PLEASE PLACE THE ITEM IN THE BAG: Supermarket Self-Serve Checkout Poll

Maybe one day, there'll be a supermarket that lets the customer mop up the mess in Aisle 14 himself!

oh christ saying hello and grinning superficially to a checkout line cashier who sees hundreds and hundreds of people go through his line every shift and whom you probably would not give the time of day to in ANY other situation is not "human interaction"!!! when i hear someone say this i srsly have to suppress the urge to smack them.

Wow! I'm nowhere near the most cranky, knee-jerk, hyperbolic person on this thread! That's refreshing.

http://tv.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/snl_target_kristin_wiig.jpg

matt p is correct, not all types of human interaction are valuable and frankly if you really feel you gain anything from meaningless, surly nothings at the supermarket checkout, then THAT is what i would call sad and poignant

and honestly if you don't like bagging your own groceries you either have a lot of them, which makes this whole argument pointless because of course going through the HUMAN INTERACTION LINE is easier, or you are.. honestly i have no idea.

x-post Laurel, the "human interaction" line makes me go cranky, knee-jerk, hyperbolic, I try not to be that obnoxious about other things!

I normally hate other people in public! They walk slow, are stupid, get in the wrong lines, etc etc. But the checkout people, I guess I sort of like them on principle. I try to catch their eye and smile and I usu get a nice response even if they previously looked mean or unhappy, so it DOES make me feel like maybe both of us feel that little 3% better than we did before.

In the UK, at the "human interaction line", you bag your own fucking groceries anyway unless you specifically ask not to,which I have never, ever done.

Last night we did our weekly shop at Sainsburys. We talked to the cashier, who was an elderly (50s or 60s) woman called Ruth, judging by her name badge. It was pleasant. It was human interaction. We always use the same supermarket, and recognise most of the regular cashiers at the times we shop. Whether they recognise us or not is a moot point, but, unless the queues are horrific, we do make a point of using the same people's tills again and again. BECAUSE IT'S NICE. Because smiling, making light, meaningless chit-chat, and being aware that other people outside your precious ennui-riddled hyper-cool cynical fuck-off social circle exist, and are alive, and have homes, and voices, and interests, and can talk to you about catfood, or your choice of veg, or what you're cooking for dinner, is a last bastion of minor pleasure in this increasingly "let's use GPS on my iPhone so I never have to look another human being in the eye long enough to ask directions" world. Fuck YOU, Matt P, you misanthropic fuck.

Now now

I shop, I don't work there.

I like the woman at the Vanderbilt Ave supermarket who wears a headscarf and an insane amount of kohl-style eyeliner and is pushy and strong. She saw me buying hummus and couscous on the same day and ask if I liked Turkish foods -- I think she offered me recipes! I forget exactly. But she's great.

It's people using the self-service line even though the "human interaction line" is shorter, using iPhone GPS rather than asking for directions, etc, etc, "never make eye-contact on the tube", blah blah - it's THOSE methods of behaviour that cause rude fucks to walk slowly and stop aburbtly in high streets so you bash into them, it's those methods of behaviour that stop people saying thank you when you hold a door open. Every little solipsistic new development makes the world a more insular, miserable, rude, Thatcher-won-after-all-there-is-no-such-thing-as-society place, inch by inch, second by second. This is why I love going out down the river taking photos on a Sunday morning. PEOPLE WALKING THIER DOGS SAY 'HELLO'. PEOPLE RIDING BIKES SAY 'HELLO'. Fucking good fucking grief.

dan where is the supermarket that has handheld scanners? i must investigate this.

It's the Stop-N-Shop near the intersection of Broadway and 28 in Somerville. It's also super-awesome.

Thatcher-won-after-all-there-is-no-such-thing-as-society

After all? Not much doubt about it, I would have thought.

I apologise for being a bit sweary, but that quite upset me.

to be clear, i don't really hate the people in the lines or the cashier! i'm just super-neurotic -- the whole process is awkward and kind of exhausting, i get really self-conscious about having all my food items picked up and examined one-by-one and i don't like forced "hi"s etc.

x-post haha i'm not misanthropic, just realistic and trying not to lie to myself about what is "nice" for a person who is probably underpaid, overworked, and doesn't give a shit about what you're having for dinner!

t's THOSE methods of behaviour that cause rude fucks to walk slowly and stop aburbtly in high streets so you bash into them, it's those methods of behaviour that stop people saying thank you when you hold a door open. Every little solipsistic new development makes the world a more insular, miserable, rude, Thatcher-won-after-all-there-is-no-such-thing-as-society place, inch by inch, second by second.

Whoah, Jesus, calm down. Wanting necessary, non-optional transactions to go as quickly and smoothly as possible is not the same as thinking-yr-the-only-person-in-the-world selfishness. It's not a crime to want to have MORE mental space or energy to spend on the things you CHOOSE to do.

I prefer the "human touch" (lol) because:

1) The feeling of having an impatient customer waiting on me to complete the self-checkout process is nerveracking to me.

2) I think I'm on the extreme tolerance end of the patience spectrum. I don't mind waiting because I will just laugh at National Enquirer, inspect the new flavors of candy, read TV Guide, watch the workers work, stare at the ceiling, whatever.

I only use the machine if I have few items, the other lines are really long, and I'm confident that I can do it without screwing up. That combo has only come up maybe 3 times for me, ever.

i get really self-conscious about having all my food items picked up and examined one-by-one

!

Only the food items though?

Once deliberately bought Ben & Jerrys choc fudge brownie, red wine, condoms, and moist toilet tissue and nothing else.

Would have been pretty embarrassing if you'd accidentally bought them.

I abhor waiting in lines, period. Anything that reduces that is a-okay with me; in my experience, the self-service lines are always faster than the other lines.

to be fair, having a polite/kind moment with a cashier can totally brighten my day too, and i'm not trying to say that it isn't a nice thing when it happens, it's just usually i'm too distracted or tired to be genuine about it, which ends up making the whole mini-exchange feel off.

x-post haha that's exactly the kind of maladjusted grocery shopping i somehow always end up doing that makes me feel self-conscious!

minus the condoms ;_;

online food shopping ftw. i might only do it once a month but altho you've already paid for the stuff when the guy delivers it you can still have a brief polit convo with them if that is your wish.

online / delivery is AMAZING.

I mean, if all of the self-service lines are backed up and the cashier's line is empty or about to be empty, I am going there (unless I have done the scanner thing, in which case you have to go through a self-service line as far as I know). It isn't about automatic vs person, it's about which one is getting me out of this store the fastest because my time is too precious to me for me to spend it standing in a fucking line unless there is a rollercoaster on the other end.

xp: I would totally still be doing online delivery if they hadn't started instituting delivery fees on it!

i don't feel truly alive unless i've killed the eggs myself

Waitrose staff are nice, it's the clientele that's the problem

up yours peasant

it makes absolutely no difference to me if the cashier is surly & unpleasant or if they try to make small talk, as long as they do their job well and QUICKLY - it is not part of their job to be nice to me.

and yeah, fuck waiting in queues.

xp yeah online deliveries ftw! best thing about sainsburys deliveries is that they give you a £10 voucher if they're late, and they're ALWAYS late so that pays for the delivery fee and more.

(I have never bought anything at the IKEA in Stoughton because every time we've gone, the checkout line has been 45 minutes long. Fuck that.)

obv i don't really make an effort to converse with the sainsburys dudes when they deliver the stuff apart from telling them where to put all the bags

if any of them tried to ask me what i was asking for dinner i would consider that really rather impertinent tbh

*eating!

I'd be into food deliv but I've never lived in a neighborhood where I could get it! They seem to move in as I move out. Maybe I should take a hint?

Plus my friend who is a food-policy person says that the amount of extra boxing and packaging they do to your groceries is criminal -- I haven't seen for myself but it could be a concern for some people.

what if they were hot, lex?

dill in a box

they're never hot

xp

Plus my friend who is a food-policy person says that the amount of extra boxing and packaging they do to your groceries is criminal

you can usually give them back the previous delivery bags the next time you use them. i don't think there's any extra packaging issue with the one i use.

hey if lex figures out how to avoid human interaction completely, we will all be winners

Plus my friend who is a food-policy person says that the amount of extra boxing and packaging they do to your groceries is criminal -- I haven't seen for myself but it could be a concern for some people.

You can tick a box to ask for no bags at Tesco (and presumably the others in the UK)

Love 'em!

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/cashier-3-g.jpg

this not do it for ya, lex

they do underpack bags tho in my experience, giving you more to return than is necessary really. xp

hey if lex figures out how to avoid human interaction completely, we will all be winners

― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, March 17, 2009 4:45 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^the kind of thing that nick should really find sad and poignant. not even a zing, just being a contemptible dickhead

ahhh human interaction

Well, that burger's still not going to flip itself.

I think they do at Burger King and other places that use gas flame instead of hot griddle! But they still don't assemble themselves.

online / delivery is AMAZING.

i did online/delivery from vons a few times but i stopped because they sent everything in double plastic bags. i would prefer a costco-type approach where they pack your groceries in reused cardboard boxes.

when i get my spud deliveries it's all in one cardboard box, which i return to them when they deliver the next batch.