"Lady, just scan the UPC. The UPC. The fucking...THE BARCODE! No, see, you're just showing the bread to the glass and there's not, like, a camera or a guy in there, it's...there's these lasers and they scan the barco--DON'T STICK YOUR FACE ON THE--! Oh, great. Great, now she's blind. I'm never fucking getting out of here. Where's the express lane?"
So much so.
And then there are places like IKEA which are all self-check now with, like, ONE register with a human. Normally that'd be fine with me but 1. people are often stupid. and 2. those stupid machines are so slow. I just want to beep things through, pay and get OUUUUUUUT! I swear the machine wants to just hang out and chat for a while instead. It's busy narrating what I did two minutes ago and I look insane because I am starting to get shirty with a machine.
It occurs to me that I might need an ice cream and a timeout today.
Ugh. I hate Ikea, in any country. I suspect even Sweden.
Standing around chatting with the cashier while there are people behind me waiting to buy things just feels so wrong.
I mean, there's a whole spectrum, right? Don't go on five minutes after the order's done if there are ten people behind you. That is rude, not Southern, IMHO.
I hate Ikea, in any country.
They sell me 100 tealights for less than $4. I can walk out with 1,000 tealights for less than $40. And have. So I kinda love them a lot.
They're handy, it's true, but The Girl and I have more than once considered calling off the civil partnership while there. Stressful place.
I frequently get stuck in the Metro behind a group of tourists trying to figure out the fare card machines. It's maddening. But I am one of those people who chronically has problems with the self-checkout at the grocery (the ones in my local Safeway won't let you put a bag - an empty bag - on the "bagging platform" so you can scan groceries and put them right in the bag. I always have to scan everything, pay, and then put everything in the bag).
I am still looking askance at the self-checkout at Ralph's because they don't play nicely with bringing your own bags. You have to lie to the scales to get them to take them. And then there are the issues with coupons and fruit you have to weigh...and I just skip 'em. Pfft.
Good thing DHS doesn't track tealight sales. Or do they?
oh Cass, there was a news report last night. From Kiev. About the FIRE FESTIVAL. I thought of you. And Jilli. And wondered why you weren't there.
I was explicitly taught as a child (like, we had actual discussions about this in school) that, if you're buying something or conducting some other business that requires waiting on a line, and there are people on line behind you, then it's rude to take any more time than just the amount you need to get done whatever you need to do. Standing around chatting with the cashier while there are people behind me waiting to buy things just feels so wrong.
What smonster said. I've never seen a line of people wait while a southern cashier was chit chatting with another customer. While ringing things up, sure. A genuinely friendly, "Have a nice day!" as the customer is gathering their things, yep, but never just having a conversation while people are waiting, as that would be rude.
