I went to Home Depot yesterday. They had one cashier and the self-checkout lanes open. This close to Christmas, that meant that the lines were totally crazy and although I tend to never use self-check at Home Depot, because I hate it, it was the shorter of the two lines.

Self-checkout lanes have been around for a while now. By now, I expect everyone to have tried them at least once and to understand the basic rules. And the first rule is -- ONE LINE. You do not wait for individual self-check registers. You wait in one line until a unit is free.

You should especially not push in front of a woman with a chattering three year old, a one year trying to climb out of the cart and screaming, who only has five things. Not if you don't want to make her very cranky. And trust me, you don't.