I stopped by Country Mart mid-week, to pick up a few items. Bananas and onions and Hawaiian Mini Sub Rolls and Hick's individual ice cream cups with swirls of chocolate and strawberry. It all fit in the child seat of my cart.
I always use my debit card at Country Mart. For all groceries, actually. Country Mart doesn't have a chip reader, so I have to scan the magnetic strip. I know the routine.
They usually have two registers open, but on this day, only one. I got in line behind a middle-aged couple paying, and a man with half a cart full after them. A lady was coming up behind me, but not there yet. Just then, the P.A. system asked a gal to open the next register. The Half Cart guy looked around, and I backed up to let him out.
"You were next. Go ahead."
He wasted no time switching lines. I'm pretty sure he didn't give me a thank-you nod.
I moved on up to be next, and the lady who'd gotten behind me switched to Half Cart's line. So each line had two customers. My Mid-Couple were having trouble paying. The card reader was not recognizing their debit card. I'd had the same problem there the week before. At that very register.
"Turn it off and back on again," called the lady working the service desk. That's what they'd done the week before, and it took me three tries for my card to work.
"Should I just go out and get a check?" I asked the checker while she was waiting for her electronics to come back on.
"Maybe..."
I pulled out of line and parked my cart off to the side. By the time I reached the door, the Checker, the Service Lady, and the Mid-Couple Wife all hollered,
"WAIT, WAIT! It's working now!"
So I turned around, went to my cart, and got back in line.
"But now it's not," said Checker.
"I'll just go get a check."
I parked my cart again, and went out to T-Hoe. Of course my clicker didn't work, so I had to walk around to the driver's side and use the key, then climb halfway in to reach over the console to get my checkbook.
Back inside, I grabbed my parked cart, and just as I turned it to get in line, a man with an overflowing cart of a full month's groceries rolled up to the conveyor ahead of me. Huh. Too bad you can't have savesies, and mark your spot in line with a slice of pizza and a bag of jerky, like those line-jumpers try at Casey's.
Oh, well. I wasn't overly put-out. Third time wasn't a charm for me getting in that line. I moved over to the other line, thinking that surely it would move faster. The Mid-Couple were still trying to pay at the first one.
Oh, no! The Half Cart Man was still at the second register. It, too, was having problems. While I stood there, Half Cart Man tried his debit card, then two different credit cards. That card reader wasn't having them. That other lady was between me and him. She had only a gallon of bleach, a gallon of milk, and some Bounce fabric softener. I'm glad I wasn't invited to dinner at HER house! This checker was also given the advice to turn her register off and back on.
Two Gallon Bounce Gal turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. "Should we try the other line?" Which at this point only had Overflowing Cart Man. The register must have been working, because the Mid-Couple managed to pay.
"I think so!"
Of course I got there first. But I insisted that Two Gallon Bounce Gal go ahead of me.
"You have fewer items, and you were ahead of me."
"Well, you were actually ahead of ME the first time. Before you parked your cart. I saw that guy get ahead of you right when you got back!"
"Oh, well. What are ya gonna do? I didn't even NEED these things today! They could easily have waited a day or two. If I'd known, I would not have come in here. This ice cream is probably soup now. No big deal. It's only for my husband."
Anyhoo... Two Gallon Bounce Gal decided to pay with cash. DANG IT! Why didn't I think to bring in cash when I went outside? What if the check-reader didn't work, either? I don't carry cash in my checkbook. It's jammed down in the side of my purse.
Just then, Checker said, "Oh, the card reader is working now."
Two Gallon Bounce Gal turned to smirk at me. Conspiratorily, not insultingly. Like, 'Isn't that always how it goes?'
Huh. Checker wasn't tricking me into that! No siree, Bob! I already had my check filled out, from waiting in the other line. All it needed was the amount. Val isn't gonna be one of those people who only start filling out the check when they get all their bags in the cart!
I paid by check and got out of there. The temperature was 87 degrees. My blood was probably three times that, near to boiling. But I kept my cool.
As long as the employees are polite, and keep me informed, I don't flip out. Besides, you never know when I might want to run for Backroads Citizen of the Year.
Not the checkers fault, probably, but why people with a full cart rush to get ahead of someone with just a few is beyond me. Everything is a contest for some people.
ReplyDeleteSome people wait for the final total and then and only then open their pocketbook, pull out their purse and dilly dally to get the most exact change possible...but that never bothers me.
I found it was usually the oldest customers, the really elderly, that would do that and I was patient with them because I know I will be elderly and shopping myself one day, but younger ones who did that, I'd be outwardly patient and inwardly hoping they'd get in their car and the wheels would drop off.
DeleteI find that women are more likely to let others go ahead of them in line. Men are the top competitors. But women are more likely to dig for change or write a check at the last minute.
DeleteNot the women in NJ!
DeleteThe women in NJ must be all hopped-up on Dirty Water Cocktails, or they've had enough of JERKS trying to cut in front of them in line!
DeleteThe system was full. It can only take so much data at once. They were either downloading or messing with something at headquarters. A computer can only read a 1 or 0 is it on or off then convert to ascii then to machine language and then to code. It cannot think in a logistical way, if too much data is entered it slows down, then crawls and then chooses one bite at a time. If the bite does not complete to any thing the computer recognizes it is spit out over and over. We thought computers would make our lives easier....
ReplyDeleteIt's funny (peculiar, not ha-ha) that this has happened the last three times I was there. I know it was different days of the week, but generally around the same time, between noon and 1:00. You'd think they could find a better time to do stuff like that.
DeleteI remember our card readers very occasionally not working, because they pick up all kinds of grime from people's cards, so we'd cover a card with some sort of wipe, like the ones used for glasses, "lens wipe" or similar. and run it through the stripe reader a couple of times real quick and it would be okay after that. Maybe you could mention that to the checkers or the supervisor. I was thinking all through this why not just pay with cash, but then you said you don't carry it in there. That's a shame, it's so much quicker, but then we wouldn't get a blog post....
ReplyDeleteThe checker did come around and take the Mid-Couple's card and run it through real quick a couple times. I don't know if she wiped it with anything.
DeleteI might have to change my habits and take cash in there. It's just hard to plan my cash budget when I don't know what I might pop in there for through the week.
I was at Sam's picking up my photos whent he clerk said, "My register isn't open yet." WHat?! How do they work until late afternoon without a register? I can imagine your frustration.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they were like the Seinfeld car rental company that TOOK reservations, but didn't HOLD reservations. Sam's took in photos, but wasn't ready to give out photos!
DeleteWe got the square for the cell phone to process credit cards. Well, HeWho did this without consulting me. It eliminates using a processing company and saves money. However …. I always have the phone, being the only one to answer the business line and the square thingie can't just stay on the phone. You have to remove it in order to answer the phone, making it another small thing to keep up with. I hated it and it was not easy to use. We ordered a desk top unit and it is super fast …. when it works. It tends to go off line after each use and I have to reboot it. In the time it takes to reboot you can write out a check in slow motion. I am sure there must be a way to program the thing so that it does not go offline after each and every sale. Like all instruction manuals in our home and office -it seems to have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure HeWho was "just helping you" with that square. He might have put away the instruction manual to help you, too! Okay. That's a stretch, a man putting something away.
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