I hate self checkout. My disdain for self checkout goes back to the day it began. I’m an old fashioned person, so I would rather be checked out by a clerk. If you check yourself out, there is nobody to talk to. I know one thing though. I could never be a clerk at a store.
Produce
I bag a lot of the produce I purchase in those little clear bags. When I checkout, I have to look for where to select the produce item. Then, I have to get the item number from the fruit or vegetable. And then I have to figure out where to enter the item number. It is so frustrating.
Heavy Items
And then there are the heavy items. At the grocery store I shop at, they don’t have a hand-held scanner. So, I either have to lift the heavy item out of the cart and try to scan it or I have to try and enter the stupid code which is virtually impossible to find.
Warnings
The dumb self checkout station is barking at me constantly. Put your item in the bagging area. Wait for an attendant. What is your language? Scan your bonus card. Don’t forget to take your receipt. If the machine needs to talk to me so much, shouldn’t I just have a clerk?
Coupons
At my grocery store, they have eCoupons to save money on items. But, I have no idea how to use them at the self checkout. They tell me the eCoupons are tied to my bonus card and automatically take the money off after I scan my card. But, I don’t see it when I’m scanning items. And, I have trouble just trusting it blindly.
Getting Help
And of course, when I need help, the attendant is never there. So, I have to stand there like a dunce waiting. Then, when the person finally comes to help me, they treat me like I’m stupid. Kind of like “you should know what to do.” Of course, the person at the next station is a pro at self checkout and looks at me like I don’t know how to tie my own shoes.
Conclusion
If I wanted to be a grocery clerk, I would get a job doing it. Actually, I was a grocery clerk for two hours in my teens. They pulled me from stocking shelves to work the quick check lane. After about two hours, they sent me back to stocking shelves and told me I wouldn’t clerk again. I was too slow.
The grocery store forces you to do self checkout by having one clerk working with a line of people to the back of the store. I was slow before, and I’m slower now. I hate it.