Technological Regression is Depressin'
Where: Grocery Store
What: Express Self-Checkout
Who: Ol' Matty
The Skinny: Right. So, Ol' Matty is buying some necessities the other day -Fruit Loops, comic books and Axe Body spray (according to the Telescreen if you wear the stuff women flock to you in the middle of a subway, as it is laced with pheromones) - and I encountered what seemed to be something quite cool: the self-checkout.
You place each grocery through a scanner, it logs each one, and you pay for it at the Interac machine that tabulates the grand total. It prints a receipt, and BAM! you are on your merry way, right?
Wrong! You will notice that after you pay, a few metres to your right of this special aisle is a checkout girl standing behind a counter. I smile, nod in approval of this speedy payment process, and am startled as she beckons me over.
And why, dear readers, is she beckoning? Well, now she has to "double-check". So she takes the receipt, then looks over each grocery to make sure everything was duly charged, and there were no mistakes.
Yeah, that's right - a checkout girl took out each grocery individually, made a note of it, and ensured I paid for them all.
Umm.....
What: Express Self-Checkout
Who: Ol' Matty
The Skinny: Right. So, Ol' Matty is buying some necessities the other day -Fruit Loops, comic books and Axe Body spray (according to the Telescreen if you wear the stuff women flock to you in the middle of a subway, as it is laced with pheromones) - and I encountered what seemed to be something quite cool: the self-checkout.
You place each grocery through a scanner, it logs each one, and you pay for it at the Interac machine that tabulates the grand total. It prints a receipt, and BAM! you are on your merry way, right?
Wrong! You will notice that after you pay, a few metres to your right of this special aisle is a checkout girl standing behind a counter. I smile, nod in approval of this speedy payment process, and am startled as she beckons me over.
And why, dear readers, is she beckoning? Well, now she has to "double-check". So she takes the receipt, then looks over each grocery to make sure everything was duly charged, and there were no mistakes.
Yeah, that's right - a checkout girl took out each grocery individually, made a note of it, and ensured I paid for them all.
Umm.....
3 Comments:
Go figure. Matt Hansen for Prime Minister!
hey,
cool to see things are the same on both sides of the big water. had a very good laugh about your rant! though the introduction of these "speedy" checkouts isnt something mankind could draw any advantages from really....so not very cool actually. the ones over here are even "better": a nice computer voice tells you the price of each single item, lightspeed style....one...*pause*...euro and....*pause*...ninety....*pause*.....nine...*pause*
....cents....*pause*....beep!
have been to a grocery store with your lill` sister the other week here in germany and we had just the same thoughts!
/martin
maert@rollbrettfreunde.de
ROTFLMAO
I've never used one yet. But when I saw one at my local super store, I thought 'hey cool'. Then, I watched how it worked, and figured the experience would be just like yours--not so, speedy, not so convenient.
Good one Matt.
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