Today, the Daily Mail published an article about "those maddening" automatic self service checkout machines.
The post features British readers' personal stories about their hatred of the machines, with titles such as: "I FIND MYSELF YELLING AT THE SILLY MACHINES" and "WHEN THE COMPUTER SHOUTS AT ME, I FREEZE."
But one letter, written by a woman called Wendy from Sussex, stood out:
Brilliantly mad Daily Mail letter about self-service checkouts, as spotted by @lobyouknowme
In her letter, Wendy said she tipped over her trolley in a rage after an Asda staff member told her she had to use the machine:
THEY MADE ME SO MAD, I TIPPED MY TROLLEY OVER
At my local Asda, with a weekly shop in my trolley, I got to the checkouts to find none was manned, and the supervisor directed me to the ugly self-service machines.
I don't like using them at all. That day, I had a lot of shopping and it was going to take ages to scan it all myself. Had I known that there were no cashiers available, I wouldn't have entered the store in the first place.
So instead I told the supervisor, very politely but through gritted teeth, that I was going to abandon my trolley there in the middle of Asda and go to another supermarket where I could be served by a human being.
I was going to abandon my trolley there in the middle of Asda and go to another supermarket where I could be served by a human being
'Could I please have my £1 coin back from the trolley?' I asked, since I could hardly shove the thing back into its stack when it was full of food.
But no. He wouldn't give me the £1 from a till and he wouldn't get the tool they use to retrieve coins stuck in trolleys.
So I saw red and did a very petty thing. I took the trolley with both hands and tipped it over so all the food tumbled out on to the floor.
Of course, the eggs broke all over the place. In fact, I did my best to break them on purpose, which, yes, I admit is also very childish and silly. But it did feel good.
The supervisor shrugged and turned away — as though he saw irate customers making a mess of his supermarket every day. Most of the other customers laughed, and it's possible a few clapped.
Then I took the empty trolley to the stack and got my pound back. And I still refuse to use those wretched self-service machines.
WENDY TAYLOR, 62, Lancing, Sussex
Wendy admitted that although she knew it was a "childish and silly" thing to do, it did make her "feel good."
So that's something.
In the meantime, here's a reminder on why self service checkout machines are the worst invention in the world.
