Supermarket shopper fumes over 'stupid' self-checkout rule - and others agree
Story by Danielle Kate
Sometimes, if you're in a rush at a shop, the self-checkout seems like a logical option, rather than getting into the big queues where people are buying hundreds of pounds worth of stuff. You can quickly scan your items, bag them up, grab the receipt, and then be on your way.
But sometimes it doesn't go to plan as one woman found out when she was asked for her receipt in a store - and she took to Facebook to fume that shop workers were making customers line up to have their proof of purchase checked. She was left wondering how the process is smoother if shoppers are not trusted to pay, questioning why manned cashiers had been removed.
The woman, who lives in Australia, penned a letter to the store on social media, writing: "Dear Kmart, Coles, Woolworths etc etc and all other stores that have self-checkout - You are almost exclusively self-checkout now. The last time I was there the lady checking receipts at the exit was stopping everyone. I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, so I just skipped the exit line and left. I heard her saying 'Ma'am' as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store. - You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be. I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you. If you want me to be a cashier with no training then that's your problem, not mine. Don't audit me for a position you refuse to employ any longer. Signed, All of us."
In the comments, people agreed that things are not what they used to be, with one writing: "Unfortunately, we finally accept this as normal. Remember when somebody would fill your petrol tank, check your tyres, etc?"
Someone else commented: "I go through the self-checkouts and tell the attendant I don't know how to do it and they do it for me".
Totally agree!!!", someone responded to the letter, "I don't use self-checkout ever. I feel it is taking jobs away from people. It's just another way the large companies can save money and make more profits. A lot of the time the lines are longer than the manned checkouts also."
A furious shopper said: "I always have a problem at self-checkouts which makes it less speedy and more stressful for me - your customer!",
and another fumed:
"Worst thing they ever bought in. The old system worked perfectly well, why change it? Oh, that's right, by having less staff the company makes more profit!"
A Kmart spokesperson told the Daily Mail Australia, saying that they want to make the shopping experience both "enjoyable and convenient" for the customer. They introduced them for a more "efficient" service, especially in "peak trading periods." "We will always have a Kmart team member available to support customers putting through transactions if they would like", they shared.
John Bellamy - as usual - has a comment to add ---------------------------------------------------------------------
I asked my aged Mother decades ago why she went shopping every day - even if just for something small, and she said that if she didn't then she never saw people and never talked and being served by a staff member on the till means she can chat and doing it all herself on these self service tills means she cannot chat and is left lonely.
It may sound sad, but millions of elderly people are lonely and go out during the day - to the library or Tesco or some other venue where - for whatever reason, they can chat - and under the present climate of utility costs, probably stay the day in the library as its warm and they don't have to pout their heating on.
I am often asked by elderly ladies if I can reach an item on a high shelf for them when in a supermarket and I always stop and chat and see if they want to continue the chat after I have given them their item, and often, they just make small talk BUT WANT TO TALK - they have little opportunities and taking away the till girls is a loss for many.
My first year at Hamilton Hall, next door was an old peoples care home and I invited them all in pre Christmas for a grand tea party - and every single one of the elderly wanted to talk with me, share with me, as they are not just old people, they are people who had and always had - a voice - and now they are old feel it is lost and unwanted and they all just wanted to talk about themselves as NOT being just an old lady, but how they had a life, jobs, children etc. and I am reminded of the poem below - I think I shared it with you a little time ago. ------------------------------------------
"Crabbit Old Woman"
By: Phyllis McCormack
What do you see, nurse, what do you see?
What are you thinking, when you look at me.
A crabbit old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice, I do wish you'd try.
Who seems not to notice the things that you do
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.
Who, unresisting or not; lets you do as you will
With bathing and feeding the long day is fill.
Is that what you're thinking,
Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, you're looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still!
As I rise at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of 10 with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who loved one another
A young girl of 16 with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet,
A bride soon at 20 - my heart gives a leap,
Recalling the vows that I promised to keep.
At 25 now I have young of my own
Who need me to build a secure happy home;
A woman of 30, my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last;
At 40, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man is beside me to see I don't mourn;
At 50 once more babies play around my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead, I
look at the future, I shudder with dread,
For my young are all rearing young ones of their own.
And I think of the years and the love that I've known;
I'm an old woman now and nature is cruel
Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart,
But inside this old carcass, a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells,
I remember the joy, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years all too few- gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last
So open your eyes, nurse, open and see,
Not a crabbit old woman, look closer
See Me.
--------------------------------
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