Return to my Complaint Department
Go to my home page
© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
I may have just experienced true genius in action. I was just shopping at Hastings. And I bought a computer game package (two games with their boxes attached end to end) and a music CD. Now here we have two game CDs, each enclosed in plastic jewel boxes, enclosed in shrink wrap, enclosed in a cardboard box, enclosed in more shrink wrap. The checker enclosed it all in a short plastic shopping bag, too short for the product which stuck out about eight inches. The center of gravity of this assortment was higher than the handle of the bag. So, the whole thing swung upside down. Luckily, the games fit tightly in the bag, so nothing fell out. This may not be anywhere near a record for stupidity. But it was an amazing trap. I wish the checker had done that intentionally. Then I would have to take off my hat (figuratively) to true genius.
I was shopping for food at Van's County Market, and I was in a hurry. Since they became a county market, they sometimes make you bag your own groceries. That was fine with me, as I was in a hurry. I had two six packs of pop, a hot barbecued chicken in its plastic container with a snap on domed lid, and a can of chili, as I recall. About every other month, I quit being a vegetarian for a couple of days. I wanted it all in one plastic bag, as it would just fit (pop on bottom, then chicken, then chili wherever), and I like to avoid wasting bags. As I waited for the six packs to slowly move towards me on the conveyor belt, one of the employees took the bag right out of my hand, grabbed my chicken and put it in the bag sideways, dripping chicken juice all over the place. He said, "I'll get you another one." I refused, and left in a huff, with three bags.
Recently, I was shopping at Smith's, and there was a pile of boxes (24 packages to a box) of ramen noodle soup. A sign said, "Buy by the case, and save." So I grabbed two boxes and went to the checkout lane. The checkout girl broke open one of the boxes and pulled out a package, scanned it, and I thought that I paid the regular price. I was too shocked to think of a protest. It turns out that I didn't get ripped off in this case. The computer almost certainly calculated the correct sale price when she punched in 48 packages.