Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
2522

IME, things that are supposed to be “intuitively obvious” are very often not obvious to me. It’s possible that self-checkouts are an exception to this; but I don’t feel safe about making that assumption. And I read enough descriptions of even people who are used to them complaining about having trouble with them to not feel safe about assuming that I won’t have trouble with them.

I suppose I should try one sometime, though. Probably when the store’s not busy, and when I’m not tired, and not already frazzled from having been in the store, where the air quality, type of light, and noise level are often already getting to me by the time I get to the checkout.

2523

I checked YouTube again and I think you are right. I believe it was a Chiefs-Redskins game but for some reason my memory thought it was the Skins fans doing the chop, not the Chiefs fans. The game was not as FedEx as I remembered.

2524

I agree with this. As a former cashier at the first store in my state to use scanners so I got to train many others in its use, of course I can check myself out. But, I get very impatient with the overly sensitive self service checkouts at my local grocery store and, I prefer to interact with the cashier. It’s generally faster because as they scan, I can start bagging and the bagging counter is not waiting for the weight of the item to confirm that I set it down.

Really, when you have just a couple of things and aren’t going to use a bag (or brought your own), having to lay it in a second spot so you can pay and then carry it or put it in a pocket and walk out is irritating as fuck.

But the bonus of a cashier is simply human interaction. Even we introverts need it.

2525

My parents had a pantry just off the kitchen. It was maybe a third the size of the kitchen - pretty big, as these things go, with shelves for lots of staples, canned and dry foods, and even room for a second fridge just a few steps from the first. We don’t have a pantry in our current house, but I don’t particularly miss having one.

I don’t mind bread crusts, but I don’t love 'em, either. We usually throw out, uneaten, the end pieces of any loaf of bread.

I’ve too often had problems with self-checkout - it won’t scan the bar codes right, or gives me error messages - and would just as soon have a human sales clerk handle my transaction. I also wonder how much more of a problem shoplifting will be with self-checkout becoming more and more widespread.

Yes! Me, too.

2526

Then this loaf would be frustrating for you. You’d end up throwing out a good portion of the bread.

For those who avoid the heel, if you haven’t had the crusty, tough, somewhat crunchy “heel” of a San Francisco style sourdough loaf, you don’t know what you are missing.

2527

There’s the crusty bread one gets from an artisanal bakery, and then there’s the heel of a loaf of industrial sandwich bread. The former is delicious; the latter is nothing special. And frequently too thin to make good sandwiches.

2528

Whenever there’s a self-serve option, I take it.
Self-checkout, pay at the pump, ATM, ticket kiosk, online ordering at Starbucks, you name it.

The fewer people I have to interact with during my day, the better.

2529

I like self checkouts because I like to bag my own groceries

2530

I have Ovaltine (Ovalmatine in Switzerland) in my kitchen, there are no children here. We normally have it with cold milk, but sometimes warm as well.

I also have strawberry Quik, but I haven’t actually opened it yet.

I’ll sometimes use self checkouts, sometimes not, depending what I see as being more convenient for me.

2531

I avoid them because I don’t. (unless I have only one or two items, then it doesn’t matter since they’re not getting bagged)

2532

I’ve been to Montezuma’s Castle in Arizona.

I like self-checkout. I found it intuitive and easy. My sister? Not so much. But if one tiny thing doesn’t go the way she thinks it should she immediately, she flies off the handle. And I’m her “tech support.” Oy.

2533

But watching a movie with a whole bunch of other people can be a lot more fun, if those other people are really into it, and not being jerks.

2534

While drive-ins have been slowly dying out, they had a brief revival in 2020 and 2021. They were one of the few forms of going out that was safe so a lot of drive-ins that had been struggling to stay open had record attendances.

2535

I lot of people feel this way. I understand it, and why it would be true. I just don’t share it. Drive in, for me, would be better.

2536

The shopper whom I helped get something off the top shelf was my wife. She’s very short.

2537

I wonder if anyone has ever asked someone to grab something off the bottom shelf.

mmm

2538

I voted solely based on when I last had a kids’ powdered drink, not Propel or the like.

The last time I had actual Kool-Aid I was 21 or 22 and it was given to us by my boss at a summer job that didn’t involve children. It was one of those strange Kool-Aid with tea flavors they made for 5 minutes in the late 90s. It actually wasn’t too bad.

2539

All the time. When I worked at Safeway we had a bus from the retirement community down the road come every other day and the elderly frequently asked for help with things on the bottom shelf.

2540

I suspect the answers to the top shelf polls have a lot to do with the height of the poster.

I’m a bit under 5’2". I often have to either ask for help or climb the shelves; and I don’t remember anybody ever asking me to reach something down for them.

2541

I picked “other” in the Big Mac poll, because I honestly don’t remember. My usual order if I’m eating at McD’s is the Quarter Pounder, but I feel like I probably tried a Big Mac at some point just to try it. But I don’t have any memory of it if I did.

Although I guess “I don’t remember ever eating a Big Mac” might qualify as a “no”.