Monday, November 08, 2010

In which I set off an alarm in Tesco's

Really I shouldn't have gone there. And having gone there I should have known better than to use the self service checkout. But I do love pretending I'm a checkout girl. (And there's a brill Springsteen song called 'I'm in love with the Queen of the supermarket'.)

Having screamed at my computer in work this morning - paypal I hate you, have I told you this? And I mean really hate you - I should have realised I wasn't technologically on the ball.

But really if the scale is not precise enough to recognise a packet of tags then it should know that and allow for it. It's not rocket science. And if it's going to allow you to put through a tagged item it should simultaneously call the assistant to remove the tag or at least warn you - before you set off the alarm on the door.

Having gone there straight from prison I had visions of being back in prison before the day was out. The security guard - young, bored - looked at me suspiciously: I admit I was having a very bad hair day. Or maybe he thought I was just another menopausal woman who'd 'forgotten' to pay.

8 comments:

nick said...

Jenny and I once set off the alarm at the Whitney Museum in New York. Trying to find our way up to the next floor, we went through a door marked Fire Exit and this deafening alarm went off with everyone in the gallery staring curiously at us. And no, there wasn't any sign warning us not to go through the door....

Re Tesco, as you say, surely their systems shouldn't allow a tagged item through the till?

SDCrafts said...

Oh no, poor you. Of course we all know it was paypal's doing - they are controlling the world now, you know.

hormixes?

jams o donnell said...

Ah that was embarrassing but we know you are not a latter day Shirley Pitts, Liz!

Leslie: said...

How embarrassing! It's all the store's fault, though!

Rose said...

Isn't this maddening? Last year I set off the alarm going INTO a store! When I left without buying anything, I set it off again. Finally, the cashier told me to take off my coat--sure enough, there was a hidden tag in there that hadn't been removed when I bought it a few weeks earlier.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Try shopping as a woman with grey hair ( well , white really , if the truth be told . We go grey early in my family , she says hastily !) .
It's assumed , as a matter of course , that , unwatched , I'd expropriate three packets of biscuits and a potscourer on every visit .
I did use a DIY till in Boots a while ago . Couldn't see the point really . It took longer , given my dithering , than queuing for the till .

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

P.S. Library books can also set shop alarms off .

Liz Hinds said...

Now that's embarrassing, nick!

I wouldn't be surprised, shirl, not at all.

But what I dread, jams, is the day I do accidentally walk out with something.

I think so, leslie.

Going in, rose? Obviously returning the coat you stole weeks earlier?

I'm glad you told me about library books, sonata!