this is no longer my blog

Sometimes I love the self check out lanes at stores. Like if I'm buying something that I really don't want the whole world to know I'm buying, or just don't feel like having to interact with a real person on a particular day, self check out lanes come in handy.

But sometimes, they are distinctly of the devil.

Take today, for instance. We have this older guy who is trying to start a water ski ministry at church. Well, he's been trying to start one for the last 7 years, or so. That's a whole other issue, so I won't get started on that, but he called and invited me out to the river today, and despite the issues surrounding this thing, I said okay. I was told I needed to bring my lunch. So before I drove out to the river, I stopped at the local grocery store to get some things for my lunch. As I was getting ready to check out, I noticed that all of the available real people had lines, and there were several open self check out lanes open. So I went to the nearest one. I scanned my first item and it told me how much it cost, so I put it in the bag in the bagging area. Then the nice automated woman said, "Unidentified item in the bagging area. Please remove item from the bagging area." So, I did. Then the voice said, "Item removed from the bagging area. Please return item to the bagging area before continuing." So, I did. Then the voice said, "Unidentified item in the bagging area. Please remove item from the bagging area." So, I did. Then the voice said, "Item removed from the bagging area. Please return item to the bagging area before continuing." And there was really nothing I could do, because it required a store log in before I could continue. So I looked over at a random store employee and gave her an exasperated look as the light above me flashed red, letting everyone know that somehow I was incapable of utilizing a self check out lane. After she scanned her little card and fixed the situation, she continued to watch over my shoulder as I scanned each successive item. I felt as if I was in kindergarten and working with fingerpaints or glue and the teacher felt I needed extreme supervision.
Of course, it did happen to be the same self check out lane that I have written about before, where I somehow managed to make it go haywire and then was verbally berated by a cashier before I think she flirted with me. Here's the link to that story.
And if you've already read my previous post about the clown picture, I've added a second one. So I encourage you to go and check it out.