Dutch supermarket introduces unique slow checkout lane for lonely seniors who want to have a chat.

Would you check out in the slow lane?

I'm 69 and I avoid manned checkouts like the plague. I would leave my cart full of groceries in the middle of the checkout line and leave the store if I had to wait in a long line to check out. I'm old, and have little patience for old people. Get on with it grandma or get out of the way!

Let's be an eldergay in [italic]that[/italic] line

OP, does the clerk take checks?

Made me smile. No one should be lonely

I think it's pretty smart, truth be told. Good marks for kindness and decency and gets old people out of the scowl line of people impatient with them. Good idea.

I agree with R2 100%.

I'm 70 and in the fourth quarter of my life. I got better things to do with my remaining time on earth than be stuck behind some dick (of any age) putzing around in any kind of check-out line.

Those poor cashiers should be paid triple that their colleagues are being paid.

Nice.

It's a line that everyone knows is not the fast lane. That alone is good for some older shoppers who have trouble enough with unloading and bagging and reloading their carts and then paying. I think they would appreciate a line where they didn't feel as though they were an obstacle doe the cashier and the customers queued behind them.

In that slightly more relaxed "slow lane" they can exchange a few words no it feeling as if a gun were held to their heads to hurry it right the fuck along, toots

It will never cull all of the slow from the fast sorts. There's always the person who thinks he's fast and ready to bolt into action to get his things immediately onto the conveyor belt, organized with speed and precision, but then he bags his groceries as if they were cartons of eggs being shipped overseas. Finally, he fidgets forever with his wallet and does everything wrong when using his credit card. He still thinks it's everyone else who's the problem and he always will do.

This is the nicest thing I've heard in a while

As long as they shut it down and clear the parking lot from seniors 1 hour before the typical workday ends...

I'd love it....mind you I'd talk to a chair leg if it would talk back.

Special on assisted suicides in Aisle 4!

Stuck behind a SLOOOOOOOW old person at the supermarket cashier, I disarm and merely observe. I worry about those years coming upon myself. I don't know if its better to be obliged to shop at that age or to have it done for you. I expect the routine and movement is essential to keeping on.

R14, move it along, cunt, surely, if it's a DLer.

My favorite cashier at the grocery store is gorgeous, hung as a horse, and hangs to the left. I guess you can't force someone to wear underwear beneath their pants.

In a time when everything gets squeezed and "optimised for shareholder value," this is such a heart-warming initiative.

I think it's absolutely lovely. I know there are cashiers who are chatters and slow up a line or look miserable because they are curtailing their natural personality. And customers should be able to treat them as human beings if they want to. It's courteous all around for the more extraverted people.

Plus, it would help me to know which line to avoid.

They call it the Iowa lane. 😂

The competition amongst the checkout staff not to be out on that must be fierce.

[quote] My favorite cashier at the grocery store is gorgeous, hung as a horse, and hangs to the left. I guess you can't force someone to wear underwear beneath their pants.

Is there a private booth checkout option, where R17’s guy is the cashier? Asking for a friend. 😏🍆👀

Which one of you bitches came up this idea?

I like it.

Fantastic. I hope it gets implemented here. I usually shop in the mornings since its less crowded at local Safeway. Those that are there are primarily old people while the younger people are at work or school. Many of them already chat at length with the cashiers, so having a dedicated line would be welcome.

[quote] Fantastic. I hope it gets implemented here.

Here? Where? Americans will fire bullets if you dare set something like this up.

This is what mom and pop stores were for.

This is the dumbest idea imaginable. Why on Earth would anyone want to be stuck in line waiting while someone chats for three hours? How is this even implemented? How do you even set rules and standards for this? Aren’t there other seniors wanting to chat to the cashier in line? Some of these people may even have physical issues. How long can they stand there waiting for to get their turn to talk and pay for their stuff?

Set up a day service somewhere for lonely seniors to mingle. Europeans are just weird. No wonder they started two world wars. They don’t live in reality.

Reminds me of the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now where were we... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

It's sweet, only as an opt-in.

I hate chatty checkers. It is part of the Trader Joe's brand and I hope hope hope that my checker does not want to chat. At any market, I aim my cart for the surliest looking checker when I'm ready to go. I do not get into a check out line to make conversation. I want to pay, get out of there, and go about my business.

And the old women who write checks? At least they should be courteous enough to have the checkbook out and ready. I want to punch in the throat the ones that have to rummage through their bags to find their checkbook. What the fuck? You thought you needed to wait until the checker read out the total due to realize you needed to pay?!

R32, even worse is the cunt that has to dig in her bag for exact change. Who the fuck uses cash anymore? If you have to use cash, have it out when it’s your turn.

It's an interesting and nice idea.

Can you use it if you are not a senior citizen? I hate how fast the cashiers check the items it gives me anxiety. You have to put the items in the cart or the bags with a lightning speed and have the credit card ready.

I'm thinking the exact opposite, I wish grocery stores would start adding more express checkout lanes.

I love this.

Not for me. I choose self-checkout whenever possible because I want out ASAP and I want to bag my own groceries.

But I’ve been shopping with elderly relatives and I’ve watched old people poke along in checkout lanes. They’re not in your fucking hurry. I admire that. Moreover, they’re from another generation where interpersonal relations and communication, as well as general friendliness, played a much larger role in daily interactions. We’ve lost something in the shift, and by we, I mean those of us who are in a hurry and have no interest in chitchat.

[quote]At any market, I aim my cart for the surliest looking checker when I'm ready to go.

I aim for the hottest. At least I’ll get some eye candy while I’m waiting.

I do wonder why they have all day and wait until 5pm Friday.

Habit, but come on!

I know enough to go at like 7AM.

When I worked retail, the most lonely seniors would come in, have zero spatial awareness and refuse to leave the checkout counter so they could tell me all about their lives. It would have been alright had there not been lines of customers behind these socially unaware individuals.

A nicely timed "Move it along, toots!". Would work, r40.

All you knobs are raving about the slowness..... with 'move it along Toots'. It's slow for the reason as mentioned. (No one has cheque books anymore America)

You’re right, we don’t.

We do have checkbooks, though.

During lockdown I didn't realize how lonely I was until the first time I ventured out to a store several months into lockdown. (I'd been getting grocery deliveries exclusively.)

I was absolutely giddy interacting with store staff.

I have a spouse and step kids at home so I wasn't home alone. I can only imagine how lonely it gets for older folks who have very limited social life.

Good for Holland! Sometimes a kind word is all you need to get your through the week.

[quote]I hate chatty checkers. It is part of the Trader Joe's brand and I hope hope hope that my checker does not want to chat.

I enjoy Trader Joe's for precisely that reason. There's always one or two hot, friendly guys manning a register up front. One of them who's straight always wants to show me his latest tattoo.

We already have this service in the U.S. It's available at every Publix checkout lane in the state of Florida.

I pity the fool who gets stuck behind a senior who is reciting the names of all their grandchildren, what college they attend and their major. Or what tests the doctor ordered and why. Also how many times the phlebotomist had to stick them to get a viable vein for the blood draw.

It's already happening at the Fred Meyer in my neighborhood. I am always opting for the self checkout because those lonely crackers will plug up the like for thirty minutes.

I got caught behind an old dear the other day and at 1st I was irritated but then I realized how very lonely she seemed to be and I just chilled and looked at cute guys. She fastened on any word the cashier said as a reason to go on and on .Almost desperately. I stood there thinking I hope I never get that lonely.

I'm old but still like living in the fast lane in my mind.