Adventures in checkout charity

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Not long ago, I went with some co-workers to lunch at Taco Smell. As the garrulous cashier went through everybody's orders, she hustled each of them for a donation to some kind of charity to add to the receipt.

I feel this practice is abhorrent.

When she got to me, I gave her my order and refused the charity. She loudly made some comments about it and embarrassed me in front of my colleagues. Then she handed me the receipt and said that I could fill out the survey for a chance to win $500.

Unhappy with my experience, I filled out the survey as I ate the grade-D slop. I detailed my experience truthfully.

Fast forward a week later. My colleagues go to Taco Bell and when they returned to work they started giving me all kinds of grief about how I got this cashier fired.

I didn't want that to happen, a talking-to would have sufficed. They don't fire people in that high-turnover industry just because of one customer survey indicating dissatisfaction with the professionalism of the cashier and with the corporate begging practice. Now my colleagues think that I'm some kind of monster for making her lose her job.

The way I see it, the only thing that is necessary for evil in this world to thrive is the silence of good men. And the next time I get lousy service and get a survey offer waved in my face, I will not hesitate.

Who else here stands up to checkout charity and/or poor customer service?
 
Well ... she shouldn't have given you a comment about it.

That was one issue I always had when I did register at Target. You are required to get so many people per day, per store to sign up for their credit card. If you don't, the cashiers and "team lead" for "front end" may have jobs that are in jeopardy.

It's a foolish practice, I agree. I outright refused to try to sell people on Target's credit card and told any supervisors I did not support the practice. That pretty much ended my career as a cashier at Target and I went back to stocking.
 
I have sent numerous emails on store web sites (Wal Mart, Carmike Theatres, Popeye's Chicken) when I see an issue or have a poor experience. I'm that one person who represents the hundred (or, whatever the number is supposed to be) who suffer in silence.

I think the register charity thing is total Bee-Ess myself and will not do it. If a cashier did to me what you are describing I wouldn't simply send an email. I would call the manager of the establishment personally.

Most people, I find, are complete wimps and sheep.
 
If a customer turns down the corporate charity offer, the cashier should have been trained to quietly leave it at that. Publicly shaming a refusal is a surefire way to lose business and induce fierce resentment towards the organization.

The most egregious aspect of this particular beg is that the charity belongs to Taco Bell themselves. I'll choose to give to orgs that I think are worthwhile, like veterans organizations. But that's an intensely private matter.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

She loudly made some comments about it and embarrassed me in front of my colleagues.


THAT was terrible & wrong of her to do!

Where's her human interaction skills?

Oh, wait, most of those are gone with all the games & texting they're doing.
 
I was at a Jr. High football game, in a very rural area several years ago. The stands on our side only had about 50 people in them. Some girl from the opposing school came over with a big bucket in hand, dressed head to toe in pink, with a large fake crown on her head. It looked plain silly. She proclaimed she was the "breast cancer fairy" to our small crowd.

She confronted the fans one by one, essentially demanding a contribution for "breast cancer". She stood directly in front of people, blocking their view until they gave in and paid up. She came to me and I politely said, no thanks, I give elsewhere, and I am watching my sons game right now.

She loudly said "SO YOU DON'T SUPPORT BREAST CANCER???"

I politely said, "No, I do support DEFEATING breast cancer, but I am watching the game right now, and I give to charities elsewhere. Please move on." Finally she did.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Not long ago, I went with some co-workers to lunch at Taco Smell. ....

Who else here stands up to checkout charity and/or poor customer service?
I dislike the practice of begging at checkouts. I tend to NOT give there. Also Scouts selling what-not at exits of wallymart do go over well here. I had a den mother yell at me for avoiding the cookie table. Nice.

My question is why are you lunching at taco bell often (though I feel the food Quality is better than that of salty-grease Mc'ds or BK) if you dislike it so much? I notice your compositional tone is a bit Richard-like here, so maybe you had it coming
smile.gif
Still, this now ubiquitous checkout charity grab is annoying and surely unwelcome.
 
The thing that gets me is, they collect YOUR money, make the donation and get all the credit and tax breaks that go along with making charitable donations. If I don't get to declare it, I won't make a donation.,,,
 
Yea I just say no thanks and go on. If they did say something back I would write/call about that.
So nope I agree with what you did. I do not agree they should have been fired but maybe they had other complaints?
 
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
The thing that gets me is, they collect YOUR money, make the donation and get all the credit and tax breaks that go along with making charitable donations. If I don't get to declare it, I won't make a donation.,,,


Yeah ... I make the donation to Taco Bell and whatever charity gets a donation from Taco Bell ... not from me. They get the credit and don't spend a dime!

I'm not against donating to charity, of course. I donate quite a bit to the local animal shelters.
 
The complaint may have been the last straw, but I doubt that the person got fired based on one complaint. Based on what I've seen in both retail and corporate environments, someone has to really want to get fired in order to be shown the door.

I don't like the check-out extortion either. As others have said, I donate when and where *I* decide.
 
I rarely donate to those "in your face" charities. I feel better paying for the guy's coffee behind me if he looks like he is having a rough day. Sadly, we never know where charity money is REALLY going.
 
I don't want other people asking me for a donation to anything. There are many scams out there and one has to be very careful with charitable contributions, especially to someone standing on a sidewalk in front of a business.
 
It takes very few (I've read 2) bad reviews per shift from those receipt website surveys to can someone.

So if you really have it in for someone, go back and buy some tic-tacs with cash.

I manage a straight-ahead stare and notice that cashiers ask people in line in front of me to donate, but they skip me.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Not long ago, I went with some co-workers to lunch at Taco Smell. As the garrulous cashier went through everybody's orders, she hustled each of them for a donation to some kind of charity to add to the receipt.
I feel this practice is abhorrent.

Really? Honestly? Abhorrent? Someone asking you to give to a charity is abhorrent? And how do you know you got this lady fired anyway?
 
How did your colleagues come to know the employment status and particulars of the cashier?

Seems pretty shady right there.

"No longer associated with the company" is about as much as they should have gotten.
 
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Not long ago, I went with some co-workers to lunch at Taco Smell. As the garrulous cashier went through everybody's orders, she hustled each of them for a donation to some kind of charity to add to the receipt.
I feel this practice is abhorrent.

Really? Honestly? Abhorrent? Someone asking you to give to a charity is abhorrent? And how do you know you got this lady fired anyway?

Both coworkers came in and confronted me today after lunch. They really got into it. "Are you happy?", "It was your comments", "You got her fired, we asked where she was at", etc. For all I know they're winding me up but they were acting pretty upset about it.

As far as the opposition to the cashier's end-of-transaction gibsmedat ambush, if you read even a little bit you'll see that others hate the practice just as much as I do. Being called out on the spot to give to their company's charity is just as gut-wrenching as those incredibly awful corporate "United Way" giving campaigns that cajole underpaid employees into paying some charity director's $500,000 salary.
 
Here in IL I probably wouldn't be able to understand the person as most fast food workers are Hispanic and can't speak English, or if they do it's so broken they can be barely understood...
 
Who knows..... Could be the best thing that ever happened to her.

Sometimes job change or a good wake-up call gets you going to forward your career.
 
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