A break in the line

Technology was stopped dead in its tracks the other day. The world did not come to an end, but for one brief moment in time, everything stood still.

I was at the checkout aisle of a local supermarket, behind a man who had actually read the overhead sign inviting those with six items or less to come forward (it should actually have read “six items or fewer” but that’s a subject for another post).

The fellow had his first two items scanned by the red laser light embedded under the glass on the counter top. But his third item brought things to a screeching halt. It was a large can of soup, but the label contained no barcode and thus, could not be scanned. To complicate matters, there was no price sticker on the can itself.

The cashier had become so used to simply scanning each item that she was at a loss as to what to do. Finally, she directed the customer to go back to the shelves and get a can which did have a barcode.

In the meantime, the line was stopped dead in its tracks, as we waited for the customer to complete his errand.

He finally returned, only to tell the cashier that none of the cans had a barcode or price sticker. He did, however, inform her that the price on the shelf indicated the can cost $3.29. The cashier took his word for it and manually entered the amount on the cash register.

The rest of the transaction went smoothly and the fellow was on his way.

But for one brief moment in time, technology brought our world to a stop because of a missing barcode.