No, Julie, we are not supposed to point out to the customer that they have exceeded the fifteen item limit. To do so might harm their self-esteem.
To be honest, I consider the fifteen item limit a guideline, not a hard and fast rule. I have no problem with customers mis-counting and getting, say, twenty items in their order.
But twice fifteen? These are customers who simply are unaware that they have entered the express lane (it can happen), or don't care.
And then, there is always the Yogurt Rule.
That's the rule that says that, no matter how many cups of yogurt you buy, they always, always count as one item.
This is because one never says one is buying yogurts. One says one is buying yogurt. Clearly singular. So, no matter how many cups of yogurt you buy, they clearly must count as just one item.
I discovered this rule one day when, again working the express lane, customer after customer came into the lane with twenty - count 'em, twenty - cups of yogurt.
What had happened was that one of the yogurt companies had a sale going on, a sale with specific perameters. The customer could get a significant savings on buying their yogurt, but they had to buy twenty - count 'em, twenty - cups of yogurt, exactly twenty, or the price would automatically revert back up to the normal price.
So, of course, the customers all bought twenty cups of yogurt.
So, of course, they all immediately headed to the express lane.
Where it clearly states a fifteen item limit.
Yogurt, no matter how many you buy, all count as one item. That's the Yogurt Rule.
