Be Kind To Your Cashiers

In my last post I mentioned that I had gotten a job at a grocery store to make ends meet when no one else would hire me. Due to other circumstances, I will not be at this job for much longer. Before I do leave my position as a check out clerk I thought I would share some observations about my job which might help other people in my position.

Through my few months on the job I began to realize what it was that made some days so terrible and other days slightly bearable (others had more positive experiences than I did, so don't take my word as the ultimate truth). I had this feeling that customers were all mean and demanding and not very kind to myself and my coworkers. Then I paid more attention to who was nice, who was neutral and who was just plain nasty. I found that the majority of people didn't cause me any stress or make me feel bad about myself. It was a select few. The problem was that it takes many smiles to make up for one memorable frown (this I should have figured out earlier with my experience as a teacher). So even if 10 people are super kind to me, one person can ruin my day. I also do realize most of the people who aren't kind to checkout people are not likely to read this and the ones who do read this are probably the kind ones I see every day.

So here are some tips to make your checkout people more enjoyable:

1) Acknowledge their existence. Yes I know this sounds trivial, but not a day goes by when I don't get a customer who does nothing but talk on their cellphone through the whole transaction. It makes cashiers (at least me) feel dehumanized. We are people too.

2) Don't take your problems out on them: they likely aren't the reason for them. And if you're kind, we might be able to help you out. Kindness can help you solve your problems. Believe me, I'll look harder for something on the shelves if someone asks kindly. I'm not saying you should be all smiles all the time, and I don't even mind listening to what's bothering you, but when you get upset at us, it just passes the anger/upsetness along to more people (and since we are human, it will likely get passed on to more customers).

3) If you can help, please do. Nothing makes me feel worse than rushing to ring through a huge order while the customer is just standing their tapping their fingers waiting for me to bad everything. I realize some customers are unable to bag and I have no problem doing it for them. That is my job after all. What is difficult is the people who think they can order other people around just because they have money. Yes, the big corporations are getting profits from you shopping there, but the workers are getting paid very little and if you're able to help them out, it makes everyone's lives easier.

I'm sure I could give more tips, but those are three big ones. I do realize not every cashier is in a cheery mood (and those that are are most likely faking it), but if you are nice to us, we tend to be nicer to the public.

So next time you're in a grocery store or a department store, give the people working their a smile. You never know what difference you might make in their lives.