With my name, this tends to be a protracted process along the lines is that C-o-c-r? Oh, C-o-c-h-r-a-n, oh? Aha, with an "e"? After far too many of these encounters, I have taken to asking the sales assistant for control of the keyboard and screen. This usually evokes a look of complete surprise on their part but it has the effect of significantly reducing my frustration level and saves a lot more time for everyone.

It seems extraordinary that anyone would design a system that extracts the information in my brain by speech to someone else through their ears and then to the keyboard down their arms and fingers when I am perfectly capable of typing the information myself.

Even worse, why can't they just take all of the information off my credit card, loyalty card or some other device? After all, on a PC you do not keep filling in forms. I have done it once and then I get the machine to do it from then on.

It might seem trivial but just watch the amount of time wasted at cash tills when buying something reasonably insignificant. These machines are now linked to inventory and logistics systems to streamline the back-end processes - which comes at the expense of the front end where the customer is. Often, the amount of customer time wasted is worth far more than the item purchased.

It may be cost-effective for the shop to make us stand in line and wait for the attentions of an overloaded sales assistant but very frustrating when you are in a rush.

I think we could all benefit from a customer interface at every point of sale that gives us control, where we enter all the data and make all the decisions. My name, address, post code, date of birth, bank details, preferences regarding extended warranty and anything else related to the purchase of goods have remained unchanged for years. This information is also unlikely to be updated in any significant way in the near future.

Wouldn't it be nice if shops, garages and railway stations developed memories so that we are recognised as we enter and our information is available at the point of sale? Financial transaction would then become a minor part of the purchase process, rather than a trauma at the end of a long day.

If only I could be recognised when I enter hotels, airports, and restaurants. I would like to stop carrying passports, driving licence, medical records and other data in paper or plastic form when they can be easily integrated on to a single device. Most of all, I would like to stop answering the same string of questions whenever I encounter a sales assistant behind a cash till or desk.

Just give me a keyboard and a screen and I will type in all the relevant data for my commercial and leisure life once. I will keep it updated - after all, it is in my interest to have it correct. Just imagine how many data entry mistakes are made through verbal misunderstandings...