The Daily Ping

The 1st Ping was published on January 6, 2000.

October 9th, 2007

A problem with self-checkout lanes

Howdy.

Paul’s not a big fan of self-checkout lines at supermarkets. I don’t mind ’em so much. But last night, when I made a rare stop by Bloom (no longer open 24 hours, I should note), I got quite irritated with the self-checkout lane I was using.

See, I’d brought my own cloth bags, ’cause I’m ecologically-friendly like that. But when I put the very light bag down in the bagging area, preparing to fill it up, the self-checkout machine lady told me, “Please remove extra items from the bagging area.” When I tried to ignore her, she summoned a human (!). I had to move my bag to the floor, stack the food items up in the bagging area, and then move them to my cloth bag. WTF, FR?

I’ve also noticed that the machine lady’s voice is the same at Bloom as it is at Giant. I wonder if her respective employers know she’s working for the competition.

Posted in Consumer Commentary

Rob October 9, 2007, 4:39 pm

That sucks that Bloom isn’t open 24 hours anymore! I loved going there really late to pick up something. Sure, there were hardly ever any people there (which is probably why it’s no longer open 24 hours), but it was convenient. I don’t live there anymore, though, so I guess it doesn’t matter. I feel for you, though.

The machine lady is a corporate whore.

jk October 10, 2007, 1:22 am

The good people overseeing U-Scan at my Giant quickly bypass that issue when I put my Trader Joe’s paper bags on the scale.

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