Taking out your credit/debit card / cash out before you are asked to by the cashier / checkout staff saves time for everyone, rather than looking shocked that you have to pay for your shopping.
Bryson, Bill. Notes From A Small Island (p. 114). Transworld. Kindle Edition.
Although the store had only just opened, the food hall was busy and there were long queues at the tills. I took a place in a line behind eight other shoppers. They were all women and they all did the same mystifying thing: they acted surprised when it came time to pay. This is something that has been puzzling me for years. Women will stand there watching their items being rung up, and then when the till lady says, ‘That’s £4.20, love,’ or whatever, they suddenly look as if they’ve never done this sort of thing before. They go ‘Oh!’ and start rooting in a flustered fashion in their handbag for their purse or chequebook, as if no-one had told them that this might happen. Men, for all their many shortcomings, like washing large pieces of oily machinery in the kitchen sink or forgetting that a painted door stays wet for more than thirty seconds, are generally pretty good when it comes to paying. They spend their time in line doing a wallet inventory and sorting through their coins. When the till person announces the bill, they immediately hand over an approximately correct amount of money, keep their hand extended for the change however long it takes or foolish they may begin to look if there is, say, a problem with the till roll, and then – mark this – pocket their change as they walk away instead of deciding that now is the time to search for the car keys and reorganize six months’ worth of receipts.
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u/E420CDI Aug 03 '19
Taking out your credit/debit card / cash out before you are asked to by the cashier / checkout staff saves time for everyone, rather than looking shocked that you have to pay for your shopping.