I didn’t have a fever, but I did have a fever dream last night. I dreamed of grocery self checkout.

I hate the self-service trend, and even sold an op-ed about it to the Christian Science Monitor a few years back.

But grocery self-checkout was a favorite hobby, and one that I could indulge because the grocery stores closest to my Tampa home and my PG home were both Albertsons.

And Albertsons LOVED its self-checkout. (Yes, that photo’s from an Albertsons.)

There’s no question that it took much longer to get through the process than with a professional cashier-checker. But oh, what fun! There’s nothing like laughing at yourself–the kind of giggles you get when you are trying to do something you’re not good at.

Half the time help was needed. Not that I could ever FIND help. But laughter was a natural byproduct.

The Albertsons in PG is now a crummy Save Mart. But since I don’t live there any more, I don’t even know if they offer self checkout.

And the one in Tampa is now a crummy Publix. Publix doesn’t have self-checkout lanes.

More’s the pity.