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the end is near - October 14, 2004 � � |
21st century shopping
April 17, 2003 - 3:45 pm ah, the future. flying cars, meals in capsule form, vacations on the moon. this is what we all thought the future would be like. and i'm still waiting. but there are a few things that are shaping up to be very 1984-like. when i stopped in to buy groceries this morning to the new fortinos. lo and behold what was at the front of the store? yep, automated cahiers. now before you say, pffftt! like that was so 1999. i know i know i have seen them before (and used them ) so it's not a complete freak-out. but these machines needed a instruction manual to go with them. if you think you're going to save time by using one right off the bat, forget it! as with everything in the modern world, you have to practice it a half dozen times to get it right. but these "cashiers" have a few problems that their american counterparts do not. some examples: well, for one it's too complicated. dumb it down for the less educated(i.e. me) all of the fruits & veggies have a four digit code pasted on them so you can punch it in and have it weighed. i think the machine should be smarter then that. just have some futuristic scanner scan the shape and be done with these foolish codes! and what's with the "you have to put your groceries in the bag first before you can do anything else!??!" what? the machine doesn't do that for you? what the fuck? i didn't get that one at all. i also think my grocery receipt was inflated(as were all the prices) to pay for these ten new cashiers. i also had tons of food to buy. but kudos to the giant supermarket chain for putting the heart in grocery store and having "customer service people" all over the place in case you fuck up and start crying at the check out. cuz this cashier isn't going to hand you a tissue. the woman who help me was patient and very helpful. so thanks goes out to her. don't know if i'll ever use it again. i'll just stick to the ones that giant eagle has. now that's an automated cahier. |
