Cashier Competency

I work in a very small store so it's not uncommon to be the only cashier at the front.  I'm a pro at multi-tasking though so it's not a big deal.  Today I found myself alone helping this elderly lady with her items and I noticed a guy having trouble with the self-checkout.  (Seriously, if you don't know how to work the machine or have more than 10 items, do NOT use that line, it's not faster.)  The lady I was helping was just about ready to go when I hear, "HEY, this thing's broken."  Yep, I got it sir, give me just a second...get on the pager to call a cashier up to the front to help Mr. Impatient.  Less than a minute later, he's in my line complaining about how nobody showed up.  I look over my shoulder, yep, there she is, he could have waited and been gone by now.  The lady behind him in the self-check line followed him over to my line.

Mr. I: Well those things never work
Lady/Sheep: Yeah but I prefer them because I spend so much time picking out my produce and the cashiers just throw it in the bag and bruise my produce.
Mr. I:  You know, you should just tell them you want to do it yourself

Meanwhile, I'm already done ringing his stuff up and I'm waiting on him to pay for his things.  Approximately 3 minutes later, he gets done and tells me that the lady behind him would like to bag her own groceries. 

Now let's stop for a second.  This is an incredibly easy job.  There are a lot of rules to remember once you get past the basics but really, we know how to do this as children.  Scan, bag, scan, bag, scan, bag, total.  Easyyy.  Not to toot my own horn but...toot, toot, I'm pretty smart.  I can do this shiz in my sleep.

Back to the story.  I look at the two and look back down and I hear the woman say, "no it's alright, she looks competent enough to do this."

I was just coming off my meltdown over the radio so I had the potential to deliver a roundhouse kick to the face.  Alas, I held my tongue and smiled, even told her to have a great day.  

Really though, I work with a couple of ding dongs but most of my coworkers are really smart.  Circumstance leads a person to that job, not will.  Think about it.

 However, I will admit that my passive aggressiveness has gotten the best of me before.  I squeezed a package of cupcakes this lady just had to have an extra bag for.  I don't like cupcakes and I don't like waste.  Boom.