My eyes hurt after staring into a barcode scanner's beam, is this serious ?

I want to answer the question with a question so..

Why have you been staring at scanner light? You know, you could have just turned around or actually tell the employee to place the scanner in the right position.

At the moment, don't strain your eyes. It should pass after a couple of hours.

By the way, scanners are designed to be safe for eyes but you never know. If the problem persists, I would advise you to visit eye doctor.

do all shops have barcodes that set off alarms if nt scanned ?

You seem quite intent on finding out the answer to this. My advice would be don't shoplift.

Never look directly at a barcode scanner, it might just cost you

That's really scraping the barrel for a pun.

Never look directly at a barcode scanner, it might just cost you

If it has destroyed your eyes, look on the bright side (pun): At least you'll be able to pay for the new eyes, now they're scanned!

What?
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On that note, that's not even how bar code scanners (mainly) work.

I notice most barcode scanners these days are much brighter than they used to be, much more aggressive looking, is it because barcodes are security devices too and need a strong laser to deactivate them to stop alarms going off ?



Anyway a few minutes after leaving the petrol station garage I feel my eyes hurt a fair bit and feel sore, still feel quite sore now.


Could it be related to the barcode scanners and how can I make sure it doesn't happen again anytime soon ?


thanks

Not all bar codes are tagged. For cheap items, this'd be the case 'cos it's more wasteful.

Any tags will still have to be removed at the counter so the alarm doesn't go off.

At e.g. self-service, the bar code will tell the machine the product, and the weight, so people can't put down extra stuff and steal like that as well.

thanks

np