Entry FeedYesterday I went grocery shopping with my daughter. It was the big grocery shop, and the store was fairly empty. We had no place to be for a few hours (though I was dressed and hoping to get in a quick run). At the checkout, daughter picked the self-checkout, and I thought, hey, why not?
Why not? Because she is three and thinks she can do it all by herself! That is why not! Damn husband for not keeping her well enough entertained so she would actually want to stay home with him instead of grocery shopping with me.
She knows how to scan anything with a bar code. I remind her to, "look for the stripes." But self-checkouts at the supermarkets are complicated - you have to have the timing down pat. Scan, bag, repeat. If you try to scan two items in a row without bagging, the system shuts down.
Did I mention that this was my big, weekly grocery shop and I had a full cart, including lots of bar-codeless produce?
The employee overseeing the self checkout was very helpful, and very patient. Over a dozen times he had to refresh the system because she touched the scale, double scanned, or pressed something wrong.
After about 10 minutes, since the three checkout lanes had no customers, we had an audience. Three employees, any of whom could have had us checked out in under three minutes. All were amazed at my daughter's checkout skills; one even commented that she could be a checkout-girl in a few years.
One employee asked if I was a teacher, since I was obviously so patient.
Who me? Patient? Are you kidding me? Microwave popcorn takes too long. Answer your phone after the first ring, for goodness sake! The speed limit is 40 km/h, not 35 you idiot!
Ask my husband. Ask my friends. Ask my family. Especially ask my children. Patient is not a word that anyone who knows me would ever use to describe me.
I smiled. 17 minutes to check ourselves out.
"Well, you know," I said, "we really have no where else to be. And as long as she is having fun, why not?"