Grocery Scanners Go Down
From a listserv Jan 18 1999, in response to the Farmers
Prepare article:
Speaking of food and Y2K--
I had my first Y2K event at the grocery store the first weekend of this
year.
My toddler and I tried to find the shortest line at the grocer's when we
were
ready to check out but I noticed that no one was moving......hmmm.......
The scanners had stopped working.
Everyone was cool about it. We decided to be a community and make wisecracks
about Y2K. But everyone was on holiday and my toddler was having fun even
after waiting in line for 20 minutes.
The management decided just to ask the customers how much they THOUGHT
everything cost and the clerks punched the numbers into the cash register.
Unfortunately I knew the prices of almost everything and felt honest that
day.
Had I been in a hurry, or had attitude, or the Princess been screaming I
would
have been mighty tempted to give myself a big Brenda-Goddess discount.
As I left, I saw one of the workers giving crayons to the people walking
in so
they could write down the price of everything they bought.
I found out through the grapevine the scanners were a Y2K glitch and caused
quite a stir in that company.
This, I think will be how the Y2K stuff will play out. Many, many little
inconveniences. Or big inconveniences, depending on our attitude that day.
-- BL