Confessions of a Grocery Store Check-out Girl

While I have a big kid job, I find myself needing some extra cash these days (weddings and car payments and loan payments and life in general will do this to you). And so for the past 6 months or so, I have been working at a local grocery store. And I have discovered new things (read - pet peeves) about myself since working there...

1.) Do not come through with your basket brimming, set the basket on the belt and then wait for me to unload it. That is not my job. It is yours. I merely check you out. You make my job more difficult and time consuming, and on top of that, Wegmans is the biggest big brother of them all and they TIME YOU for everything. You make me look bad at my job and then I have to have mini sessions with a supervisor about the appropriate way to cash things out.

2.) Never ever EVER ask for double paper. You are just being a jerk and the people who cash you out talk about you after you leave.

3.) Get an appropriate cart for the size of your order. Even if you only planned on buying some bread, you know that isn't all you are getting. Don't come up with your cart piled up like you are a character in a Dr. Suess book and then expect it all to fit back in there once it is bagged. It won't.

4.) Know what you are buying. There are approx. 12 different kinds of tomatoes, or apples or lettuce or whatever it is you need. I have to look them up by a code (since you were too lazy to make the label yourself). When I ask, "Are these the homegrown tomatoes?" the appropriate response is NOT "I dunno, they're $1.49/lb." That does not help me.

5.) Have your ID. If you want beer here, I need ID. I don't care if you look like you died 7 years ago and someone forgot to tell you, we have a 100% proof policy and that means you too. And yes, I am serious about that.

6.) Don't treat your cashier like they are a moron. I don't work at a grocery store because its the best job I can get. I have a college degree and a big kid job. I do this for the extra money, not your attitude. It's groceries, not rocket science.