On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:45:46 -0800 (PST), aem wrote:

> I see we have two perennial favorites this morning, cast iron skillets
> and boiled eggs. Surely the surly server thread cannot be far
> behind.

It's about time for another grocery store checkstand thread. That's
always good for about 200+ posts.

Why I don't use the self-checkout lanes: Because whenever we
civilized people try and form one line that feeds all 4 checkstands
in that area, some idiot cretin comes up and tries to start their
own single line behind the checkstand of the person most likely to
finish checking out next. And they know damn well there's a proper
line just 3 feet to their left or right with people already waiting.

And the grocery store doesn't make it clear that we are to form
*one* line, not *four* lines.

And there's no way to judge how long it will take people to check
out at those things. There's all sorts of things that can go wrong
with the process and those machines that delays them from checking
out.

So I play it safe and use the old-fashioned, manned checkstands.
more predictable.

-sw