OPINION: I've noticed an annoying habit among Irish supermarket staff - it has to stop

'Maybe I'm getting old and grumpy and overreacting.'

That was my first thought when I sat back in my car after leaving an Irish supermarket last week. It wasn't the first time it had happened and it's actually not only supermarkets. Staff in a lot of outlets seem to be very friendly - but sometimes just with one another and not the customer - or is it just me?

I was checking out two items in one supermarket recently and I was waiting behind an elderly man who had quite a bit of shopping on the belt. The worker at the checkout managed to check out all of his items, have him pay, scan his loyalty card, and leave without ever uttering a word to him other than the amount owed. I was next and got the same treatment. I didn't get so much as a 'hello, how is your day going?' Nothing. 

At this point I must say the worker wasn't opposed to the chat, in fact, they had an entire conversation with a colleague who was standing at the end of the checkouts where you pack your bags. They didn't speak to me or the other man either. In an era where shops are already losing their personal touch with self-service checkouts and scan-as-you-shop devices, it's sad that when you actually go to a human at a checkout, it's like you're invisible. You sometimes get more chat out of the self-service scanners as they tell you you need approval or they've detected an unknown item. 

I would have put this experience down to a once-off but I've encountered similar in two other outlets, one supermarket and the other a well-known coffee chain. The second supermarket incident actually involved the self-service checkout I was using and I did need approval for an item. I waited as the little beacon lit up and sounded and nobody arrived. I looked over to one of the staffed checkouts and there were no customers, but there were four staff members standing for a chat. I'm all for workplace camaraderie and all the rest, but shouldn't there be a level or professionalism and respect shown to customers.

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In a coffee chain, I managed to order a coffee, pay for it and leave the counter without really speaking to anyone. I obviously ordered the coffee as the two staff members behind the counter kindly halted their conversation to take my order quickly. They then carried on chatting and when my coffee was ready, it was handed to me without the staff member even looking at me. They were still locked in eye contact and conversation with their colleague. I am not one for small talk in shops really but when someone doesn't so much as look at you when dealing with you, it's beyond ignorant. 

It seems a long time ago now I used to go to the shops with my mother as a child. Going to the supermarket was a big experience because you might get to ramble down the toy section and pick up something small. I also remember packing bags one Christmas to raise money for a local charity and standing at the checkouts then was a different experience. The incessant beeping of the tills was almost silenced as staff and customers chatted. It might have been a case that they knew each other but it seemed every customer got the same experience. Sometimes small talk like that can be overkill but that face-to-face interaction is something we're all losing the art of - customers as well as workers.

It's maybe a by-product of social media and smartphones and all of us being so used to a non-human distraction. How many times have you been talking to someone, and not just young people, and they're half-listening and responding and half-looking at something on their phone. That was seeped into every facet of our lives. We very often complain about robots taking over our lives with the likes of self-service checkouts, but we're becoming just as robotic ourselves.