Skip to main content

I’m one of millions working in retail. This Christmas, don’t ask how we are – or we may tell you | Andrew Herrick

So far today I have dealt with 200 customers. I have smiled 200 times, but that’s getting harder. Consider me a checkout robot

You decided to do it differently this year. You usually buy online, with high-minded principle, from a company owned by the least-loathsome billionaire you can find. Instead, this Christmas you gritted your teeth and drove in a hot car to a local business where you (finally) found a park. Then you steadfastly hunted down the gifts that your family members simply must have, worked your way up the cattle race to the counter, upon which you triumphantly spread your purchases. With luck you’ll be out of here and home before the roads get too busy. That man behind the counter doesn’t look happy; who cares: as long as he’s efficient.

That’d be me. I’ve been standing in one spot for the last six hours (OK, one toilet break) and have another three to go. I’ve worked in retail for 14 years, and so far today I’ve dealt with 200 customers. I’ve smiled 200 times, but that’s getting harder. I’m so tired it probably looks more like a grimace. Sorry, but consider me a checkout robot, carefully rationing my battery charge by using muscle memory to hit the right keys and move the mouse cursor to make sure each of today’s 500 or so products (so far) is correctly entered and paid for.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2oTAF3M
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Green Planet review – David Attenborough’s gobsmacking, awe-inspiring return

From glowing bioluminescent fungus to 7,000 different camera set-ups for ants, the veteran broadcaster’s miraculous profile of plant life will have you gasping in astonishment so often you’ll be breathless One of the televisual joys I most remember from childhood was when a programme – often a nature documentary, but sometimes a few seconds on Sesame Street or a Tomorrow’s World demonstration of new technology – would show a flower unfolding with time-lapse photography. It was always sudden, always fleeting, and of course there weren’t even any recording buttons – let alone live pausing and rewinding facilities – that you could quickly press in order to capture and relive the delight. It was ever ephemeral, and I could never get enough. Until now, with the latest gift from David Attenborough and his endlessly patient and dedicated team of camera operators (to whom a now traditional 10-minute coda is again devoted), The Green Planet (BBC One). The new five-part series presented by the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wandsworth escape accused says it was ‘foolish’ to jail him with his ‘skill set’

Daniel Khalife, 23, says he absconded because he was ‘terrified’ of being locked up with dangerous offenders A former British soldier has told a jury he did not hand himself in after he escaped from prison because he was “finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was” to imprison someone with his “skill set”. Daniel Khalife, 23, told the court he absconded from Wandsworth prison while on remand because he was “terrified” of being locked up with “serious sex offenders” and “terrorists” who wanted to kill him, and that he did not think his imprisonment would be in the public interest. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vRZHkaw
Post a Comment
Read more

The Guardian view on the Conservative party today: still lost in denial and confusion | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch has her first chance to persuade the voters on 1 May, but she seems to be getting nowhere Labour is struggling in the polls . Its spring economic statement next week is likely to be grim. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have an ambitious new leader and the local elections are only six weeks away. The situation ought to be full of promise for Kemi Badenoch and her party. Instead, she is treating the May elections not as a promise but as a threat. Mrs Badenoch launched the Conservatives’ campaign in warm spring weather on Thursday. From her message, however, it sounded as if she is leading her party into an electoral blizzard. If you apply the 2024 general election result to the councils that are up for election on 1 May, she told supporters: “We lose almost every single one.” The contest, she repeated, would be “very difficult”. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to ...
Post a Comment
Read more