Kramer’s Korner: Get Off Your Phone At The Cash Register

Look I've got a lot of different little pet peeves, we all do right? There's not one person on this planet that doesn't have SOMETHING that drives them up a wall when it happens.

I'm the first to admit that I probably have more than a lot of people, I can be irritable at times like that. It's a flaw, I'm working on it, I promise.

There's one though that'll send me right through the roof, and it happened to me this morning. I always stop at a convenience store before coming into work. I need my caffeine. It changes from day to day, sometimes it's coffee, maybe an energy drink, or just a big soda. Either way, I'm not fully functional or in the right frame of mind until I get some in me.

So today I landed on a big soda. I fill my cup and make my way to the counter. It was a bit busy in there, kind of normal for a Friday. Typically there are two people working the counter, but today there was only one. She was bouncing back and forth between two registers to keep things flowing.

I get in line behind two people. One person is at the counter getting something, pays for it, then realizes he needs something else from behind the counter. No problem, I've done it too. She grabs that for him then bounces to the other register. Meanwhile, he's fumbling around for payment, the other line is now growing, and myself and the other person are getting antsy.

It's not that he was taking awhile, it was the fact that he was on his phone the whole time. The phone call was distracting him, completely unaware of the growing line behind him. I start tapping my foot, he loses his call. Stops EVERYTHING he's doing and keeps repeating, "hello? hello?". After saying it about 20 times, he hangs up, looks down at his phone, then calls the person back.

Meanwhile, we're STILL waiting on him to pay for his item. He's more concerned with his phone call at the counter than he is about being considerate and getting out of the way so others can go. The line continued to grow behind me, there's now three more people stacked up behind me.

The woman in front of me can't take it anymore, she says to the guy, "get off your phone, there's people waiting behind you!". He turns and looks at everyone, then back at her. "Yes ma'am, I see that, I'm trying," he says. Then turns around...AND CONTINUES HIS CONVERSATION!!

Look, stay off your phone at the register of the store. It slows you down, it's inconsiderate to the people behind you, not to mention the person helping you at the register. Tell the person to hang on for a few seconds. Make you purchase, then get out of the way. It's not hard.