Just Alexa…

Everyone has dealt with a cashier many times in their lives. Often those people don’t think twice about the person standing on the other side of the cash register. They just think about how much money they have to give that person this time for their purchase. But did you ever think of what that cashier has to deal with on a daily basis?

I don’t think one realizes how unreasonable people can be until they have to deal with them all the time. Being a cashier will make you experience many difficult circumstances. In a big grocery store it can be even worse. Dealing with long line ups and cranky customers is only a part of it. Some people will even start yelling at the cashier to bring more people on to work. Of course the poor cashier has no power to get any other coworkers because she knows there is no one else.

Some people expect the cashier to know the price of everything in the store. And I mean EVERYTHING. A woman comes up to the cashier asking how much a bag of weird candy is. The cashier is still dealing with a previous customer, but helps the woman as soon as she’s done. The woman says as the cashier scans the item, “Oh, you didn’t already know how much that was? I thought you knew the prices.” Well let me tell you, there are millions of products in the store. Some of them are on sale sometimes.  How is the cashier supposed to memorize the prices of all of them?

Also, if the price of an item appears to be something different than what the customer saw on the shelf (or thinks they saw), then you might have a problem. Some people will wait nicely for the price check, but others might not. They will of course accuse the cashier for the price being wrong, and of course it’s her fault because you know she was out there making prices and purposely wrote down a different price so as to make customers angry. The cashier has to stand there and smile, try to make the customer happy and appologize for the inconvenience, while the customer is yelling. Sometimes, it does get to you, but all you can do is think this isn’t about me. It’s not personal.

Working in a grocery store, you will also encounter many different kinds of people. Some will speak in different languages to you and you must try your best to understand what they want. Some people will try to negociate the prices of things or make a really shocked face when they discover the price of the item is $0.50 more than they thought. Of course they will leave that item behind. Another annoying part is when customers decide they don’t really want to buy that product. This part is ok. However, instead of handing it to the cashier who is standing RIGHT THERE in front of them, they will often decide to place the item in the magazine rack beside the cashier. I never understood this.

However there are those customers who just make your day. They are nice and understand what the cashier is going through. Sometimes that’s all that gets you through a rough day. So next time you’re at the grocery store, try to be nice and smile, and remember it’s not the cashier’s fault. She is trying to help you. Really.