SCO mayhem

[bhskittykatt]

I know there are a lot of SCO horror stories on here. Typically, I do not encounter these in my SCO experiences. Today really made up for it, though.

I went to check-out and waited for an SCO to open up. Out of the four machines, two had their lights flashing for assistance, and a lady at a third was trying to scan the little sticker on an apple (needless to say, that was not working out well at all...I don't think some of those even have barcodes, and if they did, I don't think the SCO can read them). The attendant was heading towards the apple-scanning lady to help her. Meanwhile, one of the flashing light SCOs managed to self-correct, the guys paid and left, and I was able to check-out.

It wasn't over, though. I paid, and just as I was reaching for my receipt (my stuff was still in the bagging area), a couple of gals came up right next to me and tried to scan their stuff. The machine beeped and said "Please wait for attendant" as the light began to flash. The girl frowned and kept waving her item over the scanner again and again. I rolled my eyes, picked up my stuff, and fled as quickly from the stupid as I could.

[blas]

Apples and other produce items that need to be weighed have 4 digit PLU numbers. You find those on the stickers.

Bags of apples, or boxes of strawberries, whatever, usually have barcodes.

[Nashida]

I've seen a couple of apples at my store that have tiny barcodes on the stickers, but I wouldn't expect any scanner to pick those up.

[bainsidhe]

Some of the stickers have something that resembles a barcode, but it never scanned properly on our registers.

[Draco]

Nope. On normal registers at my store, some of those tiny barcodes will, if picked up, actually CRASH the register. Truly a wonderful thing.

Bags of grapes usually have barcodes, but since they're also by the pound in price, the barcodes don't work. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make some SCO customers grasp that just because there's a barcode that doesn't mean it's programmed in or is supposed to work on that particular part of the system?

[MoonCat]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to make some SCO customers grasp that just because there's a barcode that doesn't mean it's programmed in or is supposed to work on that particular part of the system?

If I saw a barcode on something, I would assume it's there for a reason. But, if it didn't scan after a couple tries, I'd ask the attendant for help (nicely).

[Dreamstalker]

I paid, and just as I was reaching for my receipt (my stuff was still in the bagging area), a couple of gals came up right next to me and tried to scan their stuff.

I had to run and get a few last-minute things for mom's birthday cake yesterday morning. I only had 2 or 3 items, and right before I hit "finish and pay" some idiot starts scanning their basketful of crap (seriously, you think I won't notice?). I hit "cancel/help" after the first item flies past my nose onto the belt and they give me a full-on CBF. Attendant comes over and I explain what happened; the woman was not happy and starts arguing...attendant is having none of it, tells her to get into another line (she goes to another SCO) and fixes my order.

As I'm leaving, service manager comes over to the woman and tells her to GTFO without her groceries. Something else must have happened although I didn't see what.

[Shalom]

right before I hit "finish and pay" some idiot starts scanning their basketful of crap (seriously, you think I won't notice?). (snip)

As I'm leaving, service manager comes over to the woman and tells her to GTFO without her groceries. Something else must have happened although I didn't see what.

Could she have been scamming somehow? Perhaps she was trying to see if she could get her groceries paid for on your credit card without you noticing. If she tried this again in the next lane, I can see them giving her the heave-ho.

[bhskittykatt]

Yeah, that sounds like she was scamming to me. If she did it once, you could probably chalk it up to stupidity, but if they went so far as to kick her out of the store, methinks she was purposefully doing it to other people as well.

[Jetfire]

I admit I've tried to 'scan' the produce barcode (and other things with barcodes) at SCO's, mainly out of curiousity sake. If it has a barcode, I'll give it a try, if it doesn't work, I enter the PLU as normal and go on my way.

I've also tried to scan the salad dressing packs that come free with the storemade salads, but I've since learned to just leave them out and toss them in my bags after paying. (They scan, but have no price or weight with them apparently, or something else that makes them unreadible to the machines)

[Dreamstalker]

Yeah, I figured she was scamming, she was trying to be sneaky when scanning her crap right after mine. Didn't seem like a mistake at all.

If I'm buying something really light like a packet of Koolaid, I've figured that I have to put a bit of force into tossing it on the belt otherwise it won't register (the barcode scans, but the belt must have a scale and doesn't sense that anything was placed on it). I've also bought frozen stuff (boxed items that are about a half-pound) that will scan but not register when I put it on the belt.

[Mytical]

If I'm buying something really light like a packet of Koolaid, I've figured that I have to put a bit of force into tossing it on the belt otherwise it won't register (the barcode scans, but the belt must have a scale and doesn't sense that anything was placed on it). I've also bought frozen stuff (boxed items that are about a half-pound) that will scan but not register when I put it on the belt.

Before they added the 'skip bagging' selection in our SCO's this was one of my biggest dislikes about it. Seemed every time I'd have an item that it would not want to recognize being placed in the bagging area.

[Dreamstalker]

Ours don't have a skip bagging selection which can get a tad annoying; I can't put my reusable bags on the belt right off as that causes the register to spaz out, so if there is a bagger there there's no easy way to let them know I have my own bags.

The little area at the end of the belt can get full rather quickly depending on what you have, so when that happens you have to go down to the end and bag/stack/push a few things out of the way (there's probably an electric eye there someplace). That's also fertile ground for someone to start scanning their crap unless you have someone else with you who can stay at the scanner.