Chronicles of the Cashier

I realize that much of my blog's focus is on my work. But at present, my work occupies the better part of my day.

Here's the reflections on this day:

A girl named Alice in her early twenties was purchasing some cases of water. And rather than hefting them out onto the conveyor belt, she wanted to pull the cart around the counter and have me scan them with my hand scanner. But there was something in her way -the man who was just ahead of her in line was still standing there talking to someone. She jolted her cart to a stop, stared at the man, looked at me, then back at the man. What would she do? How was she going to get this man to move for her? In a panic, she shot a pleading glance at me for help and shrugged her shoulders. In a calm voice, I stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, could you move forward for this lady please?"
Where did I learn these tactics? Who knows. It's just as much a part of me as knowing how to zip the fly of my jeans and knowing to turn on a light when the room is dark, I suppose.

I think that somebody must've missed an episode of Barney when the magic phrase "excuse me" was introduced.

We live in a society whose basic social interactions are on the decline. People pass each other on the street and in the store and never speak a word of greeting -never nod in acknowledgement of another person. Rare are the shared smiles and friendly waves. Making eye-contact is almost a taboo. Each person's ears are inseparably connected to the ear-buds of their portable music player, shutting out their fellow beings. No wonder Alice didn't know how to initiate the "excuse me, please" dialogue. She's been living half of her life in a wonderland all of her own.