Checkout tills

[FloraPostalOrder]

I've read lots of threads on here, over the years, complaining about women checking out at supermarkets. The complaint, or question, is often "Why do people seem shocked at the end, as if they're surprised that they're expected to pay?" Why do they have to fumble in their bag to get their purse out? Why don't they have their money or card ready? Why do they wait until the very last minute? Why do they keep everybody else waiting?

Answer: They are not surprised that they are expected to pay.

What I'm hearing is "I've only got one item and I'm paying by contactless, so hurry the fuck up"

Well it's confounding me, because even when you don't have children with you (which makes it even harder) you have to unload onto the belt, then get your bags open in the trolley to receive your purchases, then pack as they are flung down the belt, trying all the time to guesstimate weight of items so that bags are of equal carryableness. put cold stuff altogether to avoid thawing.

Then, as you are tucking the last item in the only available place you can find, the cashier tells you that's £92.50 please. Your back is now a bit achy, you stand up straight, to stretch it out a bit while you open your bag for your cash/card. And somebody behind you who has one item and contactless card in hand is thinking "Why hasn't she got the money ready?? Didn't she realise she'd have to pay!!??"

I've seen this complaint so often.

If you have a lot of shopping to load onto conveyor and then pack into bags, are you supposed to do it purse in hand? What is so irritating to see a fellow human being do a huge family shop single handed, and then take an extra 30 seconds to open bag and locate method of payment?

How can you 'have your money ready' when you are engaged in unloading and packing?

I'd like to hear some opinions.

Nobody would ever be bothered about someone taking a "few seconds" to open their purse. But it never is a few seconds

Of course it is. Even if someone was looking for their purse in the bottom of the bag, how long do you think this is going to take?!

Count out 10 seconds. That is a long time to find your purse. Are you saying that you’d be angry at someone taking that amount of time?

The angry people need to do online shopping and stay out of the supermarket.

I used to panic and rush but now I think bollocks, somebody else's schedule is of no relevance or more importance than mine.
I also no longer get flustered or embarrassed if one of my young children starts being demonic.
Going shopping has to pass as going out for me these days so I'm not that bothered if I cause someone a 'tut' moment

What's the reason people are still doing a big shop themselves by going to the supermarket?

I like to choose my own meat and vegetables and as I'm going for them I might as well get the rest while I'm there. And it doesn't cost me £2.50 in petrol either, I have an enormo-Tesco, Lidl, Food Warehouse (and a bog standard Iceland), Farmfoods and Aldi within half a mile of home (and an M&S though I never set foot in it). More like 50p petrol. Plus I'd miss any salmonella corner bargains if I ordered online, and I can be home with a week's worth of shopping in half an hour, it'd take me almost as long to faff around ordering online.

There is no way in hell I'm leaving my purse sitting on the packing area, it stays firmly in my bag/pocket until it is time to pay, and I pay cash, and use coupons, and always chat to cashiers even if they aren't related to me. The last thing I want is someone else doing my packing as they don't know which items belong in which bag, I pack according to which cupboard they go in when I get home, can't imagine anything worse.

The good news for impatient types is when it comes to enormo-Tesco I scan as I shop.

Actually what annoys me more is Sainsbury scan and shop.

You can scan youself as you go around - but you still have to queue at the self service tills to check out.

I prefer it when there are dedicated tills just for scan and shop which normal customers are not allowed to use.

That genuinely does save time.

Another point of view - I'm a checkout operator and suffer from repetitive strain injury in my arms, as many of us do. It's quite nice to have a minute to recover before starting on the next lot! If you're in that much of a rush to to a self checkout or scan as you go (especially if you're a grumpy bugger!)

It makes me laugh when people ask why I do a main supermarket shop in tne supermarket and not online ermbecause that's the whole point of having supermarkets and why they are stocked the way they are. 😂 .

Everyone’s entitled to shop where they like but if they’re going to go in the supermarket they have to make allowances for people and not expect everyone to pack and pay like they do.

I use my phone to pay and it’s always in my pocket so easy to slide my hand into my pocket and pay without fumbling. I do my weekly shop in Aldi and find it really stressful at times, the cashiers make me feel like I’m on Supermarket Sweep .

Are you taking a while so you can talk to your SIL?

No, that was tongue in cheek. A bit of sarcasm. A joke. I don't know any checkout operators well enough to chat to.

l work on a supermarket checkout. As you can imagine, at this time of year, it's busy.
At busy times, there can be 3 people queueing at a till with their shopping. They can stand there waiting for a good 5-10 minutes while the people in front of them are served, longer if people have a full trolley.
Almost without fail, when you total their shopping up, ask if they have a loyalty card, and tell them how much it is, they look surprised and say "Oh! l've got one somewhere...."
WHY?! They've stood there watching other people pay for their shopping. l'm assuming it's something they do at least once a week. Why wait until it's time to pay to start searching for purses/wallets/cards? lt's hardly a surprise. l've had people say "oh, l've got my bag in the bottom of the trolley" and they've put their shopping on top of it. A full trolley. They'll start searching through god knows how many bits of paper looking for coupons and vouchers.
lt makes no difference to me. l'm getting paid to sit there. But when l go shopping, while l'm waiting, l get out my purse. lf it's a shop with a loyalty card, l hand that to the cashier before they start scanning my shopping, then l can put it away.
lt's hardly rocket science.

@ACautionaryTale we have 2 Sainsbury's within a mile. 1 has separate checkouts for scan and shop and the other doesn't. I'd assume it's dependant on slave

Or maybe dependent on space

@FloraPostalOrder

No, that was tongue in cheek. A bit of sarcasm. A joke. I don't know any checkout operators well enough to chat to.

So when you said ‘I wouldn't be able to chat to the checkout lady, who happens to be my sister in law.’ that was a lie? You are very strange OP.

And also noted you’re not saying how old you are. If we assume MNers are around 30-40, and you’re telling us to ‘give it 50 years’ then that would make you 80-90.

Why all the lies on such a mundane topic?

you’re telling us to ‘give it 50 years’ then that would make you 80-90
Not necessarily. It would mean I guess one gets slower as one ages. Not that I'm aged. And also that most posters are under 40. I know innately that older people appreciate tolerance. You don't have to be it to know it.

Maybe that comes with age. You'll appreciate some tolerance in 50 years time.

Nope, you’re definitely implying you’ve got 50 years on most people on the thread.

I'm with Minerva. You're out and out lying to try to prove your mundane point. Weird.

Are you taking a while so you can talk to your SIL?
No, that was tongue in cheek. A bit of sarcasm. A joke. I don't know any checkout operators well enough to chat to.

You're not in Norfolk then! So many checkout operators actually stop swiping goods through to chat to the customer.

What really gives me the rage is people with those big handbags who can't find things. My mother is one and even at the kitchen table the faffing around to find something just annoys the bejimminies out of me!

My handbag is ordered. I don't have to look to instantly get what I am after.

Don't get me started on the people using public transport who don't have their travel cards out when the bus arrives - and then dig through their bottomless pit of a handbag to try and find it, holding everyone up. Is it a surprise you are catching the bus? No, it isn't. Handbags usually have a handy little zipped pocket - put your stupid card in that!

Nope, you’re definitely implying you’ve got 50 years on most people on the thread

Nope. You inferred it.

Put purse or card under bra strap whilst scanning. No need for hands
.
Thats disgusting,as someone who worked checkouts for years that used to make me gag.

I had rules on my checkout
1.I wouldnt serve you until you got off your phone
2.If you went back for 1 item and got lost,i would let the next person go.
3.I dont do smalltalk.
4.If you where on top of the person in front,i would ask you to step back.

I gave the change back the way i got it.

I often walk around with either my purse or myphone under my bra strap.

My mother used to do it as a kid so I think I learnt it from her - and no one is going to steal it.

I also prefer not to carry a bloody handbag so if I dont have a coat (which I rarely do as I don't feel the cold) bra strap it is due to womens clothing having no pockets

had rules on my checkout
1.I wouldnt serve you until you got off your phone

Wow! As long as they are not taking up your time by making you wait you cannot police this.

@refraction i did it because they where dIstracted.So they left their wallet behind,never took their change. And i got the blame.Plus to be fair its very rude of them to talk to someone else while im trying to serve them.

Card under bra strap? Then you hand that over??
This thread is so strange

@nosauce. no ten seconds is not a lot of time, and I wouldn't be angry with someone who literally took ten seconds between cashier saying "x amount" and them being presented with method of payment. Can't imagine anyone would and it they are then they are unreasonable.

But that's not what the thread is about.
It's "x amount" THEN
ten seconds fumbling in pockets before realising purse is in bag
ten seconds moving packed bags out of the way because handbag is underneath
ten seconds rifling through bag to find purse
ten seconds of looking for vouchers
ten seconds fingering through notes
ten seconds counting out change THEN realising they don't have enough
ten seconds choosing card
ten seconds trying to remember pin
ten seconds standing there gormlessly while not realising nothing's happening
ten seconds arguing when cashier reminds them they have to press enter "I did"
ten seconds carefully folding up receipt, replacing card in purse, purse in bag
THEN continuing to pack their stuff, despite the fact husband has stood there uselessly while this whole furore has been going on and could have finished by now

exact transcript of the person I was stuck behind yesterday btw