3 ms·

The only thing I like about self checkout is that I don't have to interact with a human if I'm buying something that might provoke comment.

Freak_NL 8y ago
Does that ever happen or is it just a fear of being judged for your purchases? Cashiers scan hundreds of items during their shift. They are not looking at the product like you do when you select it from the shelves amongst a number of alternatives; they are merely glancing at it to get the barcode oriented towards their scanner. Your curiosity tends to take a back seat with repetitive work like that (you would be mentally exhausted in an hour if you did actually 'look' at everything).
- 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
  I've had grocery store cashiers comment on my purchases, usually asking if a new product is any good. Possibly related to the fact that I'm a regular customer with a pretty regular shopping list; their attention might be focused by disrupted expectations rather than any effort to recognize each product. Unrelated to product selection, I also had one cashier somehow steer the standard small-talk exchange into saying that I need to accept Jesus. That just shows that some cashiers have no idea what is or isn't appropriate to say to a customer.
- astura 8y ago
  Some cashiers are busybodies that make comments on your purchases. The majority don't but it can be very upsetting if you do experience it. I had one question me on what I was going to do with pizza dough, which was... weird to say the least, I'd assume that someone would be making pizza with pizza dough. I've had cashiers ask me if food I was buying was good or make comments on new products they havne't seen yet. When I was a cashier I certainly looked at the products I was scanning beyond orienting to the barcode so I don't really know where you're getting that from. It wasn't "mentally exhausting" or anything either, that's a little weird to say. In fact, cashier are required to actually 'look' at the product in some amount of detail because some items need to be bagged a certain way and they need to check ID on some products, like alcohol.
amyjess 8y ago
I thought this when I first started my gender transition and I was buying women's clothing while still presenting as male (in suburban Texas at that). I insisted on using the self-checkout for a while before I eventually realized two things: 1) At the self-checkout, I'm constantly calling over the attendant anyway because the machines are shit. 2) The cashiers don't give a fuck. It's a repetitive mind-numbing job and the customers all blend together into one long miasma of scanning. Also, hilarious story: one of the first times I bought stuff, I had filled my cart with a bunch of stuff and then went to pay and found out the self-checkout was down, so I had to go to a cashier. As the cashier started scanning, I felt really embarrassed so I just blurted out "I lost a bet". That was probably the stupidest thing I could've done because now I called attention to it when it would've just blended into the miasma of scanning if I didn't. Hell, even if the cashier did notice what she was scanning before, they could've just thought I was buying stuff for my girlfriend or something, but I scuttled any chance of that happening...

Freak_NL 8y ago

Does that ever happen or is it just a fear of being judged for your purchases? Cashiers scan hundreds of items during their shift. They are not looking at the product like you do when you select it from the shelves amongst a number of alternatives; they are merely glancing at it to get the barcode oriented towards their scanner. Your curiosity tends to take a back seat with repetitive work like that (you would be mentally exhausted in an hour if you did actually 'look' at everything).

0xcde4c3db 8y ago
I've had grocery store cashiers comment on my purchases, usually asking if a new product is any good. Possibly related to the fact that I'm a regular customer with a pretty regular shopping list; their attention might be focused by disrupted expectations rather than any effort to recognize each product. Unrelated to product selection, I also had one cashier somehow steer the standard small-talk exchange into saying that I need to accept Jesus. That just shows that some cashiers have no idea what is or isn't appropriate to say to a customer.
astura 8y ago
Some cashiers are busybodies that make comments on your purchases. The majority don't but it can be very upsetting if you do experience it. I had one question me on what I was going to do with pizza dough, which was... weird to say the least, I'd assume that someone would be making pizza with pizza dough. I've had cashiers ask me if food I was buying was good or make comments on new products they havne't seen yet. When I was a cashier I certainly looked at the products I was scanning beyond orienting to the barcode so I don't really know where you're getting that from. It wasn't "mentally exhausting" or anything either, that's a little weird to say. In fact, cashier are required to actually 'look' at the product in some amount of detail because some items need to be bagged a certain way and they need to check ID on some products, like alcohol.

amyjess 8y ago

I thought this when I first started my gender transition and I was buying women's clothing while still presenting as male (in suburban Texas at that). I insisted on using the self-checkout for a while before I eventually realized two things: 1) At the self-checkout, I'm constantly calling over the attendant anyway because the machines are shit. 2) The cashiers don't give a fuck. It's a repetitive mind-numbing job and the customers all blend together into one long miasma of scanning. Also, hilarious story: one of the first times I bought stuff, I had filled my cart with a bunch of stuff and then went to pay and found out the self-checkout was down, so I had to go to a cashier. As the cashier started scanning, I felt really embarrassed so I just blurted out "I lost a bet". That was probably the stupidest thing I could've done because now I called attention to it when it would've just blended into the miasma of scanning if I didn't. Hell, even if the cashier did notice what she was scanning before, they could've just thought I was buying stuff for my girlfriend or something, but I scuttled any chance of that happening...