"Annabel Smyth" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 at 10:49:40, Martin Underwood
wrote:


Sadly many people seem to be congenitally incapable of finding their
ticket
in advance of needing it (eg as they are walking up to the barrier), in
the
same way that a lot of people (a large proportion of them being women)
don't
start to look for their cash or credit card in a supermarket queue until
they are presented with the bill.

This is because we - I, at any rate - are far too busy packing up our
shopping while it is being passed to us, rather than requiring the shop
assistant to put it down in an increasingly unwieldy pile and causing
immense delays to the next person while we try to sort it out.

Once the shopping is packed, we pay for it.

Interesting: I get my wallet out while I'm waiting in the queue (God knows,
I've got long enough!) and put the card loose inside the folded wallet. Then
when I start to pack, the wallet goes right next to me by the "wall" that
stops the goods falling on the floor as you're packing them, so it's right
where I can see it and it won't get nicked. Now I can pack, safe in the
knowledge that when I'm asked to pay, I can hand over the card immediately,
go back to packing while the card is swiped, and then interrupt the packing
again briefly while I sign. Who said men can't multi-task? ;-)

I wouldn't dream of *starting* to locate my wallet only when I was asked to
pay. Maybe that's a man thing.


PS: Next week's rant... drivers (especially of automatic cars) who sit with
their foot on the footbrake (instead of slipping the car into neutral and
putting their handbrake on) when they're stopped for ages at traffic
lights - this blinds the driver behind (eg me) at night!