People who don't bag their own groceries are the most irredeemable scoundrels

They don't do that anymore?

The divided bagging area was cool. I found myself sort of competing against the person across the divider from me..."nyahh, you checked out first, my cart was fuller, and I still beat you out the door! And my eggs aren't under a case of beer! I WIN!"

I am too competitive.

When I worked in a grocery store we employed a weird guy named Grey who was legally blind and was a tornado of bagging. I remember once he put a loaf of bread in a bag and then plopped a two liter of Coke on top. No one had the heart to correct him or fire him, but it wasn't even like he was nice - he was gruff and weird.

Walmart cracks me up because their express lanes are for "25 Items or Less".

It should be "…or Fewer", but I'm not even going to get started on that right now.

― http://tinyurl.com/vroooo0ooooom (Pleasant Plains), Monday, March 28, 2011 12:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this drives me nuts whenever i shop there - i'll be behind someone in the express lane who has a shopping cart full of shit, and i'll be thinking to myself 'they can't possibly be under the limit' and then i start counting before i remember its 25 items... its such a defeated feeling

nowadays i basically hate any grocery store without self-checkout

The thing that bugs me about Trader Joe's friendly cashiers is that it's so obv a corporate-ordered faux friendliness. I like spontaneous, genuine friendliness, I really do.

another TJ annoyance is that the area to put your purchases on is like 1 square foot

Someone upthread said something about people being instructed to only put 2 or three items in a bag. WHY?! It's infuriating. Why would they be told to do it that way?

x-post - That is extremely annoying, yeah. I'm not really a huge fan of TJs becasue I feel like even though I spend a lot of $$ there I come home to find I haven't actually bought anything except funky hummus or some interesting cookies and have to go shopping all over again but that's another thread entirely.

The thing that bugs me about Trader Joe's friendly cashiers is that it's so obv a corporate-ordered faux friendliness. I like spontaneous, genuine friendliness, I really do.

tbh I will take corporate-mandated fake friendliness over churlish disdain and acting like doing your job is a massive inconvenience

I used to think I was a "food snob" (galley kitchen = lots of take-out and xpensive imported food)...that was before I got a bigger kitchen with all of the appliances.

That's when I realized that true food snobbery (unless you are hung up on organic) means cheapies are more FUN. Bags of beans for 30 cents! A week's groceries for $40! All if you're willing to bag your own at places like Food 4 Less!

ENBB - because the bags are so thin that the bag might break on the way to your car and then the store has to replace the items!

xp: (not that I ever shop at Trader Joe's anymore since Costco's with a self-checkout lane + Super Stop & Shop's handheld scanner system > everything else)

agreed that is worse, DJP

i go to trader joes once a year and then stare at my items and think...wow i spent $100 on nothing remotely edible. Awesome lemon papaya mango cookies, frosted chilis, a gallon of chocolate goats milk.

Maybe I'm just bitter because the 1st time I visited TJ's I was like "oh man, this cute granola-y chick totally wants me", 2nd time I was like "oh man this sun-ripened aged hippie totally wants to smoke a doobie with me when he goes on break", and then the 3rd time I was like "oh man this fitness chick totally...HEY WAIT A SECOND!!"

Yeah srsly the alternative to TJ's-style service is enormous disdain for you as a person, and total contempt for the speed or quality of work. I could handle "unfriendly" if it was ever also "coldly efficient" but it's not, and so I'll take the rictus grins with the maniacal over-packing of my tote bags.

we used to go to TJs exclusively for DUMPLINGS! and booze

ah, those glory years of being just out of college

xxp: lol this sounds exactly like the process a close friend of mine went through, only instead of ppl working at TJs... it was strippers

this is no more faux friendliness at TJ than at a farmer's market. this friendliness is probably more due to their getting paid an extra dollar an hour, because it has a different quality than the faux friendliness of a shitty craft supply store, where this checkout lady switched back and forth between sing-songy voice when dealing with customers and surly teen when chatting with her pal in the next aisle, like some kind of SNL sketch.

TJ reminds me of an upscale Aldi. Similar bare bones layout. My local Aldi has this 70s supermarket thing going on that I find endearing.

You all are making me feel so much better about not shopping at some highfalutin' place like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.

whole foods dudes will get visibly annoyed at you! i think maybe that non-union thing is getting to them.

Whole Foods nowadays is just a regular supermarket with the word "organic" prominently displayed in random locations.

whole foods is highfalutin central. YEs i just spend $37 dollars on 4 yogurts and an apple.

this friendliness is probably more due to their getting paid an extra dollar an hour,

No, I'd be shocked if they weren't trained to be friendly. "find an item in their cart and comment on it!" etc

Costco's with a self-checkout lane

Damn it, I wish Costco would try to crack the Sam's Club dominance in Tupelo. But that's another thread.

Favorite ILX post about baggers: people who've been on TV whom you've pwned

I like the idea of self-scanning machines but I feel like they have a lot of issues and the alram goes off and you have to wait for the person to come help and it's embarrassing because people are behind you etc. Ok, maybe it's just me. :(

hahahaha poor ted danson!

thats Sam Malone

WE NEED A PRICE CHECK ON THESE TAMPONS!!

ERICA, HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO SCAN THE YOGURT! HURRY IT UP!!!!

EXACTLY :-(

NO, I'M SERIOUS! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ENTER A QUANTITY ON THE LIMES, NOT WEIGH THEM! GODDAMMIT JUST LET ME DO IT!

Are you having a panic attack yet?

OMG you're one of them!

nearly!

I'm pretty self-sufficient when it comes to DIY technology, and I don't think I've ever once done a self-checkout that went smoothly.

My problem with self checkouts is that they are too SLOW. I've worked in shops. I know how to scan things. Move it along, machiney!

No, I'd be shocked if they weren't trained to be friendly. "find an item in their cart and comment on it!" etc

I'm guessing that doesn't include the checkout girl holding up a butternut squash and saying "now, what are you supposed to do with these? I see them go by and I've no idea what they are. Are they fruit?"

http://i.imgur.com/7otRw.png

http://fooeyusa.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/mr_mom_1.jpg?w=490

omg mr mom

That was (weirdly) my absolutely favorite movie when I was a really kid. Like, i used to make my mom (not a mr.) let me watch it every day for a while.

i get my wife tampons all the time....i dont see what the big deal is.

It was my favorite movie too. North to drop off, south to pick up, moron!!
yeah as an adult now, I don't get why he was so embarrassed.

TJ reminds me of an upscale Aldi. Similar bare bones layout. My local Aldi has this 70s supermarket thing going on that I find endearing.

― oo girl, run that game (u s steel), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 11:29 (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

FYI TJ is owned by Aldi

Woah - I fucked that sentence up. oops.

Anyway the self-scanners at the store by my old job were the worst. They always seemed to think you hadn't put the items in the bags correctly or were trying to steal something. Then it would take the person like 10 minutes to get to me from all the way across the store all while the line was growing and WMC was breathing done my neck and harassing me. Awful.

North to drop off, south to pick up, moron!!

hahaha omg

MY WOOBIE!!!

And, yeah, nothing wrong with a guy buying tampons or having a price check run on some such thing though I'd probably laugh if that ever happened irl because it would seem so cliche like what happened when the golden girls all tried to buy condoms.

line was growing and WMC was breathing done my neck and harassing me. Awful.

Just wave your tampons at him and glare. He'll back right off. The married ones know the score.

id be more embarassed for a price check on hemmorhoid cream or enemas.

buying butt cream is what self-checkout lines were invented for

they dont have those at CVS.