This Shouldn't Be Expected

About a fortnight ago I was in line at the grocery store with my weeks worth of edible goods. The line was decently long but moved relatively fast. I quickly realized why. By the time I was two people away from being served, I noticed the cashier was rapidly doing everything. Ringing through food, scanning the membership card, bagging, and handing off the receipt. Whilst she chaotically helped her current customer, she asked the four people behind to have their membership cards ready. She then took on the lady in front of me and started tearing through the food on the conveyor belt and swiping it across the scanner. Her moves were rushed, panicked, and stressful. It was as though her life was on the line. And as she tossed that customer’s receipt in her general direction, the lady told the cashier she was doing great. When it was my turn, I could tell you she wasn’t. 
We all think that we want incredibly swift service, but if you saw what I saw that evening, you would think otherwise. There was no care in this woman’s work, no human touch. I felt as though I would get kicked out of the store or yelled at by her if I didn’t instantly have everything ready. I got my groceries on the counter as fast as I could, handed her my card, and set my rucksack up in the bagging area. I made sure to have my debit card in an easily accessible pocket so I could pay in a heartbeat. All the while though, I was wondering “why the rush?” “Why are we being treated like the world is ending and we need to get through as fast as possible?”. This was no emergency, no catastrophe, no reason to be herded through like sheep. After she asked if I had a bag and I replied “yes”, she offered to pack it. I declined but she threw all my food in there anyway. Haphazardly and sloppily. After I paid she tossed the receipt at me and said “have a nice day”. There was no eye contact, no sincerity. I then had to shuffle out of the way right after to a more secluded spot to repack my bag. I walk home so I need to organize it in a way that doesn’t irk my back. It would have been much easier on the counter if only I was given the time. 
All I could think about on the way home was how this is what people expected of us cashiers. This is what they asked for. To be served in seconds and hastily ushered out the door. There was nothing human about how she served me that day, the self checkout sounded friendlier. I would have used it too if I hadn’t bought any fresh produce because my medieval self would probably end up overcharging me when attempting to weigh something. Since I didn’t want to goof up on my apples though, I went to a human. And what I got was a woman trying to be a machine. My biggest issue with this is customers oftentimes hate using self checkouts because they want people. But then they want those people to be as impossibly fast as those self checkouts, as not-people. You can’t have both. You can’t have cashiers work at godly speeds and have the charm of your friendly neighbour. We’re just human. And when those humans try to fulfill that unnatural request, you get service like I did. A panicked woman stressing you out immensely by carelessly handling your purchases and tossing them into a bag before throwing the bill in your face.
I understand how rough it is to deal with a long line up. I know the antsy feeling of angst when the customers seem to never stop coming. It’s awful. However, customers need to be taught patience. They need to be taught that we are just like them. We have feelings, and faults, and make mistakes and cause mishaps. We sometimes get confused and take a little longer, and sometimes it’s solely our computer that simply won’t cooperate. We cannot give into that fear of not being fast enough, nor should it be expected of us. I had a nerve wracking experience going through that checkout as someone who is socially awkward and terrified of disappointing anybody. I don’t want to do that to someone else. I don’t want people to feel like they don’t matter when they come through my till, just because other people want to be out of the store in two seconds.
I’m fast at what I do, but I don’t lose my humanity to do it. I’ll be quick to ring you through and be open for a light chat whilst I neatly bag your things and place your receipt where you want it. If you’re oblivious to the lineup behind you, and want to give me you life story, I will listen, subtly take the next person at the same time, make sure to say hello and wish them farewell so they don’t feel neglected and do that over and over until you stop talking and go on your merry way. If my computer freezes or takes forever to load a transaction or, hell, even shuts down because it has a habit of doing that, and the line starts forming behind you and you start getting nervous that it’s somehow your fault, I will be there to reassure you that people need to learn to wait and sometimes technological difficulties happen. Even for those that are lucky enough to come and go without a hitch through my till, I will smile, and greet you and ask my usual questions in an amusing way so you can get a good laugh before I bid you good day. I will do that because I work in retail. My purpose is to serve the people, and one can only do that by treating the people as people, not just as beings that hand you things to scan into a computer and pay you for them. That’s what customers truly want, to be treated like they matter. 
To the cashiers out there, serve them quickly by all means, the line still needs to move, but don’t do it in a way that makes you lose your humanity. 
And to the customers, do not try to keep cashiers employed by coming through our tills if you want us to equal the machines that do the same thing. For we are not machines. We are like you, as you are like us. 
At the core of all the madness that surrounds retail is patience. Have it for the new hires and for the seniors that can’t find their debit card. Have it for the shoddy computers and the merchandisers that need to run into the back to find an obscure product. Have it for one another because some days are just dysfunctional and anger just makes it worse. If we all learn that waiting isn’t an eternal purgatory but simply a pause, there wouldn’t be so much outrage betwixt cashiers and customers. This is not war, calm down and breathe a moment.