Lack of efficiency

I bought a pair of running socks in the department store in Kompleks Bukit Jambul, about 20 minutes drive from Georgetown. In the process I witnessed the most the most inefficient check out system imaginable. To purchase anything in the store, you have to take the item to a shop assistant. She completes an invoice by hand in her triplicate book, hands you a pink slip and then runs over to the cashout with a white slip. Buy four items in different parts of the store? Four different invoices.

Once at the cashout, a girl has to collate the white slips with your pink slips and then key in the 8 digit code into her computerised till. She then double checks everything on the invoice to make sure the numbers match the items you have on the counter. Then she takes a pocket calculator and rechecks the total before taking your money. Receipt and changed handed over, the goods are then bagged and a plastic seal, a miniature version of those riot policemen use on football hooligans, is applied to the bag to prevent you putting anything else in. I timed the operation for the woman in front. Four items, MR24.95 (GB£3.70) - six and a half minutes.