New to this forum (hi folks. ;) ). I'm a cashier at Kroger (way long enough to know better). Our Kroger is located in a tourist city. Today I had an asinine/idiotic conversation with a woman who works in customer service. A customer had asked for a new Kroger card. Since I had none at my register, I went to customer service for more. The woman who works there told me that we were giving out too many Kroger cards, that we have courtesy cards for tourists, etc etc etc. I told her that a) "I realize that." b) the customer was a resident, c) the customer was not a tourist, and of utmost importance, d) the customer asked for a new card, so I was going to give her a new card. She retorted that we weren't supposed just hand out cards to everybody..... I can't remember the rest of her spiel because by the time she finished, my head was spinning Exorcist style at the sheer stupidity that spewed from her mouth.
New to this forum (hi folks. ;) ). I'm a cashier at Kroger (way long enough to know better). Our Kroger is located in a tourist city. Today I had an asinine/idiotic conversation with a woman who works in customer service. A customer had asked for a new Kroger card. Since I had none at my register, I went to customer service for more. The woman who works there told me that we were giving out too many Kroger cards, that we have courtesy cards for tourists, etc etc etc. I told her that a) "I realize that." b) the customer was a resident, c) the customer was not a tourist, and of utmost importance, d) the customer asked for a new card, so I was going to give her a new card. She retorted that we weren't supposed just hand out cards to everybody..... I can't remember the rest of her spiel because by the time she finished, my head was spinning Exorcist style at the sheer stupidity that spewed from her mouth.
So.... any thoughts?
Going forward the best thing to do is tell the customer you are out of cards, but if they save their receipt they can bring it to customer service next time they come in to shop and they will refund her discount and give her a new card when they come in. That puts it on the woman in customer service. Let her deal with it. From now on try to make sure you have Kroger cards before your shift, pen, receipt tape etc. Let that woman in customer service id everyone if she doesn't want to give out cards.
The last thing a customer wants to do is go through the rigmarole that is "customer service". If I didn't give a damn about people, I'd send them there. You missed the point completely.
Not going to start another novel- we'll be here the rest of the week.
If you run out of cards, try asking a nearby cashier if he or she has any, or do a quick check of nearby unmanned registers for one. The self scan console desk usually has quite a few too.
The woman working the Customer Care desk either just wanted to give you a hard time or thinks simply because she works behind the desk, she has "power" or "authority" when in reality, it doesn't give you the sudden right to make up your own rules and policies. There is no reason to treat Kroger cards as if they are some valuable or sensitive material that can only be selectively handed out. Technically, at least in my division, "courtesy cards" aren't even supposed to be used. Too much risk for abuse, such as an employee stashing a courtesy card with one-thousand few points in his or her pocket and using the unregistered card at a fuel station. Here, if a customer doesn't have a card, and doesn't want one, then after scanning a new one so the customer can have get the discounts, the card is then supposed to be tossed in the trash. That prevents a build up of fuel points on a card that could be stolen.
When possible, I'd just avoid this woman because she'll probably just find opportunities to argue with you and cause aggravation.
So they were directing you to break corporate policy? Last time I checked, there was no such thing as a "store card" as that pollutes the data the company gets from the card. And last time I checked, using a store card could get you fired.
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My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
CS desk employee here: We would *never* do that. First off, four people got fired a year ago because they were using their Kroger cards to "help" customers without one. After that, we no longer have guest/tourist/whatever cards, each register has a stash, and it is made clear they are one-use only, the moment we scan them for a customer, they go into the trash. Second off, giving away too many Kroger cards literally what...maybe there was a shortage or something, but that still seems like an absurd statement to make. I know sometimes Accounting does mess up orders, and we run out of Kroger cards entirely, but in that case, why not just say that?
So they were directing you to break corporate policy? Last time I checked, there was no such thing as a "store card" as that pollutes the data the company gets from the card. And last time I checked, using a store card could get you fired.
Some divisions have a special manager's "forgot card." I carry one.
That's gone away in my division and we're handing out plus cards like candy on Halloween. It's ridiculous. It feels like we burn through a box of new cards every couple days. Any new card scanned has to go with the customer's stuff. As pointed out, if it's repeatedly used it becomes a fraud problem and is a loss prevention issue because of lots of fuel points built up. I regularly sweep my lanes for cards that might be building up fuel points on the sly and coach my cashiers that new cards have to go to the customer, they can throw them out at home or do whatever they like.
My guess is somebody told her something and she's just repeating it or playing a game of telephone. Customers can always ask for cards. We do run out sometimes but that's on our AA to keep up with orders.
You guys get in trouble for giving out Kroger cards and discounts? Huh. Where I work, the majority of us cashiers like to give the store discount to people when they forget their cards or even just randomly.
