[Closed] Deporsonalisation project moves forward.

Deporsonalisation (sic) project moves forward

What you doing in a supermarket if this is a gripe?

they've had them in tesco's for over a year... you will succumb eventually.. and be happier for it.

They're actually very good and very quick, except the ones in morrisons, which are crap.

The only problem with them is total tards who clearly have no idea how to work any form of technology and take 10 mins to scan some bog rolls, a bottle of tonic water and a low fat yogurt

you only need to press the pay now/finish button at the end. if you swim in a deeper section of the gene pool you'd work out that starting to scan things starts the process. you're right to stay away though, it means a shorter wait for the opposable thumb brigade

Lifesaver in B&Q (that's probably overstating it a little). Long live those that hate using them 🙂

There still bullshit tho, crap registering on any product unless its got a perfectly flat bar code, you need to select what fruit you have if its hand picked and it always blites out something bollocks like remove from baggage area when you only breathed on it

least you can weigh a steak as a banana tho 🙂

What you doing in a supermarket if this is a gripe?

Precisely. There are (maybe) a few local shops left who who would be glad/desperate to have your business and give you all the chit chat you could ever ask for. You caused the "deporsonalisation" by shopping there and supporting their business model; so go and help cause some personalisation, not to mention several hundred jobs, by supporting local small traders.

I'm with Woppit on this one. In Tesco's last night I realised that I could walk in, get all my bits and pieces, pay for them and walk out with no actual direct interaction with another Human Being. In a place with hundreds of other people in. I'd rather be served by a person, no matter how bored, disinterested and unmotivated they may be. I'm no technophobe, but at the end of a busy day the last thing I want to do is spend time dealing with a flipping machine giving me orders. The till assistant deals with all that for me, without me needing to comply at any stage other than to pay for the stuff. Machines and computers dominate enough of our lives already, real Human interaction is becoming a scarce commodity.

Three_Fish - Member

What you doing in a supermarket if this is a gripe?

Precisely. There are (maybe) a few local shops left who who would be glad/desperate to have your business and give you all the chit chat you could ever ask for. You caused the

Clearly, you don't live where I do.

Excellent assumption-making though. Knuckles off the ground, now. 😛

Machines and computers dominate enough of our lives already, real Human interaction is becoming a scarce commodity.

oh the irony

I hate them, my hatred is further fueled by the poor staff who have to train customers, knowing full well that they are effectively making themselves redundant. I prefer to queue as you don't have to wait for the assistant everytime you try to by alcohol or razor blades or a magazine or anything really. I don't like being shouted at by machines "UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!!!!!"

blah blah blah blah.

Classy reponse.

Knuckles off the ground, now.

You mentioned something about assumptions?

oh the irony

I know, I know.

On the flip side; I use Skype a fair bit to communicate with friends who live far away. I like the way the video feature makes it a bit more personal than just audio; you can see someone's facial expressions, see them laugh, etc. Especially fun with little ones. Ooh haven't they grown? Technology can sometimes make the distance between people smaller.

With the machines, you don't get to chat to the checkout person about the weather/football/fear of Terrorism, or chat to the pretty lady in front with just a large cucumber and a bottle of baby oil. You just get to go back to your lonely solitary existence without speaking to another Human Being. Again.

Sniff.

Ooh, Meal For One again? How exciting...

I hate that the bloody things shout at you all the time. Clearly they've turned the volume up to 11 to help the hard of hearing, which is very inclusive and hard to disagree with, but I'm not hard of hearing and don't appreciate being SCREAMED AT. It's like basil fawlty ordering manul to scan his sodding nectar card.

chat to the checkout person about the weather/football/fear of Terrorism, or chat to the pretty lady in front with just a large cucumber and a bottle of baby oil

you have never once chatted to anyone that you don't know personally whilst shopping in a supermarket..

no..
you haven't..

you just hastily purchase your goods and look surly until you leave.. and that's a fact..
sorry

Interestingly supermarkets push the 'creating local jobs' angle very hard when they are trying to push through planning permission (and preparing to decimate local wealth creating businesses), so if you go to a newly built one you won't see any self service tills.

you just hastily purchase your goods and look surly until you leave.. and that's a fact..

(Cries because it's so true)

I love them. I'll even stand and wait to use one when the checkout person at the standard till is "cco-ee" and "yoo-hoo"ing me to go and pay at her empty till.
There are far too many people pecking at my head all day at work as it is, I don't need somebody else yapping at me in my time as well.
I love our local Sainsbury's. It's huge. I can always get just what I went in for and I only have to speak to somebody if I want something from the bakery or meat departments that are not already pre-packaged.
It's just about as nice as boring food shopping can be.
I [b]really[/b] like Pay At The Pump petrol pumps but I rarely fill the car up these days.

Clearly they've turned the volume up to 11 to help the hard of hearing, which is very inclusive and hard to disagree with,

I can disagree with that. It's not inclusive, it's [i]exclusive[/i], because it annoys the people with good or sensitive ears.

And shouldn't aural instructions be for the benefit of the blind, not the deaf? Blind folk often have acute hearing, so wouldn't need it to be especially loud.

What they should give you is a little round dial on the front of the machine labelled 'Volume', and there should also be a label in braille I suppose.

Easy!

I don't see the point of Woppit's post though. He's telling us he doesn't like self-service tills isn't he? Does he want a list of all the things I don't like?

Interestingly supermarkets push the 'creating local jobs' angle very hard when they are trying to push through planning permission...

You may find [url= http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2599 ]this article[/url] (and other linked articles) interesting...

"[i]The British Retail Planning Forum (1998), embarrassingly financed by the supermarkets themselves, discovered that every time a large supermarket opens, on average, 276 jobs are lost.[/i]"

I have come very, very close to attacking B&Q's ones with the hardware I was trying to buy at the time.

I've no massive objection to using them, but having them squawk the same obvious/irrelevant instruction loudly at you every two seconds does raise the blood pressure somewhat.

On the petrol pump note, again, a brilliant idea but why do Esso limit it to £59 when that won't fill my tank? Bell ends. And - on a tangent - how have so many people never figured out that the pump stretches to both sides of the car?

If I am doing some of the work by scanning it myself I would like a discount on my shopping please for being part of their workforce 😉

In the fullness of time, you might find that you have to pay extra for the personal service provided by a checkout person.
I wonder how many people will be queueing for the serve yourself tills then?

It's no use using supermarkets and moaning about depersonalisation and staff cuts - you go to them cos they're cheap and convenient, you can't then complain when they try and make the process even cheaper and more efficient now can you?

p.s. iDave, you don't even need to push the Finish/Pay Now button, just stick a card in and it does it - magic!

I don't see the point of Woppit's post though. He's telling us he doesn't like self-service tills isn't he? Does he want a list of all the things I don't like?

I'd just got up and was feeling a bit grumpy.

I'm with Woppit. Those f*kin things are an abridgment to my happiness.

Mr Woppit read this - http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/morality10/morality10_index.html

Nothing to do with the thread but I suspect you'll appreciate it.

you go to them cos they're cheap and convenient

I live above a shop. It's dirty, well overpriced for everything, loads of out of date stuff on the shelves, and the shop owner sells fags to kids and stolen goods out the back. I don't go in there at all. In fact I'd be quite happy to see the place close down.

The only plus side of serve yourself tills is that steak can be weighed as potatoes 😆

I'd like the self service tills to shout out what you've just bought each time.

"TUB OF 'ROID CREAM!!!, £2.89"
"CONDOMS, EXTRA SMALL!!!, £3.50"
"ASDA OWN BRAND LAGER!!!, £1.17"

"Sadly the woppit died out due to it's failure to evolve."

There's only one reason the supermarkets do anything.
[img] [/img]

avdave2 - Member

"Sadly the woppit died out due to it's failure to evolve."

Done better, earlier. Still pretty toss, though...

i quite like em really once you get the hang of it all and dont have someone in front arseing around without a clue....and yes I may have been known to do the old one scanned one in the bag slight of hand routine...when times are hard!

you have never once chatted to anyone that you don't know personally whilst shopping in a supermarket..
no..
you haven't..
you just hastily purchase your goods and look surly until you leave.. and that's a fact..
sorry

When they offer discount for using them,I'll think about it. Discount overall would have to equate to the salaries of the people whose jobs you're taking. Until then you can serve me, thank you very much.

No one? Uhm ok, it's depersonalisation and doesn't mean what you think.

I assume those of you complaining go to Morrisons? Theirs was very shouty, but did do cash back, which was nice. Our very newly built Tesco does have them by the way skidarist so that may be a local decision, as it should be.
But...
In the same way that most supermarkets have literally thousands of products I don't feel compelled to bitch about, I just walk past them and get/do what I do want.
If you don't like supermarkets and what they do/represent fine. Bitch about that.

But if you are going to whine on about a till you don't have to use may I suggest you either

a. at least use the bloody thing so you actually have something to moan about
or
b.... I don't have a b. Just don't use them I guess.

Wow, didn't realise I was that bothered 🙂

CountZero-if you want to query a price at the machine you could ask a member of staff. They seem to leave on there most of the time, it is just a till that can be told to do something else just like the one that someone else operates, not a supreme unquestionable being, just a till...
But if you don't want to use it, don't, it really is that easy.

and I refuse to partake in a system designed to reduce the number of staff jobs and increase the profits

best live outwith capitalism then.

Sure feel your pain Mr Woppit. 🙁

I look forward to Saturday mornings when I visit my local Waitrose. Only use the basket checkout mind cos I like to flirt outrageously with the rather charming student chaps they employ on that till. 😀

Dunno where they find them but essential requirements for that job at Waitrose has to be a winning smile and have attended charm school. 8)

I'm easily pleased. 😉

And you know this to be a fact how

I dont... I was just being facetious in a vain attempt to 'fit in'..

sillybilly

chat to the pretty lady in front with just a large cucumber and a bottle of baby oil

Where do YOU shop? Clearly I shop in the wrong places! Although I don't think MrsJulianA would be very pleased if I started chatting to such people...

TBH I have no problems whatsoever using the auto tills, there's no heaps of menus to go through, and the worst gripe I have is that sometimes it tells me I've not put something in the bag when I have. If I want to buy loose fruit then I have to follow "fruit>apple>type" and its done. I'd rather that than stand around looking helpless and stupid while someone presses buttons for me!

I don't mind the self-service ones in the Tesco near my GF's place but the ones they've just installed in my local Sainsbury's are just a pain. The 'bagging area' is half the size and far too sensitive, if anything shifts in your carefully-stacked pile of purchases or you look at funny it complains and you need the assistant to sort it out. So the ones that work properly are OK and although I did mutter under my breath about doing their job for them wben they first installed them in Tesco I don't really mind them now.

In Newport Sainsbury's on the Isle of Wight, the lady who supervises the self-service checkouts in the morning is charming. My only gripe is the automated instruction voice: no, I have not swiped my f******* nectar card. Otherwise, it seems a sensible way to speed up an unpleasant chore.
If I want a personalized shopping experience I go to a bike shop.

I'd rather that than [s]stand around looking helpless and stupid[/s] be packing the goods into my shopping bag while someone presses buttons for me!

"Fixed",as they say, "that one for you"...

Well, normally I 'self-scan' at silly o'clock in the morning cos I don't want to shop amongst folk who treat the supermarket as a day out/social activity.

As long as there is a choice, then that's fine.

It's the only social activity I get. 😥

I quite happily chat to the girls on the Waitrose checkouts. I'd rather not bother with the pond life they employ at my local Tesco...

I refuse to partake in a system designed to reduce the number of staff jobs and increase the profits of powerful supermarket chains.

Your brave and noble stand for the little man might have a little more weight if you weren't already shopping at one of the 'powerful supermarket chains'. 😛

These machines make shoplifting a doddle, gawd bless 'em!

"Fixed",as they say, "that one for you"...

Don't get you, I pack my bags at the same time. That's kind of how the tills are designed. Rather than waiting eagerly at the end of the little chute for the kind worker to pass me the stuff they've beeped through soullessly for me.

Most of the staff at the various supermarkets are not very good conversation anyway, and half the time rude and careless with the produce. Why bother with any of it if you can do the job yourself, faster and without having to force poor conversation. Unless you like idle chat grunted at you about the level of custom in the shop or the weather.

samuri - Member

I'd like the self service tills to shout out what you've just bought each time.

"TUB OF 'ROID CREAM!!!, £2.89"
"CONDOMS, EXTRA SMALL!!!, £3.50"
"ASDA OWN BRAND LAGER!!!, £1.17"

Tell the assembled, just how do you seem to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the prices of said items?

Unless you like idle chat grunted at you about the level of custom in the shop or the weather.

And herein lies the very crux of the debate.. It would appear that some people have a need in their lives that can be fulfilled with inane smalltalk delivered by people that despise their own existence.. quite a disturbing state of affairs if you stop to think about it for long enough..

I'd rather not bother with the [b]pond life[/b] they employ at my local Tesco...

That's incredibly insulting to people who are just trying to make a living. Having worked in shops, by far the worst aspect is people coming in who treat you like dirt and think they're superior to you, just because they might have a 'better' job.

Supermarkets are awful enough without adding being heckled by robots into the mix.

Give it a few years and they'll become self aware. Then they'll probably refuse to let you pay until you replace your tub of Pringles with some tofu.

They are excellent for buying lightweight expensive things (e.g. Cereal and Fox's Chunky Biscuits) as baking potatoes. Also good for cheap Pick N Mix (put through as bananas).

It's one in the eye for tesco, and I get cheap sweets and cocopops.

I like the self-serve tills. What else exactly would I be doing with that time? Waiting for the till person to pack my stuff? Making embarrassing small talk with the bored and tired till person?

I refuse to partake in a system designed to reduce the number of staff jobs and increase the profits of powerful supermarket chains.

Ooh, self-service tills, I'll give that a go.

*scans alcohol*

*Beep* - "age verification required"

*waits a week...*

Hm, works well, this. Must be some usage of the word "express" that I'm hitherto unfamiliar with.

I love the petrol station self service machines, no more queueing to get to a pump, then queueing to pay. Local B&Q introduced them, saying no staff would be made unemployed due to them, 6 months later there one staff operated till instead of 6, where did the other 5 ppl go?

I think they are OK for small numbers of items - less likely to get stuck

I think it's disgusting that you regard people working low-paid jobs as "pond life".

I agree about the B&Q ones. I used to wonder why they had the "B&" bit in their name.

Mrs BigJohn & I refer to the ones in Tesco as the "Buy one get one free" checkouts. 😈

You don't need to be outraged on their behalf. I'm sure they'll cope...

Sometimes the assistants in tesco help you with the packing on the self service tills. That's really wierd - you're doing her job and she's doing yours.

Pay at pump is brilliant, I love filling up then driving away like you stole the fuel, and no temptation to buy junk food whole you wait ages in the queue

I love all these automated tills and stuff and use them whenever I can. I first saw them in the USA in 2005-ish (In Durango as it happens) and thought they were a good idea then. The new UK ones are bigger and posher and make more noise which I don't like but if you're fast, don't bother pressing the buttons (Just start scanning) you can usually get the recorded voice to shut up before it starts talking, or mid sentence. I also think they've turned the volume down on them a lot since they were first installed a couple of years ago. I've certainly mentioned to staff that they don't need to be so loud or say so much. I reckon they just need a MUTE button to improve them 🙂

Weirdly, in my local Tescos there's often a queue for the self service even if there are empty human tills. Can't say as I have a preference, it's not like I've ever had any particularily brilliant social interaction with a checkout operator after all. I'm not so desperate for social interaction that I need to go to the shops for a chat.

The entire supermarket concept is about selling you things for less by cutting costs. This is just a simple, visible one but it's hardly the first job that your chosen supermarket will have killed. Just try and keep some perspective.

I think it's disgusting that you regard people working low-paid jobs as "pond life".

You've not met some of the Mendip street cleaners then!!

By the way most of my family work or have worked in Tesco

cos they give 10%discount free shares good holiday and well above minimum wage they are a pretty good firm to work for

errr.. having read this thread.. the comment made by nickc about Tesco workers being 'pondlife' has to be taken very out of context before you could possibly imagine getting your knickers in a twist about it..

unless of course you really do believe that the workers in stereotypically superior Waitrose are a more advanced breed of human being than the people that work in Tesco..

some definite self harming with firearms in the podiatric area by the hysterical twisted underwear brigade methinks..

niiiiight all..

Deporsonalisation? Not if you work there! It's like being back at school- messing about, gossiping and virtually zero real responsibility! Beats being sat in a grey office with the same 3 faces everyday. Socially, at least, it's great!

as for pond life, Get over yourself! in our ASDA there are Graduates, Masters students, ex RAF Jet Technicians, retired coppers, retired Bank Managers, housewives making extra cash, allsorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds.

some definite self harming with firearms in the podiatric area by the hysterical twisted underwear brigade methinks..

Well done give yourself a Gold Star.