Easy automation

I had the 'pleasure' of grocery shopping with my mother recently. The task itself wasn't too painful, in fact we made it round the aisles much quicker than I'd anticipated but any time saved was lost as we stood in the queue for five minutes waiting to be served. Now five minutes isn't a great deal of time you might say, but every one of those 300 seconds felt like an age to me – partly because I was holding the basket and it was doing its best to pull my arm off - but more so because we were queueing at a manned checkout in spite of the fact that just a few feet away there were two or three self-scan tills free.

My suggestion of using the facility was waved away by my Mum because she didn't know how to use them. In spite of my enthusiasm to show her how easy it was, we remained for another painstaking 258 seconds. Though my Mother was happy to stand in line and wait her turn, I was already planning the rest of my day and getting frustrated with the needless hold up and wondering which would give in first - my arm or patience.