There’s no point having empty registers if everyone has to wait in the same line.

In the following story, we’ll meet a woman who got tired of doing exactly that during her Sunday grocery trips.

During the COVID pandemic, she’d gotten used to self-checkout, but when the store introduced a 25-item limit, she had to use the only open register even though no one was at self-checkout.

After that added half an hour to her trip, she asked for another cashier the following week. But when that got her nowhere, she asked the cashier to scan slowly enough for her to pack at her own pace.

Luckily, the people behind her understood what she was doing, and the next customer joined in as the line continued to grow.

Read on to see what happened on her next visit.

Use the cashier, not self checkout.

I shop at 7 a.m. on Sunday for groceries. I have for years. Very few people are in the grocery store.

When COVID hit, my local grocery store decided to close all the cashier lines first thing in the morning and force its customers to use self-checkout. I was miffed, but I conformed and found, to my delight, that I could bag my own groceries in an organized manner.

It cut down on my grocery bill, as I started to buy fewer items, and it was faster because I didn’t have to sort through the groceries to pack them as the cashier would overload my packing area. Win, win, win.

When COVID ended, they changed the rules.

Then COVID came to an end, and they opened up one cashier line in the morning. I continued to go to self-checkout. In and out by 7:30ish.

About a year after, 2022ish, signs went up: 25 items or less. I still went to self-checkout.

I had about 35 items (my usual amount). I was directed to the single cashier who had a lineup, and no one was in self-checkout.

I looked at the cashier who was monitoring the self-checkout and said, “Really? There’s no one here, and I don’t have a ton of groceries.”

Thanks to their changes, she was in the store thirty minutes longer than usual.

She apologized and said it was store policy. I asked them to put on another cashier. There wasn’t anyone due on shift for an hour, and I would have to use the cashier.

I went to the line. I was there till after 8. 30 minutes longer than normal. I was really peeved.

The following week, I shopped and was directed to the cashier. I once again asked for another cashier to be put on. I was denied. Fine by me.

When I got up to the cashier, there were 5 people behind me with loaded carts. I turned to the people behind me and said, “I apologize for what I am about to do, and I suggest you do the same. They need more cashiers in the morning.”

At least she apologized in advance.

I turned to the cashier and apologized to her. “I apologize, but I have instructions for you. Please do not overload the belt. When I nod to you, you may continue scanning. If I ask you to stop, please do and wait until I ask you to resume.” I was sooooo slowwwww.

I was actually expecting blowback, but the cashier did as I asked, smiling all the way. The customers behind were patient as all get-out. Took 10 minutes to pack about 35 items. There were now 15 people waiting. The word had passed down the line. Smirking everywhere.

The guy in the line behind me asked the cashier for the same instructions. By the time I reached the front doors, I saw the manager hustling out.

The following week, I went to shop. 3 cashiers on and a sign that said 35 items or less at the self-checkout.

Oh my! Luckily everyone seemed to be very patient that day.

Let’s see what the people over at Reddit think  about what happened.

What a novel idea!

Here’s someone who would’ve ignored the instructions.

According to this reader, the story is made up.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who isn’t happy with the company’s new time tracking rules, so decides to find a way around them.

Yet another person who questions if the story is real or not.

She made everyone else’s wait longer because she didn’t like waiting.

Of course, the store could’ve used another cashier, but that wasn’t the cashier’s fault or anyone else’s in line.

And while the people behind her went along with it, deliberately holding them up was still a ridiculous way to make her point.

She should’ve taken the staffing complaint to management instead of turning checkout into a protest. Geez.