Off the belt today... Self Checkout
The self checkout is not as easy as it seems. For those who don't understand its peculiarities it's downright frustrating. There are rules. People refuse to follow them and get mad at the machine. Then if you're not there in a nanosecond to help, they're mad at you, as if you have nothing else to do.
There are several things that trip up the average shopper at self checkout so I thought maybe I could shed some light to help your future attempts to calm this savage beast.
#1: The self checkout is an express checkout. It is intended for small orders only and is not able to handle your weeks worth of groceries and all your other needs and questions. If you have more than the limit for a regular express checkout for that store, please go to a regular checkout. Please.
#2: Willy-nilly moving, rearranging, lifting, shifting, or otherwise touching or moving the scale area will stop you in your tracks. The entire platform of the bagging area is a scale. It weighs each item...one at a time...including your children, and until each item registers you should not proceed with your next item and wonder why it freaks out.
#3: If you're purchasing an item that's age restricted, for heaven sakes, please go through the regular registers. It's more than annoying to leave your other duties, which includes leaving another customer who has chosen to go through the correct checkout lane, only to find out I have to check your ID, and no, I will not get you cigarettes on self-checkout.
#4: There's a little sticker on most of your produce with a 4 digit code on it. Please use this to enter your produce instead of searching relentlessly through category screens and holding up the express line. No one is interested in waiting for you to find where your carambola and 10 other produce items are while their ice cream is melting.
#5: Once the items have registered and you are at the screen to proceed ringing things up you may move things off the scale. This should really not be necessary if you only have an express lane amount of items or less, you should have plenty of room. If you have a bunch of large items that will not fit on the scale area...go to a regular checkout!
#6: The self checkout does not like to read coupons, especially meat coupons and you can't proceed without putting a coupon into the slot. If you try to rip a meat coupon off your meat you will tear the plastic wrap, thus exposing your juicy, runny, bloody meat. Go to a regular checkout.
#7: Listen to and follow the prompts from the self scan voice, not what you think should happen or how you think it should work.
#8: In general, if you think it will take longer to go through a checkout with a trained cashier and management assistance at the ready than to go through self checkout...you're probably wrong.
#9: It isn't always the customer. Sometimes the self checkout machine just freaks out or it needs something only a qualified person can take care of. We appreciate you are in a hurry and will do our best to come and help you with whatever happens.
#10: I recently overheard a woman and her husband at the self checkout while I was in line as a customer in the express lane. They needed help and I was thinking 'I wish I had my badge with me so I could go help them' as it was an extremely busy day before Thanksgiving. The husband said, "How do they know if we need help"? and the wife snarled "They don't care". Wow. I was kind of hurt since I was in the next line worrying about it and not even working. We do actually care, we're doing our best.
So there you have it. I'm sure I've left something out but you get the drift. Be patient, follow directions, don't try your own solutions, don't ring up large orders, age restricted items or coupons. Don't make me come down there...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 | |||
| "Can you come help me, it doesn't like my wine?" |
The self checkout is not as easy as it seems. For those who don't understand its peculiarities it's downright frustrating. There are rules. People refuse to follow them and get mad at the machine. Then if you're not there in a nanosecond to help, they're mad at you, as if you have nothing else to do.
There are several things that trip up the average shopper at self checkout so I thought maybe I could shed some light to help your future attempts to calm this savage beast.
#1: The self checkout is an express checkout. It is intended for small orders only and is not able to handle your weeks worth of groceries and all your other needs and questions. If you have more than the limit for a regular express checkout for that store, please go to a regular checkout. Please.
#2: Willy-nilly moving, rearranging, lifting, shifting, or otherwise touching or moving the scale area will stop you in your tracks. The entire platform of the bagging area is a scale. It weighs each item...one at a time...including your children, and until each item registers you should not proceed with your next item and wonder why it freaks out.
#3: If you're purchasing an item that's age restricted, for heaven sakes, please go through the regular registers. It's more than annoying to leave your other duties, which includes leaving another customer who has chosen to go through the correct checkout lane, only to find out I have to check your ID, and no, I will not get you cigarettes on self-checkout.
#4: There's a little sticker on most of your produce with a 4 digit code on it. Please use this to enter your produce instead of searching relentlessly through category screens and holding up the express line. No one is interested in waiting for you to find where your carambola and 10 other produce items are while their ice cream is melting.
#5: Once the items have registered and you are at the screen to proceed ringing things up you may move things off the scale. This should really not be necessary if you only have an express lane amount of items or less, you should have plenty of room. If you have a bunch of large items that will not fit on the scale area...go to a regular checkout!
#6: The self checkout does not like to read coupons, especially meat coupons and you can't proceed without putting a coupon into the slot. If you try to rip a meat coupon off your meat you will tear the plastic wrap, thus exposing your juicy, runny, bloody meat. Go to a regular checkout.
#7: Listen to and follow the prompts from the self scan voice, not what you think should happen or how you think it should work.
#8: In general, if you think it will take longer to go through a checkout with a trained cashier and management assistance at the ready than to go through self checkout...you're probably wrong.
#9: It isn't always the customer. Sometimes the self checkout machine just freaks out or it needs something only a qualified person can take care of. We appreciate you are in a hurry and will do our best to come and help you with whatever happens.
#10: I recently overheard a woman and her husband at the self checkout while I was in line as a customer in the express lane. They needed help and I was thinking 'I wish I had my badge with me so I could go help them' as it was an extremely busy day before Thanksgiving. The husband said, "How do they know if we need help"? and the wife snarled "They don't care". Wow. I was kind of hurt since I was in the next line worrying about it and not even working. We do actually care, we're doing our best.
So there you have it. I'm sure I've left something out but you get the drift. Be patient, follow directions, don't try your own solutions, don't ring up large orders, age restricted items or coupons. Don't make me come down there...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to leave a fun or constructive comment. Inappropriate comments will be removed.