Self-serve bagging lanes on the way out

MANCHESTER, Conn. – When Keith Wearne goes grocery shopping, checking out with a cashier is worth the few extra moments, rather than risking that a self-serve machine might go awry and delay him even more. Most shoppers side with Wearne, studies show. And with that in mind, some grocery store chains nationwide are bagging the do-it-yourself option, once considered the wave of the future, in the name of customer service.

This article could read when Eric Stephens goes grocery shopping... I can't stand self-checkout. There are several problems with it. My favorite is getting stuck behind some person that isn't smart enough to USE the self checkout lane. I'm pretty sure most checkers are cut from the same cloth. 

I know some kids at my local grocery store that check. They are not typical checkers. They are just taking advantage of the pay structure of their workplace and getting themselves promoted to the higher paying jobs. They won't be checkers their entire lives. 

But those, and you know which ones I'm talking about, that are checkers, and that's all they will be or want to be. Of my top two reasons not to shop at Wal-Mart the first of which being nearly everything in the store is produced in China, the second is the check out. You can't get out of the damn place. I've stood in line for 25 minutes holding two items at a Wal-Mart. I won't even comment about shopping at a Wal-Mart on the 1st or 15th of the month you can only imagine what I'd write about that. 

If they wanted to improve the check out at stores make the checker's pay based on the ITEMS PER HOUR SCANNED. Yeah, I bet they would have you out of there in a freakin' heartbeat if it paid better. In any event, if you are too stupid to check yourself out, don't go through those lanes. I would say at 1 in 4 times I use the self checkout the machine malfunctions. Like a recent visit to Lowe's when I scanned the second of my three items the machine just froze...locked completely up. And since there isn't a keyboard or any way to interact with the register except the touch screen when that's gone you.are.done. 

So it seems the retailers are seeing the bigger picture and are deciding that the shrinkage (people stealing) that occurs at the self check and the customer complaints aren't worth the effort. They are going to rely on the second thing stores today are crappy at, customer service from the register staff. Good luck with that. When you have to train a person to say nice things and engage the customer at the register YOU ARE DOOMED as a society.

Common sense seems to be lacking

In the age of instant tweets and impulsive Facebook posts, some companies are still trying to figure out how they can limit what their employees say about work online without running afoul of the law. Confusion about what workers can or can't post has led to a surge of more than 100 complaints at the National Labor Relations Board -- most within the past year -- and created uncertainty for businesses about how far their social media policies can go. "Employers are struggling to figure out what the right policies are and what they should do when these cases arise," said Michael Eastman, labor law policy director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As we watch common sense slowly slip away, I felt it necessary to share a couple of old sayings that clearly define what you should and should not do in regards to your employment. Kids today need to hear these words and learn to live by them.

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you." This phrase totally makes sense. But if you've never owned a pet or perhaps ever read a book this might not be completely clear. This phrase has been around for over a hundred years. It the title of a popular song in 1915.

"Don't shit where you eat." I'm pretty sure this is common sense everyone should know. Perhaps not. The vulgarity of the phrase tells the reader it is a disgusting habit. The armies of the Civil War had to be told to put the kitchens UP STREAM of where you water and keep the horses. The phraseology of this may be crude and lend itself to a late 20th century reference but the common sense of not defecating near where you prepare or even eat food should make sense to most people.

This phrase is used most to describe the behavior of dating or sleeping with your co-workers. This is another problem with kids today, they don't know how to control the drama in their lives. If they don't date or sleep with their co-workers there will never be sexual tension at work and therefore at least one less kind of drama to deal with when you are trying to earn a living.

All of this as you might expect is subject to the environment where you live. Be thankful you don't live in Mexico. They seem to have harsher penalties for posting on the web.

Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2010 by ZIDBITS

The list contains some space stuff, some new life stuff, anti-matter trapped in a lab, and a possible new element (117) or maybe not. You can read about it if you follow the link.