Thoughts on Shopping

I have noticed a trend among shoppers that really slows down the checkout process. This is what I have observed. I was at Walmart the other day, but I have seen this at many grocery stores as well. This person had a cart full of clothes and food. Items were being rung up and placed in the plastic bags in the bag-go-round device. When the clerk was all done running up the items, she announced to the purchaser that the total was $275 and change. At that moment, the woman buying the items, took her duffle-bag style purse off her shoulder and began searching for a payment method. She was pulling out loose $20 after loose $20 and when she was done handing cash over to the clerk, the clerk said that she was $45.00 short. The woman then took all the cash back and threw it into her purse and began rummaging around and came up with a credit or debit card. She inserted it in the chip reader and pulled it out too soon, so she had to place it in again and it finally worked, she was charged the proper amount, and the clerk helped load the many bags into the cart.

What bothers me about this, all too common, occurrence is that no effort was made to even decide what payment method would be used until the total was given. Cash could have been counted and cards could have been secured while the person was in line, or at least as the items started getting rung up.

At the grocery store, there is a group of people that will just stare at the clerk as things are bing rung up and when the total is announced, then they fumble around and pull out a checkbook and then find the unused check, fumble around for a pen and then begin writing the check. If a person is going to write a check, everything but the amount can be filled in prior to the total being given. Everything but the total can be filled in before they leave their home.

I suppose this is simple common courtesy to keep the line moving as fast as possible. It is rude to be the bottle neck. Granted, there are times when the customer is not at fault. The other day, items were being rung up at a grocery store and right in the middle of the process, the cash register rebooted. When it came back up, those items were hung in some limbo transaction state, so I picked up my items and moved to another register. Things happen, I understand, but people need to do their best to not be the bottle neck any line, whether it be a grocery store or a Walmart or a fast food establishment. We need to figure out what we want and how we are going to pay for it before we get up to the counter. Please!



#Thoughts on Shopping#