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I found this article via townhall.com
I think that this is a serious topic that needs to be taken into consideration.
So women pay attention!

I thought I’d devote a post to a topic near and dear to my heart.  Today’s topic is about the crying need for separate lines for men and women making retail purchases. One of the main reasons for the need for separate lines for men and women in almost any retail establishment is what I call the “Handbag Disassembly and Reassembly Cycle.”
What is the “Handbag Disassembly and Reassembly Cycle”? Well, I’m glad you asked. It is most probably a symptom of a larger problem which we might call the “Transaction Prolonging Syndrome” or the “Economic Interaction Pleasure Cycle.” More about those in another writeup.
The “Handbag Disassembly and Reassembly Cycle” is most readily observable in a coffee house or a fast food outlet or some other retail establishment where people are purchasing something at a point of sale station. It’s probably most vexing, however, in a coffee house or fast food outlet.
First here’s some background. Most handbags are owned and operated (notably without a license) by female human beings (girls, chicks, or women). Handbags contain a number of things which we Real Guys refer to as a bunch of stuff. In and among this stuff is the wallet which contains I.D.’s, financial transaction instruments (cash or credit cards), receipts from 1996, and other things.

When purchasing an item it would seem to anyone thinking logically that there is a sequence implied by the environment and the objective of the transaction. Here is a general outline:

1. Figure out what you want.

2. If it’s something in the store that you are obligated to bring up to the register, remove it from the shelf and take it with you.

3. If there is a line get in it, otherwise proceed to step 4.

4. Open the handbag.

5. Pull out the wallet.

6. Be ready to purchase your order/item(s) by removing one or more of the financial instruments from the wallet (if there was no waiting line, this is the correct time to walk up to the point of sale location — the cash register).

7. When it is your turn to purchase things, be ready with your order and finish the transaction as quickly as possible.

8. Take your change, receipt, and purchased items and get out of line.

9. Reassemble the wallet (or handbag) at some other location. NOTE: This is also where you wait for the items that have to be prepared, bagged, poured, sleeved, topped, shaken, stirred, or strawed.
Way too often, this totally logical and entirely understandable (and considerate) sequence of actions is inverted by handbag toting customers to the point of being unrecognizable. Here is a worst case scenario.
1. The handbag toting customer gets in line (often while talking on a cellular phone).

2. They wait in that line, often talking on the phone, until it is their turn.  NOTE:  They haven’t bothered to read or even glance at the menu at this point. 

3. The handbag toter looks at the menu or list of possible purchases to attempt to figure out what she wants.  (There may be a reason — not an excuse but a reason — for some of this behavior.   I’ve noticed that it is at this point in an average Starbucks where some people can actually read the menu for the first time.  This is not Starbucks’ fault.   If people weren’t too vain to wear their glasses to correct their 20/200 vision then they may have been able to see the menu earlier and be ready with their order).  In a coffee house scenario, my recommendation is that people should narrow their choices to some form of decaf non-fat latte or mocha thing and quit trying to make it look like they are considering everything on the menu.

4. They have to take time to explain to the person on their cell phone that they are in a Starbucks and are at the register and are trying to make a purchase decision.

5. If there is something in the store that is on one of the storefront shelves, they ask to cashier to ring it up even if they have not actually taken it off the shelf and carried it with them. The cashier often asks them to go get the item and bring it to the register so that it can be scanned and rung up.

6. They explain this to the person on the cell phone and then go get the item.

7. They finally decide what they want and order.

8. Their order is wrung up.

9. The customer presses her hip up against the point-of-sale counter, cocks her shoulder to hold the cell phone between chin and shoulder, tells her cell phone conversation partner to hold on, hoists the handbag onto the counter, and opens at least three zippers to get into the handbag and find the wallet.  NOTE:  In a coffee house this can require so much counter space that a second customer can not approach the other cash register nearby.  Thus, the handbag person has effectively blocked all further commerce in the store for an extended period of time.  

10. She pulls out the wallet.

11. Now another decision must be made. Credit Card? Debit Card? Check? Cash? After mulling this over and discussing it with her cell phone conversation partner, she pull out a card of some sort.

12. The transaction is wrung up at least once (more than that if any “mind changing” takes place).

13. The need for a pen causes some more fumbling around in the handbag in spite of the fact that the cashier has offered the use of a perfectly good 19 cent Bic.

14. Things are bagged, a receipt is printed.

15. The card is put back in a slot in the wallet, the receipt is put in the wallet, the wallet is snapped shut, the wallet is put back in the handbag, and the three handbag zippers are rezipped shut.

16. The handbag is then slung back over the shoulder (which could hurt some people in the wrong circumstances) and the items in bags on the cashier’s counter are picked up.

17. The cashier, after getting the attention of the customer during her cell phone conversation, politely informs the customer that her non-fat decaf latte will be put out at the Order Pickup area.

18. A full three seconds elapse before this sinks in and the customer moves out of the way.

Whew.
What’s the answer to this problem? Education and separation.  Education may help return some of the offenders to civilized society.  The rest of us need to be protected from this problem by having retailers offer a separate line to people who aren’t carrying a handbag (guys).
Spread the word. Stop the “Handbag Disassembly and Reassembly Cycle” before it consumes us all.
Remember, the half hour you save could save your life (if you get home before the traffic gets too heavy).
Take care out there.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 5:00 am and is filed under General, Womens Issues.
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