I'm all lost at the supermarket!!!

Cashier Blues

working at the supermarket
no no no old man
i won't cut your precious stock
with this very
sharp knife...

standing at the till
back breaking
knee is going
and the old man
won't listen
why won't he listen?
he just berates
and berates
and berates
an endless stream
of profanity

scream scream scream little harvey

let the pain out

give the negativity

an enema

all is good

all is fine

sweet as wine

..for the 1st hour...

7 hours to go

and that little

ball of soreness

starts to build

inside the back

rolling through the body

from the back to

the knees

the knees to the shoulder

and everything

in between

scream scream scream little harvey

there's something

on the other side

there's a better way

there's got to be a

better way

to stop breaking down

bye bye old man

bye bye

you can kiss my ass

goodbye

I'm kissing the cashier blues

away...
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The Story of the Old Man in charge of the supermarket

I got a job at the grocery store...unemployment has flown away out of my reach...the customers were really friendly and talkative, and that part was all good...but, standing at the till not meant for someone 6'4" with a back injury isn't very healthy. After 2 days working at the store, I could barely move yesterday. Today, I'm marginally better, and was able to get out for a walk...but, physically, it just ain't happening. If I could work in shipping & receiving that would be cool, but I doubt it. They already have people for that...and they haven't called back anyway. Here's another angle to the story: [aside: and hopefully something to laugh about when a new job appears] the store owner is a miserable old bastard.

My 2nd day, I go in, and he tells me to put the pop away. Hey, cool...no probs dude...I tell him a case was behind the skid and open with a couple of empty cans in it...well, you would have thought I told him that Lou Dobbs was going to be the next president of the USA!!! The expletives just started rolling off his tongue...non-fucking-stop...now, as anyone who reads this blog knows, I sure don't have problems with "swearing", but this was something different [aside: now that I think about it...maybe he's bi-polar] ...it was...uncomfortable...unsettling...and it just kept on and on while I put the pop away...then he started about the last person who put the pop away, and how the fucking bastards don't fucking know anything and they're all assholes and I hate their fucking guts and I'm sick of the goddamned shit of these sons of bitches...It was a real downer...and I ain't exaggerating!

Later, I'm at the till and a lady changed her mind about purchasing an item...she was really nice, and it should be no problem...the experienced cashier is gone for lunch, so I figure...hit the escape button twice, but it won't let me. It will only reverse the last item. So, I rescan the correct item...so, that item is cool, I just have to reverse the 2nd last item. Being a computer person, I look at the keyboard and see a button that says "return"...cool! So, I hit the button, and it says the next item will be returned. Voila! So, I scan the item to return and it adds it to the total...it didn't return it all! So, I see the old man, and go and tell him the problem...well, I mean I tried to tell him the problem, but he starts harassing me and doesn't listen at all...the lineup is getting longer and I keep trying to explain it to him (it ain't that complex) but he refuses to listen and starts yelling at me...well, fuck him! Finally, I get it through the bastard's head, and you just have to do an "amount tendered" at the bottom of the receipt...after that though relations are somewhat cool between us, since I was stubborn about getting it through his head and didn't back down.

He later tells me that a receipt was missing and that really pisses him off and if he loses money that's when he gets really angry...WOW!! I'd like to see this guy really angry!!! Of course he's bitching about his money to staff that he's paying $10 an hour. I almost said (but held back...I did a lot of holding back that day) well, you ain't losing money paying wages to the staff.

As we were closing the other cashier was putting up boards to cover the frozen stuff, so I helped her...he comes out and says: "what are you doing?", she says: "being nice and helping out." He starts bitching and says "well, if you're going to goddamned do it, do it fucking right...mutter mutter..." I'm standing there listening to this shit, while the back is screaming in pain...he never did say what was wrong with the way the boards were put up anyway.

To the very last minute he was bitching: I was getting into my car and he asked: "Did you park here all day?" I said yeh..."well, we don't allow employees to park on the goddamned lot." "Where do we park?" He waves disgustedly at the street and mutters: "Over there, on the goddamned street." I just quietly get into the car in disbelief. It's not like anyone told me.

These are only a few of the incidents of this clown...there were a few more, but these ones really stood out. Nothing like being totally bitched out as you're screaming in pain, and have busted your ass...oh yeh...no breaks....1 hour unpaid lunch...I would think this is illegal in the province, but who knows?

Actually, I could ignore this guy, but the pain in the back is too much for being a cashier [aside: I admire the tenacity of these cashiers that do this for a living]. He's the icing on the pain cake.
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