Cash or credit?

A Story by Y.S.F

Life of a cashier.

"Change?" asked the cashier, "Well… sure, sir. Here you go."

The man received his three pennies and went on his way. "Never will I understand..." she muttered to herself as she closed the cash register. In comes a mother with her two kids with a cart full of items. "...oh no." The mother looked quickly at the cashier.

"Excuse me?" The mother responded.

"Oh no… uh my watch has stopped, I think." she quickly replied.

The mother didn't respond and kept on putting items on the belt. Pretty quick thinking, huh? the cashier thought, feeling delighted with herself. Still, the kids were there, the darn kids. As she was pricing the items, she kept looking towards the kids every once in a while as if she were a living security camera.

"Is something the matter?" the mother asked impatiently. "Oh… oh it's nothing," she replied caught off-guard.

Maybe she wasn't as quick a thinker as she imagined herself to be.

"Alright then," the mother responded.

The two kids, quiet since entering, were waiting for their own things to go through to feel like they are guaranteed to be taken with them. Once all of their items went through, they had to keep waiting on their mother's things. And was there stuff that their mother was buying. So, the kids began looking around and kept removing items while accidentally and carelessly putting them in wrong places.

"Oh no… I was supposed to go by now," the cashier said to herself in an unexpectedly loud voice.

"I'm sorry, what now?!" the mother replied as if ready for such a situation, "I don't like the way you've conducted you yourself till now. Just do your job without complaining, lady."

The cashier, almost stunned, felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. She kept her gaze down to the items and kept pricing the endless stream of things. After a little while, she reached the final few items. She hesitated before suddenly saying,

"Well, maybe you should be more empathetic and realise that your kids are messing up the placement of the items. They're interrupting my job, ma'am."

The mother looked ready to fight, but still turned around to confirm the accusation before she let loose. She quickly realised it was true.

"Well, it should be expected for things to be misplaced by customers, especially younger ones." the mother mumbled.

The cashier saw that the mother's tone had changed to a more mellow one. She mustered up the courage for one last time that she felt was both out-of-line and well-deserved at the same time.

"Oh well, you should know that kids are an exception here in that they should have a guardian who looks after them while inside the store. So, you should have looked after them while they misplaced the location of the items. In other words, I've done my job, and you should have just done your job, lady!"

The mother looked in absolute amazement at what she deemed as a rude attitude by the cashier.

"So, cash or credit?" asked the cashier.

After paying, the mother handed the kids too many bags to carry for their size.

"I'm never coming here again!" she yelled loudly as she walked away hurriedly with her two kids struggling behind her.

The cashier closed the cash register satisfied with herself. She put on her coat and scarf as she walked and thought of how proud she felt to have stood her ground.

© 2021 Y.S.F

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Reviews

Wherearemysocks

Amazing.I'm torn between agreeing with the cashier or the mother.But the cashier does have a point.And mother's should teach their kids basic knowledge when going to a store.My mother wouldn't even allow me to touch anything in a store unless we are buying it.