[pchelpers] Today's rant

Hi folks,

Programs do exactly what you tell them to.  Chances are, if you have
no intelligence or common sense, the programs that you write won't
either.

I was at H.E.B. (a supermarket chain based in Kerrville, TX, USA)
buying some stuff. This is a brand-new big store, and it has 4
self-checkout stations. A couple was leaving one station as I walked
up to it. I ran the items over the scanner, and, when I got to the
last item, I ran it over the scanner also. Just as it had every other
time, the voice said "Please place the item in the bag".
Unfortunately, the item in question was a 32 pound (about 14.5 kg for
those of you living in countries where the government got a clue and
had the metric system taught first in primary school) bag of cat food.
I poked the "call cashier" button a few times, and a few moments
later, the nagging voice went away.

Next, the machine wanted to be fed. I pulled out a new multi-colored
$20 bill, which is becoming increasingly common (most of my $20s were
the new ones), and fed it to the machine. The machine spat it back
out, which surprised me not at all. The idea seems to be that the
store opened AFTER the new bills came out, therefore they don't accept
the new bills.

I think next time I buy cat food, I'll simply do as the voice (in my
head?) tells me to and plop the bag on top of the carousel. Maybe the
carousel will break and they'll get a clue. Maybe the bag will break
and I'll insist on an unbroken bag. If the people working there have a
problem with that, then maybe they should fix the problem.

I also think I'll make it a point to remove my credit cards, debit
cards, and all bills other than new $20s from my wallet before I go
in. Maybe one of these days they'll actually figure out that there's a
problem, and that problems which relate to customers should always be
fixed, ASAP, instead of ignored.

--Scott.


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