She couldn't read.
She ignored the ten-items-or-fewer sign because she couldn't read it. She went apeshit because a lot of illiterate people hate the fact that they can't read and are very sensitive to anyone who makes it obvious. And they went off without paying because, having had her fit of rage, she couldn't remember what the cashier had said and couldn't read the cash register display.

I should probably have worked it out sooner, because I'd been at a course with an adult literacy tutor just a week or two previously and he'd been telling me about the strategies illiterate people adopt to hide their problem. Did you know that it can be very expensive to be illiterate? Almost all supermarket cheap ranges emphasise their cheapness by having text-only labels, so people who can't read have to buy the dear stuff with pictures on the tins or packets.
(ubergeekian, Mon 14 May 2012, 23:40, 5 replies)

Blimey, that had never occurred to me...

(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 14 May 2012, 23:51, closed)

Or they were fucking batshit mental.

( His Popiness the Hole Invaded Poland on, Mon 14 May 2012, 23:53, closed)

That may well have been the underlying reason.
When your brain is full of screaming ferrets there can't be much room for "reading" and "writing" and "nuclear physics".
(ubergeekian, Tue 15 May 2012, 0:20, closed)

"a lot of illiterate people hate the fact that they can't rad"

/sniggers
(Twangy Rubber, Mon 14 May 2012, 23:55, closed)

I hate it when people point out
that I can't right.
(ubergeekian, Tue 15 May 2012, 0:18, closed)

*cunt wright*

(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Tue 15 May 2012, 8:19, closed)

right
(nordelius, Tue 15 May 2012, 13:26, closed)

Is that a less-formal term for a gynecologist?
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Tue 15 May 2012, 16:09, closed)

^Oh bravo^
also known as a twatsmith of course.
( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Tue 15 May 2012, 18:53, closed)

pff... next time I'm in a hospital, I'm rebranding "Obstetrics and Gynecology" as "The Twatforge".
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Tue 15 May 2012, 20:36, closed)

The truth
Their accomplice was busy scooting out with a trolley load of goodies whilst they provided the necessary diversion, simples!
(Classic Ray, Tue 15 May 2012, 0:14, closed)

Unlikely.
Most people who reach adulthood without learning to read or write properly have *some* reading ability. Even if they don't, they get by quite well in these situations - and they manage that by compensating in other ways. You'd be surprised at the number of incredibly intelligent, elderly customers I've dealt with who never learned to read or write properly, yet I only ever found out when it came them completing a claim form. Because you learn to deal with the problem by being crafty, and hiding it well...not by the level of rage displayed here.

No. The real explanation is simple. They were going to leg it with the trolley - hence them loading it before paying. The van was waiting, and would probably have the trolley literally launched into it as they legged it. Either that, or they were the distraction as someone else went on the rob. It's an old trick.
( Wicca'd Witch needs ideas for a new sig on..., Tue 15 May 2012, 1:04, closed)

Nope.
Not a chance. Sorry, but you would have to know the geography of the shop and the car park to see how unlikely that is. Plus it doesn't explain the loss of temper.
(ubergeekian, Tue 15 May 2012, 9:50, closed)

That would be the distraction wouldn't it?

( Slippery Mick ‏, Tue 15 May 2012, 11:21, closed)