Open letter to H-Mart management
RE: H-Mart cashier's careless mistake (charging me $13 for 3 small oranges!!!!!!!) and her initial attitude toward the customers
INCIDENCE DATE: Friday, August 30, 2013
BRANCH LOCATION: H-Mart at 46-40 Francis Lewis Blvd, Bayside NY 11361
TIME: around 4:00pm
CASHIER'S NAME: Eun M. Park
CASHIER AISLE: the first aisle (right next to the Customer Service desk)
SMART CARD MEMBER #: 4-XXXXX-XXXXX
I went shopping at H-Mart in Bayside, Queens NY last Friday afternoon (Aug 30, 2013) with my mother. The checkout time was around 4pm. The cashier's name is Eun M. Park. After checking out, my mother checked the receipt because she was the one doing the shopping so she knew what the prices should be. She couldn't figure out what the $13 item was for on the receipt.
See attached photos of our receipt, the cashier Eun M. Park made some notation next to the $13 oranges after we disputed the amount, then she gave us back $12 in cash that is rightfully our money. She even said, "Sorry" after she handed me the $12. We only bought 3 oranges (3 oranges for $1), but the cashier Ms. Park keypunched 39 oranges instead (39 oranges for $13). At first, she was combative and defensive after I asked her "How is it possible that we ONLY brought 3 oranges, and they cost $13?" (Like, is it some limited edition, rare breed of fancy oranges?). Then she went over to our shopping cart, I showed her the small bag with ONLY 3 oranges in it (NOT 39 oranges). Actually, if Ms. Park had to count 39 oranges by hand on that day, she would have recollection of hand-counting 39 oranges in her head. Because hand-counting 39 oranges is itself an unusual task, and the number 39 is an odd number. Clearly, in her head, she did NOT have recollection of hand-counting 39 oranges because it did NOT happen.
I understand that we are all human, we all make mistakes sometimes. There are 2 things I wanted to point out about Ms. Park handling this incidence, and 1 thing about educating H-Mart staff.
1) What I didn't like was Ms. Park's initial attitude when I approached her about the questionable item on our receipt. She reacted defensively as though she was sure that she couldn't have made any mistakes on her job. I am Chinese-American and I understand American people tend to stereotype Asians as quick with numbers, math and very efficient, which are all myths. Ms. Park may be a competent cashier, but let's face it, if the H-Mart manager is giving the cashiers great deal of pressure to clear each customer's purchases ASAP (perhaps in less than 2 minutes), then you tend to make mistakes the faster you attempt to be. I noticed the cashiers at this H-Mart seem to be in a big hurry to rush each customer out of the cashier line.
2) Ms. Park saw me standing next to her with my receipt but she kept on clearing the cashier line (4 or 5 other customers) FIRST, totally ignoring me. My elderly mother (in her 70's) and I had to wait for Ms. Park to clear 4 or 5 other customers' big purchases before Ms. Park stopped to look into our question. Essentially, we the customers were being punished (by standing and waiting there) because Ms. Park made her keypunching mistake. We purchased frozen dumpling and milk and we were afraid they were starting to defrost or turn bad in the humid and warm weather. Now is that fair? We the customers were NOT the one who made the mistake, but the person who made the mistake (Ms. Park) decided to make us stood there and waited for her, and her initial defensive attitude was hard to swallow by the customers. My family and I have found cashier mistakes in other retail stores, but the cashiers' attitudes toward us generally were calm instead of defensive.
3) Please educate every staff at H-Mart: if you rush through cashier transactions as though you are competing in the Olympics Track & Field competition, you may indeed be fast but you tend to make MORE mistakes. Cashier job is not as easy as it seems. Each customer purchases different things, at different quantities, and not every item has a barcode attached to it.
The H-Mart manager should tell the cashiers that you need to balance the 2 competing forces: speed vs. accuracy. Being fast in itself is not the end goal if you end up making careless mistakes such as "sticky finger" error - keying in "39" instead of "3".
In the end, we the customers (my mother and I) were paying the price for Ms. Park's mistake. And had we not caught her careless mistake, we would have lost $12 for nothing. Next time, your Olympic-fast cashiers might make the opposite "sticky finger" mistake to the detriment of H-Mart. That cashier mistake may cost H-Mart losses (not in H-Mart's favor) if you insist that there is nothing wrong with forcing your cashiers to rush through every transaction as though they are competing in the Olympics. read more
