WIBU To ask for a different lady to scan my shopping?

[goodoldsussexbythesea]

I do my big shop in Tesco once a week. I usually have around 100 items. I do scan as you shop and I seem to get picked a lot for a random basket check. Fine.
There's one lady who always seems to be working on the self-scan when I go in. She's an older lady and she is incredibly slow. It's so frustrating as I usually don't have a lot of time.
I don't just mean a little bit slow either. I mean about 10 seconds or so between scanning each item. With lots of sighing and breaks and stopping. I think last time she could see the frustration on my face because she said "it's stressful, isn't it?" and I'm like yes... because you are being so slow (didn't say this out loud). I almost asked if she'd like to give me the scanner and let me do it for her but I didn't want to be rude.
Last time, the scanner was telling her she needed to scan over 80 items so it took absolutely forever.
And she puts it all back into the bags wrong too.

So anyway, today I went to tesco, got selected for random bag check and saw this lady was on. My heart sank. I needed to rush home and put it all way and then go on the school run. I didn't need another 20 minutes adding on. She started making her way very slowly towards me and I said, in the politest voice I could muster "do you mind if your colleauge does it?" She looked really taken back so I said "it's just I'm in a bit of a rush, sorry" I tried to look as apologetic as I could but she looked really confused and a bit upset.

The colleague heard the conversation, came over and started scanning. I was out of there and in my care in under 5 minutes.

I feel so bad though. I don't like upsetting people and I keep thinking of her face. I just couldn't do it though, it's so bloody painful.

I don't want to be mean enough to say anything to her supervisor but I really don't think she should be on that section. She should be sitting down on one of the tills, where she's not on her feet and customers haven't chosen a quicker option.

WIBU?

I don't think OP was unkind at all - she was very gentle in her trying to respond to a highly frustrating and unnecessarily time-consuming situation.

This lady will know that she's extraordinarily slow, and sadly will have been subjected to many far less gentle or understanding responses on a regular basis. A lot of people in that position would just offer her angry abuse.

You make a fair point, except in this case it was more like a couple of hours rather than a couple of minutes.

If OPs time in the day is at such a premium, why not just quickly shop the essentials during the day, and everything else online in the evening when OP seems to have plenty of time available?

I think op is exaggerating quite significantly in this post about the amout of items that need rescanning and the amount of time the older lady takes. People do this all the time "I've been waiting 10 minutes" its been 1 minute 36 seconds.

This!!

You could read the Op’s posts when she explains very clearly why she cannot use click and collect at the moment. Next you’ll tell her to cancel the cheque.

I self-scan at Sainsbury's and I find that often I get checked when I have scanned an item then changed my mind and removed it - I don't know whether Tesco has a similar trigger.

I don't want to call you stupid, but she has posted her entire week's schedule so you should be able to see why

Yes I’ve read all of her posts but still don’t really understand why. I understand the first online shop won’t work because she needs to have the full amount in her account to confirm the order but this still doesn’t explain why she can’t order one ON PAY DAY to be delivered to her home the following day. If she only has one specific time to click and collect that happens to be on pay day and there’s no same day option in her area then have it delivered to home the following day. Tesco tend to do home delivery slots from like 5am-11pm so I’m sure she could find a convenient slot.

Again, I don’t understand why this isn’t possible even given the weekly schedule.

you do know op that if you’d not said a tithing and come to vent on here you’d have been told “why didn’t you say something, the employer needs to know, this person needs to be moved”.

The member of staff is an ideal booths supermarket employee. They like to examine every item as they scan it.

On a Friday, OP is working until 12:30. Her daughter arrives home at 1pm. She goes back out to work at 4pm. During this time, she has a school run for her two other kids who come out of school at 3:25. She doesn't say how long the journeys for that school run are. However, it's likely to leave her with the specific time slot to be home for the shopping of 1-3pm. If she's ordering the day before, she has explained that she is unlikely to get this slot. There's also a possibility of this being late and arriving after she has left the house for the school run.
She has also explained that her autistic daughter, who's needs are great enough to not be able to cope in supermarkets and attend a SEN school, is used to the routine of certain items being in the house on a Thursday.

She said she needs her shop on Thursday. She also has an autistic child who expects some things to be available at home. She can’t wait until Friday.

Your thread has been derailed by people querying why you were in a hurry. I think that is irrelevant. I used scan and shop too if shopping in-store, to be quicker and more efficient. It's incredibly frustrating if you are being checked and the person scanning is very slow, or disorganised about how they do it.

To me, it sounds like you asked in a polite way and didn't say anything insulting to the other cashier. In fact you kept the focus on yourself... I am in a rush.
Hopefully she will avoid if you are selected for a random basket check again. I went through a phase of being selected and it was honestly quite annoying.

Of course, it's crucial that disabled and elderly people are not excluded from the workforce; but they do need to have roles and tasks that are appropriate for them.

Serving/assisting only three customers an hour in a big supermarket is just not going to be sustainable or practical.

I'm disabled myself, and there are plenty of things that I either can't do at all or that would take me 5 times as long as most people. That's why I chose a job that's within my capabilities and uses my strengths, which not everybody would share, rather than irritate and frustrate people by doing something that patently isn't a good fit for me.

I was going to say this. My husband insists on doing scan as you shop on his annual shop. I always use normal method (though usually I do an online shop). I honestly find the usual till method so much faster. I fling stuff in the trolley really fast and then if it’s before school collection, it’s never super busy at the tills. With the amount of times you’ve been pulled over, I’d switch method or switch supermarket. You were not unreasonable asking for someone else though.

@goodoldsussexbythesea I made a fairly glib comment at the start of the thread.

Thank you for sharing so much of your challenge. I have read all of your posts and I take my hat off to you for your resillience, keeping everything going, juggling, dping your best for your children and clearly putting them front and first in all you do. I can appreciate how frustrating it must be to have precious minutes stolen just because you are doing the budgeted weekly shop.

Obviously if your choice is between Tesco and Waitrose, changing is flying chocolate pig territory. I am sorry I suggested it. My only defence is that I have always lived in urban areas but confess on occasional holidays I have been shocked by the lack of choice/shops and distance to. I can appreciate how challenging that is.

I hope the next shopping trip is speedy and uneventful and very much that things get better for you - they should because you are obviously doing it right. Your children are very lucky to have a mum who has their backs and has removed them from a bad environment to safety.

Go well.

[Flowers]

Laughed out loud at that 🤣 🤣

Yeah Tesco will 100% let you order your shopping with no money in your account, then take it when the order is picked on the day. I get a delivery every week and I'm forever forgetting to transfer into my account, if I forget before they pick it you still have chance to transfer funds in on the day.

This has already been addressed. We've already figured out why OP couldn't do it

Hmm yeah but Tesco deliver from 5 am- 11 pm as I explained so plenty of slots either side of that routine. Also OP could buy the certain items needed on the Thursday during her usual shop and scan slot…

My DS has SEN so I fully understand the requirement for certain food items which OP could pick up quickly during the current scan and shop slot and do the big shop online to be delivered Friday. Also, after the first successful online shop she will be able to order them to be delivered on a Thursday in future. Solved.

Do you genuinely believe that a woman who works two jobs, seven days a week, is a single mother of three, a domestic abuse survivor, and has a disabled child, should be getting up at 5am to receive her shopping, with a full day ahead of her, starting work at 9am and finishing at 8:30pm and that this is more reasonable than Tesco just employing someone who can actually do their job?

Some of these responses are absolutely nuts. No YANBU OP. Slowcoach scanner lady would drive me bonkers too.

if the money not being in your accoutn is the problem, can't you just delay the shopping delivery by a day so that the money is there when you place the order?

Maybe Tesco should create a slow lane for all the shoppers on this thread who don’t want to do their shopping as painlessly and as efficiently as possible.

Then the rest of us can crack on.

I'm not surprised you get checked for your shopping frequently. I'm by no means implying you're a thief whatsoever, but, I work in retail and it's unbelievable how often people fail to scan all of their products on the self service tills, mostly on purpose I believe.
I understand you're using the scan and go, but even so, people using this are still going around scanning their own shopping, and many people will be avoiding scanning all their items (especially the dearest ones) in order to lower their shopping bill. Therefore, huge trolley filled shops are bound to be flagged often for checking.

You've said that the lady you're complaining about is usually on the scan and go, so it would likely be easier for you to anticipate you may be checked and just go to the manned tills instead.
To make life even easier for yourself if you think you'd just end up queuing at the normal tills, this is what I would do if I were you, I'd scan my own shopping quickly as I'm going around the shop, and I'd put the items in the trolley without bagging them.

When I'd finished my shopping I'd then go over to the manned tills if there's no queue and park my trolley there ready, but then I'd dash quickly to the scan and go machine to see if my scanner has been flagged, if so, I'd go back to my trolley and go through the manned checkout instead, so I wouldn't have to wait for the 'scan and go' lady to go through the items slowly.
If the scanner hasn't been flagged, I'd just transfer my shopping onto the scan and go machine, quickly go and grab my trolley, then pay and bag my shopping up, job done.

The scan and go area is usually right next to the manned tills anyway, so you're not making anyone wait whilst you hurry to check which is the best way to pay for your shopping the quickest way.