How
do you pick your cashier at Wal-Mart? Is
it who has the shortest line? Or maybe who
seems to be moving the people through the quickest? Or is it who does the most efficient bagging
job of not putting your stupid frozen goods in with a cardboard cereal box?! I mean…seriously?!
Well,
I tend to choose the cashier with the nicest smile. Those other things are important (especially
the frozen goods and cereal box one…I mean, who does that?), but a nice smile
and attitude can completely change your day in ways that efficient packing or
quick throughput can’t. It breaks the monotony,
it makes you feel more human. It’s not
just a mechanical dance…it’s more human.
If I wanted to dance with a robot, then I’d go to self check-out. But I didn’t.
I went to an actual cashier.
I
liked this post from this website that describes the life of a cashier:
“Bing! Ding! Ching! Ka-Ching! That's your music. And it is music.
Because you do this little dance—more like a single dance step on
repeat—all day long. You go through the same motions time and time again, and
naturally you've developed a rhythm. "Find
everything?" (cha-cha-cha), "Paper or plastic?" (dip-turn-spin),
"Help you to your car?" (rumba-two-three).
Some of your dance partners are old hat. You've
seen them for years. Every Tuesday they buy a loaf of wheat bread, a carton of
milk, fruit, ten pounds of bran cereal, and toilet paper. (The amount of bran
cereal purchased is in direct proportion to the amount of toilet paper.) Your
dance with them is familiar. But the majority of your customers are strangers,
and you mechanically "check them out." Service with a smile…and not
much else.”
- The Real Poop (https://www.shmoop.com/careers/cashier/)
