Cashier is a tough job so be proud of the fact that you do a good job. Sometimes you just have to acknowledge but not worry too much about challenges. You check out as well as you to do it competently.

Stop, pause, breathe. Relax.

I've worked in different places as a cashier, so sharing this tip to help you remain calm-no matter what you see, hear, feel, or have to acknowledge.

Your focus is to provide calm in the midst of all the chaos the store provides. Everything is full blast in crowded, under supplied both personnel and equipment, and in your interaction with people, you're responsible for the money first, during, and last.

Once I learned that focus, it was easier to step back from the comments and use general positive comments to acknowledge their feelings and give them a smile.

And, corporate is giving the same words to everyone across the company- because that's their purpose - their job, bottom line, profits.

It comes down to money. If you can see the person behind the money for the value as an interaction, it's easier to be kind, no matter how mean they are.

You are a single person who is a part of a large corporation. Focus on doing the best you can, and when you hear the usual refrain, just smile and let it go. You can not take on the responsibility of those words - unless you are given the supplies both in personnel and equipment.

When you leave the building, you leave the work problems at the building.

At home, space to rest, relax and refresh is important, With the parent's anxiety, it's their problem, not yours.

You are stronger than you realize.

I happened to see people working at Chipotle. Love the food, but it is a tough job! Its basically an assembly line, there seem to be more people coming in with online orders, and there is limited time to talk because people are waiting. So you're doing a lot of repetitive tasks and the people in line can be a little impatient.

There's another store, a fun ice cream parlor. That is much less busy, people are happy, employees can talk and do the work at a relaxed pace. At a leisurely pace, I ask someone about college or we talked briefly about the sports playoffs. It may be the two jobs have roughly equal pay, but you can see the ice cream shop is a lot easier.

So you've developed skills, consider if you can find another job that's easier, nothing wrong with that.

did making this post help any?

if so, perhaps a nightly routine of stopping in here to vent and sort your confusions of the day could help. be it here, a live support group meeting or just a dirty napkin upon which to write, a daily venting of my frustrations helps me keep a more even keel through the stormy sees of life.

yea, covidic stupidity seems to be inflating alongside the dollars and increased social distances **out there**. i'm still wondering if it is the natural result of breathing your own CO2 for years at a time. just mask it all. . . is ^it^ over yet?

Thanks Mid, I will try to remember that.

Thanks Bobby, cashiering is a tough job. I actually try my best not to cashier, as I know how to do alot of other tasks as my store. But there’s not a lot of escaping the job much with low staff.

Thanks Arfie! I do believe that most of the issues now is because of society. I’ve worked at my store for 14 years and things were never this bad. One of the few reasons that I stay at my job is because I’ve been there so long.

Reading is your escape, that's good. Sounds like everything is getting to be too much in your life.
Go through your hard job as best you can, but please try to look for something else in between. Since you are in contact with customers a lot, there are other more pleasant jobs that you can do that deal with customers.
And home: just go in your room, watch TV or read like you've been doing. Reading takes me away from everything too.

i share your sense of ^it^ eab. i feel like the covidic madness is still lingering over us all like a pile of unasked questions. are we safe to talk about ^it^ yet? i still don't understand THE MANDATES and don't really believe they won't spring out anew with the next media frenzy.

i still haven't figured out how close the covidic social distances with my favorite store clerks whom i liked so easily in february, 2020. i still miss those indecently exposed smiles.

I have to admit, I kind of miss the atmosphere of March 2020. There was so much uncertainty, but I feel like, for the most part, customers were more understanding. Yeah, there were limits on items and that pissed off some customers (I was called a bitch a handful of times). But those customers were off set by the appreciative ones. I just see things getting worse and I know it’d be better for me to leave, but it’s so hard. I’m not in a good place financially to be switching jobs either. I just keep plugging away and trying to sail through the crazy waves. Writing this, reading the replies (and probably mostly the fact that I’m off work today) has really helped. Thanks again guys.

I am sorry you are having so much frustrations. My Mom has memory issues too and was very difficult also, It can be a lot to deal with. I agree with Bobby and Maria to try to look for something else. Another idea is maybe a less populated area might be less stressful to work. I worked as a delivery driver for flowers, which had challenges with directions to finding the delivery address and other stuff. The people were easier to deal with, because they are happy to receive the flowers which was nice

would it help you to think the more socially awkward of your clients could be me? social anxiety can look an awful lot like rudeness and/or stupidity. my social anxiety has nary a doubt that i deserve every one of the mean names you have been calling me. sorry to be such an unmasked bother.

i suffered non-covidic upheavals in fall of 2019. upheavals bigger than one can expect to resolve in a few short months. the mandates of march 2020 sent me off the deep end. i ran for cover and am just now daring to try to process and understand the upheavals of the era. even the cashiers i enjoyed memorable relationships with before the yaddahs hit the blahs seem different now. i have yet to reconnect with a single one of them and can almost hear them calling me mean names under their masks and social distances.

i still miss them, but gone is gone. i'm just another unmasked idiot now.

after a mere 2 year of shopping duty, hubby has been trying to wiggle out of the quartermaster job (shopping) which he took over after my pandemic meltdown. the cashiers who so despise me now might appreciate him keeping the job. if nothing else, he has better hearing and doesn't need to read lips to communicate. the foster kids and i have adapted to eating like bachelors. kinda. the kids want me to resume the shopping mantle, too. i understand kid appetites and nutrition far better than my quartermaster does, but. . . ya know, ya know. . . the world is as the world is whether i understand it or knot.

just venting. . . profound apology if i am hijacking your thread.

No, I appreciate that, arfie! You may be correct that I’ve viewed some people incorrectly. Not everyone is a Karen or Frank. I do try to be patient and forgiving in my job, but the true Karens make it hard. It’s hard to remember that everyone else is struggling too. So I could be better towards the ones that need a little help. I’ve always tried to not be rude to customers, but it’s almost the way now. We’re supposed to be “friendly”, but at the end of the day, as long as I’m not cursing people out, it doesn’t seem like it truly matters. I’ll try to keep an open mind, thanks Arfie! And hey, hijack my threads anytime! I enjoy your comments.

thank you, eab. it surely helps to be able to vent it out.

these are, indeed, strange times we are living in. i was a social klutz before the covidic chaos. these days i'm wondering if i have been kidnapped by aliens.

i agree that at the end of the day, none of it really matters. might as do what i can to enjoy the ride.