"l, not -l" > wrote in
:

> Far worse, IMO, than the 20 item folks in the 10 item line are the
> ladies who seem surprised that they are asked to pay for their
> groceries (not sexist, just probability, since 90+% of the shoppers in
> the store are female). She stands around watching the checker scan
> the items; then, completely caught off-guard when told the total of
> her goods, spends 5 minutes rooting through her purse to find her
> wallet/credit card/checkbook.

Not something I notice much myself. However, it might be a little different
in supermarkets I frequent. I'm rarely standing around watching the
checkout operator scan. If I'm doing a large grocery shop I'm unloading my
trolley on to the belt and then heading to the other end and putting the
filled bags into my trolley before there's no room left on the little
platform thingy. I'm usually juggling money and bags at the end.

My supermarket does have a handy feature with EFTPOS now where I can swipe
my card at any time while the checkout person is scanning things - select
whether I want to pay the purchase price only or want cash out as well.
When the transaction is finalised I just select account (IIRC - might
actually do that bit earlier too) and enter PIN. If I'm doing a big shopI
can quickly swipe my card between unloading the last things onto the belt
and starting to load bags into the trolley.

--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

Core of my heart, my country! Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine she pays us back threefold.
My Country, Dorothea MacKellar, 1904