robotech_master

Happy birthday to me, la la la.

I got what might be considered a sort of birthday present today--they asked me to work an hour extra, and to cover the SCOTS registers. SCOTS stands for Self Check Out Terminal System, or something like that. It's the terminals where people bag their own stuff, then pay for it themselves; Wal-Marts have had them for quite a while, and our own store got them just a few months ago. They're really simple to use, once you get the hang of it, and I actually prefer covering them to covering a normal register. Less monotony, more to do. And they're just so neat, with all their touch-sensitive screens and things, it's almost like being in Star Trek.

Though perhaps I shouldn't enjoy working those terminals so much, as it gives me a first-hand look at how dumb people can be. You would think that anybody could work out "scan an item, bag it, and put the money in." But no. People walk up into the self-check area and stare blankly around, uncertain where they're supposed to go or what they should do. They can't figure out where they're supposed to scan things or what they're supposed to do after that. They put their purses or try to write checks on the bagging platform--which has a scale in order to count the number of items that have been bagged. Sheesh.

And then, there's the standard problem of the "buy one get one" items that absolutely do not show up in the running register total, confusing and confounding many customers. One fellow was so angry that he didn't seem to be getting the discount he was supposed to that he took all the items in his $75 purchase away to a normal register. Sigh.

My tooth still hurts, and a myriad of other little annoyances in the day have combined to put me in a slightly bad mood this evening. Maybe things will get better. One can only hope.