The Slow Woman in the Express Lane

[CaroPhoenix]

Went Shopping yesterday. Spent over $100 and guess what I did? Forgot the milk! (And that was the major reason we went to the grocery store).

Booked it back into the store, bee-lined to the dairy section, grabbed 1 gallon of milk and boogied to the Express Lane. There was one person in front of me, with the majority of her stuff on the belt (except for the gigantic package of water - the cashier had already coded the water into her register).

Now, I've read stories on this board about people who wait until after everything has been rung up to get out their savings club/credit card/checkbook, but I have never seen this in person. I did yesterday ... oh boy!

After everything was said and done, the woman finally decided to pull out a stack of like 50 cards to find her savings club card. Didn't find it in that stack, put that away, pulled out another stack of 20 or so cards, found it and handed it to cashier to scan (why she couldn't just type in her phone number on the little debit/credit card pin pad is totally beyond me). After putting away her savings club card, proceeded to pull out her checkbook, open said checkbook, tear out one check, close checkbook, put checkbook back into purse and then started to write her check (and didn't even know the date!). Mentally I was like: ). Outside I was like:

By the time she was done, it was about an eternity and a half later. The cashier was apologetic. I just looked at her and said: "Customerssuck.com" and she said, "I heard that!"

[Evil Queen]

I advertise too.

[sms001]

Ouch!

proceeded to pull out her checkbook, open said checkbook, tear out one check, close checkbook, put checkbook back into purse and then started to write her check

Ok, you lucked out here. the truly professional kill-your-dayer:

Hears total.
Asks for total.
Pauses to decide on renumeration type.
Opens purse.
Digs out checkbook.
Opens checkbook.
Asks for total again.
Asks for pen.
Asks date.
Writes check.
Hands clerk check and pen.
Asks for pen back.
Flips to ledger portion of checkbook.
Asks for total again.
Enters total (and, apparently time of day, weather, dress color, clerk's perfume, etc.)
Hands pen back.

Your lady apparently hasn't progressed to the advanced level of stretching a simple exchange of goods and money out to the longest conceivable amount of time yet

[CaroPhoenix]

Thank Goodness! I was PMS-ing and if I had had to wait anymore time, I would have offered to pay for her stuff just to get her out of there! BTW, her total was $31 and change and she wrote the check for $40 so she could get change back!

[Peppergirl]

That lady has been in my store too, apparently. I hate her.


She seems to get around.

[Daskinor]

Checks- I still can't figure out why stores still take them. I swear at my store 2 out 5 checks come back with some kind of issue. Then the software for our registers we use to verify the checks cost a fricken fortune.

A buddy of mine store switched to a electronic check system.

-You fill in the check
-check is ran through the device
-the device scans the account info on the check
-the customers bank is then instructed to put the money on hold and a request is put in for it to be transferred to another account (like any electronic transfer ie. check card)
-the check is then given punch marks to spell out, "void as check"


Great system, however he has one major complaint. No one ever has the money in their accounts! Apparently over half use checks when they are getting paid in the near future.

[KellyHabersham]

I'm not a big fan of having to write checks myself at stores, because the last time I did (this was at Target, I was paying for asthma medication), the verification system they use wouldn't accept my check. Turns out that because I hadn't written checks in stores for awhile, and it was a larger amount than the previous few times, the verification company flagged it as "suspicious" activity. (meanwhile, I had enough money in my account to cover the check) So now I'm kind of paranoid about writing checks at all, because it's really humiliating when that sort of thing happens and you have no alternate method of paying for things.

[ArcticChicken]

(why she couldn't just type in her phone number on the little debit/credit card pin pad is totally beyond me).

Do you know for sure you can do that? 'Cause it's impossible at my store, those things don't have any link to the register except for payment. Of course ours are old as sin. I swear they are first generation PIN pads, second at the latest.

I had one man flatly refuse to give me his phone number when he found out he couldn't type it into the PIN pad. Firstly, sir, why you think I could possibly remember your number for fifteen seconds, not to mention the three or four hours I'd need to get home and do something evil with it is beyond me. Secondly, I am rather offended by your assumption that I'm stupid enough to do something with it that could get me fired. Thirdly, if you don't think evil of me, but rather of the system, I should like to point out that you phone number has to be in the system for us to look it up. Twit.

[CaroPhoenix]

Arctic - Oh yeah, you can type in your phone number into the pin pad system. I did it with my purchases there. I've lost my card () so it's a good thing.

[greensinestro]

I think that lady also shops in my neighborhood, too! Any store I go in to buy something quick, she seems to always be at the express line, holding up everyone. I can't recall the last time I wrote a check at the grocery store anyway, let alone most express lanes I've visited do not permit you to write them there. That never deters them though.

[CorDarei]

i had a similiar experience last weekend. Went to the garden center to check out (bought some sodas and light bulbs, but the majority of my purchases were from the garden center, grill, gas tank, garden hose and sprayer) So we go back to the garden center to checkout, and what do we see in front of us?

a lady (with two kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off, so that was another annoyance) checking out, with not ONE SINGLE GARDEN ITEM!!!! she had beer, fruits, veges, clothes... i have NO CLUE why she was there. And to top it off, two people behind her (we were the 3rd in line) ANOTHER LADY WITH NO GARDEN ITEMS... grrr... it took her about 15 minutes (cos the poor checkout rep couldn't go fast) for her to complete most of her transaction (she was still doing it when we left). We said screw that, went inside and went through the 20 items or less lane in about 10 minutes. Figure that was way better than waiting around for another 20 minutes to have someone else who shouldn't be checking out in the garden center. (i think they may have been together, just shopping separately)