Where do you place your items when you're checking out?

Go into a store, (grocery store works best) and look for a checkout line where there isn't a conveyor belt and watch the customers go through. 99% of the customers will take their items out of the cart and place them as far away on the other side of the counter as possible. Even spacing the items closely together to do this. The cashier then has to reach a ton. It is actually very interesting especially considering almost everybody does the exact same thing time and time again. The customers will even watch the cashier reach and nothing will spark in their brain. I can not figure out why though. Rarely the customer will be like "oh sorry" and then scoot the items closer. Most of the time they just watch. Why do you think they do this?