Mrs. HM is not a world-class do-gooder. Sure, she is benevolent enough.
Nothing flashy. It's not like she uses a tractor to shove fallen trees
off driveways, or blacktops an entire hill without though of
compensation. Her good deeds are on a smaller scale. Like giving a
dollar to a 10:00 a.m. alcoholic begging at the counter of the Gas
Station Chicken Store.
Sunday, I entered Country Mart
without a thought of doing a good deed. Some might even question whether
the deed itself was indeed classified as good.
Anyhoo...my
plan was to pick up a few bananas, Farmer H's special individual ice
cream cups of vanilla streaked with chocolate and strawberry, some
frozen chicken breasts, and an 8-piece deli fried chicken. Don't think
I'm shunning this delicacy at the GSCS. They don't have chicken on the
weekends any more.
Anyhoo...as I pushed my cart up
front, I saw two checkers open. The Cheery Old Lady, and the
Gravel-Voiced Old Lady. Both are polite and efficient. The Cheery Old
Lady was handing a receipt to a man and woman. A lady in front of me
pushed her cart to that register. She only had two items. I was torn
between the checkouts.
Nobody was at the Gravel-Voiced
Old Lady checkout. BUT, a teenage girl stood at the end, by the bags,
talking to her, with her phone in front of her face. I presumed she
might be a young relative, and there was a family issue. Gravel-Voiced
Old Lady caught my eye. It was a neutral look, neither summoning me
hither, nor rejecting me. I steered to the Cheery Old Lady's line
instead. Because she wasn't all THAT busy. It would only take a minute.
The
lady ahead of me paid for her two items. I had mine already on the
conveyor. That's when I noticed that a younger gal I had assumed was
with Two-Item Lady was actually bagging. Oh, well. I guess maybe the
Phone Gal might have been a bagger, too. No matter. A man had gone to
Gravel-Voiced Old Lady's register now.
When I glanced
up at Cheery Old Lady as she told me my total, I felt REALLY BAD! Not
only was she hacking up half a lung, from a cold, the flu, pneumonia,
emphysema, or consumption...but she also HAD HER RIGHT ARM IN A SLING!
Sweet
Gummi Mary! In trying to do an un-asked-for favor for Gravel-Voiced Old
Lady, I had increased the workload of Cheery Old Lady.
My heart was in the right place. My groceries weren't.
6 comments:
You were actually doing her a good deed. With her arm in a sling, her job is in jeopardy. If no one went to her register, they'd send her home--maybe on a permanent break.
Because you went to her register, you ensured that her bosses saw her as an integral member of the sales team.
Pat yourself on the back with gusto!
Sioux,
You are such a ray of sunshine! Of course I was doing her a favor! Yeah. That's the ticket. I was HELPING her, not hurting her. I hope I don't put MY arm in a sling, patting myself on the back with gusto.
Hacking aside, how does she work with only one useable arm? Perhaps it is easier with a packer. I remember scanning from the conveyor belt with my right hand, passing the item to my left hand and then into the bag while the right was already reaching for and scanning the next item. I can't imaging doing it with one arm in a sling. Kudos to her for doing it and not staying home.
I remember when my shoulder was out of action I was taken off checkout and sent to count items on shelves and do "face-up" which is pulling stock forward to fill spaces left by customers taking those items.
River,
She was doing well enough that I did not notice the one-armed thing. Maybe she is left-handed? I'm pretty sure she put the stuff in bags herself, then pulled it off the rack and slid it to the gal, who put it in the cart. The bag racks are behind the checker as she stands at the register. The "bagger" can't really reach across the end of the counter expanse to actually bag stuff. So maybe a "carter" is a better title than a "bagger."
When I worked at Casey's, each cashier had a shelf to take care of. That mean wiping it down with soapy water once a week, and "facing" the product at the end of every shift. Like you say, pulling items forward, and making sure the label faces out.
Our checkouts had a little ledge with an extra bag rack at busy times like Christmas and New Year's Eve, so we checkers could scan stuff and send it down to the baggers, who were never fast enough in my opinion, but they were still welcome when we were slammed.
River,
There is room at the end of the counter, and the bag racks are portable. I'm surprised she didn't think of moving it. Then again, Country Mart rarely has baggers, so it might not have occurred to her.
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