Thursday 26 June 2014

Playing The Game

Don't lie to me - you play it too...

Your basket or trolley is full, and it is now time to pay...

You head to the checkouts, and scan along the line, looking for the shortest queue...

Yes there it is!  Only 2 people there - dive in before someone else spots it!

But then it all goes wrong, doesn't it?

They need a price check on a tin of beans...

Or their bag of whatever has a hole in it and needs to be replaced...

The person in front fishes out a huge wad of coupons and wades through them - after a seemingly endless search for their reading glasses, which have to be cleaned...

Then they pay very slowly as they count out the exact amount of money is very small denominations, a couple of pound coins, some silver, a few fist fulls of pennies...

Or they are paying by card, but it has a problem, and a supervisor has to be called to help sort it out...

But today was different!

It was!

Today the person in front of me had bought a necklace...

which got sucked into the conveyor belt...


Why do I continue to play The Game - I should just join the first line I see...

9 comments:

ShadowRun300 said...

Ugh. Now you see why I use the self-checkouts. I have no patience when it comes to checkers or buyers, so I do it myself.
Yesterday, my hubby, after waiting in the express lane for way too long because of multiple problems, finally just set down his stuff and left the store. So it was funny to come here and "hear" a similar story. :)

agg79 said...

Yea, I've played that game way too many times myself. Which line is shortest/quickest? It's a crap shoot at times and the best you can hope for is to get out before your ice cream melts. I'm like ShadowRun, I prefer the self-checkout, if I don't have a ton of stuff. Otherwise, I tend to bring a book just to keep my sanity.

Rock Chef said...

ShadowRun300 - Ah, but I hate the self service one even more!

Agg79 - Yes, I have been known to read while in the line too...

Shammickite said...

There are a couple of stores near here that ONLY have self service checkouts.... never anyone to ask if you come across a problem.... not my favourite stores. I like to be confronted with a friendly face when I'm paying for my shopping! I always chat to the cashier and try to make them feel like they are doing a worthwhile job.
Wonder what happened to the conveyor mechanism once it swallowed the necklace???

Abby said...

This game is the sort of stuff that keeps me up at night. We can put a man on the moon, but can't get groceries in a timely fashion. Keep fighting the good fight, RC!

Rock Chef said...

Shammickite - after a bit of messing about the necklace came out of the belt system - seemingly unharmed! The belt was working when I left...

Abby - Good point! And I suspect that a self serve till has rather more computer power than the old moon landers ever dreamed of...

terri said...

That game is universal! Mark and I played it yesterday. Maybe there's a blog post in it...

CiCi said...

Well, you could do all shopping online. Or you pay one of your kids to do shopping. Or you could take a guitar and play for other customers while you wait in line, and some people may even give you money so you may even come out money ahead.

Riot Kitty said...

OMG, I am laughing my ass off about the necklace! At least she wasn't wearing it at the time.