"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Do you use self-checkout kiosks at stores? That was the question on a survey touted by many media outlets as filler material recently.

Most responses included the fact that an interaction with a cashier was much more pleasant and satisfying.

They didn't say much about the interaction with the self-checkout machine. My few experiences with such a device went like this:

 

"You are ready to scan your items."

"Are you ready to scan your items?"

 

Well yes, you just told me I was.

 

"Please scan your first item."

Beep!

"Place the item in the bag, <pause> scan the next item."

 

Beep!

 

"Place the item in the bag. <pause> you did not scan the item."

"The items in the bag weigh heavier than the items you scanned."
"Please re-scan the last item."

Beep!

 

"Thank you. <pause> Place the item in the bag."

"Do not remove the bag!"

 

I never touched the freakin' bag.

 

"Please scan the next item. Press finish if you are finished."

 

Looking for button. There is ,<Exit>,< End>,< Stop>, but no <Finish>. I try <End>.

 

"You cannot end the transaction. You have scanned items that have not been paid for."

 

So I press<End>.

 

"Do not press end. Scanned items need to be paid for."

 

I do nothing. Just stand and look at the LCD display.

 

"Please select method of payment."

 

I knew it would come around eventually. I select Credit Card.

 

"Please insert your card."

 

Card inserted.

 

"I am unable to read your card, please insert the card according to the diagram."

 

I flip it around the other way.

 

"I am unable to read your card, please insert the card according to the diagram."

 

"Your card is unreadable. Please stand by. An attendant will be with you shortly."

 

My half dozen tries at using self-checkouts all went something like this, unless I had only one single item. If the attendant was there and walked me through the whole process, it worked every time.

So for the people of that survey that said they prefer the interaction with a cashier, try self checkout. You get a much more involved interaction. I guarantee you will talk to the machine. You will talk to yourself. And you also get to talk to the attendant cashier once she/he gets finished with the other six customers.

What better interaction is there than that?

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This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License