Working the counter means you're the cashier and you're the checkout girl. Sometimes it's a checkout guy, but still, mostly it means you're the checkout girl.
I did my time behind the counter, at the cash register. It left me with a strong and persistent sense of compassion for those people trapped there.
I talk to them sometimes.
Most people who buy groceries and go through the line, don't see the person behind the counter. They really don't. The creature behind the counter is there to meet their needs, and if she doesn't do so quickly enough, she's a fail.
I've been there, but not in the really bad hot spots, the big grocery stores, the Wal-marts.
I buy groceries from these stores, I interact with these people on the other side of the counter.
I talk to these people. They often respond. We talk about the crap the chain store uber-management is inflicting on them.
"I don't like being asked to sell things," one woman told me awhile back.
Sure. You're hired to be a cashier. Other people are paid to advertise.
"I don't like it when they ask us to stock. They're making us do other people's jobs. And then there is just one person at the register, and nobody likes that."
Well, yes. They're trying to cut corners, to use you to the max.
I like these women. I talk to them more than anybody, really. They are part of my life. I see them come and go, I get to know them a bit. I watch how they work within this corporate hierarchy.
I watch how they unilaterally try to keep themselves up, not to break down. They always are keeping themselves tight, not to let go, not to talk and be honest.
Sometimes they let go and talk to me, though.
I know a lot about running grocery stores. The good stuff; how one must be so careful with perishables, and also with one's staffers, also so perishable.
These ladies (and occasionally gentlemen), work so hard to keep their positions. They worry so much, so often, about what they say to me.
The newbies sometimes talk to me. Then, sometimes, they shut down abruptly. Perhaps they were told to STFU?
I watch for the newbies. I am kind and laughing and friendly towards the staffers who have stayed longer.
We are all in the same boat. Sometimes they let it slip. They know. I know.
We make our choices, we work with what we have available.
But we all know we are being ripped off. Unions being trashed, corporate CEO profits going up, up, up.
We are all gradually getting the picture, from both sides of the counter.
My heart goes out to these people. I watch them every time I buy groceries. I've made my choices, they have made theirs.
But they so often seem in such pain. So upset. So scared.
I'm a snaggle-toothed free-range human with a lot of problems...but do I want to go back to that?
Well, it doesn't matter, because I can't. Not an option.
I wish I could free these lovely humans from their zoo pens.
But they must help to rescue themselves.
We must reinvent everything.