Grocery Store Trip

Over break, I went to my local grocery story to gather some last minute items for Thanksgiving. As I waited in line to check out in the express lane, I could not help but become impatient as the customer in front of me was taking much longer than necessary to check out. I leaned in a little to see what the problem was, as I assumed there might have been a mistake with pricing or whatnot. However, that was not the case, as the employee and customer were simply carrying on a conversation. Normally this would not have bothered me, but I had assumed this would have been a quick trip, especially since I was in the express lane. After 15 minutes of waiting, the customer left and I was finally able to check out. At this point, I was annoyed and just wanted to leave. The employee was polite and went through the regular “script,” but I did not make conversation and quickly paid as I gathered my bags. As I was leaving, I noticed the employee had been very receptive of my emotions throughout the process. She was able to see I was in a rush and tailored her actions appropriately by quickly checking me out. I would say she had a substantial amount of emotional intelligence, as she was able to understand my emotional state (frustration and impatience) and then act accordingly (quick check out with little conversation). If she did not respond properly, by talking more and making the process even longer, I would have become even more upset. This encounter reminded me of the Côté et al (2010) article, which observed how emotional intelligence would lead to greater well-being, greater income, and higher socioeconomic status. Being able to know what the customer wants will lead to better service for the customer, which in turn would lead to more tips for the employee.

Furthermore, this encounter reminded me of the Sutton and Rafaeli (1988) article, which studied how positive emotions can affect store pace. In my case, the more positive emotions the employee displayed, the longer the encounter was, which resulted in a slower store pace. Being in a slow paced check out line, when it should have been very quick, not only made me upset but also taught me to not to go to that checkout lane anymore. Seeing as this is not a commission run sales store, the employee and the store are not directly losing sales. However, if I was in a dinner, I might not go there again because the service was slow. My experience supports the results from the study, which claim the more positive emotions displayed by employees, the slower the store pace and greater loss of sales.