The self-checkout at the nearby Walmart has consistently failed in the same way for the last several years. Though once and awhile I try it again, it always fails immediately and so I go running for a human checker. Usually I just go straight to a human checker. I would never bother with the self checkout anyway except often there is no line there.
The failure is like this. Many if not all of the self checkout stands have an attached message:
"This Machine, Credit or Debit Cards Only"
This is no trouble for me, as I nearly always pay with credit card anyway.
The screen invites me to start checking, so I scan my first item and place it in the bag.
Immediately a huge warning consumes the screen:
"THIS SCANNER ONLY ACCEPTS CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS!!! Do you wish to continue?"
Well, I had understood that. The sign attached to the stand already gave me that message. So I press OK.
Then, immediately, the scanner has an issue with the fact there is now weight in the bag, but it hadn't yet fully checked the first item because it needed to interrupt that process to give me an unnecessary warning.
"REMOVE ITEM FROM BAG!" it insists. So I remove the item from the bag.
Then, right after I have removed the item, it completes the checkout for the first item, and finds I have attempted to remove an item which shouldn't have been removed. So now it wants a human checker to see what kind of trick I am trying to pull.
"Please wait for assistant."
Of course, the assistant is busy helping some other person, and in fact there may be several other people in line for assistance from the assistant.
So I go run for a regular human checker again.
In case this all sounds like I must be doing something wrong, I actually do try to do it differently every time, perhaps by waiting a few seconds here or there, or making sure I press the "OK" button after the no cash warning as quickly as possible.
While people talk about things like self flying cars, I'd like to point out that the self-checkout register at my local Walmart has never worked correctly, for many years now. This doesn't give me confidence about computers driving or flying cars.
Paraphrased from Hitchhiker's Guid to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Computer: I can calculate all your personality disorders to 10 decimal places!
Arthur: I wouldn't trust you to get my weight right.
The failure is like this. Many if not all of the self checkout stands have an attached message:
"This Machine, Credit or Debit Cards Only"
This is no trouble for me, as I nearly always pay with credit card anyway.
The screen invites me to start checking, so I scan my first item and place it in the bag.
Immediately a huge warning consumes the screen:
"THIS SCANNER ONLY ACCEPTS CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS!!! Do you wish to continue?"
Well, I had understood that. The sign attached to the stand already gave me that message. So I press OK.
Then, immediately, the scanner has an issue with the fact there is now weight in the bag, but it hadn't yet fully checked the first item because it needed to interrupt that process to give me an unnecessary warning.
"REMOVE ITEM FROM BAG!" it insists. So I remove the item from the bag.
Then, right after I have removed the item, it completes the checkout for the first item, and finds I have attempted to remove an item which shouldn't have been removed. So now it wants a human checker to see what kind of trick I am trying to pull.
"Please wait for assistant."
Of course, the assistant is busy helping some other person, and in fact there may be several other people in line for assistance from the assistant.
So I go run for a regular human checker again.
In case this all sounds like I must be doing something wrong, I actually do try to do it differently every time, perhaps by waiting a few seconds here or there, or making sure I press the "OK" button after the no cash warning as quickly as possible.
While people talk about things like self flying cars, I'd like to point out that the self-checkout register at my local Walmart has never worked correctly, for many years now. This doesn't give me confidence about computers driving or flying cars.
Paraphrased from Hitchhiker's Guid to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Computer: I can calculate all your personality disorders to 10 decimal places!
Arthur: I wouldn't trust you to get my weight right.
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