On Sun, 2 May 2004 at 10:20:38, wrote:

I really hate those who insist on (slowly) packing every single item away
before then deciding that they will turn to the checkout person to see how
much their bill is before eventually paying it. Although I usually keep up
with packing the stuff as it comes off the conveyor belt, I will stop and
pay as soon as the bill is ready. I can then go back to packing any
remaining items and the checkout person then has the option to wait until
I'm out of the way or start on the next person.

I try to keep up with the packing, but I do clear stuff out of the way
before I pay. Mind you, there's a woman in my local Lidl who is just so
fast at getting stuff through that you haven't a hope of keeping up with
her!

As for looking to see how much it is, well, duh! After all, if it's
more than you expected, you might decide to pay by card instead of cash
- and that means looking in a totally different part of your bag.

What annoys me is when I have put the items to buy on the conveyor belt
in the order in which I wish to put them in my shopping bag, more or
less, and the checkout operator insists on picking up all the fragile
items first!
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 8 March 2004

"Annabel Smyth" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 2 May 2004 at 10:20:38, wrote:

I try to keep up with the packing, but I do clear stuff out of the way
before I pay. Mind you, there's a woman in my local Lidl who is just so
fast at getting stuff through that you haven't a hope of keeping up with
her!

If you want to see really high speed checkout operation, try Auchan, Grande
Synthe (Dunkerque) or Carrefour, Cité Europe. Whatever you might think about
the French, they always seriously out-perform the queue-creating slowcoaches
I always seem to encounter in Tesco et al in this country!

The French also do a nice line in rollers inset into their checkouts which
make it much easier to manipulate, pack and remove your shopping (and they
often pack it for you - sensibly - as they go!)

Terry

On Mon, 3 May 2004 at 13:44:22, Terry Casey
wrote:

If you want to see really high speed checkout operation, try Auchan, Grande
Synthe (Dunkerque) or Carrefour, Cité Europe. Whatever you might think about
the French, they always seriously out-perform the queue-creating slowcoaches
I always seem to encounter in Tesco et al in this country!

The French also do a nice line in rollers inset into their checkouts which
make it much easier to manipulate, pack and remove your shopping (and they
often pack it for you - sensibly - as they go!)

Indeed, they are very nice places to shop, as the checkout operators
(being used to the English piling their trolleys high with booze, etc),
actually seem to try to be helpful, rather than the reverse! And they
don't seem to try to be hurrying you away....

I supposed I hadn't noticed that they were as quick as Lidl, since in
Lidl I usually only have a couple of items, and in Auchan or Carrefour
(the former, ideally, and Grande Synthe DEFINITELY in preference to
Coquelles/Calais), I usually have a trolley piled high (and a husband to
do the actual paying!).

This is OT, but may be of interest to some: I don't think that Auchan is
open on 31 May (which is a holiday in France as well as here), but Cite
Europe definitely is. If you're going to be there late afternoon/early
evening, see you there!
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 8 March 2004

On 29 Apr 2004 01:27:12 -0700, (CJG Now
Thankfully Living In The North) wrote:

1) Tut loudly when your valid ticket flashes up "Seek Assistance" and
then glare at you like your scum when you try and find someone to help


No, that's

Tut loudly when your mangled ticket gives 'Seek Assistance' and you
reinstert said ticket 5 times before following the prompt.....


Rob.
--
rob at robertwoolley dot co dot uk

On Sat, 01 May 2004 23:34:06 GMT,
(Nick Cooper) wrote:

On that subject, does anyone else hate those supermarkets who insist
on their staff "packing" even just your first bag of shopping?

Yes, but mainly because my issue du jour is now throwaway plastic
bags, so I salve my conscience by taking my own reusable bag(s).

Worse than staff are the ubiquitous local under-9 soccer team/baton
twirlers/Brownies that can be seen on a Saturday packing 11 items into
7 plastic bags next to a collecting bucket...

Charlie

--
Remove NO-SPOO-PLEASE from my email address to reply
Please send no unsolicited email or foodstuffs

On 29 Apr 2004 11:00:49 GMT, Niklas Karlsson wrote:

In article m, Martin Underwood wrote:

One thing that most people do manage to get right is the
stand-on-the-right-overtake-on-the-left rule on escalators on the
Underground. If only they would do the same on escalators in shops instead
of standing side-by-side blocking the whole width.

Indeed. Another thing most people get right is letting people off the
train before trying to get on.

Most of those who don't get this right (seems to be more common on NR
than on the Underground) seem to be teenagers, and some even have the
gall to be offended when I insist on getting off first.

Niklas

MOst of them seem to be a bit surprised when I get off first and they
end up near flat on their backs. 20 stone(ish) does help to clear a
path

Keith J Chesworth
www.unseenlondon.co.uk
www.blackpooltram.co.uk
www.happysnapper.com
www.boilerbill.com - main site
www.amerseyferry.co.uk

Way off topic, but I agree. Also, it is a safety risk - with the
handbrake off, a car which is rear-end shunted is much more likely to go
into the car in front of it as well, as the shock will cause the driver to
release the footbrake. Even worse, if said driver is at the front they
could be shunted into the path of oncoming traffic, making an already
unpleasant accident even worse.

I have been told that autos are less likely to be rear ended for the simple
reason that as they keep the foot brake on, the rear of the car is illuminated
and thus less likely to be hit.

In article m,
(Martin Underwood) wrote:

"Paul Oter" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 2 May 2004 10:20:38 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

I really hate those who insist on (slowly) packing every single item
away
before then deciding that they will turn to the checkout person to
see
how
much their bill is before eventually paying it. Although I usually
keep
up
with packing the stuff as it comes off the conveyor belt, I will
stop and
pay as soon as the bill is ready. I can then go back to packing any
remaining items and the checkout person then has the option to wait
until
I'm out of the way or start on the next person.


We're getting *way* off-topic, but I always wait until I have packed
every single thing in my bags before paying. It's the only sure way of
preventing the cashier starting on the next person before I've gone.

I'm just the opposite: I pay as soon as I'm asked for the very reason
that
it allows the cashier to start on the next person's shopping and avoids
holding that person up while I finish packing - it allows parallel
processing! Supermarkets (back in the days of names like "Grandways")
used
to have a dividing "wall" that they could swing across to direct one
person's shopping away from the next person's, but they seem to have
abandoned that idea which is a shame.



I remember them in different supermarkets. Now they have so much crap at
the checkout area there's no room for them!

Roger

Ob: Which London Underground or DLR station name has the most letters
in common with "checkout clerk"?

I may as well answer for the record. The question was just off the cuff,
so it's not surprising that the answer turns out to be a tie. There are
4 stations each having 8 letters in common with the phrase: {Finchley,
Hendon, Hounslow} Central, and Gloucester Road.
--
Mark Brader | "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
Toronto | "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have
| come here. This is, after all, a Bridge Club."
| -- Ray Lee (after Lewis Carroll)