Indeed! Then you put your sack of supplies in your buggy, head down the carriageway and you’re done!
If you read this in a “Mr. Burns” voice it sounds even funnier.
I used to get annoyed, now I tell myself I should just feel sorry for the people so lacking in intelligence they can’t count. Then I wait, feeling smug and superior about my math skills.
At my grocery store people with 12 items or less won’t get a special line. What kind of bullshit is that, anyway? “I hardly buy anything, could I have special treatment at the checkout?” In the meantime the store’s best customers are relegated to the end of the line. Fuck that noise, you want to get special treatment, fill the goddamn cart like God and Piggly Wiggly intended.
Q: Would she still say yes when, after scanning the ring, he fishes out coupons & a club card?
“But Look, Honey! Its one of those rings from Kays where the stone spins like a pinwheel if you twirl it. …And on the other side, in the platinum is a Genuine Siren Whistle! Only the Schlockenbrothers carves siren whistles into their rings… and they are sold Exclusively at Kay’s…!”
I was thinking “old lady with a change purse full of pennies and nickels”, myself.
The person paying cash can’t do so until everything is scanned and the total announced. But the credit card user can scan his card while stuff is still being scanned. At most, he has to accept the total and sign on the screen. And at some stores, amounts up to $25 or $50 don’t even need a signature. So credit cards are faster.
Also, I’ve never used a check at the supermarket, but from what I can see, you don’t even need to fill it out. The cashier puts the check in the machine, which then prints the amount and other info on the check. I think you still need to sign it, though.
The most annoying customer is the one who waits until everything is scanned and bagged to then dig through his wallet or her purse for a method of payment. Didn’t it occur to them that they might need that earlier?
I can have my cash out of my pocket, in hand, so all that needs to happens is for the cashier to make change. Doesn’t take any longer than all the tapping and signing even if the card is swiped early. Cards can be swiped early, but I have yet to see many people do that.
Agreed.
Please return item to the baggage area.
When I worked at Kmart, we weren’t allowed to “enforce” the Express Lane, even though there was less room there. Anyone who wanted to come through could. And guess who usually had to work there? Ugh.
I would add cash in hand, merchandise in the other. If you can’t carry it in one hand go to a regular register.
I go to the grocery store 4-5 days a week. I buy small quantities of fresh stuff. I’ve been shopping at the same store since it opened in the late 80s. I might not be feeding a family of 4, but I’m pretty sure I’m one of the stores better customers. And I usually have 10 items or fewer.
How about the other side of the coin? People with half a dozen items in their basket stay the hell away from the regular checkout when you have six self-service and two express lanes to choose from, so I don’t have to wait behind you with my full cart.
(Used to be just the old blue haired ladies doing this, but lately the college students have started pulling this crap too.)
You would rather wait in the regular lane behind someone with a full cart rather than someone with six items in a basket?
So the coat comes off when the fight starts?
Know your store.
One look at the parking lot tells me if I am even going to turn in.
Around here, most service-station armed robberies are drug-related crimes by nicotine addicts with no cash: “all the cash in your drawer, and a carton of cigarettes”.
I don’t think you’d have much luck trying to put the cigarette buyers in a slow lane: when they’re buying cigarettes, they can be pretty focused.
Did you just fall out of the 19th century?
Our local Ikea has a self-checkout system for 15 items or fewer. Usually people respect this, but I’ve seen a couple of chowderheads going through - or trying to - with two carts packed full. (Packed full of largely small things, by the way; I realize 15 of the bigger items at Ikea can easily fill up two carts.) The regular lines were too long, you see, and the self-checkout line was moving faster…
My son has proposed a solution: an alarm system. Let things slide until you hit 20 items. For each item you scan after that, set the register to give a short WHOOP! and flash a light for a couple seconds. You can still go through there if you insist, but everyone else will know you are either a) self-centered enough to think the sign doesn’t apply to you; or b) unable to count to 20 (unless you are barefoot or wearing sandals).
They either can’t count or can’t read.
The checker should ring up the first 12 or 15 items, whatever the posted express number is, and then all addition items in excess of that should be put back in the basket, moved to the back of the line and the buyer can sit back there with them and go through the line a second time.