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Halx · 05-28-2007, 03:35 PM

I'm a big proponent for making technology available to the people. That's primarily because I want to use it. Because I know I can. The problem lies within the times when people who have no idea how technology works actually try to do something with it.

Case in point: Self check-out lanes at the grocery store.

Before just now, I had actually only seen this in action once before, and that was almost as stupid as the scene I have just witnessed. My local grocery store has dove head-long into this new craze by converting 4 of their 10 lanes into self checkout. I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference considering I've never seen more than 5 lanes in operation at a time. Now, not only will the old senile rickety delivery-ordering check-writers slow you down if you try to go through the regular checkout lanes, all of the slackwitted just-give-me-a-minute-and-I'll-figure-this-out starbucks philosophers will slow you down if you try the new method.

I listened to my music through my earphones and just observed. Ahead of me was a couple of 20-something female roommates, who were waiting for an unpleasant looking kid to press the right combination of keys and swipe the plastic at precisely the right moment to allow his credit card to be charged for his order that I don't want to know how long it took to tally up. Before I diverted my attention away from him, he had swiped his card at least 3 times, shaking his head in frustration after each.

To my left was a line of two people, waiting for a couple of aging baby boomers to reconcile their lack of familiarity with modernity. The baby boomers were at the tail end of their order, but I felt confident that my line was going to go faster. After all, the two people in front of me were of my own generation and the boomers had a problem. Their screen was telling them to remove the item from the scanner. Without an item in her hand, the check-out jockey was totally confused. She paced back and forth, back and forth, back and forth between the pile of waiting-to-be-checked groceries and the scanner, wondering what was blocking her progress. She then hovered at the scanner and looked around with a thoroughly confused expression.

I couldn't take it anymore. "Your keys... take your keys off the scanner." You see, this common grazing mammal had her house keys resting on the scanner and never once thought that they might possibly interfere with the order. Once she lifted them up, things were ok.

It was the girls' turn in front of me so I continued to watch. After they had scanned their girly magazines and lip gloss, they tried to apply their savings club discount by scanning their club card. Apparently to them, scanning means mashing the bar code against the bottom scanning glass and sliding it back and forth vigorously while waiting for a beep. Seeing this, I writhed in physical pain. Yes pain. I had a sun burn on my shoulders and was wearing a backpack. This waiting wasn't helping. She continued to wave, flick and shake the card against the bottom scanner without success. I suppose that second, vertical scanner is just auxillary, right? Those scanners can read shit going lightning fast anyways, you know, at any orientation.

I was about to speak up, but they gave up and decided to just pay. I didn't keep quiet for long though. As their fingers hovered over the keypad for a minute in search of the BIG GREEN BUTTON that said OK, I HAD to point it out. I mean, anything that I could do to speed my own trip up was necessary.

I walked up to the kiosk, rang my items up and paid without problem.

It brought a few thoughts to my head. First, this makes shoplifting so much easier. Second, no matter how long those check out lines remain there, there will always be someone experiencing it for the first time. Third, there will always be people who need to experience it more than twice to fully understand it. Fourth, why can't people understand that technology may be advanced, but you still have to approach it like an autistic 4 year old. Take it slow.

05-28-2007, 03:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
Halx Please touch this. Owner/Admin Location: Manhattan	Check yourself out I'm a big proponent for making technology available to the people. That's primarily because I want to use it. Because I know I can. The problem lies within the times when people who have no idea how technology works actually try to do something with it. Case in point: Self check-out lanes at the grocery store. Before just now, I had actually only seen this in action once before, and that was almost as stupid as the scene I have just witnessed. My local grocery store has dove head-long into this new craze by converting 4 of their 10 lanes into self checkout. I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference considering I've never seen more than 5 lanes in operation at a time. Now, not only will the old senile rickety delivery-ordering check-writers slow you down if you try to go through the regular checkout lanes, all of the slackwitted just-give-me-a-minute-and-I'll-figure-this-out starbucks philosophers will slow you down if you try the new method. I listened to my music through my earphones and just observed. Ahead of me was a couple of 20-something female roommates, who were waiting for an unpleasant looking kid to press the right combination of keys and swipe the plastic at precisely the right moment to allow his credit card to be charged for his order that I don't want to know how long it took to tally up. Before I diverted my attention away from him, he had swiped his card at least 3 times, shaking his head in frustration after each. To my left was a line of two people, waiting for a couple of aging baby boomers to reconcile their lack of familiarity with modernity. The baby boomers were at the tail end of their order, but I felt confident that my line was going to go faster. After all, the two people in front of me were of my own generation and the boomers had a problem. Their screen was telling them to remove the item from the scanner. Without an item in her hand, the check-out jockey was totally confused. She paced back and forth, back and forth, back and forth between the pile of waiting-to-be-checked groceries and the scanner, wondering what was blocking her progress. She then hovered at the scanner and looked around with a thoroughly confused expression. I couldn't take it anymore. "Your keys... take your keys off the scanner." You see, this common grazing mammal had her house keys resting on the scanner and never once thought that they might possibly interfere with the order. Once she lifted them up, things were ok. It was the girls' turn in front of me so I continued to watch. After they had scanned their girly magazines and lip gloss, they tried to apply their savings club discount by scanning their club card. Apparently to them, scanning means mashing the bar code against the bottom scanning glass and sliding it back and forth vigorously while waiting for a beep. Seeing this, I writhed in physical pain. Yes pain. I had a sun burn on my shoulders and was wearing a backpack. This waiting wasn't helping. She continued to wave, flick and shake the card against the bottom scanner without success. I suppose that second, vertical scanner is just auxillary, right? Those scanners can read shit going lightning fast anyways, you know, at any orientation. I was about to speak up, but they gave up and decided to just pay. I didn't keep quiet for long though. As their fingers hovered over the keypad for a minute in search of the BIG GREEN BUTTON that said OK, I HAD to point it out. I mean, anything that I could do to speed my own trip up was necessary. I walked up to the kiosk, rang my items up and paid without problem. It brought a few thoughts to my head. First, this makes shoplifting so much easier. Second, no matter how long those check out lines remain there, there will always be someone experiencing it for the first time. Third, there will always be people who need to experience it more than twice to fully understand it. Fourth, why can't people understand that technology may be advanced, but you still have to approach it like an autistic 4 year old. Take it slow. __________________ You have found this post informative. -The Administrator [Don't Feed The Animals] Last edited by Halx; 05-28-2007 at 04:14 PM..