Self Serve

I am on record as HATING self checkout lines at the grocery store. One, I don't feel I have to do their job for them, are you going to pay me to check out my groceries?? Second, the damn things never work right. Three, most people are totally befuddled by them.

A recent remodel of our near by Sun Fresh Grocery (or Gay Fresh as a friend calls it as it is a well known gay crusing spot) has introduced the dreaded things. I had 3 items this PM and noticed that the lines were busy as usual in the noon hour. The 15 items or less line had 4-5 people in it and next to it was an empty do-it-yourself line. At the same time I was entering the express line (usually a misnomer), a lady bravely entered the self check line. She had some grapes and few other things. As I was paying for my items after the 4-5 people ahead of me got through, the infernal machine was still telling her to "remove the unexpected item from the bagging area". Poor thing was doing everything but dancing to get the voice to stop. A clerk was trying to unravel the mess for her. As far as I know, she still may be there. Funny thing is, she looked like an intelligent lady, certainly able to navigate her way to the store and pick the items she needed, so you would think she would be able to handle the machine. However, that assumption does not take in consideration that the machines have minds of their own and do what they want.

I was a long hold out on self serve gasoline and will try to be on self check out. Seeing that full serve (anyone remember that?) or "mini-serve" where they just pumped your gas for you is rare as hen's teeth, I am sure that soon the grocery checker job will not be on the list of hot jobs.

I intend to help keep them employed for a bit longer.