Enough already! No, I don’t want fries with that

When I order a vodka and coke I was always met with the “Do you want to make it a double for just…”. I now ask for a single vodka and coke which avoids the annoying question but still confuses some of the less intelligent bar staff who ask anyway.

This does annoy me too. I haven’t encountered it yet at the Post Office but it sems to be compulsory at W H Smith. They invariably invite me to buy one of their discounted chocolate bars which have been kicking around the counter for days. Recently I noticed another customer was seduced by the offer so she bought two big bars of chocolate and then asked for a bag to put her, by now bulky, purchases in. Needless to say they charged her for that as well. Superdrug is another annoying miscreant in this respect with “Do you want any stamps or top-ups today?” uttered in a bored drawl. This usually happens when I’m trying to remember the particular pin number I need to use on that occasion so I muck up the payment and delay the whole queue. Super.

The shop assistant asks the question he or she has been told to ask – I answer ‘no’ and we both move on with our lives. It takes about 5 seconds, and doesn’t annoy me. I wouldn’t like to be in their shoes, having to ask the same question over and over again. Sometimes, however, shop assistants will continue to try and sell me additional product insurance even after my first ‘no’. That changes things, because they’ve now stepped over the line, and I find that annoying.

At the bank it’s “would you like an ISA with that?”. It doesn’t happen systematically thankfully. Sometimes it annoys me, sometimes it doesn’t, it depends on the kind of day I’m having, I guess. But I won’t take it out on the people asking, like loskie and Keith I have a degree of sympathy for them. But we could all do without it, couldn’t we?…

I had not thought about this and I probably just say ‘no thank you’.

Which? Conversation has helped me appreciate a lot of problems I did not realise that I have.

Usually I just say no, but the most annoying is when I ring Three for anything.

Every time I ring they say that they have an offer for a new additional contract for good customers like myself ( paying the bill presumably, six months with them isn’t exactly gold plated customer material). Being single, why I should want a second 2 year contract is something that baffles me.

I was bored one day and said what have you got to offer me, and then they put me through to the sales team and the person didn’t have a clue what I was being put through for. Wow that made me feel special.

mcdonalds are becoming well known for upselling now. What part of medium big mac meal with medium coke do they not get. They tried to upsell to large big mac meal with large choc milkshake and an ice cream and onion rings. which would have added 25% to the bill. Spent more time in there saying no, no, no, no than eating the food.

I am far more concerned with supermarkets that entice us with ‘buy one – get one free offer” on fresh food’, usually after pushing up the price of the individual item.

It is just another way of getting us to buy more than we want and particularly hard on single people who may either have to eat more than they want or waste some of the food.

There’s a pub at Waterloo and another at Victoria (so perhaps quite different to typical high street or village pubs), where the staff routinely ask whether you’d like a bag of nuts with your drink.

The funny thing is that the same staff ask the same question each time you go to the bar. It’s not as if the pub’s busy or that they think I may have developed an appetite within the half our that passes between rounds, it’s because the question’s asked without thought. This to me, doesn’t represent good customer service.

Good customer service should be tailored to the customer – even if that just means only asking whether the customer wants nuts once per visit.

As an employee of a cinema chain, you are pressured to up sell, other wise your job is on the line. As much as i feel the frustration of the customer, the employee feels the same (at least the people i work with). Its money grabbing people at the top, who let you know if you refuse to do what they ask to there ideal standard then you will be easily replaced!

[We’ve made a slight edit to your comment John. Thanks, mods.]

I have recently finished university and have gotten back into work as a sales assistant (isn’t the most ideal job but I refused to go on the dole) we have been told if we don’t sell at least 20 items at the till in a 8 hour shift we could lose our jobs. I have to say that most items we have on the tills are however best sellers so this does help. Thankfully I have yet to receive a complaint about asking if someone would like extra items I just get a simple no and carry on with my job.

Can’t retail workers join a Union if they’re unhappy about conditions? I think USDAW is a Union for shop workers (or some such name!) Ultimately I believe, it’s the responsibility of store management to stand up for the welfare of it’s staff, and if there ARE issues such as ‘upselling’ at the checkout, the issue should be raised with Head Office.

A lot of shop workers are poorly paid, working part-time, on difficult shift patterns that restrict their ability to work additional hours elsewhere, have low contractual status, enjoy hardly any security of employment, and they are frequently with employers who will not recognise a trade union. Obligatory “upselling” is hardly at the top of their agenda and to raise such issues might jeopardise their position. As for the store management standing up for the welfare of its staff, if an employee objected to being required to ask customers if they wanted to buy a bar of chocolate with their newspaper, I can imagine the two words of managerial guidance likely to be given.