I wish to politely complain about the ritual/fiasco that is the checkout aisle. Every week I leave the market with a markedly higher blood pressure than when I first arrived, because the experience of accounting for bagging my purchases is a relentless assault on my sense of security.
I would try the self checkout kiosk, but I have found that the computer is much too difficult to deal with. I learned that I can’t remove a bag from the carefully calibrated turntable, even if it is packed to my satisfaction and I elect to put it in my cart and start another bag. Also, I feel funny about a voice talking to me while I’m trying to arrange my purchases and scan them to its satisfaction: I’m not used to being talked to by the checkers, so the computer doesn’t make up for anything.
I’m never allowed to take my time to put paper in plastic so I can carry my purchases comfortably. If the supermarket chains don’t want us to put paper in plastic, kindly put handles on the paper bags. I’ve also found that the paper bags are never the right size to fit nimbly inside the plastic bags. Sometimes I can’t get them open when I do manage to square them off inside each other, and by this time the efficient checker has started shoving my rung up purchases down at me faster than I can bag them.
I know the checkers are instructed to move the line along, and these poor employees are already in pain from prolonged standing and would like to take a break between customers, but why do they rush me so? I have tried (if I have time) to place the items I plan to put in the bottom of a bag first, frozen in the front, followed by refrigerated items, then boxes, bags, fragile items and so on. My failure to set the items into bags fast enough results in the checker popping open a fresh bag and speedily throwing the rest of my waiting items willy-nilly into them. Sometimes I find myself with one bag of pretzels stuck horizontally into one plastic bag as if it was an afterthought.
Can’t things be more relaxed? Maybe you should have aisles for “leisurely checkout.” Maybe you should have a relay team to do the bagging for us. Or maybe you should just stop cramming the whole checkout experience into a marathon pace and lighten up a bit.
Sincerely. . . .
Susan's Scribblings the Blog 