Entitled SC on Self Scan

[Jaspar]

Once again I found myself attending self scan today, which is fine, I love self scan. Beats sitting on a checkout for hours at a time. A bit of background here; we recently had a new head of self scan appointed, I shall call him Paddy (nothing like his real name but I think it suits him XD). Paddy was our acting front-end section leader for a time, but I didn't think much of him in that role. He just wasn't that good...

Now he's head of self scan, which just means he has the final say on any changes we want to make etc, and so far I'm pleasantly surprised. Where before I was frequently left alone on self scan with no phone, now it's compulsory to have two attendants during certain times of the day and we have our own designated phone.

So today I was there with the other attendant, he also works the customer service desk and hosts occasionally. I get on well with him. It was fairly busy, we had a fair few people with trolleys queuing and I was doing my best to direct them to suitable empty machines. I sent one lady with a trolley but only a few items to a machine on the far end (designed for baskets really, but I figured, she only has a few items, she'll be fine). She also had 3 kids with her (age range from 11-15, not too important here). Now, I sent her to the far end on purpose; because it's on the end, she could have parked her trolley beside the checkout, and she wouldn't have gotten in anybodys way. Of course, she had to park it right in front of another machine, as if nobody *really* needs to use it. But I have a queue here...

I direct another customer to the machine she is blocking, and ask her son (who is leaning on the trolley) if he would kindly move it as I had other customers who needed to be served. He did, and I moved off to assist some more people.

About 5 minutes later, most of the customers have finished and gone. This lady is still here. I start re-stacking some christmas crackers that are on the verge of falling down, when she calls me rather snappily;

'Excuse me! Come here, this machines being stupid!' I go over, log in, and have a look; it's telling her there is an unexpected item in the bagging area, and when I have a look I see the problem. One of the items was showing as not bagged but she had indeed put it in the bag. I explained this to her, and said, if you are putting it down in a bag, don't press that button (management *insist* we always explain why we are intervening, in the hope that next time, the customer won't need help).

This lady snaps at me 'I didn't press that button!' I explained quite calmly that she must have done, or the machine would not say it wasn't bagged. She became quite irate, TELLING me she didn't press the button, and I just sighed, said 'that's fine, I've sorted it now, carry on' and I turned away to resume my cracker stacking. The minute I turn my back she practically screeches 'WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?' I'm bewildered, I said nothing, and told her as much. She scowled at me and carried on scanning, and I went to vent at the other attendant who had seen the whole thing. He told me that while I was serving another customer, she had a go at him because I asked her to move her trolley. All becomes clear to me; she was being spiteful and seeking revenge for the wrong done to her, because the poor little dear thought she was the only customer in the store and didn't want to be reminded she needed to have some consideration for others by not blocking all my checkouts...

She was scowling at me all the time I was talking to my colleague, she knew I was talking about her. I expected her to go to customer services to complain about me (even though I did nothing wrong). She didn't, but the other attendant said if she had, he would have gone and ripped up the complaint form anyway. I was *hoping* she would come back so I could refuse her service...but she didn't. She just left. Had I known she had moaned about me to the other attendant, I would have refused her when she screeched at me, but at the time I was just surprised. She's definitely one to look out for in the future XD

Thanks for reading
~Jaspar xx

[Opalin]

ah, that's lovely. I am a great fan of self scans because I generally have 4-5 items and can whiz through them, but have encountered many people of which you speak. For all the tired people in line at self scans, thanks for making her move the cart.

[Jaspar]

Heh, I have no patience for people who block all the checkouts, or queue jumpers for that matter. I frequently tell people 'Excuse me, you've just walked past my queue, this person was next so you are going to have to go to the back'. They don't like it, but tough. Why should they get special treatment over those who have waited patiently...

[starsinthesky]

I love self checkout, but I never use it because I must live in numptyland. No one can figure out how to do it and I can't use it when I am buying koolaid.

[depechemodefan]

I frequently tell people 'Excuse me, you've just walked past my queue, this person was next so you are going to have to go to the back'.

This woman walked in front of the line, just put her stuff on a little basket shelf of a machine while someone was using it. I tell the lady, "this guy is next in line," (I was behind him) and the numb-nuts guy say, "I don't mind." Dude I mind.

have no patience for people who block all the checkouts

The Kroger I go to has two rows of self-scan next to each other. it's very easy for a douchebag to slant their cart so it blocks egress. One lady had her cart slanting, practically perpendicular to the machine. I see a woman trying to get out. Being a dummie I said, "oh, am I blokcing your way?" I was hoping the lady would hear, notice she was blocking the way, and move her basket. The woman who was trying to pass by said, "I'm in no hurry," and the lady looked over, saw her cart was in the way, but acted like it was my fault and the two women laughed (I imagined at me).

[Willis]

This lady snaps at me 'I didn't press that button!' I explained quite calmly that she must have done, or the machine would not say it wasn't bagged. She became quite irate, TELLING me she didn't press the button, and I just sighed, said 'that's fine, I've sorted it now, carry on' and I turned away to resume my cracker stacking.

Thanks for reading
~Jaspar xx

I always use self scan at my local grocery store. I was a cashier in my youth so I know my way around a register and self scan is not difficult. I can honestly tell you that what happened to her has happened to me countless times and I know for a fact that I never touched the screen. Not even close. Let me preface by saying though that I don't condone that woman's attitude or actions, she sounds like a witch. Anyways, I've scanned things and before I can even put it in the bag the system will lock up and say "a representative has been notified to assist you." Even if I've scanned it and put it in the bag, the system will sometimes do that and not allow you to cancel the action to call over a cashier. This is different from when the system tells you to "place the item in the bagging area". The cashiers know the system does that so they don't even bother seeing what's up they just unlock it from wherever they're standing with their remote keypad. For ours, there is a touchscreen option to call someone over for help and to cancel.

[bainsidhe]

I hoped you watched her extra close. People having issues with SCO were 10x more likely to steal, because suddenly the store owed them for the inconvenience.

[Dreamstalker]

Indeed. That, or the issue could be used as a distraction for someone else to walk out. I've been noticing people scanning crap but not putting it on the belt; the SCO voids the item, which then vanishes into a bag. Unfortunately we're not really allowed to approach SCs even if we see it happen.

My store has had a rash of what appears to be people using the self-scans to check a price; I'll be called over by the machine yammering "if you have finished scanning..." only to find an unfinished transaction and I have no idea where the customer went. There really needs to be two people keeping an eye on things over there; it gets so busy that it would be stupidly easy for a basketful of groceries to walk out while I'm helping someone else (which I'm certain has happened).

Right now I'm stationing myself in the corner by the exit door; that way I'm directly under the heating vent (yay) and I can better watch everything (the cashier station is located at the end of the row of checkouts, so I can only really see one clearly when standing there).