Self-Checkouts

Self-Checkouts. You either love 'em or hate 'em... and majority of people hate them.

Let's start with your approach. Most of the time when one is free, and you are forced to use one due to the lack of actual cashiers, it isn't behaving. The machine then panics and all of a sudden, somebody working for that shop finally appears to fix the machine; wouldn't it be much quicker just to serve you properly in the first place?

Secondly, what is the point of them? All they seem to do is cause problems, and when they ARE behaving, most of the older generation in the queue are clueless about how to use them. I can feel their pain; having a machine repeat the same sentence at twice the volume you need it to isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea. Neither is the fact that you have to "place your items in the bagging area".

The bagging area. Here arises another issue of having to put things individually in what is called the "bagging area" at the machines convenience is completely ridiculous; shouldn't the machine be helping us?! Most of us don't have the patience to place each individual yoghurt in the "bagging area" one by one, not to mention most of us will have aged by about 50 years in the process - we are not cashiers, so why should we do the machines job?

Research also shows that the only thing stopping people from stealing items when using a self-checkout is the fear of being caught. But this doesn't mean it isn't happening; many people, including the celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson who was cautioned for shoplifting 5 times in 16 days in Tesco, using a self-checkout each time to bag up his items and leave without paying!

Last of all, we need to remember that even if you do find these machines fantastic, they are putting many human cashiers out of jobs, and seeing as Britain has just entered it's second recession, we should not be destroying jobs with irritating bits of machinery to replace them. 

Thank you for reading, I have set up a poll so please voice your opinions! (:

Sat Nav mix up take 2!

Yes, you guessed it; there has been another mix up this week involving the dreaded sat navs. Only this time, people haven't driven into the sea because of it. Oh no, scaffolding was constructed around the WRONG house because the Sat Nav got two streets mixed up.

Yes, the two streets did have the same name, but yes they were 8 miles apart! Surely those clearly brainless builders would have stopped constructing once a lady told them it was the wrong house? Oh no - they continued and left the house looking like a building site for the delighted owner to come home to. Oh how overjoyed he must have been!

According to neighbours, the mix up of the two streets has been an issue since the new one was named exactly the same as the original. Some people on the street have been delivered beds, electrical appliance and some even been threatened wrongly by the bailiffs.

The map below indicates the distance between the two roads:

What ARE we going to do with these Sat Nav's, eh? They're simply causing way too much trouble!

Thanks - by the way, the poll on Sat Nav's is still open! Please vote! Thank you (:

What do you think happened when you see this image?

The tide came in too fast? There was a tsunami? Wrong - the cause of this problem was simply operator error; the car was driven into the sea because the Sat Nav said so.

Evidently, some people seem to be lacking in a little common sense, but this is just ridiculous! I mean, surely when you drove onto the beach, you would realise there was a slight problem with the directions. And let's face it - Sat Nav's aren't exactly reliable! How many times have you become lost because the Sat Nav wasn't doing its job properly?

It was apparent at the time of the incident that the occupants of the Hyundai believed the Sat Nav would direct them to a road, but after 500 metres of attempting to continue they were brought to a halt due to the incoming tide and thick muds making the car sink into the ground.

Thanks for reading! Please answer the poll to the right(:

Japanese tourists blame satnav after being stranded in Australian mangrove swamp at high tide

Poll Update!

Since I started The Box last July, there have been over 500 views from 7 different countries, something which I never thought would happen to such a small blog full of my own rants!


I thought an overview of the poll results since July would be interesting to those of you that voted, and especially for me to see what you all thought!


So, my first post on Smoking on 13th July had lots of feedback;

• 70% disagreeing with smoking 
• 30% undecided

The second on the London Riots in late 2011 spurred a great diversity in feedback;

• 70% of readers saying prison sentences weren't long or tough enough
• 20% thinking they were just right
• and 10% saying that they were too long and tough

My Tram Experience was one of the posts which had the most amount of views and

• 100% agreed that she was not right to express her views

In late December, the two posts on Christmas generated some interesting poll results with 

• 33% thinking Christmas is too commercialised
• 16% thinking Christmas is not too commercialised
• 50% thinking Christmas is maybe too commercialised

The unwanted Christmas present issue also proved that

• 33% got no unwanted Christmas presents
• 66% got 1-3 unwanted Christmas presents
• ...but no voters got a higher amount!

It seems this issue is not currently a big problem!

The New Year's Resolution's poll has proved particularly that none of the voters has kept all of their new years resolutions if they had made any as;

• 33% didn't make any
• 33% didn't keep them
• 33% kept only some of them
• Nobody had kept all of them so far... and this was only January

The last poll on homosexuality definitely proved that 

• Nobody agreed with homosexuality.

To all that voted; thank you for your feedback, it is highly appreciated so keep the votes coming!

Discrimination at it's worst

As you may have heard in the news, three men from Derby have finally been jailed after handing out leaflets suggesting homosexuals should be given the death sentence because of their sexual orientation.

Yes, it sounds ridiculous. You would think, in this day and age and especially in the UK where 1 in 100 people are said to be gay, that people would consider that times have changed. Discriminating against them in public and giving out leaflets on the matter just seems to be a very immature and disrespectful.

I think this picture conveys the message well

I honestly cannot see the issue with homosexuals. What have they ever done to upset anyone else? They  don't give out leaflets saying that their way of looking upon life is the only correct one and certainly don't suggest that death penalty is the answer to, what they think, is wrong.

Just like the woman on "My Tram Experience", expressing their views in this way could not have been more ridiculous. I understand that some may detest homosexuality because of religious beliefs, but to conclude that death penalty is the answer to something, which is clearly very widespread nowadays, seems very extreme.

Of course we are talking in general terms, so his cannot be said with all gay people - but this case is exactly the same with hetrosexuals.

The men involved claimed that doing this was the only way to eliminate homosexuality, something which they felt needed to be done to support their religious beliefs. This also seems a very extreme opinion; imagine if people suggested hetrosexuality be eliminated by death? It just seems outrageous that anyone should be given the death penalty just because of who they want to date.

This article reminds us that other people's views should be respected, even if you don't agree with them!

Please answer the poll I have created to the right(: