I lost it. (u-scan story)

[Barefootgirl]

Just my personal opinion but while giving someone a telling off for not following procedure is one thing, descending into foul-mouthed abuse in public makes one jsut as bad as the original SC, and one very rarely sounds as clever or witty as one thinks one sounds.

[bob the goat]

Am I the only one who was irked by this statement?

Again, I will state, I did not mean to demean cashiers. When I said “Stupid cashiers” what I meant (but did not clearly state) was meant more like I would say “that stupid note on my coffee telling me that it is hot”. Coffee is served hot. That is a feature that is so standard, if it was not served hot you would return it and ask for a new cup. I do not need to be informed that coffee is hot. The note is redundant. As an educated, literate, and mobile human, I am more than qualified to run a bar code past a laser. The cashier is redundant. I meant no offense to cashiers, as they do serve a very needed purpose in many places. However, in the grocery line they are useless to me if there is a u-scan. As I stated earlier, I like to bag my own groceries (due to my anal retentive nature) and go so far as to sort the items on the belt in groups. I hate it when the cashier fills half a bag with cold products, then reaches over those cold items remaining on the belt to toss a box of cereal and a magazine in with my fridge stuff. I have respect for the cashier profession in general, as it is a thankless job, but it is a job I would prefer to do myself.

What good? All that woman took home in her head was a bunch of insults and probably the thought that Bob the Goat was a loudmouth jerk.
Sure, maybe she was an idiot and maybe she felt entitled. I can understand the irriatation of that kind of SC. Yes, she was wrong for having way over 12 items in a 12 items or less area. I completely agree with that.

This was not a normal person. This person was not capable of learning from one statement. That was clearly demonstrated the FOURTH time the cashier had to tell her to take the bag out of her cart and out it back on the platform. A NORMAL person can learn from being told once, sometimes told once and shown once. This was not a normal person. This was a person incapable of learning in their present state. By making an outlandish remark about deporting her it serves one of two effects. Either it will shock her into actually listening to what I had to say, therefore she will start to pay more attention to her surroundings (i.e. the big sign with red letters) or at the least, pay attention to instructions. The other effect is that she will be scared away from the u-scan for fear that me or someone like me will be in line behind her. Either effect is acceptable to me.

We weren't there, and we didn't hear your tone of voice, but I will take your word for it that the first part was offered in a helpful way without any trace of irritation, and the lady just turned sucky because she was an idiot.

I know other people who panic when they get into a situation like that, and the more they receive proper instructions, the more panicked they get, and they keep screwing up. (I work with a woman like that. It's so frustrating. "Left...I said left....left...no, your other left!" ) Maybe that's what was happening.

I just don't understand how one expects to educate if one is tearing down in order to build up.

Before the “blew my top” bit I was my normal, bashful, helpful, boyscout self.

You made two perfect statements in there. "Left...I said left....left...no, your other left!". How many of us have told someone left, only for them to use right. Then you say left again, they go right again. The fifth time you say left you say “no, your other left”. That statement is exactly my purpose. Obviously, no one has an “other left” so the statement is false. You are making it to get them to pay attention to what you are saying and what they are doing. How many times have you said “No, your other left” and had them do it wrong again? I have not ever had that happen. This is a PERFECT example of what I was doing.

The second perfect bit was the “tear down to build up”. If you don’t believe that doing that works, talk to any HR person, and ask them why they like to hire military people. They do it because Military people are good employees. They are good employees because the military ALWAYS uses the tear them down and build them up right style of training. They use it because it works, and it works well. Show someone that what they are doing is wrong, so they know that you can show them how to do it right.

The age of the lady in the OP wasn't mentioned I believe, if it was an older woman I'm sure the OP would have been understanding. I tend to be if I see someone my grandmother's age having a hard time with technology.

She was mid 40’s looking. Dressed a little flashy for my taste, silk blouse, large amount of gaudy jewelry. Looked like an interior designer. (I work for a furniture company.) Basically, looked like the primadona attitude that she conveyed when demeaning the cashier for having to put the bag back on the stand.