Cashier's life: a more than exhausting job

LIFE AS A CASHIER

When we enter a supermarket we think about everything: the shopping to do, the offers to take advantage of, the possible savings. But we rarely pay attention to them, the cashiers. In a neighborhood shop, from the delicatessen to the fishmonger, we know our interlocutorIt's part of our daily rituals. We call him by name, exchange a few words, and find out about his private life. Not everything begins and ends with a business transaction, with a receipt swiped at the register: before and after, there are people who meet. Us and them.

HOW A CASHIER WORKS

Nothing of the sort happens with the cashier, or the cashiers, of the supermarketsOur familiarity with them, even when we always go to the same store, is limited to the ritual hearing of a couple of very frequent phrases, incorporated into the purchase. "Do you need an envelope?" "Please, enter your PIN." That's all. For the rest, they are ghost workers, shadows embedded in the stage of the globalized spending, where everything is haste, rush, accumulation. And indifference.

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CASHIER IMPORTANCE

We became aware of the existence of supermarket cashiers and the miserable life they lead almost by chance, in the most dramatic days of the coronavirus. The heroes were the nurses and doctors, rightly so. But a small place in the trenches of this war, a choral recognition, and not just with a "thank you", was also due to them, the workers and the anonymous workers in large-scale food distribution.

CASHIER AND CUSTOMERS

Once upon a time, in twentieth-century parlance, the work of cashiers in supermarkets would have been defined , repetitive and mechanical like that of the old industrial assembly lines. Today, it rightfully enters the list of arduous jobs. The general conditions of these contracts are not advantageous for the workers. Long shifts, too long. Stipendi bassi, too low: sometimes around 600 euros. The temperatures inside the stores are freezing, in winter as in summer: in other times, when the unions mattered, the cashiers would have received a special bonus like The lights in a supermarket are always on, 24/7, including Saturdays and Sundays, and supermarket cashiers were one of the first categories of workers for whom the taboo of rest on holidays was lifted. And in fact, they work all the time.

SLOW CASH IN NORTHERN EUROPE

Partly because of these working conditions, and as a clever marketing ploy, "slow checkouts" have been introduced in many Northern European countries. This is a way to bring customers closer to employees, and to prevent rushed checkouts from making any contact impossible, even a quick exchange, and from making the cashiers' workload more difficult.

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