I’ve seen it happen a few times, but they were all in the same circumstance- some kind of holiday grocery shopping rush (4th of July, Xmas, etc…) and all the lines had long lines.
The store had detailed a person to sort of direct traffic, so to speak, and that person was basically telling people which line to go to, and a few times they’d redirect people from the 15 items or less lines to the cashiers or self-checkouts for having too much stuff.
But on your average Tuesday evening when there’s no rush? Nobody pays any attention except the people in line behind the guy with a full basket going through the 15 items or less line.
You’d think so, but corporations differ in how they determine and enforce policy. What seems obvious to the customer, or even the peon nearby, isn’t always allowed by corporate overlords.
I saw a couple checking out groceries today in the Garden center, at Wallyworld. There’s one employee back there that I could see. She was watering stuff when they rang the little bell.
No one else was in a line or anything but I thought it kinda wrong somehow.
I bought some wildflower seed but we took it up to front with other junk we’d bought.
Years ago I was standing in a queue at the express checkout at the supermarket. The limit was 13 items. The young lovey-dovey couple in front of me had a full shopping trolley but only had eyes for each other, not silly signs. When it got to their turn someone behind me started complaining, “They are only meant to have 13 items.” I turned to the people behind me and said, “It’s OK they only have two items - stuff that is food and stuff that isn’t.” People laughed, the couple looked sheepish and minutes later we all went our separate ways, never to meet again.