Jacques walked quickly to the checkout area. The lines for the traditional checkout counters were very long, and everybody in them had carts filled to the brim. However, there was an odd looking set of checkout stations that did not have long lines. One of them was not even occupied. Were these the self-checkouts that he had heard of?
Jacques did not have social anxiety. He had read the symptoms, and he decided that he did not have enough of them to qualify for that disorder. But he hated it when strangers tried to socialise with him, especially when they tried to make him laugh or told him to smile. This was a problem that he ran into most often when he was paying at a store, so the self-checkout was the best option for him. Jacques walked up to the unoccupied self-checkout and pressed the start button.
"Welcome," the feminine robotic voice said, "Please scan your first item."
Jacques scanned his first item. It was a bag of Doritos because he wanted the receipt to be in alphabetical order.
"Please place item in the bagging area." The machine said. The item was in the bagging area. Jacques looked at the machine's touchscreen. It would not let him continue unless it detected the Doritos or if Jacques pressed the button that read, "I don't want to bag this item."
Jacques waited a few seconds and then pressed the button.
"Unexpected item in bagging area. Remove this item before continuing."
Jacques took the item out of the bagging area. He then scanned the Flex Seal™ and placed it in the bagging area.
"Unexpected item in bagging area."
Jacques did not press the "I don't want to bag this item" button, but the self-checkout allowed him to continue after a second. He decided not to waste anymore time trying to alphabetise the list. He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. Garin might be handing out pickled eggs by now. Every second counts.