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The story
A post from a young person venting frustration over cash payments at convenience stores went viral on X (formerly Twitter), and 5channel users were split on the issue too. The complaint “I hate having my time wasted” drew pushback like “just get in line ahead of them” and “you should build more buffer into your schedule” — while others pointed out that poor signal reception often slows down cashless payments, and that fumbling for a point card can make things even slower, turning the very idea of “speed” itself into the real point of debate.
What people said
A post expressing irritation at an "old guy" fumbling with coins while paying at a convenience store drew attention on X. To today's younger generation, people who still pay with cash may just seem like an annoying waste of time.
Even if you're not in a hurry, I get not wanting some total stranger to eat up your time.
Just build some buffer time into your schedule.
You're the one forcing your own convenience onto other people here.
Then just get in line before the lady does.
That's really it in a nutshell 🥺
Cashless or cash, if you're slow, you're slow.
Capable me (unlocking my phone): "Electronic payment."
Clerk: "Please select it on the monitor button."
Capable me: "Is PayPay okay as a barcode payment?"
Clerk (tch): "Yes."
Capable me: "Got it. Opening the app now. Huh? Signal's weak 😣"
Wait, is this the guy?
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1924352211846414336/pu/vid/avc1/1272×720/iWgfaflTzU_vsraE.mp4?tag=12
*Bwaap!* "Insufficient balance, please top up" — and now you're topping up right there at the register.
I think it's more like: next to their own inconvenience, forcing their convenience onto others just doesn't register. Super selfish, but honestly, I get the feeling.
By that logic, an old lady slowly paying in cash and eating up everyone else's time is just her own business, right?
You just don't know — the irritable old guys are slow AND they snap at you if you point it out.
Meanwhile they show zero consideration for anyone else — who do they think they are, medieval nobility?
Not being able to wait through a normal checkout is ridiculous to begin with.
Time spent waiting for them is wasted time.
Time they make others wait? Doesn't even cross their mind.
Honestly, that's basically everyone — young and old, men and women alike.
Same goes for cars passing each other on narrow roads, not just checkout lines.
"Don't need the receipt" → *briskly strides off* (walking absurdly fast)
How's that for an image??
Sounds like you mumble fast, so I bet the clerk looks confused.
Honestly, I'm more worried about your daily life if that kind of thing gives you a sense of superiority.
Don't you dare make me wait. I'm nice to store staff, but I show you all no mercy.
If it's an RFID-based self-checkout, even old guys can handle it easily, so don't worry, good for you.
The weak in-store signal is part of the problem too!
Pharmacies are pretty much always crowded.
Though honestly, to the people complaining about convenience stores/supermarkets at lunchtime — if you don't like it, don't go at lunch.
You corporate slave, you.
Morning convenience stores can have lines too depending on the location — construction workers ("dokachin," slang for manual laborers) coming in for their morning food.
Honestly I don't get that one. Let people eat what they want to eat.
Seriously, same. Ahamo (Docomo's budget plan) is so bad it's insanely stressful.
Cashless is slower?
Add a bulk-waste disposal sticker to that too.
Super thick skin, lol.
Background and Key Points
For readers outside Japan, a bit of background helps here. Japan’s cashless payment rate only crossed roughly 40% in the early 2020s, still low compared to South Korea or China, and convenience stores (konbini) like 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson are the everyday battleground for this transition because they’re used for everything from bill payments to age-verified alcohol and tobacco sales to parcel pickup, not just snacks. IC cards like Suica and Pasmo, originally train-fare cards, became Japan’s fastest payment method precisely because they need no unlocking or barcode-scanning, while “Pay” apps such as PayPay require opening an app, generating or scanning a code, and a stable signal — a process still unfamiliar to many older users and prone to failure in shielded, crowded store interiors.
The thread didn’t actually split along a young-versus-old or cash-versus-cashless line. It split on whether cashless payment is reliably faster at all. Several posters argued the real time sink is unfamiliarity and fumbling, regardless of payment method, and that a slow cashless user costs just as much time as a slow cash user.
What outside readers likely miss is that “first come, first served” (先着順) carries real social weight in Japanese queue culture — it’s the woman’s implicit rebuttal that patience, not payment method, is the actual social contract at a register. Also unmentioned in the thread: carrier network quality varies enough in Japan (Docomo complaints appear repeatedly) that “go cashless” isn’t a universal fix, since it just shifts the bottleneck from coins to connectivity.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Gen Z: “Stop paying with cash, people are waiting!” Middle-aged woman: “Sorry… but it’s first-come, first-served, so please wait your turn.”“.
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