‘I was told off by a Coles staffer because I was checking out wrong’

“So they want us to scan our own stuff, but they also want to tell me how to do it? Yeah, nah Coles,” the indignant woman said.

Coles rolled out self-checkouts with conveyor belts in 2021. Photo: Daily Telegraph

Let’s face it, self-checkout isn’t a particularly fun experience.

There’s never enough space, the search function can never find the “pink lady apples” and your four-year-old always moves things so the machine melts down and you have to call staff.

So when you work out a quick, efficient way to check-out, that becomes your go-to.

Sarah’s* efficient check-out was completely derailed at Coles, when an employee stood next to her at the self-checkout and told her off because she was “doing it wrong”.

“Went to Coles this arvo, had six things in a big trolley,” she posted on Reddit.

“Used a self-checkout but the kind with a conveyor belt.

“So usually with those you unload the trolley onto the belt, park the trolley at the end, scan items and put them back in the trolley.”

Sarah decided to scan the items in the trolley to move the process along, but the staffer wasn’t having it.

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Coles rolled out self-checkouts with conveyor belts in 2021. Photo: Daily Telegraph

Shopper told off at Coles for checking out wrong

“Because I only had six items, I just picked up the hand-scanning gun and beeped everything in the trolley without putting them on the belt.

“The Coles staff member standing there told me I’m not allowed to do that and must place all items on the conveyor belt.

“I said nah, this way is easier than getting them out and putting them back, and because I only had a small number of items, it was easy to make sure I got everything. Obviously I would use the conveyor belt if I had more stuff."

“She said it’s not allowed because then we can’t watch you properly. That sounds like a Coles problem to me?

“If they think I’m going to steal something then check my receipt when I’m finished? But they assume people are stealing before they even scan their stuff.

“I know it’s not the staff members fault they don’t make the rules so I wasn’t rude or anything but far out.

“They want us to scan our own stuff but also want to tell me how to do it? Yeah, nah Coles.”

She added with irony that while she was being told off for checking out wrong, “Someone legged it through the other self-checkout area with an armful of stolen stuff while the staff and security guard did nothing, LOL!”

The post received over 1500 comments. Photo: Reddit

Reddit responds to self-checkout drama

The woman's post was incredibly popular, with over 1500 comments. 

Many people joked that with self-checkout customers were becoming unofficial, unpaid employees of the supermarket giant. 

"Tell them to fire you then," one person said. 

Originally published as ‘I was told off by a Coles staffer because I was checking out wrong’