Wisdom from a Grocery Cashier
Carmelene Melanie Siani
50plus Magazine
While in line at the grocery store, I noticed the customer at the register was giving the cashier a hard time. I couldn’t tell what it was about, just that the guy was being demanding and not nice. The cashier’s jaw muscles flexed as she took a deep breath, smiled, and responded politely.
Up came a memory of my middle daughter telling me she’d been recruited by a national grocery chain out of university and, while training for management, she’d have to start as a cashier. “But it’s only for three months, Mom,” she’d assured me, adding, “Thank God, because cashiers are sitting ducks for all the rude, crabby people in the world.”
“Sitting duck.” That description stuck with me and my heart went out to this gal as I watched her patiently serve the rude, crabby person.
“Cashiering’s a tough job,” I said casually as she began scanning my groceries.
She looked up, surprised, and nodded gently in the direction of the departing guy. “Yeah,” she drawled,“It is a tough job. But you know what? I love it.”
“Boy,” I said, “It’s nice to hear someone say they love their job.”
I stepped to where a bagger used to be and began bagging my groceries. The cashier went on, saying she’d been a cashier for 16 years and, in the beginning, she’d let unhappy people affect her. “And believe me,” she shook her head, “There’s a lot of unhappy people in the world!”
As I continued bagging and she continued weighing and ringing, I didn’t pick up the conversation from there — but she did.
“Gradually I realized I didn’t have to let other people’s bad moods or bitterness affect me. What the heck, maybe their mother just died. I had no way of knowing. Their attitudes were about them — not about me. Their bad behavior was on them. I didn’t have to take it on and let it make me angry or depressed, or worse, pass it on to the next customer.”
I stopped what I was doing, walked to the front of the register and just stood there, looking at her. It takes people a lifetime to realize this life lesson. I admired her.
“How long did it take you to realize that?” I asked.
“Oh, about five years,” she laughed, saying she guessed she was stubborn. “But, I tell you, it changed everything for me. I mean,” she paused, “all people have bad days, not just shoppers. Your husband and even your kids have bad days. I figured if I could let it go with my customers, I could let it go with everyone.”
“Who’da thought you’d gain such personal growth being a cashier,” I said in a light, joking way.
“I know, huh?” she joked back. “And there ain’t even coupons for it.”
As it turned out, my daughter worked in the grocery business all her life. Once, after decades in the business, she told me, “Grocery cashiers are saints, mom.”
On the way to my car, I thought I’d just met one of those saints. And imagine, I thought, “She started out as a sitting duck.”
Carmelene Melanie Siani’s widely published stories on family, caregiving, grief, late-life love and more aim to help others see how life constantly opens to reveal lessons. www.facebook.com/StoryBelly