Stupid People
There are a lot of things that stupid people should not be allowed to do. Using the self checkout line at a store is one of them. I have seen the following.
Incident one
A woman steps up to the self checkout and starts rubbing her bag of candy back and forth across the scanner while she stares at the screen. The screen had a large green button that said "Push here to begin" but she just stared at it while she got more and more frustrated. After about fifteen seconds of this the person who watches the checkouts (from here on to be known as the overseer) told her to push the green button. She did, and was then able to successfully scan the item.
But even after it beeped and said "Touch the item to the yellow pad and place it in your bag" She just kept rubbing it across the scanner and staring blankly at the screen. The overseer told her she could place the item in the bag so she did. Then she started running her credit card through the card reader. She only managed to do this about 3 times before the overseer came over, pushed the "done" button on the screen and then pushed "credit" for the method of payment.
Incident 2
A woman bringing a cart full of groceries and a fold up stroller to the checkout. Now understand that the self checkout platforms have room for at most 3 small bags of groceries, they are intended as speedy checkout lines. So she starts out just fine although she is rubbing each item against the yellow strip that wipes the anti theft devices. Even such items as candy bars and magazines.
She fills her first bag and takes it off the platform. At this point of course the checkout computer tells her to place the item back in the bag. She curses at it then takes the full back back out of her cart and puts it on the platform. She then continues on to fill the second bag. When it is full she takes it off the platform and puts it in her cart. Again the warning goes off. She puts it back next to the first bag. She then starts bitching about how she hates these stupid checkouts because they take so long and never work.
She fills a third and fourth bag and they are now balanced fairly precariously but so far it's working. Now after having loaded up the weight platform with what probably amounts to a good 50 pounds of groceries her next item is some kind of tiny bottle which looks like some kind of makeup. She puts it in the bag and of course the overloaded scale doesn't even notice that anything has been put in the bag. The computer says "Please place the item in the bag." At which point she furiously responds "I did put it in the damn bag you idiot." She takes it out and rubs it furiously across the yellow pad and then throws it in the bag. Meanwhile the overseer pushes the button that tells the computer it's OK to continue.
Now it's time for her to scan and try to balance the fold up stroller on top of the pile. Somehow she manages it. Now you would think that if you are going to use the self checkout line you would want to use a speedy form of payment too. Nah, that's too easy. Instead she writes a check and takes it over to the overseer, bitching all the time about how the checkouts need to be fixed.
Incidentally there were three other regular checkout lines open at the time.
Incident 3
A woman (No, I'm not picking on women. These just happen to be the incidents I've seen) stands in line waiting for an open scanner. Now while she is standing there she watches at least 3 other people scanning their items, loading their bags, paying and leaving. Finally her turn comes and she takes the open spot. Then she stands there and waits for the overseer to come check her out.
Incident 4
A man (it was really a woman but I had to throw some variety in here) steps up to the scanner. She picks up her toddler and sits him down on the grocery platform then pushes the start button. The computer tells her to please remove all items from the bag. She talks back to the computer telling it that she hasn't even started putting items in the damn bag yet. The overseer tells her that she has to remove her child from the platform. She does but complains that the stupid thing should be able to tell the difference between groceries and a child.
Incident 5
A man (this time it really was) Gets to his scanner and scans his 3 or 4 items quickly. He rubs the one item with the security tag on the yellow bar but just tosses the rest in the bag so he obviously understands that part. When it comes to payment type he pushes cash. He then proceeds to take a hand full of change and crumpled dollar bills out of his pocket.
It took him all of maybe 30 seconds to scan all of his items and select the payment key. He then probably spent 5 minutes trying to pay. First he fed each of the handful of coins one at a time into the coin slot. Then he started feeding the crumpled bills into the bill slot. He had to feed each one in 5 or more times because they couldn't be read. He would try to flatten it out, feed it in a couple times, try to flatten it again, etc...
Maybe stupid people should be allowed to use the self checkouts. I'll admit. I've stepped out of the line just to be able to stand there and watch these clowns try to make sense of something that is obviously harder for them than when they done graduated from the sixth grade.
Incident one
A woman steps up to the self checkout and starts rubbing her bag of candy back and forth across the scanner while she stares at the screen. The screen had a large green button that said "Push here to begin" but she just stared at it while she got more and more frustrated. After about fifteen seconds of this the person who watches the checkouts (from here on to be known as the overseer) told her to push the green button. She did, and was then able to successfully scan the item.
But even after it beeped and said "Touch the item to the yellow pad and place it in your bag" She just kept rubbing it across the scanner and staring blankly at the screen. The overseer told her she could place the item in the bag so she did. Then she started running her credit card through the card reader. She only managed to do this about 3 times before the overseer came over, pushed the "done" button on the screen and then pushed "credit" for the method of payment.
Incident 2
A woman bringing a cart full of groceries and a fold up stroller to the checkout. Now understand that the self checkout platforms have room for at most 3 small bags of groceries, they are intended as speedy checkout lines. So she starts out just fine although she is rubbing each item against the yellow strip that wipes the anti theft devices. Even such items as candy bars and magazines.
She fills her first bag and takes it off the platform. At this point of course the checkout computer tells her to place the item back in the bag. She curses at it then takes the full back back out of her cart and puts it on the platform. She then continues on to fill the second bag. When it is full she takes it off the platform and puts it in her cart. Again the warning goes off. She puts it back next to the first bag. She then starts bitching about how she hates these stupid checkouts because they take so long and never work.
She fills a third and fourth bag and they are now balanced fairly precariously but so far it's working. Now after having loaded up the weight platform with what probably amounts to a good 50 pounds of groceries her next item is some kind of tiny bottle which looks like some kind of makeup. She puts it in the bag and of course the overloaded scale doesn't even notice that anything has been put in the bag. The computer says "Please place the item in the bag." At which point she furiously responds "I did put it in the damn bag you idiot." She takes it out and rubs it furiously across the yellow pad and then throws it in the bag. Meanwhile the overseer pushes the button that tells the computer it's OK to continue.
Now it's time for her to scan and try to balance the fold up stroller on top of the pile. Somehow she manages it. Now you would think that if you are going to use the self checkout line you would want to use a speedy form of payment too. Nah, that's too easy. Instead she writes a check and takes it over to the overseer, bitching all the time about how the checkouts need to be fixed.
Incidentally there were three other regular checkout lines open at the time.
Incident 3
A woman (No, I'm not picking on women. These just happen to be the incidents I've seen) stands in line waiting for an open scanner. Now while she is standing there she watches at least 3 other people scanning their items, loading their bags, paying and leaving. Finally her turn comes and she takes the open spot. Then she stands there and waits for the overseer to come check her out.
Incident 4
A man (it was really a woman but I had to throw some variety in here) steps up to the scanner. She picks up her toddler and sits him down on the grocery platform then pushes the start button. The computer tells her to please remove all items from the bag. She talks back to the computer telling it that she hasn't even started putting items in the damn bag yet. The overseer tells her that she has to remove her child from the platform. She does but complains that the stupid thing should be able to tell the difference between groceries and a child.
Incident 5
A man (this time it really was) Gets to his scanner and scans his 3 or 4 items quickly. He rubs the one item with the security tag on the yellow bar but just tosses the rest in the bag so he obviously understands that part. When it comes to payment type he pushes cash. He then proceeds to take a hand full of change and crumpled dollar bills out of his pocket.
It took him all of maybe 30 seconds to scan all of his items and select the payment key. He then probably spent 5 minutes trying to pay. First he fed each of the handful of coins one at a time into the coin slot. Then he started feeding the crumpled bills into the bill slot. He had to feed each one in 5 or more times because they couldn't be read. He would try to flatten it out, feed it in a couple times, try to flatten it again, etc...
Maybe stupid people should be allowed to use the self checkouts. I'll admit. I've stepped out of the line just to be able to stand there and watch these clowns try to make sense of something that is obviously harder for them than when they done graduated from the sixth grade.