I would think this would be obvious to all, if not most, adults, but I believe they need a primer in this area.

Do not pile your items on the belt as though it is a contest to see how many layers you can make. Place items in the belt in a single layer. As the belt moves forward, you can place more items on it.

Most cashiers will try to put like items together, such as cold, canned, cleaning agents, pet food, etc., but try to help out by grouping these items together as you place them on the belt.

Make sure you have all coupons out before the cashier has finished ringing up the order. Even better, hand them to the cashier at the beginning of the sale and have those items at the beginning of the order.

If you are shopping at a store that allows price matching of competitor’s prices, place those items at the front of the order, along with the ads, if needed, and inform the cashier of your intent. Do not wait for all items in your order to be rung up, bagged and placed in your cart, leading to a lengthy search for items and time consuming voiding and price changing of said items.

Don’t spend a leisurely 2 hours browsing, shopping, strolling the aisles and reading the magazines, then expect to walk up an empty lane to an unoccupied cashier and get checked out in five minutes. When you get the brilliant idea that the best time to do your grocery shopping is 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night, assume that 100 other people have also thought that.

Don’t take out your anger on the cashiers. They cannot control how many lanes are open, how fast managers respond to problems, the prices of meat and produce, the mistakes computers make, the cleanliness of the bathrooms, the availability of items, the limits imposed on purchases, the attitude of the cashier you had last time or at another area of the store, the weather, the speed of price checks, the thickness and strength of the plastic bags, and a myriad of other things.

If you bring your children along to “help”, make sure they actually are helping. Are they messing up your order by shoving things across the scanner so fast the cashier cannot tell what has been rung up once, twice or not at all? Are they taking bags so fast that the cashier can put only one or two items in before they are whisked away? Are they all clamoring for separate bags for all 87 items that they conned you into buying? Are they throwing the pop on top of the eggs and the canned goods on top of the bread in the cart which you will ultimately blame on the cashier? Are they invading the cashier’s space and making it hard for them to work? Sidenote: If your child is screaming, whining, crying, etc., do not tell them to be quiet because the nice lady/man at the register doesn’t want to hear it. Be honest and tell them you don’t want to hear it. Also asking if the cashier will buy your kid or put them to work is not funny. I don’t know who ever thought this was and why people keep saying this, it’s just not funny.

And for God’s sake, if an item doesn’t scan, don’t quip “that means it’s free”. It’s not. You’re just stupid.