I rarely give bad reviews of places- I tend to only Yelp when I have something positive to say. Unfortunately. an experience this weekend put me off of this particular Sprouts, which is a shame, as it was the first time I had been to one in Arizona since moving, and have been enjoying finding new places to do my grocery shopping.
This was Saturday (11/15), around 5:00 pm. My boyfriend and I had just hiked nearby, and decided to pick up some beer to enjoy for the rest of our afternoon. We were pleased with the beer selection, and everything about the store seemed perfectly fine until we got to the checkout line.
One cashier was wiping down the black conveyer belt and various other things in her station. We went to place our items on the belt, and I noticed last-minute, hidden behind a plant display, a "Closed Register" sign set up on its side, so I casually mentioned to my boyfriend to ask if the register was open. He did, and the woman behind the register said, "No, I'm not." No problem, we weren't in a hurry, so we moved over the the line adjacent.
There would have been no problem with this if I didn't notice the woman roll her eyes, make eye contact with the cashier across from her, and proceed to have a conversation basically mocking us for asking if her lane was open. It was something to the effect of, "That's like, the fourth time I've been asked." "I should put a tally here for every time someone asks you if you're open!" "I know, I think it's obvious that I'm not."
My boyfriend didn't hear this, but I did, and after I told him, we placed our two six packs on the second register's conveyer belt and left without purchasing anything. It was a very disappointing experience for both of us. We assumed that a cashier, who is standing at her register, should probably be helping to assist customers, and if she is not able to, she should be polite or perhaps have it be more obvious that her station is closed. My boyfriend and I have both worked in customer service, and we understand that things can be frustrating, and if we were rude, that would have been a different story; but there is absolutely no reason to openly mock customers, and unfortunately, their poor customer service and lack of basic manners has lost Sprouts two customers. This is especially unfortunate because my boyfriend drives by this Sprouts on his way to and from work, and we potentially would have made many stops there for last-minute items.
We went to the Total Wine on Camelback and 16th instead and had a very pleasant experience there instead.
Hopefully, if we decide to return to a Sprouts in the future, we will be met with friendly, mature cashiers to help us.