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Cashier

April 23, 2020

I was shopping in a supermarket where I would go often. I have three supermarkets that I frequent: one is near my living place, another is near my job location, and the third is near my gym. I use those supermarkets according to my schedule. On this day, when I stopped by one of the stores, it was the first time in a couple of weeks. I chose some goods and put them into the shopping basket. When I was about to line up at one of the checkout counters, I was astonished. There were no human cashiers there. Instead, there were only machines. The customers were struggling to do everything by themselves. I had experienced auto-cashiers at a video rental shop, but I had never seen them at supermarkets, not even at convenience stores. There might be some supermarkets that have implemented unmanned checkout systems in big cities, but my city is not so big. My city is a local city, and elderly people are the majority. For them, auto-"something" seemed to be a big obstacle. Furthermore, normally, if the shop wanted to start a new system, shouldn't they announce to everyone in advance, for example, a month ahead of time? Or even, have a few human cashiers to assist? Closely looking, I could find only one human cashier remaining. But I didn't want to go there, it would seem like I was a loser. I lined up in one of the auto-cashiers lines and my turn came. On the screen, there were two choices, "With your own bag" and "With a plastic bag". I touched "With a plastic bag". The screen changed to "Show the bar-code of the product on the scanning window." As I was not in such a good mood, I picked up a pack of curry and swiftly passed it through the scanner. Soon the product's name, the number, and the price appeared on the screen. They were correct. I was amazed at new technology's quality. Then, I put the curry into one of the white plastic bags which were hung up from a long hook, I realized that I needed to spread open the opening, because it was stuck together. I put the curry on the table and started to open the bag. Suddenly a sharp artificial female voice sounded, "Please put in your purchase immediately! Please put in your purchase immediately! Please … ."  Soon a female worker came and touched somewhere on the screen and scanned her card, the voice stopped. I shrugged at her and put the curry into the bag. Next, I took the pack of eggs from the basket, scanned it and put it into the plastic bag. And soon I realized that this was not a good idea. Because I had other items in the basket, like some cans of beer, a head of cabbage, a pack of onions, etc., and if I put them on the eggs, the weight might break them. So I took the eggs out and put them on the table. The same female voice started to shout, "Don't take the purchase out of your bag! Don't take the purchase out of your bag! Don't …" I sighed. Soon the same worker came and did the same thing. As she seemed accustomed to this type of situation, her way of doing things was natural, and didn't give me the impression that I was making any trouble. But even so, I felt like I had become a child who couldn't follow instructions. I finished checking all items and paid for them. I went to the nearest table and moved the egg pack to the top gently. I decided not to use this store any more. But soon after, I went back there again. It was the nearest supermarket to my house, and the convenience of it outweighed my personal policy. This time, although I was a little tense, I was able to check out without any major mishaps. Humans are creatures that can get used to anything.   After a while, I went to another branch of this supermarket and was shocked when I saw that in this store all of the cashiers were all humans. The supermarket near my residence was the only place that had adopted auto cashiers. Maybe the headquarters of this particular supermarket chain introduced the auto cashiers as a trial version. Maybe because that supermarket is located in a relatively new residential area where many young families live, the company must have thought that younger people are more likely to be able to adjust to new things easily. I am not young, but all generations have to adjust to new things in order to survive.   P.S. In the current Coronavirus situation, auto cashiers seemed to reduce the risks for both the cashiers and the customers. Maybe the introduction of unmanned checkout systems might be the start of a new trend, in a world changed by this virus.

*frequent :よく行く
*according to :によって
*struggle :悪戦苦闘する
*implement :実施する
*unmanned :人のいない
*obstacle :障害
*stuck :くっつく
*purchase :購入品
*outweigh :に勝る
*mishap :災難
*adopt :採用する
*headquarters :本部