Lidl checkout display reversed!

[ColinJ]

I had a 'WTF' moment at Lidl in Todmorden this afternoon ...

A woman a few places ahead of me paid by card and was mumbling something to the man operating the checkout. The next couple of customers paid cash. I went to pay by card and saw what the woman had been complaining about - the display on the card terminal was reversed. Not only was the text right to left instead of left to right, but the characters were all reversed too!

It would be a pretty odd software (or hardware) bug to cause that to happen. It crossed my mind that their system might have been hacked ... I can't find any reports of this problem in the news, so maybe it WAS just some weird glitch.

Have any of you ever seen that happen before?

(I have seen 'pranking' software do that to PC displays but never seen it on commercial displays.)

 

[I like Skol]

And you still paid?I

I think I would have been asking to move to another till.....

 

[ColinJ]

And you still paid?I

I think I would have been asking to move to another till.....

I did hesitate, but I couldn't be bothered to go and queue again!

I have been monitoring my bank account closely following a recent fraudulent withdrawal, so I would soon spot any irregularities.

 

[slowmotion]

My first mobile phone, a Nokia 3410, started showing an upside down display before it Cheyne-Stokesed and died.

 

[Drago]

Are you sure you simply weren't holding it upside down?

 

[slowmotion]

Are you sure you simply weren't holding it upside down?

Reasonably. Its subsequent death adds a little credibility to my version of events.

 

[Welsh wheels]

I had a 'WTF' moment at Lidl in Todmorden this afternoon ...

A woman a few places ahead of me paid by card and was mumbling something to the man operating the checkout. The next couple of customers paid cash. I went to pay by card and saw what the woman had been complaining about - the display on the card terminal was reversed. Not only was the text right to left instead of left to right, but the characters were all reversed too!

It would be a pretty odd software (or hardware) bug to cause that to happen. It crossed my mind that their system might have been hacked ... I can't find any reports of this problem in the news, so maybe it WAS just some weird glitch.

Have any of you ever seen that happen before?

(I have seen 'pranking' software do that to PC displays but never seen it on commercial displays.)

What was the till assistant's response to the complaints?

 

[ColinJ]

What was the till assistant's response to the complaints?

He called to the young woman at the adjacent checkout and she came over to take a look. She told him that her checkout's display was not doing it and she had never seen it happen before.

He looked a bit bewildered, but then carried on scanning items ...

 

[classic33]

I had a 'WTF' moment at Lidl in Todmorden this afternoon ...

A woman a few places ahead of me paid by card and was mumbling something to the man operating the checkout. The next couple of customers paid cash. I went to pay by card and saw what the woman had been complaining about - the display on the card terminal was reversed. Not only was the text right to left instead of left to right, but the characters were all reversed too!

It would be a pretty odd software (or hardware) bug to cause that to happen. It crossed my mind that their system might have been hacked ... I can't find any reports of this problem in the news, so maybe it WAS just some weird glitch.

Have any of you ever seen that happen before?

(I have seen 'pranking' software do that to PC displays but never seen it on commercial displays.)

There's the problem.

 

[I like Skol]

Maybe, just maybe, the transaction also took place in reverse and they paid the money into your account instead of withdrawing it?

 

[Welsh wheels]

He called to the young woman at the adjacent checkout and she came over to take a look. She told him that her checkout's display was not doing it and she had never seen it happen before.

He looked a bit bewildered, but then carried on scanning items ...

Should have called the manager maybe...

 

[marinyork]

It would be a pretty odd software (or hardware) bug to cause that to happen. It crossed my mind that their system might have been hacked ... I can't find any reports of this problem in the news, so maybe it WAS just some weird glitch.

There are bank/software glitches in supermarkets every week, but they just don't make it onto the news.

A large supermarket attempted to upgrade it's creaking stone age software (which is wide open to abuse) three years ago. When it was trialled in some smaller stores there was an endless list of bugs and crashes, some of which were like this - but it affected all tills or all tills on a particular circuit. Three years later the upgrade still hasn't happened in a lot of places scheduled for later this year ...

 

[ColinJ]

Maybe, just maybe, the transaction also took place in reverse and they paid the money into your account instead of withdrawing it?

Dream on!

Should have called the manager maybe...

I would have done!

I'm not actually sure how the Lidl hierarchy works. I have noticed that some staff seem more senior than others, but they still all do all of the jobs. It is unlikely that there is NO manager but I have never noticed anyone with a manager's badge on.

 

[Welsh wheels]

Dream on!


I would have done!

I'm not actually sure how the Lidl hierarchy works. I have noticed that some staff seem more senior than others, but they still all do all of the jobs. It is unlikely that there is NO manager but I have never noticed anyone with a manager's badge on.

In the Lidls I have been in they always seem to be woefully understaffed

 

[Beebo]

In the Lidls I have been in they always seem to be woefully understaffed

It keeps the costs down, but there is never enough people on the tills at Lidl or Aldi. I have walked out a few times due to till queues.