Garick Zikan comes to my Walmart again

My faithful followers may recall my post on March 14, 2010 about Garick Zikan's shopping trip to my Walmart. On that visit, he earned an A+ as a model shopper.

He was back again last night and came through Register #13 where I was working. I am sad to say that his grade as a shopper dropped to an A-. Mr. Zikan was guilty of one of my pet peeves. Once again, he had used a hand-held basket, and when he got to the register, he placed the basket on the belt and left it there for me to empty.

Now, I don't mind emptying baskets. In fact, I've been known to come around and help customers empty their carts. The problem is that I am so short, and the belt is so high, that I have to strain to reach over the sides of the basket to get the items out. My fellow cashiers who are also vertically challenged agree with me that this is indeed a pet peeve.

That being said, Mr. Zikan was friendly and engaging and an all-around pleasant shopper. That is why his grade did not drop to a B.

Celebrity at Walmart

There are a couple things I use at Walmart to size up the customers. The first one is competency on the self-checkouts. It is amazing the vast number of people who try to use them but are totally incompetent. I've often said that there should be a short aptitude test that must be passed before being allowed to use them. Secondly, I watch what people do with their carts or baskets after paying for their merchandise. The polite ones return them to their designated places, while the self-absorbed, inconsiderate ones leave them sitting wherever, with no concern about blocking the way of fellow-shoppers or causing extra work for the associates.

Last night, my last hour of work was spent monitoring the self-checkouts, and at one point it became interesting when a celebrity (well, a local celebrity) came through. It was Garick Zikan of WCYB News5. Of course, I was curious to see how competent he was at using the machine. He sailed through the whole process like a pro, and he was very polite, as well. He spoke kindly and was concerned about what to do with the basket he had used to carry his items. Thank you, Mr. Zikan, for being a model shopper.