Ya know what’s horrible? When you think of a BRILLIANT blog post at work, don’t have time to write it down, and then forget what it was by the time you get home. Frustrating I say!

Image found here

But, on that note, I would like to talk a little bit about Job #2. As most of you may know, it’s at a grocery store. As far as British Columbia goes, it’s a fairly large chain and like most places, it moves with the times. For example, about three years ago, they renovated BIG TIME. Like, downsized the store by a little less than half. Customers got grumpy, REAL grumpy, because a lot of them are old and don’t like change.

Then, about a year or so ago, they installed Self Checkouts. Boy oh boy, that caused yet another huge stink. Customers were certain that people were going to lose their jobs because of these “horrendous machines” and that they were a huge waste of time. Really, they’re not, if you know how to use them and actually pay attention to what you’re suppose to do. Here’s what you gotta do:

1. Scan your Club Card
2. Scan an item.
3. Put that item in the bagging area.
4. Repeat until all items have been scanned.
5. Select how you’re going to pay.
6. Pay.
7. Grab receipt and leave.

Here’s how it usually goes:

1. Yell at the attending cashier that you don’t know how to use the Self Scan. She’ll tell you to press the “Start” button and simply follow the prompts.
2. Scan your item instead of your club card. Cue check-out getting mad at you. Cashier helps you fix problem. You scan your card one more time just to make sure the check-out computer is really good and mad at you. Cashier shakers her head.
3. Scan your item and then press the “I don’t want to bag this item” button. Bag item anyway. Cue computer getting confused and yelling at you. Cashier comes to fix problem and tells you why that happened. You do the same thing with your next item anyway.
4. Try shoving all your bills in the money taker all at once. Get mad at cashier because it won’t take your money. Look like an idiot when she tells you to put the bills in one at a time.

Maybe I’m being mean, but dammit, I get quite a thrill out of watching people ignore all of the prompts and just wing it, especially if they turn the volume off. If you know what you’re doing, I don’t care if you turn the volume down or off on the machine. The woman’s voice is kind of bossy and annoying after a while, but not nearly as annoying as the ringing the machines make when someone does something wrong because they’re too ignorant to pay attention to what they’re doing.

Sometimes I think that people think the self checkouts are just like the regular checkouts, but they’re not. I’ve worked the regular checkouts and the self-checkouts long enough to make it look easy. And really, I’m more than happy to show you how to use the self-checkout if you’d like me to, just don’t be rude about it. And definitely don’t tell me that it’s going to take away my job.

Besides, who else would come to your rescue when you can’t figure out how to use them? The real-life cashier is only a “Help” button away!

What are your thoughts on Self Checkouts? Love em? Hate em?