Friday, January 27, 2012

Moments of Mortification

So I swing by the grocery store on the way home from work to pick up a few items.  As usual, I head over to the self-checkout.  Now, it's pretty busy in the store and two of the self-checkout stands are out of order, and I have maybe just a few too many items, and most of them are produce, but I used to BE a cashier at a grocery store, so I GOT THIS.  No problem.  Just feeling mild pressure at this point to perform, but I'm not worried.

I get the first few items through when I hit my first snag - I type in the wrong code for my asparagus and there's no "go back" button.  I wait to catch the attention of the store employee and he comes over and voids the melon I accidentally keyed in.  My blood pressure has risen a little and I can feel the eyes of the people waiting in line drilling into the back of my head.

The next item I put through, the machine decides I've put something extra in the bagging area.  So the guy has to come over again and fix that for me.  I'm starting to sweat a little.  I'm positive I hear some disdainful murmuring from the lineup behind me.

Then I come to the potatoes which don't have the produce-code-cheat-stickers on them, so I have to look it up.  Except the touch screen keeps ignoring me.  And I know that it's a screen and not real buttons, but there I am in a mild panic pressing harder to get the produce list to come up.  Now I'm definitely sweating and the store employee is taking people from the line over to his little stand and ringing them up so they can get the hell out of the store.

Finally, finally, I'm done!  I touch the "pay now" button and head to the keypad to complete my transaction.  I open my wallet and right where my debit card should be is an empty pocket.

Fuuuu.....

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