When these first came out I was offended, confused... vexed at the onset of a future society where scheming grocery robots replaced good human jobs and probably totally screwed up your total too. Most of my adult life later, I'm somehow more ambivalent and find myself using them more and more often, certainly at peak hours. Am I taking away from the livelihood of a cashier? I really can't tell. There's always 1-2 human attendants necessary to keep the system working smoothly, but maybe they just have a good union or something. It also works surprisingly well; I've probably only had half a dozen times max where I needed the attendant to come fix something (although this is always really annoying).
So, what do we think?
Poll Results
Option | Votes |
Use 'em when the other lines are packed but I prefer the human touch | 38 |
Best thing since free samples, I jumped over immediately | 37 |
I've never done business with these mechanical monsters and I never will | 18 |
Took a while to get used to it but now a regular user | 17 |
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 17 March 2009 01:41 (fifteen years ago) link