Infuriating store policies -- what in Hell were they thinking?

[mdlbear]

Went to Safeway earlier this evening to get some tomato paste. At checkout, the clerk asked me for my last name! After a bit of appalled confusion I refused, picked up my bag, and walked out.

Just outside the door I realized that, no, this really needed to be confronted and went back in. After a brief exchange with the clerk, in which he basically said that it was company policy to thank people by their last name, I got a manager.

Yes, it really is company policy for the checkers to thank customers by their last name (apparently when they were using first names, the female customers thought they were being hit on -- no surprise). I knew that they did that when you used your Safeway card, which is why I had my name taken off the damned thing: I don't like hearing people I've never met mangle my last name.

What I hadn't realized was that if I didn't use my card (I didn't expect a huge discount on two cans of tomato paste), the clerk would ask me for my last name so they could mangle it back at me to 'thank' me. Right -- like this is going to make me want to come back.
<rant>
The whole incident got me surprisingly angry. Tomorrow morning I'll be calling the customer service number the manager gave me, though I don't expect much to come of it.

Am I the only one who doesn't like hearing their name mispronounced by strangers? Who finds it somehow infuriating when sales droids try to be 'friendly'? Who finds a complete stranger demanding my name after making a $2 purchase to be unbelievably intrusive?
</rant>

Comments

[ashi.livejournal.com]

The first time I used my Safeway card and the cashier thanked me by my last name, it struck me like a sour musical note. I meant to complain to someone about it, but it wasn't a high priority, and I gradually got grudgingly used to it.

Hmm... I have a printer now, envelopes, stamps... and I believe they pay more attention to typed letters than email, so I'm going to send a letter to:

Safeway Inc
4410 Rosewood Dr
Pleasanton CA 94588-3492

And yes, they tend to mispronounce my name too.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

As an aside, this is one of the many reasons I love the self-serve checkouts -- it's one less person I have to deal with.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

The store policy is an aspect of what Miss Manners would call faked social intimacy, a business practice that is wrong in two ways. First, it mixes business with social matters, a mistake that the female customers pointed out by complaining about the first-name attempt. Second, it is an attempt to pretend that strangers know each other. There is "the roof constitutes an introduction" rule, but I don't think that convention extends to check-out lines.

An added insult is to the intelligence of the employee. I'd assume that the employee has two extra words in her or his vocabulary: sir and ma'am.

An equivalent idiocy is the first-name-only badge for employees. Or, in my department, the fact that faculty have last names on their mailboxes, and the one male staff member has his last name on his box, but the female staff members have only their first names. Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhh!

And don't get me started on the retirement party I was invited to for several colleagues where we were asked to pay for expenses. I will give myself the assignment over the next few days of writing personal notes to my retiring colleagues instead of going to the party.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Yet another reason for me not to shop Safeway. I made the mistake of picking up a few things at the one on my way towork, and they tried to *force* me to take one of their damned cards, despite my "I'm sorry, I don't do demographics." (Tried to make me fill out the info before they would check out my groceries.) I find that whole place just too creepy, of late, and will go out of my way to avoid it. Sounds like I've got even better cause, now.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

That's why I like Albertson's savings card policy. They are happy to give you one withou asking for a scrap of your information. Nobody tries to address me by my last name. I know some of the checkers on a mutual first-name basis, but I've been shopping at the same place since it opened over 8 years ago.

[lizard.livejournal.com]

Even better if you don't have one, they have a "store card" they just scan in without any pause to scanning your purchases through, so you still get the savings.

[mithriltabby]

I also find the “thank you, Mister [how the hell do I pronounce this?]” annoying. “Thank you, sir” is perfectly eloquent. It’s even more annoying when they use my first name, as if they knew me. But that practice is lower on my list than banning Xmas muzak.

I don’t mind employees having only their first name on their badge, because I know it makes life more difficult for stalkers who might latch an obsession onto someone and want to track them down outside of work.

[johno.livejournal.com]

Shall we trade name mangling tales???

{{{Rest of response cut and transfered to my own journal.}}}

[neuroptik78.livejournal.com]

Safeway sucks... When living with my BF (lived with him a year after we broke up as well), we would use his card for the discounts, and if I was paying, they would give me my reciept, and say "Thank you [last name of BF]... They assumed that because a MF couple are shopping together that they are married, even if they aren't a couple, but just roommates doing shopping at the same time!

[peradouro.livejournal.com]

All this plus it's one more thing for the cashier to remember to do while trying to be quick. Like checks, WIC vouchers, debit, EBT, store discount & credit cards, tax vouchers, and coupons aren't enough.