Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 12:26

In the article on my Corporate Cafeteria, I noted that my company has a small convenience store on site. It is here that I met my arch enemy. The old check out lady with the “zahlteller”. I will battle against her and the forces of crappy customer service until my last breath.

The On-Site Convenience Store

First I will say that it is nice to have a small convenience store on the corporate campus. If someone has a birthday, there are cards, streamers, paper plates/plastic utensils, and snack foods & drinks available. Breakfast buns and muffins are available, and if you miss lunch you can get a sandwich and something to drink. There is an ice-cream freezer for summer treats and a generic section with toiletries too.

Actually, the beverage section is pretty interesting for its location on a corporate campus. Check out the wine & prosecco selection - it"s probably 15% of the entire tiny store!

The beer cooler is not huge, but they do have major brands of Helles, Weissbier, Pilsner, and alcohol-free. Even better, you can pre-order cases of beer for an office party. I’ve attended a few where the celebrant ordered three cases of Augustiner, another three of Fransiskaner, added six bottles of prosecco, and had the cafeteria cater with some warm snack food. Nice!

On-site convenience, decent selection of goods… so what’s the problem?



The Zahlteller Experience

Let me introduce you to the “zahlteller”, literally, the “counting plate”. The zahlteller is near the end of the conveyor belt on which the groceries move, between the belt and the scanner in reach between both the customer and the cashier. (Of course, you do know that in Germany you always bag your own groceries, right? And hurry up, the customers behind you are waiting impatiently!) You'll see it at the bottom of this photo:

This plate comes in many shapes and sizes, and usually has a brand or product printed on it. In this case it is for a German brand of chocolate, Milka. Some acrylic ones allow stores to change the advertisement. I’m guessing the stores get these free or possibly even receive a small stipend for using a specific type or ad. Some are flat, some curved, some simple, some fancy.

The theoretical purpose of the teller is to make counting money easier, especially coins. One party would place either payment or change on the plate, and the other can quickly count it and slide it off onto their hand. Basically a process step for quality control. I don’t have a problem with the concept, it’s the implementation. My first experiences went like this.

Cashier: [your total is] 5 euros and 40 cents (puts her hand over the plate)

Me: (puts the payment in her hand, 6 euros)

Cashier: Danke. (slams the change on the zahlteller) Next please!

I scrape the coins off the plate and the person behind me gets on my ass to encourage me to move along (no matter how fast you are, it’s never fast enough). I’m left wondering: is the plate only for her to use? Why not me?

So the next time I purchase something, I blatantly stretch out my arm with an open hand to get the change. Without looking, the cashier slams the change on the plate again. The time thereafter, I place my open hand DIRECTLY OVER THE PLATE, and she takes considerable effort to slide her hand under mine and put the change on the plate again.

Finally, on the fourth go-around, I prepare lots of small change (rather than pay with a bill) and when she tells me the total, I went under her hand and slammed the change on the plate. Her look was daggers, and the exchange went like this:

Cashier: Put it in my hand next time.

Me: But I always have my hand out and you never to that for me. Why is it good enough for you but not for me?

Cashier: (Glowering) Next please!

It’s funny that when I was looking for pictures for this post that I found this from Switzerland. That’s all I wanted! I later found that this is similar in Italy... and those in the industry have a different take altogether.

Links: Change Plates in Italy, and thoughts on Point-of-Sale Chang Management

Not surprisingly, the American firms here don’t do this mutch (e.g., Starbucks). Many German shops also have let the practice go, so perhaps it was a generational thing. Or perhaps this specific store had some customers complain about getting wrong change so they force their cashiers to stick to such a process. In any event, for the next time you see a zahlteller, you have been warned.