Why Home Depot Self-Checkout Sucks or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Minimum Wage Employee

So I went to Home Depot today to buy lots of tile (I'm remodeling a bathroom). When heading to the checkout counter I knew I wanted to avoid self-checkout. I had 25 square feet of tiles that weren't going to fit on their little scale that makes sure I'm not trying to steal anything. Unfortunately, they appear to have given up on cashiers and have everyone doing self-checkout. Not sure if this is just a weekday phenomenon or not.

When I started my self-checkout transaction, I began by accidentally selecting Spanish language. I thought this should be no problem since the process is straightforward. I was wrong. The little pictures of the bagging area kept coming up and I couldn't tell if it rang up my items and wanted me to put them in the bagging area or if there was some other problem. Of course, there's no going back and telling the damn thing I want English instructions and the "cashier" who mans 4 registers was doing her best to pretend I wasn't there. Finally I get her attention and she rings up my items for me. So much for self sufficiency.

Now it's time to pay. It's still in Spanish mode, but I recognize the little credit card icon. I swipe my Amex and nothing happens. I swipe again. Nothing. I swipe a third time. Nothing. Thinking that my stripe is bad, I decide to try a MasterCard. I swipe the MasterCard. Then some Spanish speaking voice tells me something. Is it an error? The card reader isn't telling. Suddenly, my transaction is complete. It took the Amex. I'm not sure if it took it on the 1st 2nd or 3rd swipe, but it took it and now my transaction is complete. What a great user experience!