One thing I truly despise is when people use convenient technology inconveniently. Self-checkout lanes at the grocery store are a perfect example. I find the self-checkout lanes to be a genius idea. It’s quite possibly the most convenient technology available for the shopping experience. If I only have a few items, I don’t want to wait in line behind some person purchasing 100 items, it’s a way for me to quickly skip the waiting process… and interacting with the cashier… and thanking the bag boy… For an antisocial lump like myself, these are things I would rather not do, even if the regular lane is wide open. I prefer almost all of my shopping experiences to have as little human interaction as possible. So a system that offers 100% self service is perfect. But that’s only if people use it correctly. Which is very often not the case.
There should be strict rules to using the self-checkout lanes at the grocery store. People of average intelligence who have used a computer in the last 10 years should theoretically have no problem using these lanes. But don’t bother using them if:
