Millennial here. I fucking hate people and conversing with them, especially small talk bullshit, but I hate companies and their profiteering more.

I would rather more people had jobs and were able to earn a wage and the companies had less profit than using those infuriating machines. I don't even get cheaper prices for having to do the work myself on those infuriating machines.

I think I would be less annoyed if they gave people the option between the two so people like yourself could use the self service machines and they still employed some people to work checkouts but these days there is usually one or two checkouts designed to be run by staff and they hardly ever have a staff member on them so you are forces through the self service bullshit.

Not a boomer, but clearly older than you. I love self checkout. I don't want to hear about the time you broke your wrist, or what you are getting your girlfriend for Valentines. I just want out. People who hate self checkouts are extroverts who need interaction with others. Introverts are smart enough to use the machines.

I used to agree with this. Then I came to terms with the fact that I hate providing free labor to a grocery store while they lay off my neighbors.

Now I go to the normal checkout.

It's slower and I don't do small talk. But fuck Big Grocery.

Gen X here, wildly prefers self checkout, even if they are, as they often are, badly adapted or quirky.

Can understand why the person taking care of it doesn't like to serve 8 times more people though, especially when they have to "control" every other scan.

On the other hand, you must go insane just sitting and scanning objects for 8h a day for years no?

I agree and I do the same but I think you missed the point that the employees hate it :-/

I like it for other customers too.

Nothing is worse than standing in line behind someone who is talking the ear off a cashier while you’re waiting to get your shit and get the fuck on with your day. Or them taking forever counting change or dealing with their obnoxious children or taking forever grabbing their shit and getting the fuck on.

I never have to worry about that with self checkout. Especially since the lines are usually set up in a way that everyone waits for a self checkout to open than having a single line for each checkout. I suppose the fix for my secondary issue would be to do that for human cashiers too. Just one line waiting for any register to open up.

my grandpa - his kids were boomers - preferred self checkout. He loved talking to strangers. He died 20 years ago when the ui wasn't as good (though honestly little has changed since). Self checkout is so much more efficient.