It’s not unusual to see an express-lane or self-checkout speeding things up at your local grocery store, but a new type of lane is intentionally slowing things down.
Customers at a Tesco store in Forres, Scotland were surprised to see one line moving quite a bit slower than the rest. A simple paper sign explained everything,
RELAXED CHECKOUT
Feel free to take as long as you need to go through this checkout today
Please be aware that you may experience a wait to complete your transaction
Thank you
“People with dementia sometimes have trouble recognizing the cash that’s in their purse, or they need a cashier who speaks more slowly,” Wendy Menzies, a dementia adviser for Alzheimer Scotland told Today. “It can help take some of the pressure off and hopefully then it will encourage people to still go out and about and participate in things that they’ve always done.”
The “relaxed checkout” lane started in December, 2017. Every Tuesday and Wednesday morning the lane is managed by employees with special training from Alzheimer Scotland.
Since it’s implementation, the new “slow” lane has received support and praise from the local community. The trend may move across the pond to the United States, which has more than 5 million citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.
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