Self check out, or not to self check out

So the question is, should I use the self check out line, or should I
run through the old fashioned cashier line?

When I'm at Safeway, tired after a day of work and driving the child
around, lugging my basket because I don't do shopping carts, I want a
few moments where I can just stand and blank out. I like to do this in
the check out line, half the time not even paying attention to the
total, blindly swipping my bank card and punching in the pin. Why
would I want to scan and bag my own groceries when there are
individuals who get paid to do it fir me?

It seems like a no-brainer, that us until you factor in that the
majority of cashier are no-brainers, as they blank out and scan right
in front of me. I could care less about that, but it takes a lot of
brain power to properly bag groceries. They seem used to tossing three
items into a plastic bag then starting again with a new one. It's not
rocket science, afterall.

Unfortunatly for them (and me?) is that the grocery store introduced
this wonderful item call the "re-useable shopping bag" that throws a
wrench in the traditional grocery store bagging procedure. In this
lies my discontent for choosing the cashier line. It is a very rare
occassion when my bags are properly packed.

I unload my groceries (all 20 items at most) with the heaviest at the
front, lightest at the back. I hand over 2 re-useable bags. Common
sense seems to be that half of the heavy items go in one bag, the rest
in the other one, with the lighter items topping up both bags... Right?

No. The processes is, fill up one bag then put the remaining items in
the other, the result if which is Angel ends up with one mosterously
heavy bag and one feather light bag.

Today, I asked the cashier, as she was putting ALL the heavy items in
bag #1, if she could split up the heavy items since there are 2 bags.
She said ok, and started filling bag #2 with the remaining lighter
items.

As I was paying, bag #2 tips over because it was imbalanced. How does
she correct this? She takes the 4-pack of Redbull cans out of bag #1
and places them in bag #2, on top of the light items! Um hello? What
happens when you put cans on top of fresh peppers? I will give you a
hint ... ~squish~

That is a tad exagerated since my vegetables didn't get squished, but
they could have if the tomatoes had been in bag #1 instead of in bag #2.

I can bitch to the managers about the poorly trained cashier, but I
guarantee next week thing would be exactly the same. Or I can suck it
up and scan and bag my own groceries, since I know, why let someone do
a poor job when I can do better by myself...

Sent from my iPhone