Self checkouts are a source of great frustration for me. Despite several attempts to get through quickly with my single gallon of milk, inevitably there's always a malfunction that ends up taking more time than going through the regular checkout. "Please see attendant" always pops up. And the attendant is never available. I wait. And wait. And wait. Five people have gone through the regular checkout before the attendant finally comes. "That's strange..." the attendant mutters. "Never seen that before." Well I've seen it before, every other time I've tried to use the self-checkout lane. And if I try to use the regular checkout with my one gallon of milk, everyone in the line--ahead and behind me--looks at me incredulously: "Why doesn't the lad just use the self-checkout and save us all time!"
It has taken several years for me to realize the solution to my self-checkout problem: I refuse to buy only a few items. If I go to buy milk, I also buy eggs (fragile enough that an employee should be handling it when scanning for the price); cereal (a few big boxes that take up a lot of space so it seems like I have a lot of items to check); meat (which must get its own bag so that it can immediately go in the freezer when I return home--an insight that only a well-educated employee bagger would realize); fresh fruit and vegetables (which don't have bar codes, so an employee must input the price information); and yogurt (which usually has some unusual sale price (e.g., buy two get one free) that requires employee checking). Altogether I gather 14 such items, so I can still go in the fewer-then-15-items express lane. A fast lane with an employee checker--it's the best of both worlds. The only issue now is whether the yogurts count as one item or must be counted separately.
3 comments:
Ned,
You MUST hear about David's self-checkout fiasco at Meijer. I won't write what happened here, but I know you'll appreciate it.
My problem is I use the fast lane for my mega loads. I try and beat the person next to me who has the checker working. I figured out how to do coupons, special discounts, and fruits and veggies. One time when I did have a problem I memorized the override code that the employee quickly punched in. That really is a handy thing to know.
Emily,
I can't stand people like you. You probably have no problem getting your DVD player to record shows at the right time, too. But now that you mention it, I'm kind of tempted to go through the checkout so that I can spy to get the override code. Now that is control and power.
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