PC Pals Forum

Technical Help & Discussion => General Tech Discussion, News & Q&A => Topic started by: chorleydave on October 01, 2009, 18:17

Title: Barcodes
Post by: chorleydave on October 01, 2009, 18:17
I hate barcodes and I'm not talking about Newcastle United.  I'm sure shopping was quicker when retailers used price stickers, an abacus and pen and paper.  Just been to my local supermarket and bought nine items.  Two wouldn't scan, one scanned but was for a different item altogether and the three reduced items I had picked up all scanned at the full price.

Grrrrrr.   >:(
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: sam on October 01, 2009, 19:32
that's cause the staff have little training and the equipment is often not maintained.... I have to say shopping over here is so much friendly/quicker (the longest I've waited was 2 minutes!) - they chat to you and they always pack your stuff for you.
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Simon on October 01, 2009, 21:20
Have to admit, although I do most of my shopping online now, when I do go into a supermarket, I never check the receipts afterwards, unless I've bought something on offer, and want to make sure I got the right price.  I'm sure there must be a lot of mistakes made, which are never rectified.
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: GillE on October 01, 2009, 23:53
I keep a running tally in my head.  I astonished a cashier in Aldi the other day when I told her that her running total on the cash register was wrong.  Sure enough, she checked and found she had double-charged me for one item.
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Simon on October 02, 2009, 09:54
Bloody hell!  Why didn't you go for the Countdown job, Gill?  ;D
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: daveeb on October 02, 2009, 10:46
Bloody hell!  Why didn't you go for the Countdown job, Gill?  ;D

Too busy card counting at her local casino  ;)
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: GillE on October 02, 2009, 11:12
Too busy card counting at her local casino  ;)

Strangely enough, I used to do that working alongside my father, but people who count cards have a limited career.  My father is about as welcome in a British casino as Derren Brown.

Card counting and memory mapping are good mental disciplines, though, especially for the young.
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Clive on November 06, 2009, 19:15
Two words to say to you Sam.  Tim Horton's!  Bring one back with you when you return!   ;D
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: sam on November 06, 2009, 22:40
f***ing Tim Hortons.. they are everywhere! They had to open a second one in the campus food court cause the lineup was too large for the first!
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Simon on November 06, 2009, 23:32
That's three words!  ;D
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: GillE on November 06, 2009, 23:53
If it's Canadian, shouldn't it be four words - 'f***ing Tim Hortons, eh?'
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Simon on November 06, 2009, 23:57
I'm laughing, but I don't even know who they are.  ;D
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: sam on November 07, 2009, 01:57
I'm laughing, but I don't even know who they are.  ;D

Canadian coffee people - http://www.timhortons.com/ - they seem not to be able to cope without a "Timmys" - though saying that the coffee is fairly cheap and the donuts are very nice.

It they were mentioned in the Hitckhikers guide it would go something like "A group of people from the British colony of North American spent approximately 22.4523 hours of their days waiting in line to get a 'double-double', whatever that might be".

Just to give you an idea of their abundance here is a map of Calgary with all the dots on it representing the Tim Hortons... http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tim+hortons&sll=51.222368,-113.983154&sspn=0.394779,1.352692&ie=UTF8&rq=1&ev=zi&radius=29.27&hq=tim+hortons&hnear=&ll=51.036213,-113.924103&spn=0.396373,1.352692&t=h&z=10  (I about a minute walk away from one).

and this shows you the number over the whole country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_stores_wiki.png



Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Simon on November 07, 2009, 11:15
My God!  I didn't realise Calgary was so big.  What's the size in relation to a UK city?
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: sam on November 07, 2009, 15:36
Calgary:  population: 1,079,310 population density: 227.5/km2

Birmingham:  population: 1,016,800    population density: 3,739/km2

Works as a pretty good comparison. They key is the population density, even with all those high rises Birmingham is way more compact...
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Simon on November 07, 2009, 15:38
I couldn't imagine there would be that many same brand coffee shops in Birmingham, though, other than the fact that there wouldn't be room with all the curry houses.  :)
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: Clive on November 07, 2009, 17:11
Every town we visited had at least 3 Tim Hortons restaurants.  All were spotlessly clean and ridiculously cheap.  A bowl of very tasty onion and cheese soup with a large filled baguette and medium coffee costs around £4. 
Title: Re: Barcodes
Post by: sam on November 07, 2009, 18:14
the price varies town to town, Calgary is pretty expensive but that's just cause life here is (still they are way cheaper than starbucks)