As the years go by working in the grocery store, we tend to pick up “special abilities” when checking out customers. Such abilities as checking out customers at warp speed, spotting expired perishables with our eagle eyes, or using our skilled bagging techniques so the bags stand in an upright position. My special skill is… I have the uncanny ability to tell how many bagels are in the bag without looking into to see. I can tell by the weight of the bagels and its something that has became popular with customers.
A customer comes into my line with a bag of bagels…
Bagel Man: I have…
Me: Six?
Bagel Man: Wow! How you do that?
Me: *shrugs*
A few days later, the same customer comes into my line with his kids…
This time they have 3 bags of bagels…
Bagel Man: Watch this kids!
I grab the first bag bagels…
Me: Six?
Bagel Man: He still got it!
Bagel Kids: WHOA!
Second bag…
Me: Three?
Bagel Man: YES! YES!
Bagel Kids: HAHAHAHAHA!
Is it me or are they just getting a little too excited.
Last bag… I figured this was a gimme. Just counted 9 bagels and to get the discounted dozen price, they had to have bought 12…
Me: Umm… Three?
Bagel Family: Awwww! It’s Four!
Darn…
Bagel Man: It’s OK! You can redeem yourself when we come back in tomorrow!
Me: *Sigh*
Is there something your checker does that impresses you?
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Hahahaha! I love this! Actually, I am always impressed when a clerk smiles at me. I know it has to be hard standing there all day/night, and people aren’t always the nicest, especially when it comes to the dreaded shopping. I always try to be nice to people, because I’ve been on the other side of the counter. But anyway, yeah – - I always like when they smile.
They got you!
I’m glad he was able to entertain his kids. That’s too funny!!
Hmm..something that the checker does to impress me?
Does using his nail to circle the amount of money I saved on the bottom of the receipt count? LOL
I was thinking of this blog the other day while buying groceries. Here in Germany all the clerk sit on chairs. They don’t bag groceries and they don’t weigh your produce. But most importantly they pretend they don’t understand a word of English so you talk about them then say “have a nice day” when you leave with a sly smile….but that might have been just MY clerk.
That is pretty impressive. Living in Spain for the past two years there would be two things that would impress the hell out of me; having bagels in the first place, and/or paying attention while ringing me up so I didn’t have to correct him on the prices every single time. Somehow the wrong amounts always work to the advantage of the store though. An amazing coincidence.
very impressive! That would have entertained me too:)! I am always glad when the bagger separates my foods by fresh, frozen and non-perishables! amazingly, many don’t! I also like when they smile and notice the kids…LOVE the ones who offer balloons!:)
The folks at out local store all have to holler out “Welcome to your neighborhood Food Lion!” when people come in. I always ask them if they hate doing that all day… They all do.
Wow, I’m so impressed with your bagel talent! My neighborhood supermarket clerks are not half as fun.
That’s actually pretty cool. You’re giving them more for their entertainment dollar. lol
I actually love it when the person who is bagging the groceries, whether it’s the cashier or a different bagger, keeps the cold stuff separated from the non cold.
I love when someone fun (and unusually skilled!) checks out my groceries!
Well, I do know my clerks by their faces at least – as I have been going to the same store for years. Those bagels look delish! Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me such a positive comment. Sandie
quite an interesting skill there paul. i dont think i go to a certain checker often enough to catch a particular skill…
ah, you just gave that last one away, you knew it was four! I secretly think that these small interactions are ways that we humans bond with one another. just an ever so slight level of personal connectedness through chance encounters throughout the day. Seems to make the day and our jobs more interesting.
Does anyone else think its bizarre that they just bought 13 bagels and are coming back tomorrow for more?
After reading your blog, it impresses me that my checker is always in a good mood. That seems like quite a skill.
mainly a friendly smile
and gets me through the store!
Impresssssive! Tell me how many grapes are in the bag and I’ll REALLY be impressed! HA HA Erika’s comment cracked me up because I thought the same thing – how many bagels can this family eat!?? Have a great day ~ ?
I have a checker that over-shares and tells me about her love life while I look around uncomfortably.
I can’t think of any amazing abilities of my checkers but I can think some annoying ones (and choose to avoid their lanes whenever I can). There’s the woman who tries to guess what I’m using each of my ingredients for (usually incorrectly) and then processed to tell me about her cooking skills. There’s the young man who likes to share his political views (I think he might be a communist) and seems angry at entire world! But hey I guess it makes it interesting.
thanks for coming by I’m gonna follow you
Yes, there’s something my checker does that impresses me, but it’s negative not positive. Maybe you’ve already written about this before, but if not, please do. Please help me understand why every time a new lane is opened up they take the person at the back of the line, who has been waiting in line all of 15 seconds, instead of the person next in line who’s been waiting for 10 minutes??? Why is this standard practice at every store everywhere? Sorry, got a little riled up there.
Oh, too funny! I’ll bet that guy picks your checkout lane just to entertain his family. Next he’ll bring Uncle Alan and Aunt Joyce to see….
Then it’ll make it to the 6 o’clock news….(albeit on a slow news day) and then you’re on your way!
I’m happy when the checker follows my lead on bagging (I try and keep up, but you guys are so fast!) and uses paper if that’s what I’m using instead of giving me 200 plastic bags.
They always ask if I was able to find everything I wanted.
Secretia
Your bagel talent is amazing, actually. I wouldn’t be able to do that, granted our bagels come in clear bags, but still.
I jokingly call myself The Debit Card Whisperer at work because I can get any card to read in the debit machine (minus demagnetized EBT cards, because those are pieces of crap), even after the customer has gotten a Card Read Error numerous times. This leads to the cliche comment from the customer “oh, you must have the magic touch!”
Customers also find it amazing that we’ve memorized all the produce codes. I even get some people that try to stump me. Just yesterday this lady at self-checkout asked me what the code for cucumbers were. “4062.” the guy next to her looks at me and goes, “you know the code by heart?” me, “…yep.” him, “okay… what’s… habanero pepper?!” me, “3125″ him, “man…” haha. I think I might have blown his mind.