May26

just his luck.

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while ringing up my groceries at a self-checkout machine

another register finally opened up

 a friendly store employee waved over

the gentleman who had been waiting behind me in line

directing him to the machine

but at the last second

he balked

saying that he wanted to wait for register #2

to become open

as that was his lucky register.

he turned with his cart

went back in line

and waited.

—

once again

i have questions.

why does he feel that one is lucky?

is he thinking that he is in a casino?

what kind of luck can one have at a check out register?

did he get cash back, a deal, freebies, extra coupons, better bags, spend less?

why don’t i have a lucky register?

 

—

“luck is believing you’re lucky.”

-tennessee williams

 

 

 

—

photo credit: google images

 

 

59 responses »

  7. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve been in the checkout line with a cashier since self checkout became available. I worked in a grocery store through high school and college and became proficient on the best way to bag groceries. I use self checkout simply because my groceries will get packed the way I wish them to be packed.

    I don’t have a lucky self checkout machine; ours aren’t even numbered to know which one I am using. Maybe he really just enjoyed standing behind a pretty woman and that was his excuse?

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  13. We over here ‚take what we get‘ – no lucky cashier‘s desk… and nobody bagging our shopping. But what I look out for is a friendly face – if it‘s the shortest line at that check-out, I feel lucky too.

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  14. btw, i also construe stories about absolutely everything. i‘m the born ‚storyteller‘, seeing a story, an anectode in just about every little happening. You sound like me, the mind always wheeling – can you sleep at night?

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  17. I confess I haven’t been in a grocery store since before I discovered delivery during Covid. And back then I avoided self-checkout because I’m too shy to try to learn new things in public.

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  18. All I can think of is some machines are more prone to not working than others. The CVS that I frequent usually only has one checker and a bank of self-checkout machines. The poor cashier has to run back and forth because the machines frequently malfunction.

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  23. A tangentially related observation: if I’m waiting in a checkout line and move to a line that looks like it might go faster, more often than not I end up waiting longer than if I’d stayed in the original line. Why that should be so, I don’t know.

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