ISLAND BAY WOOLWORTHS SELF-CHECKOUT ASKS CUSTOMER IF SHE'S 'OKAY TO CONTINUE'
The machine froze on a single kūmara. The customer froze on the existential question.
A self-checkout at the Island Bay Woolworths brought Tuesday's evening shop to a halt after it failed to scan a single kūmara. The screen then asked the customer: "Are you okay to continue?"
Hine Paterson, 34, said she stood there for a full thirty seconds before answering out loud. "I said 'not really, mate'. Then I looked around to see if anyone heard. Then I scanned the kūmara again and it still didn't go."
The machine had reportedly been having a day. Another shopper, Wiremu Castles of Berhampore, said his pak choi was logged as "unknown leafy item" three times running. "By the fourth go I just told the supervisor it was silverbeet. She put it through as silverbeet. We both knew."
The supervisor on duty, who declined to be named on the grounds she was "forty minutes off finishing", said the checkouts had been emotional all week since a software update. "They keep asking if people need help. Then they don't help. It's like a flatmate."
A Woolworths spokesperson said the prompt was part of "an improved customer experience" and that staff were available to assist. Asked whether the machines themselves needed assisting, they did not respond.
Paterson left without the kūmara. It is, as of Wednesday morning, still sitting on scale four.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day you threw your shopping on the belt and someone else dealt with the kumara, no existential crises required. Technology is overrated.
mike_the_beekeeper
Ha, Garry, some of us would rather do it ourselves than chat to strangers. At least the machine isn’t judging my kumara picking skills!
TrevIslandBay
Honestly, it happened to me with a pumpkin last week. Self-checkouts just aren't ready for produce full stop. Either everything is silverbeet or it doesn't exist.
johnny-conspiracies
This is just a ploy by the supermarkets to gather more data on us. Next thing they'll ask how you feel about the economy!
couchgremlin
Lol imagine a checkout therapist.
corrector_of_wrongs
Actually, it's not spelled "kumara", it's "kūmara" with the macron. Let’s respect the language, eh?