I like your answer best of all. This woman should not get away with this intimidating behavior. She is there to serve the public, period! I think politely calling her out on this rudeness is exactly what she needs. It sounds like she has no respect for the store's customers. Maybe she NEEDS to lose her job.
The thing about my answer is that my mother is a board certified social worker, so she'd likely set the other person straight, lol. It's very difficult to "politely call out" someone in those situations. The best thing is to smile and say something disarming and take it up with a manager. Sometimes they catch you off guard though.
I enjoyed reading ALL of the posts in this thread. How I react to situations like this depends upon my mood and how I'm feeling. If I'm having a good day and my pain is bearable, I might ask the strange cashier how she's doing, if she's having a good day, etc. She could have control issues, and feel the register and lane are her domain, and inserting herself into your conversations could be her way of asserting herself. She could just be socially awkward. Some people really shouldn't work with the public, but that might be the only job available to her. I find it easier to deal with people and situations like this when I take a mental step back and think about how humorous it will sound when I post about it online later.
My guess is that after you called and complained, management did have a talk with her. Typically, they aren't going to get fired over a customer complaint or two. Also, if she's from anywhere like the nearest town to me, there used to knowing, and getting to know, the customers personnaly. I'll spend 10 minutes talking to the cashiers when I go in any store . We don't even know each others names. But the cashiers know more about my personal life than anyone else I know.
I remember as a kid I was standing in line at the checkout at a local Phar-Mor and the guy in front of us was buying condoms and the cashier held them up and exclaimed to the other cashier "Looks like someone's having fun tonight!". I felt so bad for the guy the way they embarrassed him like that, and had I been older I would have gone to management and complained about what they did. Sometimes you need to get various products discreetly, and the last thing you need is some busy body loud mouth of a cashier broadcasting your personal business to everyone else in line. I mean, geez, I really don't feel like publicly having a conversation about hemorrhoid cream or lice kits with my cashier, for everyone else to hear - I just want to get my stuff and go. This is why I prefer self checkouts.
Wow, that's just weird! I've luckily not come across any of those weird cashiers at a supermarket. Well, I have encountered rude ones or simply just mute ones who ignore you, but those types no. They sound like there's something wrong with them upstairs. It's grossly unprofessional. BUT I do wonder if some have mental issues and because these places have to fill the equal opportunities quota, they've been employed to fill the quota. IDK.
Some of the previous posts have me laughing out loud ... the comments about cashiers who have a comment about everything in your basket nearly sent me over the edge! That has to be my biggest pet peeve when I'm shopping. I hate shopping to begin with and find it to be a huge waste of my time. When a cashier decides it's her duty to have a running commentary on the items in my basket ... well ... it makes me crazy! I just thought of something else that makes me crazy at the checkout ... it's when you give your id to the MALE cashier because you gave him a check, and he comments on your age or feels like he can now address you by your first name. Ugh! Just do your job!
Lol, they always come out with some line about how you don't look your age! When I'm stood there in my joggers with no make up and my hair scraped off my face, I know full well he's just being polite! No need for it!
