For the most part, I'm a fan of our new technology today. However, I am not a fan of having to learn how to use some of the gadgets that come into my life. Especially when I'm pretty much on my own to "play with it." I've heard these words more than once. "Play with it" often means I'm going to get angry.
I ran down to Safeway this afternoon 'cause we had nothing much of interest in the house in the way of a snack. At least nothing that I wanted. There's always FRUIT or healthy celery sticks or graham crackers but I wanted something GOOD! I also had two 'instant win' coupons that Jenni gave me from the Safeway monopoly game she's participating in entitling me to a free doughnut. That sounded pretty darn good and I love maple bars!
I drive on downtown and was dismayed to see the parking lot was full. Oh well, two free doughnuts was worth it. I go back to the bakery dept and not one single maple bar to be seen! Not even a maple doughnut. Damn! I picked up a couple of plain cake doughnuts (and a package of cinnamon rolls) and made my way to checkout.
What a zoo! People lined up even trying to get in the "check yourself out" aisles. Irritates me when I see someone with one or two items and then we all stand there waiting while she takes her sweet time to pull out her wallet, insert a dollar bill (once she can find the slot) and then contemplate what to do next. Oh well, be patient Joyce!
I did think about going to a regular checkout aisle but there were only two or three open and they were occupied with women buying A LOT! Once I got myself to the front of the line, I see they've switched out the scanners and put in new ones. One poor girl was running herself ragged as she went from customer to customer who were all trying to understand why the scanners weren't working. I was one of those and I'm an old pro at self checkout. I had three items and my receipt was 18" long. I measured it when I got home because I was in a pissy mood!
I asked her why Safeway thought it necessary to take away the scanners that were working perfectly fine. She said they updated some chip in the computer system that reads bar codes and it would cost too much to keep and update their old scanners as they weren't compatible with the "new and improved" scanners. Meanwhile, they didn't think it necessary to have more checkouts open and more clerks to wait on folks.
Buying groceries in Port Angeles is really limited. Walmart is across town (and not my favorite place to buy meat and vegetables anyhow) and that's pretty much it except for the Safeway on the east side of town. And that store has NO self-checkouts so you're forced to stand in line no matter if you have even one or two items. There, too, they often don't have enough checkers. I guess if you're the only game in town, you can get away with that type of customer service.
Oh, the price you pay when you have a sweet tooth!
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