The Rude Customer Behavior Deli Counter Workers Absolutely Hate

As a courtesy to our readers, we here at The Takeout have compiled an informal list of behaviors to avoid as a customer or patron at grocery stores, bars, and restaurants. You may already know some of these: overly complicated and annoying requests that a restaurant chef will never want to hear, the pointless cocktail request that makes bartenders roll their eyes (it's ordering a drink with no ice), and the many ways to earn a not-so-pleasant name at the grocery store. Many of these faux pas involve your phone, such as using it at the dinner table. To that end, you should also refrain from calls when you're ordering from the deli counter, unless it's your goal to annoy the employees. 

Stories abound on Reddit and elsewhere that detail deli counter workers' accounts of customers using their phones while ordering. "I can't help but get really annoyed every time a customer is on the phone while [they] stood at the deli counter and at the till waiting to be served," wrote the OP on r/Casualireland, which also proves that rude store etiquette is a global problem. Another Redditor weighed in by writing, "I'm a retail worker and once or twice I've had a customer say 'ummm I'm on the PHONE??' when serving them and say anything (which is really just the total and asking about the bag or receipt)." It's one thing to ignore a worker when they're trying to help you, but it's a special kind of unpleasant that fuels a response like that.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of stories about customers ordering from delis while also conducting a phone call. If it's so prevalent, why are deli employees so irked? Let's turn this one over to a poster on r/CasualIreland: "Just because I'm a deli worker does not make it any less rude to be talking on the phone while talking to me." And there you have it. Just as you would not appreciate doing business with someone with a phone pasted to one ear, they, too, are less than happy to have only half of your attention (and all of your ire if they make a mistake). It's common courtesy.

This is not to say that all deli workers are opposed to handling customers who are on the phone. Extraordinary circumstances, such as emergencies, sometimes warrant it. "I don't mind those calls," wrote a poster on Facebook's Retail & Service Workers — Boiler Venting Room page. "And most people apologize for them, but it's pretty easy to tell that it's 'important'." However, stories like this seem to be relatively few on Reddit and other pages devoted to the subject.

Should you choose to ignore these hard-working individuals' demands for basic respect and blather on your phone while ordering a pound of pimento loaf, know that many of them have your number. Many Redditors shared their most effective strategies for handing such customers. "I just talk to them at a regular (or louder) volume and expect them to respond. If they do, I'll continue checking them out," wrote one poster. "If they're not responsive, I just stand there and stare at them with a customer service smile on my face, all while they're trying to tap their card (I haven't put it through yet)." Consider yourself warned.