Self-scanning…

I don’t mean scanning one’s self, I mean scanning by one’s self rather than go through a check out with a real human person at the till. Self-scanning or self-checkout is one of the most annoying things… no THE most annoying thing in shops today. I don’t think i have ever been through one without there being some difficulty or problem… it’s not quicker, it doesn’t make for a more pleasant shopping experience. I also read a report which said that shops are losing millions by shoppers not scanning things properly, either on purpose or accidentally.

So today… I went into W.H.Smith’s and got a couple of things then went to the checkout to pay. There were three or maybe four normal tills, but there was only one lady working on one. There were two self-scanning machines and despite the very long queue no-one seemed interested in using one. The lady working the checkout had a problem with a customer two in front of me and had to ring her bell to call for assistance. After a while another shop assistant rushed over and sorted out the problem, calling out to us in the queue to use the self-scanner. One lady did and got in a muddle while the rest of us waited patiently.

The assisting lady then, instead of going on a till to ease the queue, went round to the self-scanners, virtually grabbed my things off me and insisted I used the self-scanner even though I protested ( a bit feebly I must admit) The scanner wouldn’t immediately scan my two items but it eventually did meanwhile the human on the checkout the nice lady had got through a couple of the waiting customers and people behind me in the queue were now going to her. She was still on her own serving people, no-one else had come to help. I tried to pay for my items with my credit card – declined… then accepted, meanwhile someone else was using the self-scan beside me, but I’d out my bags on her bagging area… Eventually my receipts printed but when I tried to take them from the machine they ripped in half…

The queue by now had all got through the single lady assistant, and as I passed her on my way out I said I would have much preferred to be served by her,she smiled and replied that everyone said that. As I was walking away, I remembered that I had meant to buy something which was on offer at the till, but hadn’t gone to the till because of the ridiculous self-scanner. Cross with myself I stomped over to marks and Spencer’s and bought the items I’d forgotten; Thee was a long queue in marks and Spencer’s but there were four speedy assistants working the tills so the wait wasn’t long (there were two empty self-scan machines there too – no-one wanted to use them!) As i got to the check-out I realised I hadn’t got my credit card… it had been left in the self-scan machine in Smiths…