I recently went to the local Action, and it turns out they were 'running an experiment': They want to push people to the self checkout as much as possible, so

I recently went to the local Action, and it turns out they were 'running an experiment': They want to push people to the self checkout as much as possible, so they actually decided to close cashier checkouts for everyone paying with cards. In fact, all cashier checkouts were simply closed, and if you wanted to pay with cash, they had to call around to find a cashier and open one. Self checkout zone looked like a slice of hell. All self checkout machines were non stop signalling they needed attention from the cashier. The only available cashier, a young girl, was running around like crazy, everybody angry at her, and she was excusing herself to all clients. She was completely exhausted. There was a long row behind the self check out. I want to buy an USB stick. These are only available at cashier checkouts, and I am not allowed there unless I pay with paper money - this was confirmed by another staff member. I kid you not, you actually can't buy an USB stick anymore, except with cash. So I hid my purchases in a corner (with an OK from their staff of course), went outside the shop, used my bank card at an ATM to get some paper money, went back inside the shop. The girl opened a cashier checkout, gave me the USB stick, and I paid cash and got my change. She actually looked glad to be anywhere else than in self checkout hell for a minute. Meanwhile, multiple people were actually literally screaming for attention in the self checkout zone. When we got back, all 6 self checkout machines were blocked for some dumb whiney reason, and everyone was glaring angrily at both of us for the additional delay. The basic idea for a shop is: I get stuff, they get money. It seems a lot of the big chains are so far gone trying to optimize whatever metric, they forgot this basic idea.