Service with a Smile :)

I’m an American.  I’ve been raised in a shopping environment that tells me I’m always right while they serve me with a smile.  I am entitled to unnecessary smalltalk as I stand at the checkout counter "I am doing well today, thank you.  Yes, I do hope the rain stops before this weekend and, no, I can’t believe how cold it’s been lately.  I think I found everything ok today." and I expect to always be considered a "valued customer."

“Maybe they are just too busy to smalltalk at the checkout counter,” I rationalize with myself as I attempt to bag my items.  Who can make smalltalk when there’s food flying down the checkout line like that? 

The cashier doesn’t slow down as I am left with a test of my spatial reasoning abilities.  I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to fit my potatoes in this bag and now my bananas are here but I’ve still got to put a box of yogurt somewhere.  Maybe if I move the ham here it will give the carrots a place to go.  As I pull the apples back out of my bag, I look up to see the rest of my food being to pile up at the end of the conveyor belt.

I can’t fall behind on my bagging.  It’s a sort of test to see if I can make it in France and I’m not about to fail.

Now it’s almost time to pay.  Do I finish bagging first?  Do I stop bagging and dig out my wallet?  Why don’t I remember what the person in front of me did?

Really, it’s quite stressful.  The worst part is the pressure that the cashiers add because of their facial expressions.  I know my bag is an overflowing mess right now.  Can’t you just have a good laugh about it with me?

No.  They can’t.  Instead, they just stare, unintentionally sending a message of impatience. 

Tell me, please, how I am expected to quickly bag my groceries when someone is looking at me like this man. 

When it comes time to pay, I often just grab a bill that looks like it will be more than enough for whatever I purchased.  In a place with eight different coins, I don’t think I’ve ever managed to pay with exact change.  One of the other girls here often pays with exact change, if you consider her holding her hands out full of change and having the cashier pick through what is needed as “paying with exact change.”

Finally, they hand me a receipt and sometimes I receive some type of small sticker.  I don't always get one.  I never know when I will get one.  And I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it...but you better believe I thank that cashier every time I get one, pretending like I know exactly where I'll put it.