Psychological manipulation/beta testing at grocery store?!

Waiting in line at grocery to pay. Store has employee walking up to each customer trying to talk them into going through cashierless self scanner instead, which I declined.

Noticed armed guard in swat team type gear with visible gun who was looking nervously from side to side at end of checkout lines! Noticed cashiers and lines were going painfully slow, so slow that it was as if they were directed to slow things up! Peoples credit cards didn’t seem to be working properly, discrepancies at other lines in pricing, manager getting called over.

By now people waiting in lines getting very agitated, including me!
Then it hit me, what if this is a planned event?! Stores/businesses don’t want paid human employees!

By the way, this is an upscale store in a nice resort area
I ended up paying in cash after seeing what was happening to others, left that store, and vowed NEVER to return there!

Anyone else experience other strange manipulations going on?