Is it normal customers want to give you hugs?

31% Normal
36 Comments

I work at a grocery store. We're all super nice, we really do like all our customers but some cashiers are 'too nice'. They know some people's names and give their customers hugs and sometimes even hang out or babysit for them. That's fine, I think, they've obviously become friends but when a customer thinks the boundaries include EVERYONE on the team it's strange. A couple cashiers seem to have set the boundaries of it being okay to get physical with a complete stranger. I'm fine with being friendly, and I do realize some people just need to talk. But I don't like customers getting to know me on a personal level. I can't imagine going into a grocery store and huggin a complete stranger, just because they checked my groceries. is it normal for customers to get physical?!

Voting Results
31% Normal
Based on 61 votes (19 yes)
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Comments ( 36 )
  • QuigleyQuagmire
    11 years ago

    You work in a business. You should keep it mostly professional but friendly. I wouldn't hug.

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      I think it's really time to talk to HR.

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  • NeuroNeptunian
    11 years ago

    No, it has never happened to me.

    I have problems with anyone getting too personal with me if it is not my intention for that to happen.

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  • Dad
    11 years ago

    Hugs should be an extra payment for service.
    Or free if you're willing just to give one.

    Actually, hugging at work should be banned it may cross the line of customer business relationship. What would happen if a gay guy wanted to hug the male manager, would that also be ok?

    Your store could find themselves in a sexual harassment case. Best your manager puts a stop to this. Or should he just hug the new 16yo trainee one more time?

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  • drumandpickchick
    11 years ago

    I swear I'm going to someday. Accompanied with a huge overhand right! LOL! That would feel really good!

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  • x...x
    11 years ago

    well i think its an easier way to make friends and sometimes when people do that is because thet are old or need people to talk to. but i just kinda hate it i dont like strangers hugging me or talking to me i feel like i want to say wtf i dont know u get the fuck off of me

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  • VioletTrees
    11 years ago

    No, it's not normal for customers to expect you to hug them. If they want to hug you, tell them no thank you.

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  • jucedaguy
    11 years ago

    Check the local sex offenders register before hugging. Keep clear of any who have had gratifications with ketchup, Windex, scotchbrite or easymac.

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  • Unimportant
    11 years ago

    I don't know, if a pretty female customer wanted to pay me via blowjob, I think I wouldn't mind.

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      Well...it does happen LOL!

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  • JuliusE
    11 years ago

    The customer is always right. Let them do whatever they want to or else you are evil

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      Just because your father molested you doesn't mean I'm going to let a customer do the same.

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  • Allistalla
    11 years ago

    Customer is always right ! LOL yeah they are just overly freindly maybe it means your a really good worker .

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      I take that as a compliment. I appreciate it! I really do work hard and I am freindly. I like working with people, but most whole foods customers are strange!

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      • Allistalla
        11 years ago

        well there is some poeple that are overly apprecitive and they want to express it with a hug this is by no way appripiote . Though as long as they are not like grabbing your ass I think either they are just very freindly or really wierd poeple .

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  • Avant-Garde
    11 years ago

    No, I wouldn't be okay with that. I think a hug is much too personal to be randomly given out to people. You don't really see co-workers randomly hugging each other, do you? Then why should it be acceptable if it's coming from a customer? A hug would be more acceptable if the workers are taking a break or are finished for the day.

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      Everyone on our team is super close. It's the most amazing group of people you'd meet. They...when I say they, I don't mean me, I'm sort of uncomfortable with it...they hug each other and do the casual arm around the should stuff. Nothing sexual behind it, it's like my brothers and sisters. I think they see it as okay, but when customers see that I think that gives them the go-ahead that it's okay to do it. One reason I brought this question up was yesterday, my husband picked me up from work. I was waiting outside where a creepy customer had been there since we opened. My husband hugged and kissed me rigth as the guy was walking into the store again and he said, "Hugs! I want a hug too!" I laughed (in a creeped out way) and backed up into my husband's chest and said, "You have to ask him first." He's tall and very muscular and pretty intimidating so I 'm really glad he was there. The guy stopped smiling and said, "Oh, alright" and walked into the store all butt hurt. WHAT A WEIRDOOOO!!

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  • sassafrassi
    11 years ago

    I guess it depends on where you live but at the grocery store I worked at, if a customer wanted a hug or a handshake it was because they were a pervert.

    One man liked to shake all the girls' hands. I remember the first time I saw him come in I was working with another girl and he wanted to shake her hand. She didn't and he just stood there waiting. She told me later that he would hold onto your hand and not let go.

    This older man, he was probably in his 60's, would bring presents for the young girl employees. He would say really creepy things. I remember he came back to customer service where I worked and asked me to give a bag he brought in to an employee. He said, "Tell her to suck on those, those are mine. There are two chocolate balls in there," and some other things I didn't understand. After he left I looked in the bag and there were two chocolate marshmellow balls.

    Another guy would come in with his girlfriend. He'd split up from her and come back to customer service to harass us when we were alone. He's come up to the window and stare at me and not say anything. Then he'd make a remark like "You're beautiful." and laugh and come back around the store and stare at me from an aisle and laugh again.

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    • jucedaguy
      11 years ago

      The original pedobear.

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      Ew!! His name wouldn't happend to be George would it?! We just banned a perv that said and did that kind of stuff. Old men in grocery stores...avoid them like the plague.

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      • sassafrassi
        11 years ago

        I forget his name..but he looks like a George. XD

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  • howaminotmyself
    11 years ago

    My local grocery store is coined, "the friendliest store in town." There is nothing weird about the friendly personal interactions between the staff and the customers. It would be weird, if it wasn't weird. And that's my city.

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    • drumandpickchick
      11 years ago

      That's cool! I just feel most of them are creepy and lonely. I find it weird to try and be close to a stranger who works at the store.

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      • howaminotmyself
        11 years ago

        But that's just it, they are not strangers. I've been shopping at the same grocery store for about seven years now. I go at least once, if not twice a week. They know me. I know them. We chat. They get excited when I buy their favorite ice cream.. Or if the items look to make a tasty meal, they jokingly invite themselves over for dinner. They notice when I buy a bunch of cold medicine and comment on that nasty bug going around and offer well wishes.

        Buying food is something we all do. It is a shared experience that is relatively easy to enjoy. Who doesn't like food? I understand how this is not a normal trait of most stores. People can be creepy, but once you move past that initial awkwardness and discover the human behind the role they are playing, that stranger turns into something else. And I do not have this experience at the large chain stores. So I don't shop there.

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  • dappled
    11 years ago

    I don't think it's normal. The only time it happened to me was with a girl who worked Sunday night at my off license. I used to go in five minutes before she was due to shut up and then help her put the shop to bed (partially because I'm nice like that, but mostly because I was head over heels in love with her).

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    • jucedaguy
      11 years ago

      Did you end up rooting her?

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      • [Old Memory]
        11 years ago

        He was nice to her, so no.

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        • jucedaguy
          11 years ago

          How do you know? It might've been a nice root.

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          • [Old Memory]
            11 years ago

            See, i told you. I knew because nice guys finish last poopy pants.

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      • dappled
        11 years ago

        I didn't, no. Her father was a bit against white guys. :/

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        • [Old Memory]
          11 years ago

          So was she black?

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          • dappled
            11 years ago

            Vietnamese.

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            • jucedaguy
              11 years ago

              Racist bastard, I would've still rooted her. It would serve her arrogant father right. Who knows how far you two could've got?

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