When you go to the checkout stand at the supermarket you frequently put your groceries behind somebody else's, and they (usually) provide dividers to separate your groceries from theirs. This is great except for the fact that two factors interfere with this process: 1) cashiers do not push the divider to the end of the checkout line and 2) people at the front of the line do not take the initiative to place the divider at the end of their items.

The first problem is more common than I would think possible. I realize that most people working as cashiers are not the cream of the brainiac crop, but their not brain dead either. It's just hard to believe that anybody would be so stupid as to not realize that since the divider is to be placed after a customer's groceries that it wouldn't be needed at the end of the line. And managers should realize that this is a problem and instruct their employees to push the divider to the end of the line. Either they don't realize that the divider needs to go to the end or they don't realize that the cashiers aren't doing it. Either way, they're not doing their job either.

So why don't customers at the front of the line just put the divider after their groceries? That would be a fantastic social convention to have. People are lazy, impolite, and incourteous (to name just a few character flaws of the general public). I think that's enough to explain it. A few people realize this is an issue and do their duty, and for that I thank them. I even recently encountered a cashier at Sam's Club that also realized how lame other cashiers are and takes a special joy in vigorously pushing the divider to the end (and sometimes over the edge). So there is hope, and hopefully some people will read this and join the forces of good and put the divider where it belongs.