Yesterday we visited my parents’

October 28th 2002 at 1:12 am

Yesterday we visited my parents’ new house, a parsonage (my stepdad has become a pastor). It was big, real neat. On the way home we did shopping, and my sister had us go through the self-checkout lane.

These things are popping up all over, I remember a long rant from a friend one late night about how they were going to replace cashiers and baggers, and that was A Bad Thing. He went on in similar Luddite fashion (in the most technical sense of the term. He didn’t mind the tech, just the fact that his job, bag-boy/cashier, might be on its way out).

I don’t know.

Have you ever watched a line of people go through one of these things? It’s amazingly slow. Orders of magnitude slower. These same people wouldn’t hesitate to bitch about slow cashiers and bag boys, complain about service, are even more incompetent at doing this job. One that they deem basic, easy, and too ‘low’ for them to have (but okay for teenages, retirees, and immigrants). They have trouble getting the items to scan, are confused about where to pay, fumble around with the bags and drop groceries. The act of scanning, paying, and bagging at the same time is, laughably enough, too much for them.

This, of course, includes me.

Luckily there is a girl standing there behind a booth ready to swoop in and give aid. She had the codes to items with no barcode, and could help 3-4 groups through at the same time.

A cashier, in other words.

Even though she looked as harried as any other cashier, the tables are at least turned. We have to ask -her- for help now, acknowleding her knowledge and skills for what they are, however grudgingly, or low we hold them.

This why automatic checkout lanes amuse me. And I somehow don’t think we’ll see cashiers entirely disappear just yet.

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