The self-checkout honeymoon is nearly over for me…the one at the grocery store that is. Not only do the stores seem more crowded than usual but all those individuals who were afraid of using the self-checkout lines when they first came out all of a sudden found their balls. It doesn’t help that there might be only three checkout lines, two of which might be 15 items or less, manned at a time, but there are often self-checkout lines that are not open. What’s up with that? Is the computer tired or on a break?
Now people who might only have gone through the line with a few items are going through with carts full because there aren’t enough regular lines manned. Then you have people who really can’t figure out the device interface, don’t have their store card and/or means of payment ready, or who are just plain slow or stupid.
Today I got stuck behind a woman who was doing it all one handed. You know what I mean? The old one-handed self-checkout? Not a pretty sight. She had this purse the size of a Hefty bag locked in to her body with one hand and arm. Somehow she was scanning her items while facing away from the scanner. Needless to say she was not too speedy. Then the chute filled up and rather than have her perfectly capable and energetic son fill the bags, she did it herself in no big hurry.
Then to make matters worse, she had two large plastic containers from the salad bar, one of which had two beets and a few beans from a three bean salad and the other of which had about two tablespoons of shredded carrot. First of all, what a waste of plastic. Second of all, the one with the carrots wouldn’t even register on the belt because it was too light. So we waited for the guy to clear the error. He just cleared the entry and put the item at the end of the chute with one of those WTF looks on his face.
Rant on: First of all the self-checkout lines are not the convenience they once were. Second of all, what the hell can you make with two tablespoons of shredded carrots, two beets, and some three bean salad that necessitates wasting two perfectly good plastic containers, which hopefully but doubtfully were made from recycled materials.
Rant off: