For the first time, I used an automated checkout machine at I-55 Kroger this evening. Only if I'm starving and there are no checkout clerks available will I think about using them again. The procedure should have been a breeze, as I was purchasing four TV dinners, all of which were bar-coded. Almost immediately I became irritated at the woman's voice that told me what to do. It was neither commanding nor soothing, just harsh and loud, like the voices that blare out over the PA system calling somebody to the front of the store or the battle-ax of a principal at Boyd School yelling at us in the cafeteria.

Worse, nothing on the machine was intuitive. At first, I couldn't even figure out how to start the process until I searched diligently, trying not to look completely inept and clueless, and eventually found the correct button on the touchscreen. There were no instructions on where to hold the bar code, so I had to hold it in a variety of positions until it beeped. I couldn't find the receipt until the customer behind me pointed it out. By the time I left, I was really aggravated. Ideally, you should be able to check out by pushing your grocery cart past a sensor, or at a minimum placing your groceries on a conveyor belt. Even the current contraption could be modified to make it much easier to use by such simple measures as shining a beam of light where the customer is to hold the bar code and posting written instructions on a sign that can be readily seen by a customer inexperienced at using the machines.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is a geek machine, designed by and for geeks. I'm something of a geek myself, but when I shop at a grocery store I have no desire to encounter an obstacle course, technical or otherwise. Next time I shop I'll stand in line to be checked out by a human being.