Minor things that bother you

[LilianaUwU]

Speaking of, I have the worst luck with long checkout lines at various stores no matter what hour I choose. Peak times when the self checkout machines are unlocked? Totally slammed. Off-peak and dead hours? No cashiers and no self checkout.

Self checkout is always unlocked during opening hours over here. Why wouldn't it be?

[SEWIGuy]

Don't you think that if it were profitable to stay open 24 hours, that they would do so?

No, I don't. Because I think they are more interested in making blanket nationwide policies, because that is easy, than making more money by expending a little mental effort to look back at the 2019 per-market numbers and say "oh, hey, we'd probably make money if we stayed open later in Las Vegas, so let's try that."

lol. Cmon...

You should write the CEO a letter and inform him that you have a better idea on how he can run the business than they do.

[Scott5114]

You should write the CEO a letter and inform him that you have a better idea on how he can run the business than they do.

That sounds like a total waste of time.

[Scott5114]

And now a minor thing that bothers me... NV Energy, our lovely electric company here in Nevada, helpfully sends out emails every few days showing how much our energy bill is estimated to be, based on the weather each day. These are, as you might expect, sent with a sender name of NV Energy. So far so good.

Because of these emails, I knew my electric bill was supposed to be coming sometime soon, so I was searching "sender:NV Energy" in my email every few days so I could pay it. All I saw was the estimated amount emails. Today, I got an email warning that I was at risk of disconnection due to a unpaid balance. What? I hadn't even gotten the bill yet!

So I dug through the emails manually and...the sender on the actual "bill is due" email is..."DoNotReply". Oh, also, sometimes when they email me, the sender is NVEnergy (without the space). And the payment confirmation is sent from "do not reply". So that's four different strings I would have to search for in order to get every email this outfit sent me over the past month, two of which have nothing to do with the company name so they'd probably snag other senders in my inbox as well.

Do you think they are surprised I missed the due date?

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm honestly just surprised to see anyone from the west coast use the term "supermarket."

The term "supermarket" is plenty widespread in the Northwest. Probably just another Californiaism that gets applied to the whole coast (another annoying part about living outside the media bubble).

Speaking of, I have the worst luck with long checkout lines at various stores no matter what hour I choose. Peak times when the self checkout machines are unlocked? Totally slammed. Off-peak and dead hours? No cashiers and no self checkout.

I'm not from California though.  I don't even remember people saying "supermarket" all that often in the Midwest.  The only places it was common were Connecticut and Florida.

Regarding your question, the stores don't want to spend the payroll on slow times of the day.  Nowadays most retailers even have an algorithm that will write the schedule for them based off the forecasted volume.  The algorithm heavily deemphasizes staffing slow business hours. 

[ZLoth]

Regarding your question, the stores don't want to spend the payroll on slow times of the day.  Nowadays most retailers even have an algorithm that will write the schedule for them based off the forecasted volume.  The algorithm heavily deemphasizes staffing slow business hours.

Which also means that one has a schedule whose start and end times constantly change. This can wreck havoc if you also have child care issues.

[Max Rockatansky]

Regarding your question, the stores don't want to spend the payroll on slow times of the day.  Nowadays most retailers even have an algorithm that will write the schedule for them based off the forecasted volume.  The algorithm heavily deemphasizes staffing slow business hours.

Which also means that one has a schedule whose start and end times constantly change. This can wreck havoc if you also have child care issues.

Having a set schedule in retail really hasn't ever been a thing since I've been around it.  Usually part timers and flex employees can have some restriction's accommodated.  Good luck trying to swing that as full time anything. 

[Rothman]

When I lived in San Francisco, Safeway = supermarket.

[webny99]

Maybe during the work week, but 10AM on a weekend is probably among their busiest hours.

You do realize that most people in Las Vegas don't have weekends off, right? Weekends are when people drive up from Southern California and spend money. The weekend is also when most of the concerts and other events are. So you need more staff during the weekend than any other time. If someone has weekends off, it usually means they have something like 10 to 20 years of seniority.

Specific data on this is surprisingly hard to come by, but "most" suggests that greater than 50% of the workforce is working on weekends, and I'd be extremely surprised if that's the case. The national average is about 28%, and I can see that number being notably higher in the Las Vegas area but it's still probably no higher than the 35-45% range.

I'm sure it's well over 50% in the entertainment and hospitality industries, but that doesn't account for industries such as education, healthcare, government services, and corporate offices that predominantly follow a Monday to Friday work week.

[Bruce]

Speaking of, I have the worst luck with long checkout lines at various stores no matter what hour I choose. Peak times when the self checkout machines are unlocked? Totally slammed. Off-peak and dead hours? No cashiers and no self checkout.

Self checkout is always unlocked during opening hours over here. Why wouldn't it be?

Certain stores turn them off outside of peak hours to discourage theft. This is a fairly new policy after they had already massively downsized their staffed checkouts.

The main culprit is Target, which is why I don't shop there unless I absolutely have to. Their self checkout lines are long because so many people are bringing full carts into them.

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of stores are pulling self checkout over theft.  Since Walmart put SCO registers in their company wide shrink has jumped for. 0.80% to about 3%

[Scott5114]

Maybe during the work week, but 10AM on a weekend is probably among their busiest hours.

You do realize that most people in Las Vegas don't have weekends off, right? Weekends are when people drive up from Southern California and spend money. The weekend is also when most of the concerts and other events are. So you need more staff during the weekend than any other time. If someone has weekends off, it usually means they have something like 10 to 20 years of seniority.

Specific data on this is surprisingly hard to come by, but "most" suggests that greater than 50% of the workforce is working on weekends, and I'd be extremely surprised if that's the case. The national average is about 28%, and I can see that number being notably higher in the Las Vegas area but it's still probably no higher than the 35-45% range.

I'm sure it's well over 50% in the entertainment and hospitality industries, but that doesn't account for industries such as education, healthcare, government services, and corporate offices that predominantly follow a Monday to Friday work week.

Well, when your economy basically revolves around entertainment and hospitality, everything else kind of flows from that. A lot of the corporations based in Las Vegas are here because they serve the entertainment or hospitality industries, which means they follow the schedule that the casinos set. Even some governmental offices follow suit: the county clerk's office is open seven days per week, 8am to midnight, on all holidays, no exceptions—because if the county clerk was closed, how would you legally register your Las Vegas wedding?

This is anecdotal, but my apartment move-in was on a Sunday—this past Super Bowl Sunday specifically, which was going on down by I-15—meaning that despite it being a weekend, the property manager was there to hand out keys, do the walk-around, etc. The property manager picked that date, not us, and they didn't act like this was anything out of the ordinary. We had also reserved a storage unit, which we didn't receive the keys for until the next morning. The storage unit manager apologized profusely that she hadn't been available on Sunday—but that was because she had been busy at one of the company's other storage facilities across town, not because she was off Sundays.

[vdeane]

The main culprit is Target, which is why I don't shop there unless I absolutely have to. Their self checkout lines are long because so many people are bringing full carts into them.

And the reason people bring full carts into them is because they refuse to adequately staff the regular lanes, usually having only one or two open.

Speaking of, I have the worst luck with long checkout lines at various stores no matter what hour I choose. Peak times when the self checkout machines are unlocked? Totally slammed. Off-peak and dead hours? No cashiers and no self checkout.

Self checkout is always unlocked during opening hours over here. Why wouldn't it be?

The grocery store I go to has two banks of four self checkouts each, one on each side of the store.  During low volume hours one of them is closed so they don't have to pay two attendants for the self-checkouts.

Those attendants aren't just loss prevention, either.  The self-checkout systems are so old that they're extremely finnicky, throwing a "please remove the last item from the bag and scan it before placing it in the bag" error which needs to be manually cleared at the slightest thing.  Put it in the bag too quickly after successfully scanning?  Jostle the bag while putting it in?  Have to arrange items in the bag?  You name it, that will happen.  And eggs fail to scan due to issues reading the barcode often enough that I've had to have them manually scan them several times.  And they have to manually input all coupons.

I've gotten pretty good at scanning my groceries without issue, but it can still happen if I'm in a rush or buying something I don't normally get.  And there's no helping the egg issue if the barcode didn't print perfectly on the carton.

[kkt]

A lot of stores are pulling self checkout over theft.  Since Walmart put SCO registers in their company wide shrink has jumped for. 0.80% to about 3%

Gee, who could have predicted that without a checker, y'know, checking, people would just steal stuff?

I was just at Target today.  I was thinking of getting some underwear, but it's all in locked cases now like it was fine Cognac.  No employees were in the department so I didn't bother pushing the button for one.  I want to be able to read the label, like fabric and the waist measurements that might fit a Large or XL, before I call a staff member.

[mgk920]

Speaking of Portland, how early everything closes.

Uhhh.. are we talking about Oregon or Maine? Or are we talking about New South Wales, Victoria, Ontario, New Zealand, or others around the world?

I'm pretty sure Portland, OR isn't on Atlantic Time, as also referenced in that post.

Neither is Portland, ME.


This is just like "I'm going to Columbus!".  'Columbus' in what state?

Mike

Sure, Portland, ME might not be officially on Atlantic Time, but you wouldn't know that from how early everything closes.

I would think it wouldn't be too hard to figure out which Portland I was talking about... there are only two that most people have heard of, only one of which is close enough to the Atlantic time zone for that quip to make sense.  Similarly, if I hear "Columbus" without context, I'm assuming Ohio.  While I'm sure there are others in the country/world, I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Oof.  Don't say that last couple of sentences out loud 'round these parts. ;D

Surely, you've been to Columbus, NY.

I've been to Columbus, GA, Columbus, OH and Columbus, WI!

Mike

[Bruce]

A lot of stores are pulling self checkout over theft.  Since Walmart put SCO registers in their company wide shrink has jumped for. 0.80% to about 3%

Gee, who could have predicted that without a checker, y'know, checking, people would just steal stuff?

I was just at Target today.  I was thinking of getting some underwear, but it's all in locked cases now like it was fine Cognac.  No employees were in the department so I didn't bother pushing the button for one.  I want to be able to read the label, like fabric and the waist measurements that might fit a Large or XL, before I call a staff member.

They're pushing more people to use their online pickup, but that also kills impulse buys. Seems like a bad cycle to jump into.

[Max Rockatansky]

One retailer offers it and then everyone else does to remain competitive.  If done right there is less payroll overhead.  I don't think has fully made a fully efficient model for stuff like buying online and getting stuff delivered to your house from a store.

[gonealookin]

It bothers me when the mini fridge in the hotel room is set too cold.

Which you find out when you are awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of one of the canned drinks you put in there exploding and making a horrible mess.

(He wrote after spending several minutes cleaning up one of said horrible messes.)

[D-Dey65]

My POS computer is refusing to let me shut down a task manager. Also, IMDb is refusing to allow me to correct two titles. I formatted them correctly, and they still won't let me correct them.

[formulanone]

It bothers me when the mini fridge in the hotel room is set too cold.

Which you find out when you are awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of one of the canned drinks you put in there exploding and making a horrible mess.

(He wrote after spending several minutes cleaning up one of said horrible messes.)

I've grumbled several mornings when the cold cuts, lettuce, fruit, and yogurt have frozen solid.

I've made a routine of checking the hotel fridge first by setting it to the off position, verifying the little thermostat "clicks", and then setting it to a mid-point. Hotel staff have a habit of leaving the refrigerators of low-occupancy hotel rooms to OFF, and then setting them to the coldest setting so it's just right a few hours later. Unfortunately, a few more hours after that, it's unusable. So I check the knob; sometimes it's easy to access, and other times, it's towards the back. A few don't seem to have any discernible controls other than on/off (Courtyard by Marriott has some of these microfridges and while hardly big enough to carry a disease, they haven't frozen my food yet).

Likewise, the mini freezer shelf/compartment that doesn't get cold enough has ruined a few ice cream novelties I'd hoped to enjoy throughout the week. Though at least twice I've been swooned by ice cream at the store and forgot to check if there's actually any freezer at all. 😅

[wxfree]

We've complained here before about Google Maps making the roads nearly impossible to see.  That seems like a problem on what is supposed to be a road map.  TxDOT's Statewide Planning Map is doing this now.  Fortunately, the old display, which they call "TxDOT" is still available and works perfectly, but the default display is "TxDOT Light Gray" which should be called "TxDOT Invisible Roads."  I got a screenshot and opened it in a photo editing program.  The background is color 186 186 186 and the roads are slightly whiter at 191 191 191.  If you zoom in far enough, you can at least see the labels even though the roads are virtually invisible.  You'd think a highway department would understand the importance of maps on which you can see the highways.

My real complaint is broader, about the phenomenon of a designer coming up with a bad idea and everyone else thinking that bad idea needs to be spread around the world.  I still like computer programs that just do what they're told instead of trying to figure out your mind and predict what you want.  Even if they weren't so terrible at knowing what I wanted to do, I'd still prefer give directives without interference from a machine's opinions.

[CtrlAltDel]

The main culprit is Target, which is why I don't shop there unless I absolutely have to. Their self checkout lines are long because so many people are bringing full carts into them.

And the reason people bring full carts into them is because they refuse to adequately staff the regular lanes, usually having only one or two open.

Speaking of, I have the worst luck with long checkout lines at various stores no matter what hour I choose. Peak times when the self checkout machines are unlocked? Totally slammed. Off-peak and dead hours? No cashiers and no self checkout.

Self checkout is always unlocked during opening hours over here. Why wouldn't it be?

The grocery store I go to has two banks of four self checkouts each, one on each side of the store.  During low volume hours one of them is closed so they don't have to pay two attendants for the self-checkouts.

Those attendants aren't just loss prevention, either.  The self-checkout systems are so old that they're extremely finnicky, throwing a "please remove the last item from the bag and scan it before placing it in the bag" error which needs to be manually cleared at the slightest thing.  Put it in the bag too quickly after successfully scanning?  Jostle the bag while putting it in?  Have to arrange items in the bag?  You name it, that will happen.  And eggs fail to scan due to issues reading the barcode often enough that I've had to have them manually scan them several times.  And they have to manually input all coupons.

I've gotten pretty good at scanning my groceries without issue, but it can still happen if I'm in a rush or buying something I don't normally get.  And there's no helping the egg issue if the barcode didn't print perfectly on the carton.

The Walmart by me has decided, within the past week or so, to limit self-checkout to 15 items or less. I didn't notice the signs, so someone came by and talked to me, although they let me continue. This annoys me, since I would much prefer to check out by myself, if only because I know what I want to be bagged with what else.

[CtrlAltDel]

On a separate note, another thing that annoys me is when books number each section individually. Like, the pages in section one will be numbered 1-1, 1-2, and so on, with section 2 being numbered 2-1, 2-2, and so on in the same way. Just start at 1, and go till you're done.

[Bruce]

On a separate note, another thing that annoys me is when books number each section individually. Like, the pages in section one will be numbered 1-1, 1-2, and so on, with section 2 being numbered 2-1, 2-2, and so on in the same way. Just start at 1, and go till you're done.

This is standard for government documents and drives me up the wall. Very hard to cite them properly as ranges, since you end up with "pp. 3-10–3-15", which just looks weird.

[LilianaUwU]

A lot of stores are pulling self checkout over theft.  Since Walmart put SCO registers in their company wide shrink has jumped for. 0.80% to about 3%

Womp womp, multibillion dollar companies should cope with this.