An unexpected reward for skipping the self-checkout

July 23, 2025

Just skip it

Given the state of the world and the cost of groceries these days, how many of us leave the store in a better mood than we went in. Not many, I bet. I was checking out at the grocery recently with a beautiful young clerk. She had a different pronunciation for the name on her tag and I had learned it when she explained it to a woman ahead of me some time previously. I addressed her using the correct version and we had connected ever since. I hadn't seen her in a while until this happened. I told her I had missed her. She explained she had worked with the self-checkout for a few weeks. I said something like "oh, that explains it, I won't use those things." For a second she looked a little shocked not knowing what to say until I told her "I would rather see jobs for you young folks." She understood immediately and with a sweet, warm smile and twinkle in her eyes she said softly, "thank you." That made all the minutes I have stood in lines over time worth it. Until then I'd been having kind of a crummy day but the rest of it felt pretty darned good.