So long, Kroger. I'll miss you.

2 red pears
1 red onion
bunch of bananas
bag of clementines
1 cucumber
loaf of harvest grain bread
Kalamata olives from the olive bar
cut-up chicken to make Pioneer Woman's chicken stock
4 or 5 cans of Campbell’s Soup (variety) and 2 boxes of Cup-a-Soup (chicken noodle) to re-stock my desk at work
2 boxes of granola bars - my favorite kind
2 boxes of tea – red Rooibus and citrus mint lemongrass ... sigh
2 small containers of cherry pomegranate yogurt
1 large container of Greek yogurt
½ gallon of milk
pint of ½ and ½
2 packages ham and cheese Lean Pockets

This is what I left in my cart (and in the bagging area) at Kroger last night when there was exactly one "regular" checkout lane open (with a mile-long line) and after I got fed up with the stupid self-serve scanner, which repeatedly refused to recognize my bread or hermetically sealed-and-barcode-labeled English cucumber and only reluctantly recognized some of the other barcoded items. It wanted me to keep my precariously piled items in the minuscule bagging area. I hadn't even started with the weigh-and-look-up-the-PLU produce, and after more than 10 minutes and less than half the cart, I gave up and walked out.

Poop. I'll miss Kroger. I don't even need to write a long diatribe about what I profoundly dislike about self-scanners ... these other people say it so well:

• http://consumerist.com/2009/07/dear-kroger-please-make-self-check-out-suck-less.html
• http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/11/07/self-checkout-a-consumers-rant/
• http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2010/02/self-checkout-is-a-pain-retail-shopping-supermarket-automated-longer-checkout-lines-scanner-no-cashi.html?EXTKEY=I91ECON&CMP=OTC-ConsumeristLinks

The self-scan things may be time-saving and convenient sometimes - in the rarest of circumstances - maybe. They are not meant for people like me. I use my own bags. I don't buy a lot of packaged food (list above is exceptional). I usually prefer small, locally owned stores with real people but I do like my olives and my grainy bread and my yogurt and ... dang it! I tried so very hard to be patient and I failed. Will I boycott stores with self-scanners? I'd sure like to but I know I'll weaken at some point. It will sure be a very long time before I go back to my formerly favorite Kroger.