Smudger Snippets: Paying By Card
Created | Updated Apr 11, 2010
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Paying By Card
I realise that we have to go along with the flow when it comes to progression and that things change for the better, well at least that is what we are told. Gone are the days when we went to the local grocer's shop and waited in line until it was our turn. There would be ladies with little straw baskets going through a list of shopping, while the grocer would run around the shop, fetching the items one by one. It's funny how I remembered the fact that it was mostly women that did the shopping, as back in those days there was full employment and most of the men were at work during the day. I always noticed that the women would carry those small woven baskets and wore head squares with long coats, as they walked past me while I was sitting on the front step of our shop and café.
That was my first job in life, back when I was around four years old, I had to sit on the front step, and if some passed me and stood at the shop counter, rather than go into the café, I had to shout "shop", and that would tell my parents that a customer was waiting.
The reason I remember that so well, was because at that time I had blonde curly hair, and some of the women used to stop and rub my head, and give me a sweetie when they passed.
There was a grocer's shop at the top of our street, in fact there were too of them, one at either side. To get to the one on the left side, I had to go through the Tollbooth tunnel, as I can remember I used to shout to hear my voice echo as I went though it. That grocer's shop was the most popular one of the two, as the one on the right hand side tended to cater for the more affluent folk, you know the ones, and they all lived on snob's hill, and the quickest route for them to reach that, was up through our street.
The prices were higher in that shop and it carried more of the kind of stock that they wanted; it was also fitted out in more modern style and had carpeting on the floor, whereas the other one had bare floor boards, a long old-fashioned counter that stretched the whole length of the shop.
There was an old-style hand-cranked meat cutting machine in the middle of the counter, and on the right hand side, as you entered through the door, there was large coffee grinding machine with a massive, well it would be to a four year old, red handle. During the summer months they used a wooden coffee barrel to hold the door open, and smell of freshly ground coffee would waft through the Tollbooth tunnel and hit you just as you entered it.
Anyway, I seem to have drifted way off course here, while I was taking a walk down memory lane. The thing is, that back in those days everyone paid by cash, well apart from the folk on snob's hill, as they were the only ones who had cheque books. My parents always used to try and give me the exact amount of money when they sent me to that grocer's shop, in case I lost the change.
I was thinking about all that a few days ago while waiting in the queue at our local supermarket. I thought about how much things had changed over the years. We can now wander around the shop and fill our trolleys, only to stand for ages waiting to pay. It was a world apart from the days when the shops had a chair for the customers to sit on while they waited their turn.
So you can imagine how I felt after the customer in front of me had spent all the time waiting, then watched as the checkout person scanned every item, then slid it down to the youngster who was doing all the packing. Then, and only then, did this customer start to look for her purse, taking all its contents out in the process. After eventually finding the purse she then took out her credit card and slipped it into the machine!
Why on earth didn't she have it ready in the first place? It always takes longer to pay by credit card in these stores, and it's very frustrating for the other customers waiting behind them in the queue, especially when they can't remember the pin number, that really does annoy me: if you can't remember that, don't have one!
As if that whole experience wasn't bad enough, I went to get petrol while I was there and on my way out I pulled into the pumps. They have a special lane there for credit card holders; they call it the express lane, as they pay directly at the pump, so there is no need to stop at the pay window. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw this very same woman who had caused my delay earlier pull up to the pay window after filling up, then, after undoing her seatbelt and having yet another rummage through her handbag, eventually produced her credit card again! I was totally gob smacked, why on earth don't these people use the express lanes that have been provided especially for that purpose, instead of holding up all the people who pay by cash?
Are they being deliberately obtuse or just plain stupid? We never have and never will use credit cards, but if we did, I think we would take full advantage of any time-saving measures as previously mentioned, and not hold anyone up. Maybe I am being too polite or old-fashioned, and do not take pleasure in annoying other people, but I sometimes wonder why people do things like that.
I wonder if it's time we had 'cash only' checkouts in these supermarkets, as that would help keep folk's blood pressure down, especially mine!
