A self-checkout terminal has referred a dispute over an unexpected item in the bagging area to a full tribunal, the first escalation of its kind at this location.

The item was a lime.

“I placed the lime in the bagging area,” said shopper Corinne Ballard, who has now been at Terminal 4 since 11:40 a.m. “It says the item is unexpected. I expected it. I selected it. I carried it here myself.”

The machine declined to comment, then announced, at a volume audible three aisles away, that assistance was on the way.

Assistance was not on the way. According to the Retail Autonomy Research Group, the phrase is aspirational.

“The machine is not lying,” said Group analyst Dr. Wendeline Cobb. “It is expressing a hope. It hopes assistance is on the way. It has no information either way.”

Resolution requires an attendant to insert a key and look at the screen with visible disappointment. Attendant Devon Pike has performed this function an estimated four thousand times.

“I press the same button every time,” Pike said. “It has learned nothing.”

The tribunal convened at 12:05 p.m. and consists of the machine, the attendant, the lime, and a queue. The queue has no formal standing but has been permitted to sigh.

The lime was eventually purchased. The machine thanked Ballard for shopping and asked whether she had a loyalty card.

She does. It has never once applied.