Source: u/Portarossa on Reddit, April 7, 2020.
Transcription:
‘Unexpected item in bagging area.’
It’s not unexpected, you digital fuck. You literally just told me what it is. It’s right there on the screen. I did the wavy-wave, you did the bleepy-bleep; up until the point where you decided to have an electronic stroke, things were going exactly according to plan. What you mean is that you haven’t been programmed right. Don’t go putting this on me, like I’ve somehow gone out of my way to surprise you. I’ve got places to be, man. I can’t be playing hide-the-actual-salami with the Terminator’s younger, shittier cousin.
Oh, and now you’ve sent for backup. Well done. Now I have to deal with a human person who thinks I’m either an imbecile or a thief for not being able to work what’s effectively a bathroom scale with delusions of grandeur for the fourth time.
Is this really that common? I never have issues with self checkout- but I realize that’s anecdotal…
Completely dependent on how the store programs it. There is a lot of variance. For me it seems like grocery stores are the worst where even looking funny at the thing sets it off, then like target is usually fine, and finally places like home Depot don’t even seem to have the sensors (they let you use the gun and keep things in your cart).
Definitely regional, but common enough. That has been my experience with my local chain pretty much every time, including on the way home from work this evening.
The local Loblaws near me (the Canadian devil chain) set theirs up with like a 5% weight tolerance, so if you put something down too fast? Sensors go off. Bag it then put it on the scale? Sensors go off. Manufacturer put too many chips in your package? Sensors go off.
I don’t shop there anymore
Theirs suuuuck. The ones I actually enjoy using though? Home Depot. They don’t bother with the scale weighing anything, and you get a gun to scan (with green laser sight!) so I leave most of the stuff in the cart, beep beep beep and I’m out of there. Can recommend
I agree about the Home Depot experience. The scan gun is fun and efficient. However, I’d attribute it to the impracticality of placing 12 bags of mulch on a scale rather than Home Depot truly wanting us to have a pleasant checkout experience.
I can imagine a kafkaesque nightmare where the checkout accuses you of having too much paint in a gallon can.
My local Whole Foods did a serious redesign on their self checkout (no laser gun though) and it works pretty well even with having to look up and weigh produce.
Thank God for shrinkflation am I right?
It can be, depending on the level of maintenance your particular store has for the self checkout machines. Happens to me from time to time, usually at the most messed up stores where pretty much nothing works; not even the regular cash registers.
One of the grocery stores near me is picky like this, I guess it has a camera so it guesses what you put on there and if you pick something else by searching for it then it gets upset