I'm linking up again with Six Sentence Stories. This week's prompt: change.
She said, "Hello," just as she had been trained, but she hoped that none of the customers would be chatty in reply. English was such a confusing language! Working as a cashier at K-Mart wasn't her dream job, but if she had figured correctly, she should be able to afford her small apartment and have enough left over to eat simple meals. As soon as the first customers came through her line, though, she immediately realized one vital piece of education that she lacked: a knowledge of this foreign currency. The man handed her a crisp bill. Panicked, she cupped her hand into the register, scooped up a random assortment of coins, and thrust them into his outstretched hand, dismissing him with the perfunctory, "Thank you, and have a nice day."
Thanks for patience--on both sides of the register.
She said, "Hello," just as she had been trained, but she hoped that none of the customers would be chatty in reply. English was such a confusing language! Working as a cashier at K-Mart wasn't her dream job, but if she had figured correctly, she should be able to afford her small apartment and have enough left over to eat simple meals. As soon as the first customers came through her line, though, she immediately realized one vital piece of education that she lacked: a knowledge of this foreign currency. The man handed her a crisp bill. Panicked, she cupped her hand into the register, scooped up a random assortment of coins, and thrust them into his outstretched hand, dismissing him with the perfunctory, "Thank you, and have a nice day."
Thanks for patience--on both sides of the register.
Oy! What a moment of panicky realization!!!
ReplyDeleteThough I took creative license on the cashier's side of the story, the incident of the change was a true story.
DeleteI love that you went with this interpretation of the prompt.
ReplyDeleteI see too many cashiers who can't make change for whatever reason. I think it must be a scary feeling to be someone in a position like your character. Things we don't even think about...
I don't know why this particular cashier (true incident!) couldn't make change, but it was definitely a memorable moment.
DeleteLuckily most cash registers will show the change required but not if the note's value is not entered! Let's hope she doesn't get transferred to the stockroom.
ReplyDeleteEven if the change required is shown, if the cashier doesn't understand the denomination of each coin, it is still nearly impossible to hand the customer the correct change.
DeleteNext time I'm in a K-mart I will have to pay attention to the change I'm handed.... To me all those bills look the same aswell! Our money has all kinds of colours, so you can instantly see which is which. Unless you're colour blind of course....
ReplyDeleteI think it was the coins that really confused the cashier, but I agree with you that the bills do look very much alike!
DeleteI smiled, not at the plight of the cashier, rather the twist in the story, which while plausible (and I could even imagine responding that way myself), still had a bit of the 'shaggy dog story'* element to it.
ReplyDeleteFun.
'Shaggy Dog Story' (from wikipedia) "Shaggy dog stories play upon the audience's preconceptions of joke-telling. The audience listens to the story with certain expectations, which are either simply not met or met in some entirely unexpected manner"
purported to be the original Shaggy Dog Story:
"A boy owned a dog that was uncommonly shaggy. Many people remarked upon its considerable shagginess. When the boy learned that there are contests for shaggy dogs, he entered his dog. The dog won first prize for shagginess in both the local and the regional competitions. The boy entered the dog in ever-larger contests, until finally he entered it in the world championship for shaggy dogs. When the judges had inspected all of the competing dogs, they remarked about the boy's dog: "He's not that shaggy."
The story was based on a true story. We were the customers, and were so shocked by the transaction, we didn't know what to do.
DeleteI can feel the cashier' panic - another great response to the prompt.
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I think that most of us at one time or another has responded with panic to a situation and not made the best decision at the time. My heart always goes out to new workers in public service jobs such as this, restaurants, etc. It's not easy, and even more so when in situations like this where you don't have all the skills and knowledge to do the job. I try to be kind and patient, because they get growled and grumbled at all day. I can imagine how scared she must have been!
ReplyDeleteThis was based on a true story. We were the customers, and were so shocked we just took the offered change and left. I don't remember, but I hope we were shorted. I've wondered off and on about that cashier, and how long she remained at that job.
DeleteThe panic, frustration and anxiety were quite evident in this story. That's a hard way to learn something new. Great job! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThe panic, frustration and anxiety were quite evident in this story. That's a hard way to learn something new. Great job! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is another wonderful story!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that she got the job. Have to give her points for sheer courage to face so many unknowns.
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure how she ended up in that position, but the story was based on a true incident. We were the customers.
DeleteHi, Kristi. This is an excellent story. We take so much for granted and seeing things from another's perspective is always enlightening.
ReplyDelete