Self-Checkout Makes You Seek Some Self-Help

(I am the customer in this story.)

Self-Checkout Machine: “Will you be using our bags or your bags?”

(I have two bulky items that will not fit in bags, so I choose the “your bags” option.)

Self-Checkout Machine: “Please place your bags in the bagging area.”

(I do nothing, not having bags.)

Self-Checkout Machine: “Please place your bags in the bagging area.”

(I proceed to start ringing up the bulky items, but after the first one is set down in the bagging area, the computer has an “unhandled exception” and crashes.)

Me: *to attendant* “Excuse me? Ma’am? This checkout station just had a system crash.”

(The attendant takes my items over to another station and rings them up herself.)

Me: *feeling pockets* “Um… I just realized my wallet is still out in the car. Can I just leave these here and come right back?”

Attendant: “No, I’ll take them for you, and you can get them back when you have your wallet.”

(I run out to the car and back and goes through self-checkout process again.)

Attendant: “How about if I just scan everything in from my system right here, and you can be on your way?”

Me: “That would be great.”

Attendant: “Okay, then I just need your payment method.”

(I swipe my credit card.)

Self-Checkout Machine: “Please insert your credit card into the chip reader.”

(I swipe my credit card again.)

Self-Checkout Machine: “Please insert your credit card into the chip reader.”

Attendant: “You’ll have to put your card in; it won’t take it if you swipe.”

(I look carefully and find the chip reader, though to my credit, it was hard to spot at first because of a large advertisement in the way.)

Attendant: “Thank you. Have a great day.”

Me: “I’m really sorry for all that. It’s just not my day today, is it?”

(The attendant half-smiled. She had probably dealt with many such cases by that point in the day, and I hope I was at least easier to deal with in my ineptitude than most. Moral of the story: anyone can be an idiot at any given time. Don’t make things worse for employees by having a bad attitude!)