Unidentified Item in the Bagging Area

However, the worst engineering disaster ever took place one Thursday evening, when a thirty-two year old software engineer by the name of Marcus decided to try and use an automated self-service checkout at his local supermarket while having exactly four un-packaged items with him.

The individual, who held a master’s degree in computer science, found himself engaged in a life-and-death psychological battle with a plastic bagging area, which claimed that he had committed a crime. After putting one innocent bunch of bananas on the weighing machine and scanning it, the computer promptly displayed a crimson red signal and loudly announced that there is an "unidentified item in the bagging area." No explanations were forthcoming from the electronics system whatsoever; not to mention any kind of negotiations and forgiveness.

Convinced that he must fix the glitch in the computer system, Marcus reached over to scan the bananas again. This resulted in the system locking up its screen completely, panicking digitally, and an automated camera in close proximity taking aim at his face to film what seemed like his act of stealing from the store. Marcus frantically searched for someone who could help him with the problem, but all he could find was the cashier on shift, a young man by the name of Ryan, who appeared to have managed total detachment from reality and was staring into oblivion three aisles away.

The real point of collapse came when Marcus attempted to tamper with the scale through a manual override involving a gentle pressure on the plastic bagging station by his thumb. The machine immediately began to blare an ear-piercing warning beep while flashing the message: Assistance Is On The Way in large letters. There was no way for Marcus to move, standing frozen as he was in front of the bright fluorescent lights, defeated not by sophisticated hackers who were part of an international network, but by the humble weight scale at a grocery store. He may not have purchased his dinner, but he had definitely learned how to humiliate himself publicly, breathe deeply, and argue with plastic.