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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1976)
thcrdr, novzv&zT 1 1, 1073 third dirrcnt! on flove em in, check 'em out By Jerri Willson IV it You're willing to overlook that you have caught your work smock in the cash! register drawer about three times in the last few minutes. You're running out of sacks, the customer lines stretch back to the men's wear and somewhere close a child is nagging his mother for a Zippo comic or a tuiti-fruiti gum. . . listen, you're a discount store cashier. You can endure all that. Taken lightly, it's even rather humorous. I've worked at two Lincoln discount stores: Treasure City, 27th St. and Highway 2, for 2Vi years part-time, and Woolworth's at 1 1 til and 0 streets, for about four months. Treasure City's eight-register, modern department store houses several different companies under its massive shelter, from ladies' wear to automotive. At the 45-year-old Woolworth's downtown all merchandise is owned by the F.W. Wool worth Co., where school supplies, cos metics and records are carefully marked to be checked out at one of three small, antique cash registers. Customer knows best Perhaps to the customer-the "always right" customer-who breezes past you and exchanges money, even greetings, perhaps to him, it's humorous. But not to you. You try to be a good sport, when dimes keep slipping out of the register and irre trievably are lost in the garbage box beneath'it. But when you staple your finger with the receipt to the sack, that's when the whole day starts to become an annoying, painful process. . If the lines are long, and you have al ready called your full force to their button pushing posts there's not much to do but duck under the counter briefly to scream a muffled curse. "What's that you're doing down there, Miss?" cross, shopworn customer demands. Your face is flushed from bending down, but it starts to throb with indignation at her insensitivity. . "Just looking for a dime I dropped, Ma'am, you say demurely. "Well, I don't have all day..." Take it easy, you think. It's people like that, in their over-sized coats covering equally large frames with their grating voices, that cculd cause you to miscount your change, or make an overring-pitfalls which befall a careless cashier. .Have a nice day y "Fifty, seventy-five, and one dollar you spew tht words out diHherately, care fully counting her change with a hint of irritation but enough control to show the customer hasnt gotten the better of you. "Have a nice day, you say and try to sound like you mean it. (After all, you can't hold a grudge forever.) One of two things then happens. The customer ignores your attempt at a truce, snatches her package of candy bars and hair color, and flounces out the door. Or she looks up from her coin purse which she has been concentrating on to ignore you, and smiles and says, "You too. You feel better inside. And when you smile back, you really mean it. . That does it You've blown your keep-it-cool, move-'em-along cover and she knows youre a soft touch. First, she asks you if the store carries glittering gumbos, soon she's telling you about her grandchildren, her great great grandchildren, and her plans for a fancy funeral, all in 42 seconds. "Puff the magic dragon happens to be in line behind her. "Hey, ya, listen, got any matches?" he asks. You look at the pathetic, grimy 14-year-old who is demanding if you have matches for him to light some noxious weed. - . :, ' "No, I'm sorry. However, of course, I'm not really sorry. Maybe I've spared him lung cancer. - Missing merchandise He uses plenty of expletive deletives as he. sweeps past, smelling of dirt and the open air, to make you look apologetically at the little old lady waiting patiently in line behind the teenage clown. She chirps up at you before you have time to ring up her sale, "How much is it, dear?" Patience is a virtue. How much is what? 1 don't see anything on the counter. And if there's nothing on the counter to pick up and mull over to hunt for a tiny tag with faded numbers on it (the price), then the job has come to a standstill. A cashier is a creature of habit, repeating the same slide-the-merchandiss-into-a-bag,tuck-the-money-into-the-drawer, send-the-customer-on-his-way routine 1,000 times a day. Look-you don't care how sweet she is, or that her B Bird hat mslches her canary yellow coat. The woman simply has nothing to buy. In a moment she's chuckling. "Oh, here it is. And she produces a wad of embroidery thread from her slight, gloved hand. You're gentle. She reminds you of your grandmother. And anyway, it won't be long until you are old and loviMe and a little forgetful yourself. (And if you work here much longer, youll be her age in fio time.) Lcaditfse v.""'. The only thing to interrupt your con trolled, concentrated movements is a sound 15- . --.--iMfS... i I T'"-V -r' f V J """""ST-.. , , m. , .... ... !1 J ?2v f v it .1 . " , "MttWt.Mftq:-:- . .....----' .' ' j - Si- ti PSseta by Scott Srobsgs Displays for '"compulsive buyers such as this casiy lade caa be tovszi argrwbsis. from very close by. Your stomach always knows when it's break time, even if your fingers work overtime. Break is a hot dog or sandwich or maybe something edible in a brown bag brought from home. Only a few more hours of this. Can you iskt it? It's your feet that aren't too anxious to answer. But ycu're SO per cent in gear, so it's back to the cu-byhole, your station in life, amidst teddy bears, coloring books, ladies pantyhose and shoe pclLh. 44 Cksck okay please. . .change please. . . customer assistance please. . . Is that your own voice over the public address system? You hadn't realized you could sound so authoritative. When things get really dull, you condescend to sweep under the counter, which locks as though it hasn't been swept under since the store's grand opening 40 years ago. Just as you've got an old grubby rag in your hand or a panfull of dust, a well dressed middle-aged woman comes through your line. You're a fool-standing there with a portion of the store's dirt in your hand. Your hair is mussed and there's a smudge on your face. She takes advantage. You won't soon forget that superior lock, or the how-tmdigniffed'Can-ycu-get lock. listen, lady, your thoughts yell back at hers; how dignified caa one be in a discount department store, where every thing is sold at prices for the not-so-big spender loose in a jungle of tempting but useless items? - - "Where are your cigarette lighters? she asks. iMnnniffl(sniiic i i r - hh- n . k . m u s ; i I- , , . l FSt. 455-74-3 15ll fb. Cctnsr 8 LL-lj-O Arty U.S. Mde Car. I I I 'rn'- f D C ,.,t?"d ! Parts Extra Only If Needed - 1 laiiwl 1 W wl. owfj VSmsmtday Excludes Front-Wheel Drive Car4 jTTTTirTrT ,lli,rm,).ffrllf ? 1 . . . . I V If f to increase tire allss-a esd Isprovs l) TIO-LLLT OX f tcris3 safety. i " ( Prscisloa eauissisnt &ssurzncB. i ii f X n Birth defects orefoneva: Unles you help. THIS ACC COMTtUTCO V THt UttLiftHt WcwhthsTimstoGct - ClSf ySLT p2lt3 flsnt Houses crt widcsr pets wrth p'sstis liners. 3 ! u i! t i Avzllzl'.i now st: I ! I - nil"!' ' ( cc!I4C3-C22a.- - i I Ilzxt Vrz Z. Auto Ztnlcs 1 f : c ' ) I! .i ------ V a J ??sr Ltref, C-j f,?tr!i t2th 5 Q