[jff]

Wow, that sucks. My local store only ever does "wait for assistance" when you buy booze... and half the time the attendant will just gleefully press "ok" on his terminal without even checking my ID, so it goes even faster :)

Implementation details matter, I guess. (Pretend I made some interesting reference to Steve Jobs' managing style here)

[finnw]

In some stores if you scan alcohol the machine will freeze until the attendant turns the key.

In others, it flashes a light to alert the attendant. It allows you to carry on scanning, but the attendant must turn the key before you pay.

I just hope that isn't patented.