minutes later, she comes back holding her receipt…

Me: Alright, here you go! I just need to che…

Miss K: Can I just have the Mylar balloon out of there? I expected a big bouquet to take into the restaurant…

Me: Yes, but I put them in the bags so you can transport them easier, and it’s not difficult at all to take them out. I left the strings out so they won’t get tangled, and there are weights if you need them.

Miss K: Well what use do I have for a bag?

Me: I can take them out if you would like.

Miss K: No! Never mind! She storms out with the bags

I didn’t even have the chance to check her receipt. I think I may have been duped…

Have you been mad at someone who was just trying to help you?

For more stories of Tora the Florist:

Introdution to Tora the Florist

Grocery stores have become a one stop shop for customers. You can get everything you want in one grocery store, groceries, small electronics, movies and even flowers. You want a nice flower arrangement to surprise your lady at home? Go by the floral department and ask the florist if they can put together something really nice while you do your grocery shopping. You can pick up your customized floral arrangement on the way out. It’s that easy. The flowers are just as fresh and well arranged as if you went to a floral boutique but half the cost! Florist who work in the grocery stores have their own stories as well, I’d like to introduce you to Tora the Florist!

Background

I started working in a grocery store when I was a sophomore in high school. I did quit about a year and a half ago, but got laid off from my other job and just recently came back as a Floral Manager. I really like my regulars that come in, they make it worthwhile to come in everyday. I also love working with flowers .

I don’t like it when customers blame me for something I have no control over or when they assume I know everything just because my name tag has the word manager on it!

Pet Peeves: Customers who come in drunk, and employees that don’t do their job

Um… Are These Dead?

The load for the floral department comes in two days a week. In order to reduce costs of shipping, and improve quality, all of the flowers now come in dehydrated and in small boxes. Once they come in, I have to process the flowers (cut the stems) and put them in water so they can drink for a bit, and then I will put them out on the sales floor. Another thing to note is that when flowers are fresh, they are almost completely closed and small. It is when they are fully bloomed that they are about to die…

Me: Hello Ma’am, can I help you find anything today?

Confused Accuser: Yes, I was wondering if you have anything fresh, all of your bouquets are dead!

Me: Ma’am, I assure you, those are as fresh as you can get them, they just came on today’s load.

Confused Accuser: But they are not even open! See! Look at these! Holds up a bunch of Alstroemeria. Do these look alive to you? They are limp and look disgusting!

At this point, I am ready to give up on the customer. I mean, really… I know what I am doing, ya know?

Me: When flowers come in, they are dehydrated. They just need a couple more hours of soaking in water, and they will bloom in a few days. Those are in fact the longest lasting flowers we have! I have had customers come back and tell me theirs lasted almost three weeks! Believe me, they aren’t dead, and it’s a great deal for such long lasting flowers.

Confused Accuser: Whatever! I don’t believe you! I cannot believe you are trying to sell me dead flowers!

Me: Well have a nice day!

Have you ever thought someone in retail was giving you phony advice?

Thanks for sharing Tora from Colorado and there’s plenty more of her stories to come!

Donald Noone of Carlisle, Pennsylvania could meet Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity, after attempting his second supermarket rib heist using the same shoplifting technique that failed him miserably the first time around, but obviously expecting a different result.

According to the Cumberland, PA Sentinel, the 65 year-old Noone “was back in police custody Sunday afternoon after trying to steal a rack of ribs by sticking them in his pants” — a mere three months after he was arrested at the same store for trying to walk out with $13.34 worth of ribs in his trousers.

Donald Noone after his second meat/pants-related arrest in 90 days

Oddly enough, the ol’ meat-down-the-pants trick appears to be a popular technique among meat thieves.

Just last month, Terry Campbell of Spartanburg, South Carolina was nabbed with “multiple packages” of tenderloin steak down his pants.

“Why yes, that IS a steak…”

And it was only last week that Charles Truman Davis of Atmore, Florida shoved four packages of sausage down his pants before pulling a knife on store employees and fleeing on a bicycle before being nabbed by cops on Friday.

Sausage tastes so much better when it’s been in someone’s pants first…

In November, 2010, Deon Williams of Brooklyn, NY was arrested after being caught walking out of a store with a 12-pound turkey breast in his pants.

“He’s got a big turkey in his pants!” Fine Fare Grocery cashier Michelle Benjamin yelled to butcher Sergio Marte, who chased Williams down.

Marte demanded Williams hand over the bird, which he did — after which he punched Marte in the jaw for good measure.

A relieved Marte told the New York Post that “the $84 worth of Boar’s Head Oven Gold ‘was in good condition.’”

Then, there was the curious case of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Antonio Jordan, who combined Donald Noone’s taste for ribs with Deon Williams’s appreciation for poultry, finding himself in handcuffs after stuffing a couple of slabs of ribs and family size packs of chicken” down his pants while shopping at a local Food Giant.

Of course, who can forget the fellow in Mary Esther, Florida who was wandering the aisles of a grocery store “looking suspicious” before being caught with three pounds of bacon down his pants?

Or Georgia’s own Joseph Lee Stringer, who managed to leave his local Walmart with a rotisserie chicken down his pants before being caught?

From: Minyanville.com

I don’t think too many people in the grocery industry give much credit to the courtesy clerks. They are essential to the daily operations of the grocery store. Courtesy clerks do things that no one else wants to do, like cleaning the bathrooms, bottlerooms, mopping and sweeping the floors. They also do something that even the customers take for granted, protecting their automobiles.

Customers do tend to get lazy and leave their grocery cart anywhere they please. When grocery carts aren’t in their corrals; they become misguided missiles to unfortunate automobiles. Whether you park close or far, your automobile is never safe, a misplaced grocery cart will find it’s way to leave unwanted dents and dings. And worst of all, the grocery stores are NOT liable for any damages.

It’s like the game Asteroids. You must clear out all asteroids to win the game and when you get hit, the game is over.

A courtesy clerks job is to retrieve as many grocery carts as they can and usually it’s only 5 at a time. They must strategically pick which grocery carts are most at risk and retrieve them to prevent any damage. There are times when the courtesy clerk is pushing the carts into the store and there’s one flying towards an automobile; they must make a quick decision to either try and stop the grocery cart from damaging the car or make the decision to continue to push the carts into the store because if they decide to stop the unattended cart then the carts that they are pushing will now become misguided missiles as well.

I’m sure everyone has their share of dents and dings on their automobile as a result of grocery shopping, our cars have more dents and dings than usual because we work at the grocery store but there would have been a lot more if it wasn’t for those courtesy clerks.